Presenting 2026 Hotelie Hall of Fame Story - Jeanne Sander ’66
An excerpt from Jeanne's story...
Jeanne Brown grew up in Charleston, West Virginia where her father worked in the food business. Good food and nice restaurants were important to him, and Jeanne grew up looking forward to annual road trips that took the family to new locations across the United States which always included nice hotels and restaurants.
When researching colleges, she planned to major in math or business. During her senior year of high school, however, she received a brochure for a hotel school, and immediately felt that this was where she was meant to be. Unfortunately, it was too late to apply to any of the three hotel programs available in 1962: Michigan State, the University of Denver, and Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration. She applied to all three the following year.