Gaston Lenôtre

France

Gaston Lenôtre, founder of the restaurant, catering, retail and cooking school empire Lenôtre, which embodies French savoir-vivre and savoir-faire, especially in the art of pastry. (May 28, 1920 - January 8, 2009)

Gaston-Albert-Celestin Lenôtre was born May 28, 1920, on a small farm in Normandy. Both of his parents worked in restaurants in Paris, and after his father’s illness forced them back to Normandy, he struggled to find a place in a restaurant kitchen. Before World War II broke out, he peddled homemade chocolates in Paris on his bicycle for pocket money.

After the war, Mr. Lenôtre opened his first bakery in the small Normandy town of Bernay. Success there led him to buy a small, struggling bakery in the fashionable and quiet 16th Arrondissement in Paris in 1957, with Colette.

Mr. Lenôtre was immediately successful. His cakes, pastries and chocolate creations presaged the arrival of nouvelle cuisine of the early 1970s, which demanded a return to simple preparations and the freshest ingredients. He cut the cream, lightened the mousses and focused on quality ingredients, like good butter.

“Lenôtre is a luxury brand like Chanel, this lightness in the cakes that comes from only working with quality,” Patrick Scicard, who has been director and general manager of Lenôtre since Mr. Lenôtre’s retirement, said in a telephone interview.

“When you’ve been at Lenôtre, it’s like a drug,” Mr. Richard said. “You’ve been injected with his recipes that you have to carry your whole life.”

- Pierre Hermé, one of France’s leading pastry chefs, who became an apprentice at Lenôtre at 14.

Gaston Lenôtre

French Pastry Chef