Sofia Solomon helped expand many Chicagoans’ gastronomic palates by bringing the wares of many high-quality American cheese producers to the city.

Through her luxury food import and distribution company, Tekla, Solomon was a pioneer in delivering Midwest farmstead cheeses, along with premium chevres and Manchegos to Chicago restaurants and stores.

Solomon also cultivated connections with women in the business as a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier, a society of professional women involved in the food, beverage and hospitality industries.

“Sofia loved to educate people and share her love of knowledge with people,” said Sena Rosenberg, a close friend. “And she loved to be with people, enjoying good food, good wine and good conversation.”

Solomon, 78, died of complications from pancreatic cancer on Jan. 13 at her home, said her niece, Denise Andras-Gross. She had been a longtime Old Town resident.

Born Sofia Melnyk in Germany to parents from Ukraine, Solomon took on the name Sofia Markowsky as a child. She moved with her family from Germany to Chicago’s Ukrainian Village neighborhood in the late 1950s, and attended the now-closed Holy Name Cathedral High School in the Gold Coast.

As a young woman, Solomon worked at Spencer’s Marina City Bowl, a bowling alley in the Marina City complex in River North. She then worked in her husband’s store, improbably at a makeup counter, Andras-Gross recalled with a laugh, noting that Solomon herself did not wear makeup.

She later worked as a bookkeeper at the now-shuttered boutique Ultimo before working for her husband’s wine and spirits business.

In 1977, from her home, Solomon formed her food import and distribution company. She named it Tekla after her mother’s first name, and she started it by importing caviar from Iran.

Amid the Iranian hostage crisis that started in 1979 — followed quickly by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan — Solomon expanded her reach, creating a relationship with the French specialty food company Petrossian. As the exclusive Midwest distributor for Petrossian, Solomon imported smoked salmon, smoked eel, trout and foie gras. She insisted on sourcing and providing specialty items that otherwise were not available in the Chicago area.

In 1992, Solomon — nudged by Chicago chef Gabino Sotelino of Mon Ami Gabi, who at that time had just opened the restaurant Ambria — expanded her business further, into cheese, importing it from small Midwest producers, as well as from France, Italy and Spain. She drew attention from restaurateurs because she would compose cheese plates for chefs. She worked to champion small producers and shape how cheese was sourced, handled and understood in restaurants.

“Up until that time, (chefs) had to buy a case of this and a case of that,” Solomon told the Tribune in 2013, when the paper dubbed her a cheese advocate. “I said, ‘Let me just put a cheese plate together for you. That way you can buy one of each.’ The only things I cut were things I knew would be sold in a few days. Nobody was doing that. It helped because … they could use that one unit in an evening. You don’t want to bring small cheeses to room temperature, temper them and put (them) back in the cooler. That would destroy the cheese.”

Solomon’s family said she enjoyed teaching chefs and buyers how properly handling and aging cheese could transform flavor. That human interaction was good for Solomon’s business, but it also allowed her to build an appreciation for the products with clients.

Sofia Solomon, with some of the fine cheeses that she imports, at her company’s warehouse Tekla Inc., at 1456 N. Dayton St., in Chicago, Apr 10, 2013. (Nuccio DiNuzzo/Chicago Tribune)

“The kind of cheeses we carry have to be hand-sold,” Solomon told the Tribune in 2000. “It’s not the kind of thing you can just put on the shelf and walk away.”

Barbara Glunz-Donovan was a close friend of Solomon’s and the co-owner of Glunz Tavern in Old Town. “Sofia was indeed one of the hardest-working women I have known — selecting, selling, delivering and billing,” she said. “Whenever we had a wine dinner at the Glunz Tavern, I conferred with Sofia to purchase the perfect cheeses at perfect ripeness for the important cheese course.”

One special distinction for Solomon was having acclaimed cheesemaker Judy Schad of Greenville, Indiana-based Capriole name a soft-ripened, ash-marbled goat cheese Sofia, in her honor.

“It was very touching, very sweet,” Solomon told the Tribune in 2013, reflecting on the tribute.

Outside of work, Solomon enjoyed attending Joffrey Ballet performances and being one of the members of Les Dames d’Escoffier.

“Sofia’s generosity was legend — always willing to share her cheese knowledge and donating fabulous artisanal cheese boards that brought the highest bids at our food and wine auctions and dessert dashes,” said Toria Emas, a close friend and a fellow member of Les Dames d’Escoffier. “Not only did Sofia donate product, she gave her time to our community outreach projects such as the Flower Vocational High School Food Cart at the Garfield Park Conservatory. Sofia’s quiet elegance and discriminating taste will be missed.”

Glunz-Donovan said Solomon was always the most generous member the professional organization. “Not only (for) providing cheeses for every occasion, but in educating us in how each different shape should be properly cut, served and enjoyed,” she said. “Knowledge of every background detail on the producer, the place, the animal and the time of year the cheese was made was important. Her passion for quality, the importance of being selective, was infectious.”

Solomon bonded with four other entrepreneurs in the field of food and wine, meeting with them regularly for an intimate dinner group, Glunz-Donovan said.

Solomon also enjoyed traveling and celebrating milestones and holidays with others, including commemorating events with musical e-cards and gifting friends with boxes of smoked salmon and caviar from Petrossian, often paired with her favorite champagne, Pol Roger. She also was proud to have been inducted into France’s Guilde Internationale des Fromagers, a nonprofit group that promotes and connects the work of cheese professionals around the world while setting and maintaining standards of cheese knowledge.

Solomon retired in 2023.

Her husband of more than 35 years, Leonard, died in 2002. Solomon also is survived by two sisters, Mary Gnagni and Anna Pranno.

A celebration of life will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. on Feb. 22 at Venue West, 221 N. Paulina St.

Asked what she liked so much about cheese, Solomon told the Tribune in 2013 that she appreciated the visual aspect of cheese as well as “the entire cycle of it.”

“You see, it all begins with the earth, the soil in which the animals graze,” she said. “The animals, so you need to take care of that. And I think it’s just a perfect metaphor for life, that it really is that continuum, that cycle. I like cheese, I like dairy. I’m Ukrainian, so we’re brought up on sour cream. … There’s a romance to it, there’s a history to it.”

Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/23/sofia-solomon-obituary-cheese-advocate/