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July 27, 2010

Founder of Chef Pierre dies at 84

Peter Dendrinos also served as TC mayor in 1978

By Bill O'Brien bobrien@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — A former Traverse City mayor and local businessman was remembered both for his kindness and generosity for an array of community causes.

Peter C. Dendrinos, founder of Chef Pierre Inc. in Traverse City who served on the City Commission in the 1970s, died at his home in Frankfort Saturday. Family members said Dendrinos died of kidney failure after suffering from Parkinson's disease. He was 84.

"He was always very, very generous," said Jim Beckett of Traverse City, a long-time family friend. Dendrinos was a major supporter of various local causes including Munson Medical Center, Northwestern Michigan College, Interlochen Center for the Arts, St. Francis parish and school, the Grand Traverse County Civic Center and more.

Beckett recalled a fund-raiser in the 1970s for the former Osteopathic Hospital on the east side of Traverse City. Organizers wanted a significant donation to kick off the drive, and approached Dendrinos for a $25,000 contribution.

"He looked at us and said 'Why don't we make it $50,000?'," Beckett said. "It knocked me over...I never forgot that."

Dendrinos was a Muskegon native and an all-state football player at Muskegon Heights High School before he enrolled at Michigan State University, and then left school to serve in the U.S. Army Air Forces. After his military service, he went to the University of Michigan in 1946 where he played football and track, and was a member of the Wolverines' undefeated national championship football team in 1947. He graduated with a business degree in 1951.

After graduating he worked for 3M but returned to help run his family pie business in Muskegon, founded by his father in the 1920s.

"We grew up in it," his brother Michael Dennos of Traverse City said. "It took us through the Depression."

Dendrinos came to northern Michigan in the mid-1950s when he found a commercial freezer for sale in Elk Rapids he needed to expand the business. He founded Chef Pierre in 1956 and eventually moved the business to Traverse City, where the manufacturing plant and freezer facility built on the shores of Boardman Lake would grow to become one of the area's largest employers. The company was acquired by Sara Lee Corp. in the 1980s, Dennos said.

Both Dendrinos' philanthropy and ability to work with people had an important though unheralded impact on the community, said K. Ross Childs, retired Grand Traverse County administrator.

Dendrinos was a driving force behind setting up a foundation to support the Grand Traverse Area Community Living Center, which provides housing alternatives and independent living support for adults with developmental disabilities, Childs said.

Dendrinos' philanthropy was instrumental in getting the jogging track, basketball courts and tennis courts built at the Civic Center, the first major additions to the former county fairgrounds. The only recognition for his role is a small sign on the entrance off Garfield Road that says "Mike's Fields," to honor Dendrinos' son who had died.

When the county embarked on building a new county building, Dendrinos set up a meeting between the city and county that led to the joint city/county Governmental Center, Childs said. Dendrinos served on the city commission from 1975-78 and was mayor in 1978.

"That's the way it was with Pete," Childs said. "He wasn't always out front ... but he was doing things for the community you didn't even know about. He was a wonderful man."

Dendrinos is survived by his wife, Margaret, a son and daughter, two brothers, three sisters and three grandchildren. Services for Dendrinos will include visitation today from 5 - 8 p.m. at Reynolds-Jonkhoff Funeral Home in Traverse City, with a rosary at 7:30 p.m. A funeral mass will be held Wednesday at 10 a.m. at St. Francis Church in Traverse City.

Staff writer Brian McGillivary contributed to this report.

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