Mildred Marcuis Oppenheimer

Mildred M. Oppenheimer, born in Waco Texas on December 11, 1929 to Mary and Jacob Marcuis. She died in Dallas, Texas on January 5, 2015 after a relatively brief but intense battle with pancreatic cancer. As a youth, Mildred was active at Congregation Agudath Jacob where she taught Hebrew School and was confirmed. She was also active with Junior Hadassah in Waco. Mildred graduated from Waco High School in 1945 and after a short vacation to New York went to Four C’s Business College where she studied accounting and bookkeeping. At the age of 18 Mildred moved to Dallas, Texas where she went to work for Neiman Marcus in the Bookkeeping Department. On occasion Miss Marcuis was invited to attend the Friday Luncheon Fashion shows where she was mistaken for a member of the Marcus family. While exiting the store one day laden with packages, Mildred bumped into Henry Oppenheimer. She thought he was charming and quite worldly as he had emigrated from Germany as a teenager and still had a slight accent. They began dating and were married on September 16, 1951 at the Stoneleigh Hotel in Dallas. Mildred travelled with Henry as a road salesman for Lorch Westway a Dallas based women’s and children’s clothing manufacturer until the birth of their children, Jay and Barrie. The role of housewife and mother was not completely fulfilling for Mildred and she began taking night classes at SMU. At a SMU night class she met Leslie Siegel, a transplant from New York. She and Leslie became casual acquaintances until Leslie, returning from a trip home convinced Mildred to start a business with her. The business was a franchise of Weight Watchers and they were among the first franchisees outside of the East Coast. They opened their first meeting in February 1967 at the First Unitarian Church of Dallas. What started as a way to relieve boredom became an avocation for Mildred. Weight Watchers forever changed her life and became a way to change other people’s lives for the better by helping them lose weight and improve both their physical and mental health. It also made Ms. Oppenheimer financially independent. In May 1971, Mildred and Henry Oppenheimer were divorced. In the next eleven years Mildred remarried and divorced two more times. In 1975 Mildred and Leslie dissolved their partnership and split up the territory of their franchise. As an independent franchisee, Mildred continued to manage and grow the brand of Weight Watchers by publishing two cookbooks; Diet—you’ll like it!: Recipes for slimming (1973) and Streamlined Cooking with the Slender Chef (1980) while raising her children, developing a sense of philanthropy in Dallas and travelling the world until 2004 when her son organized the sale of the franchise back to Weight Watchers International. After Weight Watchers, the most emotionally impactful moment of her life came in September of 1981 when her daughter Barrie became a paraplegic as from an automobile accident that caused a severe Closed Head Injury. This injury to her daughter propelled Mildred into a world of community activism: Mildred lobbied for better handicap access in public/private buildings across Dallas and the nation and donated the construction of handicap accessible restrooms at Temple Emanu-El. Mildred also served as an active board member of Temple Emanu-El for four years. In 1985 Mildred joined the board of the Kent Waldrep National Paralysis Foundation where she gave both her time and financial resources. She encouraged UT Southwestern Medical School to become more involved in researching spinal injuries and paralysis. Other community interests as an active board member and financial supporter included Jewish Family Service of Dallas, the Dallas Opera, the Executive Board of Meadows School of the Arts, Meadows Museum – Southern Methodist University and MD Anderson Cancer Center Board of Visitors. Mildred served on the Meadows board during the historical time of the fundraising and building of the current Meadows Museum which opened in March 2001. After her retirement from the Meadows School Executive Board she remained involved with the Meadows Museum and in 2014 Donated “Portrait of a Lady” by Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta to the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University in memory of former Meadows School of the Arts dean and dear friend, Carole Brandt. Mildred was known for her loyalty to causes, friends and family, her sharp intellect and even sharper opinions and her inability to suffer fools or foolish behavior all coated within a thick layer of Southern charm, generosity and kindness to everyone she met. Mildred is predeceased by her mother, Mary Marcuis and her father, Jacob Marcuis and survived by daughter Barrie Oppenheimer, son Jay Oppenheimer, brother and sister-in-law Bernard and Gayle Marcuis, nieces and nephews Meredith and George Harmon, Alan and Amy Marcuis and great nieces and nephew Max and Halle Harmon and Lainey Marcuis. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Jewish Family Service of Dallas. Funeral Service will be 2:00pm Thursday, January 8, 2015 in Olan Sanctuary, Temple Emanu-El, 8500 Hillcrest Rd., Dallas. Interment will follow in Temple Emanu-El Cemetery, 3430 Howell St., Dallas.