Presenting 2025 Hotelie Hall of Fame Story - Walter L. Isenberg, ’80
An excerpt from Walter's story...
I was born and raised in Kansas City. When I was 14 years old, I responded to an ad in a local newspaper and applied to work at Mission Hills Country Club. They hired me to be a dishwasher. About six months into my employment, the dining room Maître d’ asked me to become a busboy. Over the next three years, I held virtually every line job the club had to offer, from cook to waiter to banquet server.
Cornell? Where’s that?
One day, the Maître d’, Carlos Pena, said to me, “Walter, you really love this business, don’t you?” To which I enthusiastically said, “yes.” He said, “Well then, you need to go to Cornell University’s Hotel School.” I said, “Where’s that?” and he replied, “New York” (he left the Ithaca part out).
Perhaps most remarkable about Carlos’s introducing me to Cornell was the fact that he was a Mexican immigrant without a high school diploma. Regardless, he knew of Cornell’s reputation as the best place to obtain an education in hospitality.
Shortly thereafter, several members learned of my interest in applying to Cornell and offered to assist. Members of the club knew the best hotelman in Kansas City, Phil Pistilli, who was a Cornell graduate, Class of 1954. Mr. Pistilli agreed to meet me and ultimately wrote a letter of recommendation that accompanied my application to the school.
Upon acceptance to Cornell, Mr. Pistilli asked me to work for him as a management trainee the summer prior to my freshman year. At that time, Mr. Pistilli oversaw Kansas City’s two best hotels, The Alameda Plaza Hotel and The Raphael Hotel. My summer was jam-packed working in every department in both hotels.