April 20, 1942 – August 26, 2012
Born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, on April 20, 1942, Robert died of a brain tumor in Portland, Oregon, on August 26, 2012.
Robert was a legendary chef, teacher, and culinary pioneer. On graduation from Suffolk University, he obtained a Carnegie Fellowship in education and began a career in curriculum development. After moving to San Francisco in 1977, on the J headed to work, Robert decided his future was going to be with food, whatever it took. He got off the trolley, went straight back to his home above 22nd Street, made a basket full of sandwiches and returned downtown to peddle them.
Robert began his formal culinary studies in Annecy, France with Madeleine Kamman, advocate of la cuisine des femmes, or home-style cooking. Back in San Francisco, he forged a close relationship with Josephine Araldo, a pioneer of le gout du terroir, what we now call locally sourced, seasonal food. With Josephine as friend and confidante, Robert taught the art of cuisine – in San Francisco, Denver, and France. Then he practiced what he preached, combining his love of education and of food at Le Trou restaurant on Guerrero and 22nd. We the people of San Francisco were the happy beneficiaries of his imagination and passion, crafted daily.
Moving to Portland in 1999, Robert quickly established himself at the center of the culinary scene, teaching and cooking and hooking chefs up. He settled into his little house in the Buckman neighborhood, which he came to share with his beloved dog Thomas, and where he died peacefully among family and friends.
Robert is survived by dozens of friends, students and fellow chefs, in whose lives and hearts he lives on; by many colleagues in France and Italy, by the Chef Studio – the school he founded in Portland – and three books; by Thomas and by a large Irish family in the East. He will be interred beside his mother in Boston. Memorial celebrations are being planned in Portland and San Francisco; for information, write mailto:[email protected]. For the many tributes, see Robert's Facebook page.
In lieu of flowers, donations are being accepted for the Araldo/Reynolds scholarship fund; for more info visit http://www.LeTrouRobert.org.