DETROIT (WXYZ) — A beloved community member known for his hospitality at a Detroit restaurant died after a house fire earlier this month.
Norris Schell, 55, was a server at Central Kitchen and Bar.
For the last eight years, Angie Perez has worked side by side with Schell. She was his bartender.
The two worked the same days every week and everyone who is a frequent visitor at Central Kitchen knows you rarely would see one without the other.
Restaurant employees say Central Kitchen will never be the same.
“You can’t miss Norris,” said Dennis Archer Jr., co-owner of Central Kitchen. “And you could hear his laugh from across the restaurant. So as big as this space is, it feels empty without him here.
“We lost a member of our family.”
Schell lost his life in a house fire in the city's North End neighborhood.
Schell had just been at one of his favorite places before the tragic incident doing what he loved most: dancing.
“He loved house music,” Perez said. “He loved spotlight. Spotlight was his… third home. He loved to dance.”
Archer says the loss of Schell has not only hit his staff at Central, but a community who knew and loved him even before he became a staple at one of the cities staple restaurants.
Archer added, Norris was the epitome of hospitality.
“Norris was extraordinarily in tune with our guests,” Archer said. “He could pick it up the minute they sat down and that is a trait that is just incredible. And the guest pick up on that from him and that’s why there was so much of a bond with Norris."
Alejandro Fuentes-Noguez manages Central Kitchen and he says Schell taught him everything he knows about the hospitality industry.
“In my eyes, he was what a server should be — or what a server could be,” Fuentes-Noguez said. “He had a lot of great attributes too. So I think a lot of us really embraced some of his teachings throughout the years.”
Archer says those teachings will live on and that he is hoping the community will wrap its arms around Schell’s family.
“I would just encourage those that are friends with the family, and know the family or don’t even know the family to send a note,” he said. “Be hospitable, be hospitable.”
Central Kitchen is hosting a celebration of life event for Schell Monday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
