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Didier Dagueneau died in a small plane crash yesterday near Cognac.

I understand many people on this website aren't familiar with him, but this is a major loss in the wine world.

There was an episode of Jancis Robinson's Instructional Wine Videos on Sauvignon Blanc. As I remember it, she took a bottle of New Zealand SB to Dageneau and poured it blind for him. When she told him it was NZ SB, he refused to spit it in his cellar and went outside to spit. It was pretty funny.

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Robert Steinberg, only 61 years old; co-founder of the San Francisco/Berkeley Scharffen Berger chocolate enterprise. Helped make really good American-made, beans-to-bars chocolate accessible to the masses. We visited his factory in Berkeley a few years ago and can still remember the ethereal smells and intense flavors. In fact, I think I will go to my pantry and have a chunk right now in his memory...

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George Arzeno Brugal, of the eponymous Dominican Rum company

George Arzeno Brugal, president of the Dominican Republic’s largest rum distiller, died in Tampa, FL, Friday while taking part in government-sponsored talks to deal with the effects of the global economic crisis.

Luis Conception, a company spokesman, confirmed Brugal's death, saying he had not been ill and that his children were with him when he died.

Brugal was president of the rum and beverage company Brugal, founded in 1888.A year ago this month it sold 83% of the company's shares to The Edrington Group, a Scottish distilling company, for $400 million.

He also was president of the Brugal Foundation which has made major grants to non-profit Dominican institutions for the past decade.

Brugal distills a variety of rums, such as Barceló and Bermúdez, in addition to the Brugal label.

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Dottie, one of the waitresses synonymous with the late Sherrill's Bakery on Capitol Hill, died recently at the age of 81. (This is according to a family member. Age is possibly approximate.)

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Agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug, the father of the "green revolution" who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in combating world hunger and saving hundreds of millions of lives, died Saturday in Texas, a Texas A&M University spokeswoman said. He was 95.

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Agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug, the father of the "green revolution" who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in combating world hunger and saving hundreds of millions of lives, died Saturday in Texas, a Texas A&M University spokeswoman said. He was 95.

It's possible that no one has done anything more important with food--certainly not in the last few hundred years. Truly an extraordinary man.

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It's possible that no one has done anything more important with food--certainly not in the last few hundred years. Truly an extraordinary man.

Dr. Borlaug was one of my graduate school professors, and was an incredibly gracious and enthusiastic teacher despite the huge demands on his time from multiple sources and directions. He had a marvelous sense of humor as well. I'll miss him. :rolleyes:
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My Father, Henry Moomau, passed away last week. Not extremely significant to the food world at large, but he loved to eat well in any place, and as any good beef farmer, loved his steak. When he was in the hospital he kept telling us he hadn't had anything to eat, and the first place he wanted to go when he got out of the hospital was Ruth Chris. He introduced me to so many foods I wouldn't have otherwise eaten at a very young age. He took us kids with him to fine dining places, like Commander's Palace, and we behaved so that we could go to the next good place Dad took us. When I was young he would often order a tasting menu at a fine restaurant and would split it with me so I got lots of small tastes of different things and wasn't relegated to a childrens menu or just a dish. He grew up in the country and loved scrapple, fried chicken, buckwheat cakes and all the other joys of Southern cooking. He ate some gross things like peanut butter, sandwich spread and tomato sandwiches, and the poor guy couldn't cook to save his life, he burnt soup even. But he was a connoisseur of food be it doughnuts and pizza or fine dining, he loved it all, if it was good. He had wanted to come down to visit my Husband and I to get good pizza and go to Ray's, I wish he had been able to make it.

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He introduced me to so many foods I wouldn't have otherwise eaten at a very young age. He took us kids with him to fine dining places, like Commander's Palace, and we behaved so that we could go to the next good place Dad took us. When I was young he would often order a tasting menu at a fine restaurant and would split it with me so I got lots of small tastes of different things and wasn't relegated to a childrens menu or just a dish. He grew up in the country and loved scrapple, fried chicken, buckwheat cakes and all the other joys of Southern cooking.

When I leave this earth, I can only hope my child remembers my passion for food and dining as vividly as you remember your father's. Sorry for your loss.

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My Father, Henry Moomau, passed away last week. Not extremely significant to the food world at large, but he loved to eat well...

I'm sorry for your loss and glad you wrote this - it makes me realize from where my affection for food springs.

My father passed last August - and he loved creating at the stove. His method was maddening - he never tacked anything, so if a dish came out great, he only had a rough idea of how it got that way. No two were the same, but at the same time he honed his skills and over time, few if any dishes were bad. He'd been doing the steak "sear" method for many years, and would turn bags of tomatoes from his garden into a year's worth of magical pasta sauce.

He and his neighbors formed a "gourmet club" that met every month - that club lasted 30 years, and my father is now buried next to one of his tablemates.

He had no formal training. He probably wouldn't win any contests. But dinner with Dad was worth dropping everything to enjoy. I'm pretty sure that his heaven starts with a really well-stocked kitchen.

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Theo Albrecht, owner of Trader Joe's (through a family foundation).

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postmortem/2010/07/theo-albrecht-trader-joes-owne.html?hpid=news-col-blog

He and his brother Karl are/were the two richest men in Germany, having gotten so through their ownership of Aldi. Long story, but they split it up many years ago, basically dividing up Germany, and the world, into Aldi North and Aldi South. Aldi stores in the US are owned by the brother.

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If you enjoy dining alfresco in DC, apparently you have Sarah Bassin to thank.

Times haven't changed that much...

A deputy police chief warned that "this type of operation would provide a favorable setting for ladies of easy virtue as they ply their trade up and down the street."

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It has been a decidedly bad year in our family, after my Dad's passing earlier this year, in August my husband's grandfather passed. He was a funny guy he loved to go out to eat, but my funniest memory is him ordering fajitas (fa-gee-tahs). Then this morning my last grandparent, my grandfather, Sull passed away. He lived a very good life was 93 and always got to live at home, he passed away in his sleep after a month ago being diagnosed with leukemia. He raised a garden and had a cellar of cans anyone would have been proud and perhaps a little amazed at. Even at his old age he made sure his family was fed.

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Loui See Ling was the owner of the Shanghai Restaurant on Fidler Lane in Silver Spring [where Cubanos is now] and seen in this family photo provided to the Washington Post.

PH2010100903879.jpg

Mr Ling's obituary noted that the elders in his Canton hometown pooled their money and sent him to start a business in America. He died on September 15th at the age of 102.

The obituary, written by T. Rees Shapiro, also chronicles the market-driven evolution of the restaurant's cuisine over its 50 years in business.

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Christopher Calomiris

I was so happy when I started to see him working at their stand again on weekends late last year. I figured that whatever was wrong, he must be doing better. He'd been gone for such a long time before that. Just a few weeks ago, I stopped by their stand and needed some dill. He was standing right there, so i asked him for it. He seemed so frail and unsteady on his feet, I felt bad I'd asked him, but I figured he was there because he wanted to be. I feel sad :) .

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Jimmy Hogge, waterman and owner of Buster's Seafood, a fixture at the Arlington Courthouse and Dupont Circle Farmers' Markets.

It was always a treat to pass a little time chatting with him, talking about oyster rakes, how best to prepare rockfish belly, and various other topics. He provided a connection to another time and way of life and I'll miss him very much.

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Jimmy Hogge, waterman and owner of Buster's Seafood, a fixture at the Arlington Courthouse and Dupont Circle Farmers' Markets.

It was always a treat to pass a little time chatting with him, talking about oyster rakes, how best to prepare rockfish belly, and various other topics. He provided a connection to another time and way of life and I'll miss him very much.

This brings a tear to my eye. What a wonderful man. I could listen to him talk for hours. :(

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Jimmy Hogge, waterman and owner of Buster's Seafood, a fixture at the Arlington Courthouse and Dupont Circle Farmers' Markets.

It was always a treat to pass a little time chatting with him, talking about oyster rakes, how best to prepare rockfish belly, and various other topics. He provided a connection to another time and way of life and I'll miss him very much.

Oh no :( This is very sad and I'll miss seeing him at the markets.

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Michael Altenberg passed on Saturday morning.

http://articles.chic...bistro-campagne

Michael was an important guy in local-substainable-harmonious-whatever movement in Chicago. Not just for the sake of being able to say he did, but in a beautiful selection of classic preparations straight from Escoffier. He didn't bring a lot of attention to himself however, and thusly flew under the radar. A great friend of mine has been at Bistro Campagne for years and I am thankful he introduced me to Michael many years ago.

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