Ann B. Zekauskas
Ann, circa 1960
Ann Barbara Zekauskas was born in Kingston, Pennsylvania, in 1927. The daughter of Lithuanian immigrants, John Matthew Zekauskas, a coal miner, and Anna Mary Sadaukas, a homemaker, Ann was the third youngest of seven children, including Blanche, Nell, Raymond, Laurie, John, and Betty. Ann graduated from Kingston High School and pursued higher education at the Pennsylvania State University, where she was a competitive swimmer, a member of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority and several honor societies, and worked at the Daily Collegian. She spent summers working in restaurants on Cape Cod.
After earning a degree in Home Economics in 1950, Ann moved to New York City, where she promptly created an entirely new profession in the burgeoning field of television food advertising, becoming the first notable freelance food stylist. Ann was a true pioneer in food advertising, both in print and television, and her career spanned more than 60 years and thousands of projects. Her expertise in making everyday food look impossibly delicious was much sought after by advertising agencies, photographers, and film directors around the world. A member of the Screen Actors Guild, Ann was renowned for her work with ice cream. She once said about working with delicate food under hot studio lights, “No food is really an insoluble problem if you know what you’re doing.”
Ann was a mentor to others in her industry, a volunteer within her community on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and a prominent member of her family. She taught her many nieces and nephews the necessity of proper nutrition, the benefits of cooking good food, and the joy of preparing a gathering. Above all, she stressed the importance of education — as she well knew that it could be transformational. Ann passed away in 2014. Her final wish was to create this family foundation that empowers others through food awareness, access, and education.
“No food is really an insoluble problem if you know what you’re doing.”
Ann B. Zekauskas, 1976
— On working with ice cream
