Michael H. Dennos

Michael Dennos, the retired CEO of Chef Pierre and a founder of the Dennos Museum Center, “passed into the big pie shop in the sky, where he is now baking pies with his father and brothers,” on Thursday, June 28th at his home in Traverse City, Michigan, at the age of 92. Michael Howard Dendrino was born on May 16, 1920 in Muskegon, Michigan, the first of eight children born to Christos and Katherine (Holder) Dendrino. His father hailed from the Ionian island of Kefallonia, coming to the U.S from Corfu, Greece by himself at the age of 14. His mother was born in a sod hut on a North Dakota prairie. Michael began working at the age of 12 for Sunrise Pies, his father’s North Muskegon bakery. A graduate of Muskegon High, Michael became the first in his family to attend college when he won a scholarship to Michigan State University, where he studied chemical engineering so that, in his words, he would “never have to make another pie again.” On the day after Italy invaded Greece in 1940, Michael’s father Christos went down to the courthouse to restore the “s” to the end of his surname, thus changing it back to the original Greek “Dendrinos” from the Italian-sounding “Dendrino” doled out to him when he came through Ellis Island. With their father’s permission, each of his sons adopted his own preference for a surname, with Michael choosing a shorter version, Dennos. Michael married his high school sweetheart and fellow MSU student Barbara Mae Hansen, the daughter of Muskegon’s Police Chief, Peter Hansen, on September 25, 1941 in Indiana. After graduating from MSU in 1943, Michael served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Following up his training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station and officer’s school at Columbia University, Lt. Dennos was assigned as a communications officer to the battleship USS Wisconsin, where he spent much of his time making pies for the captain. After his service ended in 1946, Michael moved his young family east, where a less than auspicious beginning in the company labs (he tried to burn down the plant while running multiple experiments) led to 20 years of success with the of the Schenectady Chemical Company, out of the laboratory and on the road, while Barbara raised the couple’s daughters, Anne Marie and Chris, on Long Island in Roslyn, NY and later in Glen Rock, NJ. During those years, Michael wrestled for the New York Athletic Club, becoming New York State Champion in 1956 and 1958, and making it to the finals of the U.S. tryouts for the 1952 Olympics. Michael, who was never one to give up easily, took up wrestling after a football injury sidelined him in his freshman year. While in the New York area, Michael also played semi-pro football. Michael moved his family to Traverse City, Michigan in 1962, when Mike returned to help run the family pie business that had been started by his father in 1922, and moved to Elk Rapids by Mike’s younger brother, Peter Dendrinos. They moved the pie company, which was re-christened Chef Pierre, to Traverse City in 1963, where it grew to became the largest employer in Traverse City and the number one provider of pies to the U.S. food service industry. Michael became president of Chef Pierre in 1973 and CEO in 1981, after merging Chef Pierre with Consolidated Foods, the parent company of Sara Lee, in 1980. Michael retired in 1986 as vice president of Consolidated Foods. Among the many Traverse City area institutions that benefited from his leadership, Michael served for many years as a board member of the Pathfinder School, Interlochen Arts Academy, and the Dennos Museum Center, which he and his wife Barbara helped create in 1991. In his retirement, Michael also helped found the Archangel Gabriel Greek Orthodox Church in Traverse City. In 1973, Michael endowed the M. Larian Scholarship Fund for deserving chemical engineering students at Michigan State in honor of his chemical engineering professor, Doc Larian. Michael was a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Hellenic Institute in Washington, DC and the Claud R. Erickson Award from Michigan State University. A member of Rotary since 1985, Michael was a member of Crystal Downs Country Club and the Traverse City Golf and Country Club and the New York Athletic Club. Michael was preceded in death by his siblings Peter Dendrinos, Spiros “Bud” Dendrino, and Ange Dennis. Michael is survived by his wife of 70 years Barbara, of Traverse City, daughters Anne Marie (William) Shuyler of Alexandria, Virginia and Mary Christine Dennos of Traverse City, grandchildren Michael (Veronica) Demmer and John Demmer, Christina Shuyler and Alexandra Shuyler, and his siblings, Angeline (Spencer) Ketchum, Athena (Joe) Gabriel, George (Jan) Dendrinos, Georgia (Charles) Zorn, sisters-in-law Peggy (Peter) Dendrinos and Dorothy (Bud) Dendrino, and many nieces, nephews, second cousins and dear friends. Visitation for Michael will be held from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the Reynolds-Jonkhoff Funeral Home on Saturday, July 7th. A Memorial Celebration of Life will be held at 3:00 pm on Sunday, July 8th at the First Congregational Church. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be directed to the Dennos Museum Center, or to Michael’s Place. You are invited to sign Michael’s online guestbook at www.reynolds-jonkhoff.com Anne and Chris would like to thank Just Like Family Caregivers for taking such magnificent care of our Mike and Barb, saying “It is so reassuring to know that our parents have been so well taken care of, every minute.”

Michael H. Dennos

May 16, 1920 - June 28, 2012