Dione Lucas, 1909-1971

Dione Lucas was born in London, England, in 1909, daughter of architect Henry Wilson. She studied at the Cordon Bleu in Paris under Henri-Paul Pellaprat and apprenticed at the Drouant Restaurant in Paris before becoming the first woman to receive a diploma from the Cordon Bleu. In the early 1930s, she returned to London, where she and friend Rosemary Hume opened Le Petit Cordon Bleu Restaurant and Cooking School, having been authorized to issue diplomas by the Cordon Bleu. During this time she married architect Colin Lucas. The couple had two children, Mark and Peter. They later divorced.

In 1940, Lucas moved with her two children to New York City, first working at Longchamp's Restaurant. She opened the Cordon Bleu Cooking School and Restaurant in New York City in 1942. In 1946, she became the first woman to host her own television cooking show, To the Queen's Taste, which appeared on ABC stations. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s Lucas hosted several other cooking shows, including The Dione Lucas Cooking Show, the Dione Lucas Hour, Gourmet Club, and Dollars and Sense Cooking, and also gave cooking demonstrations across the United States and Australia. Lucas was involved in several restaurants in addition to the Cordon Bleu, including the Egg Basket and The Ginger Man in New York City, the Brasserie Restaurant in Bennington, Vermont, and the Heritage Village Restaurant in Southbury, Connecticut. In addition to teaching at the Cordon Bleu, Lucas also taught cooking classes at the Gourmet Cooking School and The Ginger Man, all in New York City, and opened several culinary equipment stores, including the Dione Lucas Gourmet Center and Maison Michel.

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