Leslie V Schultz

She was born January 12, 1940, in Kansas City, Missouri, to Hy and Bella Vile. The youngest of four children, Leslie was the darling of her father's eye. She went every Sunday with her father while he taught Sunday school at Congregation Beth Shalom.

In 1962 she met the love of her life, Howard Schultz. They were set up on a blind date in February 1962 and from the moment they met it was love. They married five months later.

In 1964 Howard accepted a job as Comptroller for Skillern's Drug Store, and they drove across country to Dallas, Texas. Leslie immediately became involved with Akiba Academy, the new Jewish day school. She had enrolled their daughter, Jaynie, in the school because it was Jewish, but even more important was the full day preschool. Leslie also joined B'nai B'rith Women and soon rose to serve as a Regional Officer.

As sons Dan and Andy arrived in 1965 and 1966, the family focused on weekend camping with their dear friends and building Howard's business. In 1970 Howard created Howard Schultz and Associates, the first account payable auditing firm in the world. As the company grew, Leslie took the responsibility of planning all the global meetings, serving over 1500 associates. Leslie had an intuitive understanding of the importance of people gathering together and, in 1983, she bought 460 acres in Wise County to build Garrett Creek Ranch Conference Center.

Garrett Creek Ranch was the host for thousands of retreats and meetings by mostly small companies from around the world. Leslie focused on hosting small businesses because she knew they struggled to find conference centers they could afford. The walls of the Ranch were completely covered with notes of appreciation from groups who wanted to express their gratitude to Leslie for creating a space in which they could delve deeply into their work. Leslie, in true fashion, offered meeting grants to groups that could not afford the rates at the ranch.

Leslie also used the Ranch to serve as the home to the annual family reunion. Upwards of 100 people flew in from all over the world to spend three days together every year. In 2013, Garrett Creek Ranch was sold to Camp Summit, a year-round camp for special needs people of all ages, and Leslie always felt it was a blessing that her passion project ended up going to such a meaningful cause.

Family was everything to Leslie. As her children married and had children of their own, Leslie became even more devoted to building a strong world for her family and others. She was President of Akiba Academy, a charter member of the Dallas Women's Foundation, a board member of Jewish Family Service, Jewish Children's Regional Service, Hillel, the Anti-Defamation League, Melton, the Israel Bonds Cabinet, and heavily involved in the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas. Howard became deeply involved with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and was Chair of the Latin America Committee when the Argentinian economic crisis hit in 2001. True to her creativity and fortitude, Leslie convinced the Buenos Aires leadership to house a new program called Baby Help, a program that supported babies and their mothers who were hardest hit by the crisis, in the newly built Jewish old age home. She believed more than anything that joy came from anywhere, and allowing senior citizens the opportunity to play together with babies would be mutually beneficial, and it worked!

In recent years, her creativity and vision emerged through her focus on philanthropy and Jewish education. She was instrumental in the 2005 building of the Akiba and Yavneh Academy campus, spearheading the campaign, helping to design many elements of the campus, and working tirelessly to make the move a success. She was also very influential in the Center for Jewish Education of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas, continuing the education of teachers, Jewish students, and the future lay leaders in Jewish community organizations. Her dedication to education inspired SMU to set up a graduate program in Leslie and Howard's honor.

She was an absolute innovator and a philanthropic entrepreneur, and she was not afraid of failing.

Even with all her involvement in community and education, nothing was more important to Leslie than her family. Leslie is survived by her beloved husband, Howard, her children Jaynie (Ron Romaner), Dan (Joni), and Andy (Kathryn). Her ten grandchildren, Ben, Dalya, Zak, Gaby, Adina, Sam, Micah, Abigail, Max, and James, will miss her beyond measure.

Funeral service was held at Tiferet Israel Synagogue on Monday, February 26, with a burial at Sparkman Hillcrest Cemetery.

Donations can be made to Akiba Academy, Yavneh Academy or the Center for Jewish Education of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas.