PARIS – The Latest on the death of French chef Paul Bocuse at 91 (all times local):
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3:55 p.m.
The wife and children of master French chef Paul Bocuse want to honor their “captain,” who has died at 91.
In a joint statement Saturday, they said that “more than a father and husband, he is a man of heart, a spiritual father, an emblematic figure of world gastronomy and a French flagship who is gone.”
The statement is signed by Bocuse’s wife Raymonde, their daughter Francoise, and his son Jerome who he had with another companion.
They stress that Bocuse loved life, loved transmitting his knowledge of the kitchen to other chefs and loved the team of chefs that he worked with in his hometown of Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or. The family says “these values will forever continue to inspire us.”
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2:55 p.m.
French President Emmanuel Macron has paid tribute to chef Paul Bocuse, the man who embodied French cuisine all over the world.
Macron praised Bocuse’s “fidelity” to his village of Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or, near the eastern French city of Lyon, where he was born, created his world-famous restaurant and died Saturday at age 91.
In a statement, Macron underlined Bocuse’s “generosity, his respect for traditions as well as his inventiveness.” Macron said Bocuse had helped train French and foreign chefs up to his last few days.
The French president says “French gastronomy loses a mythical figure … The chefs cry in their kitchens, at the Elysee and everywhere in France.”
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1:45 p.m.
Paul Bocuse, the master chef who defined French cuisine for nearly half a century and put it on tables around the world, a man who raised the profile of top chefs from invisible kitchen artists to international celebrities, has died at 91.
Often referred to as the “pope of French cuisine,” Bocuse was a tireless pioneer, the first chef to blend the art of cooking with savvy business tactics — branding his cuisine and his image to create an empire of restaurants around the globe. His imposing physical stature and his larger-than-life personality matched his bold dreams and his far-flung accomplishments.
Interior Minister Gerard Collomb tweeted Saturday that “Mister Paul was France. Simplicity and generosity. Excellence and art de vivre.”
