Joanne Schaeffer, 64, took great care with gift baskets, people

In her Brookhaven basement, Joanne Schaeffer created gourmet gift baskets by the hundreds. Not a one left her house until it was deemed perfect.

Ms. Schaeffer was just as meticulous in her job as assistant to the head of Planned Parenthood of Georgia and as a volunteer at Weinstein Hospice.

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Joanne Schaeffer created gourmet gift baskets in her Brookhaven basement, each perfectly assembled. She traveled to food shows to find the latest items.

Holidays were the busiest time for her enterprise, Nuts to You. That’s when she called in family and friends to help fill baskets, boxes and trays with nuts, gourmet foods and custom gift items. Ms. Schaeffer made sure each item was beautifully placed and every bow was just so, said her sister, Barbara Schwartz of Chamblee. When Ms. Schaeffer packaged her creations for shipping, she insisted on white Styrofoam peanuts only — not a single colored one — to create a clean, fresh look.

“It was going to be right, or it wasn’t going to go out at all,” her sister said. “She was very creative and very perfect about herself and her business.”

Ms. Schaeffer had a flair for entertaining, for planning events for Weinstein Hospice and for accessorizing her favorite purple outfits with artfully tied scarves.

“She used the word ‘lovely’ a lot,” said her friend Margaret Clarkson of Atlanta. “She was elegant, warm and caring.”

The memorial service for Ms. Schaeffer, 64, who died of melanoma at her Atlanta residence Tuesday, was Thursday. Cremation Society of Georgia was in charge of arrangements.

“The first time I spoke to Joanne was on the phone and she answered, ‘Nuts to You,’ ” said Planned Parenthood CEO Kay Scott.

“I thought to myself, she will fit right in.

“Joanne was deeply committed to the values of Planned Parenthood and set high standards for herself as well as others,” Ms. Scott said. “She had special talents and finesse in working with the board and was highly thought of by them.”

At Weinstein Hospice, Ms. Schaeffer was a loving presence for families and patients, said former volunteer coordinator Janis Kleinberger of Marietta.

“She was always so open-hearted, so generous, so warm. She was gracious. That’s the perfect word for her.”

Ms. Schaeffer, formerly a tennis player, combined her sport and travel, journeying to such places as the Ukraine and Prague to England for Wimbledon and to the French Open, her sister said.

She traveled to food shows to find the latest gourmet items for her gift baskets, and one show gave her a particular thrill, Ms. Clarkson said.

She got to meet and chat with best-selling cookbook author Ina Garten, known as the Barefoot Contessa. Each October, Ms. Schaeffer staged her own mini-food show — a home showing of custom gifts and gourmet items for her clients.

Throughout the year, she entertained conversational groups of friends. After setting an elegant table with her mother’s china and silver, Ms. Schaeffer headed into her kitchen to cook what else but a gourmet supper.

She was diagnosed with melanoma 24 years ago, her sister said. She entered a research program at Piedmont Hospital for experimental treatment and encouraged her friends to take care of their skin to prevent the disease. She kept such a positive attitude that the hospital featured her in its winter edition of Piedmont Profiles. For the article’s photo shoot, she dressed in purple and smiled broadly.

“She was just sunshine,” Ms. Kleinberger said.

There are no other immediate survivors.