Sally Henry Memorial Award Winner—2003
Marian Macdonald
by Susanne Stark
The 2005 Sally Henry Award winner, Marian Macdonald.
Marian’s professional qualifications for this award are very diverse. Marian graduated from MacDonald Institute at the University of Guelph and launched into a long and fruitful career. She worked for Consumers Gas in the company’s ‘Blue Flame Room’ doing food demos as one of the Betty Bright persona; then with Dominion Stores Ltd. as one of their food experts. The majority of her career has been with Kraft Canada (General Foods).
Marian brings boundless energy, enthusiasm and commitment to her work. She was a primary source of food knowledge at Kraft. She applied her knowledge and ideas to virtually every Kraft product. Many of her classic recipes are still celebrated and enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of Canadians – Dream Pies, Jell-O Pudding Cakes and perfect Jell-O cubes. Excellence is Marian’s trademark. She created methods, such as the Food For Thought program, to share expertise and knowledge among the Kraft Kitchens, Consumer Research, and Research and Development departments. This program is still running today and has been adopted by countries as far away as Germany.
Marian also spearheaded the PR launch of the What’s Cooking magazine for consumers in 1992. Now 13 years later, What’s Cooking is distributed in three languages to over 12 million households across North America.
She is a truly enthusiastic champion of consumers. This was best demonstrated when Marian visited a store where a great number of Kraft products were beyond the best before date. She purchased the whole lot to get if off the shelf so consumers wouldn’t have a disappointing experience.
Marian is as passionate about people as she is about food. She helps people see what they can be, always supporting and encouraging them to enhance their skills, their product knowledge and their food expertise. She exhibits genuine care and compassion for her colleagues and staff, friends and family, and is unanimously known as one of the most selfless people that you will ever meet.
She has boundless energy both at work and beyond. When Kraft afternoon meetings were flagging or a team was fatigued during a difficult phase on a key project, she was the ‘RAH RAH’ person. When the Kitchens were strapped for time and resources, it was not unusual for Marian to test recipes at home, after hours. Marian also took this energy outside of work.
She served on the CHEA Metric Committee for over 10 years, and still promotes metric to this day. This group influenced the decision to hold to volumetric measurement in Canada and defined the units for wet and dry measures, pan sizes, and others. She is currently bringing her energy, expertise and ideas to the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation, contributing to the development of the PMHF Cancer Cookbook and volunteering in the Cancer Information Library where she is supportive and caring of everyone who sets foot in there. Marian herself has suffered from cancer but she never dwells on it, is always bubbly and positive, and is always there for others. Marian gives selflessly to many other organizations and volunteer projects, too numerous to mention.
She has many hobbies, and loves to travel and discover new places, bringing home new ideas for recipes and conversations. She is an avid skier and dancer, loves horseback riding, and has sailed for many years. Her newest pastime is doting on her granddaughter and generously supporting her daughter-in-law.
Marian demonstrates a ‘Zest for Life’ that is truly admirable. She is 100% genuine and committed to people and the profession of Home Economics. She is a role model for many of us. May we all focus on the ‘Bright Side of Life’.
Congratulations!