Claiborne, Craig, 1920-2000

Craig Claiborne (September 4, 1920 – January 22, 2000); Born in Sunflower, Mississippi; essayed in premedical studies at the Mississippi State College from 1937 to 1939 finding it to be unsuitable to him he then transferred to the University of Missouri where he majored in journalism and got his B.A degree; served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and the Korean War. After deciding that his true passion lay in cooking, he used his G.I. Bill benefits to attend the École hôtelière de Lausanne (Lausanne Hotel School), located in Lausanne, Switzerland; contributor to Gourmet magazine, a food-products publicist and finally becoming the food editor of The New York Times in 1957. Claiborne was the first man to supervise the food page at a major American newspaper and is credited with broadening The New York Times's coverage of new restaurants and innovative chefs; died at age 79 at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, New York