Houston’s Prince of Parties Honored in Classical Music Night — Remembering Jackson Hicks’ Legacy Health Impact

It was the legacy of the much-beloved Jackson Hicks that was celebrated at The Corinthian when Legacy Community Health dedicated its annual Schmooze holiday fundraiser to the caterer and gentleman extraordinaire, who during his reign as the city’s leading caterer was anointed the Prince of Parties. In addition to instigating a sea change in how Houstonians entertained, Hicks was a longtime generous supporter of Legacy. In fact, Hicks was the force behind creation of Schmooze.

The $300,000 in proceeds from this evening will go to Legacy’s Jackson Hicks Endowed Fund for the Awareness, Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS.

The cocktail event was chaired by a who’s who of community leaders — Bill Caudell and Randy Powers, Sara Dodd and Will Denton, Melanie Gray and Mark Wawro, Nancy McGregor and Neal Manne, Becca Cason Thrash and John Thrash, Phoebe and Bobby Tudor and Milton Townsend, Hicks’ longtime partner. Via pre-recorded video, the Tudors, the Manne/McGregors, Becca Cason Thrash, the Gray/Wawros and Shelby Hodge provided testimonials on Hicks’ career, philanthropy and personality.

Memories of Hicks orchestrated the musical program for this night in his memory. Thus, there was an accent on classical music and piano, of which Hicks had mastered. Houston Grand Opera artistic director and one of the late Hicks’ closest friends Patrick Summers produced the presentation. World-renowned pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet jetted in from his home base in Los Angeles to perform solo and was later joined by Summers for a quatre-mains. International star soprano Christine Goerke, also a Hicks close friend, performed as did Chris Ellis on cello. He is a master’s student at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.

Festive white-on-white decor was provided by Rebekah Johnson of Bergner & Johnson while, as would have been expected, the catering service was provided by Jackson & Company, the honoree’s namesake enterprise.

PC Seen: Leigh and Reggie Smith, Chree Boydstun, Gary Hammett and David LaDuke, Nancy Allen, Trini Mendenhall, Terry Wayne Jones and Jay Jones, Shannon Hall, Melissa and Michael Mithoff, Kari Gonzalez, Jo and Jim Furr, Tripp Carter, Katy Caldwell and Keith Rudy, Cyndy Garza Roberts, Jay Andrew and Parker Witt, and Vivian Wise.