Anne Marie Gallagher passed away peacefully at home in Morris, CT on Wednesday, January 22nd. After a nearly ten year long battle with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer, she has finally been set free.
Anne was born on August 13, 1957 in Jersey City, New Jersey, as the second eldest of five. She grew up in Danbury, Connecticut with her parents, Paul and Patricia Coleman, and her four brothers, Paul, Billy, John, and Pat. Anne graduated from Immaculate High School in 1975. She was a huge animal lover, and loved caring for and riding horses, a hobby which she pursued into her adult life with her own horse, Julio. She dreamt of turning her love into a career and initially wanted to become a veterinarian. In pursuit of that dream, Anne attended Lake Erie College. As happens to many people, Anne soon discovered that school wasn’t for her, leaving after a year, and jumped into the working world.
Eventually Anne found her pathway late in life, making the hard decision to go to culinary school in her 40s, juggling jobs and mothering two girls. She worked her damn ass off and graduated with a culinary degree from the Natural Gourmet Institute. After that, she hit the ground running. It's impossible to list all her professional accomplishments, so to name only a few - Anne built a successful catering company from the ground up, Anne Gallagher Catering, specializing in local, seasonal, and delicious food. Her knowledge and prowess in the farm to table field was recognized when she was one of the chefs invited to the White House by Michelle Obama for the launch of Chefs Move to School. On the local level, Anne co-founded Plow to Plate, a program that connects farmers, medical professionals, and chefs in the mission to advocate disease prevention via healthy food. This program is still in place today at New Milford Hospital. Her position as culinary educator for the Yale New Haven Mental Health Center touched many lives, as she helped outpatients learn how to cook and navigate the kitchen. She was an incredible chef and an accomplished culinary pioneer.
In our hearts, we will always remember Anne as a creative spirit. She was so much more than the disease that took her from us. In addition to being an animal lover, she also loved being in nature and would often doodle little pictures of her garden’s blooms. In the past year, she started exploring metal smithing and fell in love with creating beautiful jewelry. Anne was also fond of writing poems throughout her life, particularly as she was processing difficult moments.
Anne was a fervent believer that, with enough research and funding, there would exist a future where metastatic breast cancer is not a death sentence. She fought fiercely not only for her own life, but for the lives of all others battling the same illness. Every year during Breast Cancer Awareness month, Anne would always encourage friends and family to send support to research for Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. In the spirit of continuing her fight, we are asking for friends and family to please donate to Metavivor in her name, using the following link: https://donate.metavivor.org/give/318818/#!/donation/checkout.
Anne also endlessly preached the benefits of eating well. Her lifelong mantra was “food is medicine.” She put this into practice throughout her personal and professional life. This can be seen through her work at Connecticut Mental Health Center. As chef and culinary educator of the Better Eaters Program, she taught outpatients how taking agency over the nourishment of their bodies will also nourish their minds and their souls. She helped equip her students with the necessary kitchen skills to achieve culinary independence. Anne loved and believed in this program. We ask that you help keep it going. Donations can be made to CMHC through https://cmhcfoundation.org/welcome. Please select your donation amount, and then select other, with an email to the person listed that this is for the food and nutrition program in honor of Anne Gallagher.
Anne often told us, "Please never think of me as dying, always think of me as living." We ask that all of you think only of Annie as living. Living in the hydrangea bushes, and in the red cardinals in the sky, and in the next meal you make to nourish your body and your soul.
Anne is survived by her two daughters, Shannon and Kerry
Per Anne’s wishes, there will be a celebration in the springtime at the Morris pavilion by the lake with her friends and loved ones to honor her life and memory.