On this date in 1935, renowned chef Jacques Pépin was born in Bourg-en-Bresse, France, the second of three sons born to Jeannette and Jean-Victor Pépin. After World War II, his parents — primarily his mother — opened a restaurant called Le Pélican, where Pépin worked as a child. He started his culinary apprenticeship at Le Grand Hôtel de l’Europe at age 13.
The household was Catholic and Pépin served Mass as an altar boy, though he later would at times tell interviewers he was an atheist. Asked once what dish he would prepare for God, he mentioned his atheism and replied “But probably an omelette with lots of butter. For my wife I made a perfect two-egg omelette with a layer of pressed caviar. Or Eggs Jeannette, a dish my mother made.” (Connecticut Magazine, Sept. 25, 2025)
During his military service in 1956-58, he was a personal chef for three heads of state, including Charles de Gaulle. He moved to the U.S. in 1959 to cook at Le Pavillon in New York City and met chef Julia Child, who became a lifelong friend and collaborator until her death in 2004.
John F. Kennedy and family members were regular guests at Le Pavillon. Pépin declined a job as White House chef after JFK was elected president and went to work for restaurateur Howard Johnson to develop food lines and where he served as director of research and development for a decade.
He opened a restaurant in Manhattan in 1970 and started to appear on talk shows such as “What’s My Line?” and “To Tell the Truth,” where his engaging manner, good looks and humor and charming French accent proved popular. His career as a restaurant chef with grueling days in the kitchen ended with a near-fatal car accident in 1974.
He had 14 fractures, a broken back, broken hips, broken pelvis and two broken arms. Pépin’s left arm was so damaged that doctors considered amputating it but didn’t. His left arm after surgeries was several inches shorter than his right and he lacked the stamina to stand for long periods.
He had already written two cookbooks and the third — the landmark 1976 publication “La Technique” — took home cooks through the essential recipes of French cooking a step at a time and was lavishly illustrated. “La Méthode” followed in 1979. He started teaching around the country. He appeared in his first public television cooking series in 1982 and went on to star in several more, each with a companion cookbook.
Pépin and Child appeared in several award-winning shows and series. In 1996 he introduced his daughter Claudine, born in 1967, with whom he collaborated on three series and companion books. He had married Gloria Augier in 1966. Her parents were Cuban and Puerto Rican, and she introduced those countries’ cooking into his repertoire. They’d met on the ski slopes of Hunter Mountain in upstate New York.
He suffered what was described as a minor stroke at age 79 in 2015 but was released two days later from the hospital amid what was later called a full recovery. He kept active well into his 80s while cooking and writing and published “Jacques Pépin Art of the Chicken: A Master Chef’s Paintings, Stories, and Recipes of the Humble Bird” in 2022.
Gloria, his wife of 54 years, died at age 83, at their home in Madison, Conn. When he was a guest judge on Bravo TV’s “Top Chef” in 2008, he said his ideal “final meal” would be roast squab and fresh peas.
PHOTO: Pépin at the Aspen Food and Wine Classic 2006; photo under CC 3.0.
