On Friday morning, July 10, the Nashville culinary and foodie neighborhood found the unhappy information that Thomas Williams had handed away after an prolonged sickness that was compounded by a foul fall greater than a 12 months in the past. I used to name Thomas “the nexus of the whole lot good about Southern meals,” and his experience as a connector of individuals was unmatched. He was all the time able to step up for a great trigger, and his profession as an actual property agent appeared virtually like his second job once you thought-about on a regular basis and energy he put into serving to individuals manage charitable occasions and providing consulting companies for cooks and eating places (or dishing the nice dust from the most recent business scuttlebutt).
I first met Thomas at an occasion he put collectively in 2010 to boost funds for restoration after the Nice Flood. “Taking Nashville’s Desk to Larger Floor” was a mouthful of a reputation for a fundraiser, however contemplating the wonderful roster of chef expertise he put collectively — starting from John Fleer to John Currence to Linton Hopkins — the occasion was undoubtedly additionally a mouthful in one of the simplest ways doable. After an introduction by eminent meals author John Egerton, Thomas was greeted by a standing ovation from the 250 attendees. That’s once I knew that this man should really be somebody vital.
Thomas would by no means have agreed with my appraisal. He thought-about himself simply an excessive lover of Southern meals and collector of fascinating mates, and I used to be lucky to be part of that assortment and break bread with him a whole bunch of instances. He as soon as satisfied me and one other good friend to drive all the way in which to Lexington, Tenn., for a barbecue sandwich — and he then knowledgeable us that we needed to make an hour detour alongside the way in which to get some breakfast first.
Dangerous circulation plagued his toes for years, and I continuously volunteered as chauffeur in periods when he wasn’t capable of drive or get round with out his scooter. You simply needed to be ready {that a} journey for a luncheon in Chattanooga may embrace a beforehand undiscussed detour to Townsend to select up a chunk of furnishings and a cease in Madisonville to go to with Allan Benton and decide up a few kilos of bacon and a flat of mushrooms on the way in which house.
Thomas was deeply dedicated to the The Nashville Meals Undertaking and launched me to their very important work by volunteering me to be a part of him within the NFP kitchen just a few instances to organize meals for supply to some weekly rental lodges on the outskirts of city. His dedication rubbed off on me, and I’ve been an enormous supporter of NFP ever since. He was instrumental in serving to the group manage the earliest iterations of their scrumptious fundraiser Nourish, bringing in big-name cooks to city to assist draw crowds and lift funds. The Nashville Meals Undertaking named their award for the volunteer who greatest embodies the spirit of their work the “Thomas Williams Golden Skillet Award,” referring to Thomas and the nickname that he and his many mates had for one another. After I noticed his identify on my caller ID, it was all the time a race to see which of us might inform the opposite, “Skillet! Let’s get lunch! Arnold’s? Silver Sands?”
Preparations are nonetheless being finalized as of this writing, however the tributes are already pouring in on social media and in prolonged group textual content chains amongst his numerous mates. Whereas so many people will desperately miss Thomas on the desk, his spirit and his affect on the native culinary neighborhood will endure for so long as Nashville fights to maintain its unbiased restaurant soul alive. I hope which means he will likely be remembered for a protracted, very long time.
Relaxation in peace, Skillet.
