Jerilyn Brusseau

Food and trees are Jerilyn Brusseau’s instruments for peace. Brusseau — the original creator of Cinnabon — founded PeaceTable in 1986 to create shared culinary experiences between people of the United States and the former Soviet Republics as a tool for building cultural understanding. Less than a decade later, Brusseau co-founded PeaceTrees Vietnam, a project to foster cross-cultural friendship and healing with the people and the land of Vietnam. Her brother Daniel Cheney, a young helicopter pilot, was killed in the Vietnam War in 1969.

The loss of her brother inspired the creation of PeaceTrees Vietnam in 1995. Her husband and PeaceTrees Co-Founder, Danaan Parry, died suddenly in 1996, as the first PeaceTrees citizen diplomacy team was preparing to leave the USA for Vietnam. Turning sorrow into service, Brusseau has tirelessly continued the work of PeaceTrees Vietnam for the last 15 years, earning many awards for this work, including International Humanitarian of the Year by the International Association of Culinary Professionals and the Broadway Edison Culinary Award by Seattle Central Community College. Jerilyn is a founding member of the Seattle Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International, a member of Seattle Four Rotary Club, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Women’s Center of the University of Washington.