Born in Cairo and raised on a kibbutz in Israel, the eighth of nine children, Lily came to this country forty years ago with her husband and two young sons. She spoke French, Hebrew, and Arabic but no English, which she now speaks perfectly with a hint of a charming accent. Her husband was chef at Ferdinand’s in Cambridge and she worked nights as a nurse so she could be at home with Robert and Jim. Recognizing that she was a people person, the owners of Ferdinand’s recruited her. For four years she learned the restaurant business by being everything from bartender, maitre d’, cashier, to wine steward. Then in 1976, the family opened their own restaurant, Veronique.

 

Ten years ago Lily developed diabetes and came to Joslin as a patient of Dr. William Hsu. Their chats about his research and her business spurred a remarkable collaboration. Dr. Hsu needed a place where meals could be prepared with exact proportions and ingredients, to be given to participants in a controlled diet study investigating inflammatory responses to the transition from an Asian diet to a Western diet in Asian Americans versus Caucasians. Lily helped the researchers train her kitchen staff. She was an avid collaborator again with Drs. Hsu and King at the birth of A Spoonful of Ginger.

 

 “It was a great pleasure to participate and to help other people like me with diabetes,” she says.

 

“Lily always went the extra mile in ensuring that everything ran impeccably and people had a great time,” commented Dr. King. “It was our pleasure and honor to work with her.”

 

Although she still goes in to work once a week and on weekends for events, she’s retired from the 14-hour days she used to spend in the restaurant business. She eats right, exercises regularly, and spends time with her grandchildren. Fortunately for us, she plans to stay involved with AADI too. As she says with characteristic modesty, “Helping each other is what we do.”