Oh, my heart. I just learned Tom Spicer passed away in his home. I spoke with his ex-wife, Ann Spicer. “It was probably a stroke, something organic,” Spicer says. “He was rinsing berries at the sink.” Apparently a friend went to Spicer’s apartment after several phone calls were not returned. He broke the door down around 3:30 pm and found Spicer on the floor.
To say this is a huge loss to Dallas would understate what the charming, delightful, perfectly kooky Tom Spicer, an agricultural force in this area for over 30 years, meant to the culinary community. He had consulted on and designed working crop farms for decades. He was an acreage farmer with a deep understanding of how food grows and where and when it should be grown. For seven years, he operated FM 1410, a funky produce stand in East Dallas, but was locked out by the landlord last December. The good folks at the Garden Café opened a space for him next door to the restaurant in an effort to help him restart his business and host his popular dinner series.
I can hardly type because my fingers are shaking. Spicer has been a longtime friend and colleague and as Ann Spicer says, “He was really a character and really loved.” Tom Spicer was 58.
