Tallu Schuyler Quinn
Tallu Schuyler Quinn
Founder, The Nashville Food Project
In 2011, buoyed by her work with food-security projects in Nicaragua, Tallu Schuyler Quinn founded The Nashville Food Project, an organization that would not just provide emergency relief to hungry people, but also connect people to food systems and the land in order to remove barriers that keep them undernourished and underfed. Today The Food Project provides 5,000 nutritious meals every week for Nashvillians in need, diverts thousands of pounds of waste from landfills, and connects people to the land through gardening.
Tallu was a fierce advocate for food justice, an inspirational minister and a force who brought people together in a common belief: There is plenty to go around, and when we work together, we find that there are many more seats at the table. But if you knew Tallu — as many did, even if only in passing — you also know that she was incredibly, exceptionally kind. She remembered the smallest details you’d shared about your life, even if you did so years before. She was open about her own struggles and vocal about her challenges as a leader of The Food Project, about her position as a white woman of privilege leading a charge that, in the main, helped the most marginalized among us. She lived her faith — she didn’t wield it over anyone else. She loved her life, her children, her family and her community with ferocity, and showed that love in every interaction. Her friend and colleague Grace Biggs told the Scene in 2021, “Tallu exemplifies a lot of this willingness to be vulnerable and admit mistakes. To look deeply at how we can be better, because we do a lot imperfectly.”
At age 40, Quinn was diagnosed with grade four glioblastoma, an aggressive, terminal form of brain cancer. During much of her illness — and with the assistance of her husband Robbie and other friends and family — she wrote journal entries published on the site Caring Bridge, and these became a book. Her memoir, What We Wish Were True: Reflections on Nurturing Life and Facing Death, was published posthumously in April.
I interviewed Tallu for the Scene in 2021. I believe it was the last interview she did with the press — not because she didn’t want to do more, but because long conversations became difficult, and surely she wanted to save her energy for the people who mattered most in her life. I asked what she thought her legacy would be. She balked a bit — Tallu was nothing if not humble — and then said, “I feel, even though I’m facing something so devastating, I feel so deeply, genuinely grateful for the life I’ve lived and the opportunities I’ve been given. I don’t know what my legacy is. But I just feel like I’ve been part of something so meaningful.”
Tallu left behind her parents, Thom and Sarah, her adoring husband Robbie and their children Lulah and Thomas, as well as many other relatives, friends and a city that loved her. —Erica Ciccarone
Dan Einstein
Dan Einstein
Baker, friend, beloved community member
The East Nashville community suffered a heartbreaking loss in January 2022 when, after a long struggle with illness, Sweet 16th Bakery co-owner Dan Einstein died in hospice care at age 61. Just as much as Dan and his wife Ellen’s bakery was known for its delicious quiches, muffins, cookies and legendary breakfast sandwiches, it was known for its reputation as a place of community and acceptance.
Many East Siders will recall the morning after the devastating March 2020 tornado, when the Einsteins — with their establishment’s electricity out — gave away every item in the store for free. Not long after, the couple put up a “Wall of Love” where neighbors could leave messages of encouragement for one another. Ask around and you’ll find countless Nashvillians who have personal stories about the impact that the Einsteins have made on them.
After months of operating Sweet 16th after Dan’s death, Ellen ultimately decided to close the Lockeland Springs bakery in October. For many days leading up to Sweet 16th’s closure, a long line of customers stretched down 16th Street. Sure, folks were there because they knew it would likely be their last opportunity to buy “one to go.” But even more, they were there to pay tribute to a special man — a hard worker, a bright light and a good neighbor to all. —D. Patrick Rodgers
Doug Crow
Doug Crow
Bar owner, father, boss and friend
Doug Crow — a prolific creator of local pubs and a key figure in the city’s food and beverage scene since the 2000s — died unexpectedly in April at age 51. The affable founder of Joe’s Place and Crow’s Nest, both located on Bandywood Drive in Green Hills, Crow also owned and operated pubs in Destin, Fla. Locally, he had ownership and/or involvement in Corner Pub in the Woods, The Alley and Dalton’s in Bellevue; Austin’s in Fieldstone Farms; The Corner Pub in Midtown; and DJ’s Pub and Grub in West Nashville. He also was involved in the establishment of Noble’s Kitchen and Beer Hall in the Five Points area of East Nashville.
“Doug did so much for me and my family,” Crow’s longtime employee Todd Verhoven wrote on Facebook shortly after Crow’s death. “He was a great man, father, boss and friend. My heart breaks for his family and sons. I am grateful for the time we got to work together and even more for the friendship.”
The Scene’s Chris Chamberlain wrote in 2010 that Crow was known for bars that were consistent in presentation and desirable to patrons based on menu offerings and locations/spaces. “Doug practices what I like to refer to as the ‘hermit crab expansion strategy’ whereupon he moves into recently vacated dining sites and fills them with good, dependable food in a comfortable environment,” Chamberlain reported at the time. —William Williams
Remembering some of the irreplaceable Nashville figures we lost in 2022
