Lea Bramnick, retired educator, chef, author, and cofounder of the Lobster Factory Inc., has died at 85
She hosted Cooking for Kids classes for nearly a decade and cowrote cookbooks for children and parents to share while making meals. “The good times, good smells, and good tastes will provide treasured memories,” she said.
Lea Bramnick, 85, formerly of Philadelphia, retired teacher, innovative education expert, longtime chef, cofounder of the Lobster Factory Inc., author, and volunteer, died Saturday, June 29, of age-associated decline at the Horsham Center for Jewish Life in North Wales.
Over five decades, Ms. Bramnick combined her love of family, cooking, education, and public service to provide children and parents with meaningful ways to connect and thrive. She taught elementary school students in Philadelphia for eight years, left to become project manager for educational material at McGraw Hill publishers, and later was director of the home products division of the Philadelphia-based nonprofit Research for Better Schools.
She helped publish children’s books about food and recipes called The Kids’ Kitchen Encyclopedia, and contributed children’s cooking tips to The Great Cook’s Guide series by James Beard and others. In 1983, she cowrote the 334-page The Parent Solution Book: Your Child from 5-12 with psychologist Anita Simon.
“Many parents feel that the only thing for which they are responsible is helping their children achieve in academics,” Ms. Bramnick told Inquirer columnist Darrell Sifford in 1983. “Do you want to know about not just what happened in math class, but also who the child ate lunch with and what he did at recess?”
She said she delighted in the scents of her grandmother’s kitchen as a girl and went on to connect food and family with emotional health and well-being. She took cooking classes for years, made connections at the prestigious Restaurant School, and spent memorable hours bonding as a cooking collaborator with her two sons and their young friends in her kitchen.
“Dinner is an important time to listen,” she told The Inquirer in 1979.
In 1976, she cofounded the Lobster Factory Inc., and she and her colleagues hosted popular Cooking for Kids classes in Philadelphia and elsewhere around the country for a decade. She featured Chicken Surprise, Soup for All Seasons, and other kid-friendly recipes in her sessions, and also made sure to share pointers on kitchen safety and cleanup time. “I love bringing those good feelings of accomplishment to children,” she said in 1982.
She was featured often in The Inquirer and Daily News, and she appeared on local and national TV shows to promote cooking and dining as ways to connect with children. Kristen Stec was a fifth grader in 1986 when she wrote a story for the Daily News about attending a Cooking for Kids class in Valley Forge. She ended her article by saying, “When I grow up, I hope I can cook just like my mom and Lea Bramnick.”
“She knew that families come together around food and dining,” said her son Gary, “and that education can spark connection.”
Ms. Bramnick retired in 2016 after working most recently as executive director of the Macula Vision Research Foundation and director of marketing and development at the Scheie Eye Institute at Penn Medicine. She was also onetime associate chair of the Philadelphia Antique Show and board member at Montgomery County Community College, Lower Merion Township Libraries, the Gladwyne Montessori School, and other organizations.
She was a mentor in the Philadelphia Futures educational program and active at Har Zion Synagogue, local Hadassah chapters, and other groups. “Lea was always a force in the room, a powerhouse,” a friend said in an online tribute. The four Singer sisters, former longtime neighbors, said in a tribute: “Well before there was TikTok and Instagram, Aunt Lea was our first influencer.”
Lea Chaile Shapiro was born Aug. 23, 1938, in Philadelphia. She was reared in Wynnefield, graduated from Overbrook High School, and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education at Temple University.
She married Wesley Bramnick in 1963, and they had sons Michael and Gary, and lived in Merion Station. They divorced later, and she moved to Center City. Her former husband died earlier.
Ms. Bramnick liked to wear bangles and brooches. She sold homemade cheesecakes, collected novelty pencils, and her granddaughter, Sophie, noted her “warmth, openness and full-bodied optimism.”
She gave books as presents, read mystery novels and newspapers, and filled her home with flowers. She followed the Phillies, Eagles, and 76ers closely, and shared sentimental sayings in cards, emails, and handwritten notes.
“And her favorite saying of all,” said her son Michael, “was: ‘Look at the sky. It’s glorious.’”
In addition to her sons and granddaughter, Ms. Bramnick is survived by grandson Eli and daughter-in-law Susan Weintraub.
Services were held July 2.
Donations in her name may be made to the Montgomery County Community College Foundation, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell, Pa. 19422.