Ernest Weil
Born: August 9, 1924
Landau, Germany
Professional Experience / Job History:
Learned his Mother's baking secrets
Age 12 (1936)
Baker of his own Bar Mitzvah Cake
Age 13 (1937)
Apprenticed at a Chocolate Specialty Shop
Mannhein, Germany
Age 14 (1938)
Fled Germany to Cuba on the ship the St. Louis, but the ship was
forced back to Europe.
Age 15 (1939)
(Was one of the 937 passengers on the ship the St. Louis by himself
at the age of 15 - was interviewed for the book titled Voyage of the
Damned by Thomas and Morgan Witts)
Ended up in France in an orphanage, (a book titled, Out of the Fire
by Ernest Papenek was written about this orphanage, which was run
by an amazing husband and wife team. Ernest Weil is mentioned in the
book.)
Graduate of Cordon Blue Cooking School
Paris, France
Age 16 (1940)
Immigrated to United States
Age 16 (1940)
Hired as a pot washer, became a line cook, then baker
Morningside Hotel, Catskill Mountains, NY.
Age 16 (1940)
Hired as pot washer, turned baker
New England Bakery
Flushing, NY.
Moved to San Francisco in 1941
Orowheat Bakery.
Took bread out of oven, when machines broke down, shaped the bread
Precilla Cake Box, Baker
Blum's. Manager of Bakery Operations
(1941 - 1948)
Army, Ft. Lewis, WA, Staff Sergeant
(1946 - 1947)
Fantasia Confections, Founder/Owner (1948 - 1989)
As the owner of Fantasia, professional experiences consisted of a
variety of job skills over the 41 years in business: Baker, Potwasher,
Salesperson, Bookkeeper, Janitor, Cake Decorator, Advertising Executive,
Mail Order Director, Delivery Person, Chief of Customer Relations,
Personnel Manager (and at times life counselor to employees), Product
Researcher & Developer and most importantly Quality Control Official!