Mireille Marie Christine Pillsbury

Mrs. Mireille Bernard Pillsbury, wife of Dr. Edmund P. “Ted” Pillsbury Jr., the former director of the Kimbell Art Museum, died on July 27th 2012 after a courageous battle with breast cancer. She was 66.

Born in 1946 in Lisbon, Portugal to Mme. Marie-Louise Andrée Benoite Soleilhac and M. André Augustin Bernard, she grew up in Grenoble, France. She attended the University of Grenoble and graduated in English studies. In 1968 she was studying English in London when she met her husband Ted in the libraries of the University of London’s Courtauld Institute of Art, where he was pursuing his doctorate. They married in 1969 in Grenoble and moved to America, a country she had never visited until she arrived as a newlywed at Ellis Island in December 1969. She subsequently pursued her post graduate studies in French Literature at Yale University in New Haven where they lived.

Mireille moved with her family to the Dallas / Fort Worth area in 1980. She worked part-time as a French teacher at Fort Worth Country Day School, in addition to serving on various boards related to the arts. She contributed to the success of the Kimbell Art Museum through her unwavering support of Ted. More significantly, she was an intrepid traveler, devoted wife, loyal friend and proud mother of Christine and Edmund. She touched everyone she knew with her ‘joie de vivre,’ sense of adventure, great strength and beautiful heart.

She is survived by her two children, Christine Pillsbury Raniolo and her husband Alessandro of Singapore, and Dr. Edmund Pillsbury III and his wife Kinsey of Dallas; and three grandchildren, Marc and Eleanor Raniolo, and Kate Mireille Pillsbury.

A memorial service will be held at 3:00 pm on Thursday, August 2nd 2012 at The First Unitarian Church of Dallas on 4015 Normandy Avenue. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to UT Southwestern with a note that it is for the Pillsbury Family Fund in honor of Dr. Eugene Frenkel (UT Southwestern PO Box 910888, Dallas, Texas 75391-0888).