On Jan. 4, UTRGV Dining posted to Instagram, honoring the late Leonard Reese, “a dedicated cook” who served at the university for eight years.
Reese, who died Jan. 2 at age 68, brought “joy and warmth to the hearts of everyone he encountered,” the announcement reads. “His eight years of service were marked not only by his commitment, but also by the countless moments of camaraderie and laughter he shared with everyone around him. Leonard left an [incredible] mark on our community, and his absence will be deeply felt.
“Our thoughts and condolences go out to his family, friends, and all those who had the privilege of knowing him.”
A graduate of the culinary school Le Cordon Bleu, Reese served as president of Toastmasters while residing in California, taught dance while residing in Houston and worked as a chef, according to his obituary published on darlingmouser.com.
Felicios Cantu, a Dining services supervisor who worked closely with Reese for about two years, told The Rider that when he met Reese, the two of them “bumped heads a lot” at first. However, as their first year together went on, they became “very close.”
“It took a toll on me,” Cantu said about Reese’s death. “… It’s been very quiet there in [El] Comedor [on the Brownsville campus.] From last year to this year, we’ve noticed a difference in students go down, because they liked his cooking. They liked the way he was. So, big change.”
He said Reese talked about his time working at a French kitchen in Austin.
“I mean, his love for the food was just something that I’ve never experienced before,” Cantu said. “… I don’t think I’ve ever come across somebody that their love for food was like Leonard’s.”
Describing Reese as passionate and honest, Cantu said his colleague was at work at 6:30 a.m. every morning. He never took credit for someone else’s food and he was a jokester.
“He was one of the sweetest, most, you know, noble persons I’d ever met,” he said. “I know that a lot of people, when somebody passes away, they say, ‘We lost a good one.’
“Well, honestly, this one was a very good one. Leonard was just somebody … special in my life, because I looked forward to coming to work because of Leonard.”
Reese is survived by his mother, Frances D. Reese; sister, Coral Graham; aunts, Linda Bradshaw, Judy Zink and Cathy King; cousins, Freddy Bradshaw, Jeff Bradshaw, John Zink, Gina Zink, Lance Harris, Roxanne Harris and Rhonda Miller; and his nieces and nephews Savannah Solis, Ryan Solis, Natalie Solis, Damian Jacob Solis and Hailey Galarza.
Several members of the campus community replied to the post with condolences, prayers or stories of Reese, including Gabriela Azuara, a UTRGV outreach representative who first met Reese as a student in 2015.
“I met Mr. Reese when I was actually a freshman at UTRGV and I was working for the Student Union at the time,” Azuara said in an interview with The Rider. “… I would see Mr. Reese pretty much whenever I was on the clock, which was, like, every day and he was always really sweet.”
She said one of her favorite memories of Reese is the fact that he always interacted with the community.
“He always remembered me and remembered to ask how I was doing in my studies and how my goals were coming along,” Azuara said, adding that even after years of not seeing him, she was surprised to find he remembered her.
“When I went back again, I thought, ‘Oh, you know … I haven’t seen Leonard in, like, probably three years by now,’” she said. “But as soon as he saw me, he was like, ‘Oh my gosh. I haven’t seen you in forever.’”
Reese “really took the time to get to know everyone that he had an interaction with,” Azuara said, adding that he often advised students to make the most out of the opportunities available to them.
“He was really good at sharing with students, in particular with me, about making good decisions and being very dedicated to what you do,” she said. “I know a lot of students missed him and I just send out my condolences to his family and everybody affected by his death because I know that it definitely feels like a light is missing from campus.”
Cantu said he wants the campus community to know that Reese “wanted to come back this semester and see everybody again, keep on being Leonard and keep doing his thing.”
“I feel like we need a lot more people like Leonard in this world,” he said. “I just want to say, you know, he’s going to be very missed. I’m going to miss him a lot.”
