Much in the way that Julia Child introduced culinary cuisine to Americans through television and James Beard did so through writing, Chuck Williams brought gourmet cooking to retail.
The founder of Williams-Sonoma, who passed way last Saturday of natural causes at the age of 100, is best known as the merchant who introduced America to French kitchen products such as the soufflé dish, the Madeleine mold and the sauté pan. He is being remembered as one of the pioneers who inspired America's curiosity of exotic flavors and the thrill of cooking from scratch.
Mr. Williams opened the first Williams-Sonoma store in 1956 and sent out the first glossy Williams-Sonoma catalog in 1971. While selling the business in 1978, he remained as the company's public face and stayed active with the company, including writing or editing more than 200 cookbooks. His last title was director emeritus.
Numerous obituaries in recent days have recalled his foremost talent as a merchant, bringing garlic presses, food processors and pasta machines to America's kitchens. He is considered the first to import balsamic vinegar from Italy.
Chuck Williams - Photo: Williams-Sonoma
"In the early days of my show," Ms. Child told Newsweek in 1997, "the home chef couldn't buy any of the items I used for cooking; you had to buy them the next time you went to France. Chuck changed all that."
Mr. Williams was inspired to launch Williams-Sonoma after a two-week trip to Paris in 1953. He told The Washington Post in 2005, "I couldn't get over seeing so many great things for cooking, the heavy pots and pans, white porcelain ovenware, country earthenware, great tools and professional knives."
A former carpenter and building contractor, Mr. Williams also earned credit for the way he artfully displayed pots and pans in his locations as if they were fashion items.
"He had such great sense of taste," Alice Waters, founder of Berkeley's Chez Panisse restaurant, said in a 2005 interview with the San Jose Mercury News. "He lured people in through the beauty and the art of cooking."
Committed to the notion of "the customer as a friend," Mr. William's stores became renowned for their patient, attentive and knowledgeable staffs.
"It was almost like going to shop in some friend's kitchen," Jeremiah Tower, the chef who owned San Francisco's Stars restaurant, recalled in an interview with The New York Times.
Mr. Williams was also given credit for understanding how food and food preparation could bring people together. In a 1995 oral history on Williams-Sonoma, Mr. Williams recalled, "Right from the beginning in the store, this is what it was all about — talking food, talking recipes, making a charlotte, a cheesecake, a muffin."
- Charles E. "Chuck" Williams, founder of Williams-Sonoma, dies at 100 - Williams Sonoma/Business Wire
- Chuck Williams, Founder of Williams-Sonoma, Dies at 100 - The New York Times (tiered sub.)
- Chuck Williams, Williams-Sonoma founder and California foodie pioneer, is dead at 100 - Los Angeles Times (tiered sub.)
- Chuck Williams, Founder of Williams-Sonoma Retailer, Dies at 100 - Bloomberg
- Chuck Williams, founder of Williams-Sonoma, dies at 100 - The Associated Press/San Jose Mercury News