Dorothy Cann Hamilton

The International Culinary Center is an outgrowth of her Dorothy Cann Hamilton's training institute in the mechanical trades. Located in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan, it counts more than 15,000 chefs as graduates, among them, Bobby Flay, Dan Barber, Wylie Dufresne, Christina Tosi, David Chang and Zak Pelaccio. The center’s deans and teachers have included professional chefs like Jacques Pepin, Andre Soltner, Jacques Torres, Alain Sailhac, Jose Andres, Nils Noren and Cesare Casella. Dorothy Cann was born in Manhattan on Aug. 25, 1949, the daughter of John Cann, who started Apex Technical School in Manhattan in 1961, and the former Lillian Kuzmyak. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England. After three years with the Peace Corps in Thailand, where she taught English, Ms. Hamilton hoped to open a restaurant in Paris or Hawaii. But money was tight, job offers were few, and she wound up working as a receptionist for her father’s trade school to pay off student loans. She was promoted to financial aid director and earned a master’s in business administration from New York University. Her marriage to Douglas Hamilton ended in divorce. She is survived by their daughter, Olivia Hamilton.