Famed Pastry Chef Albert Kumin To Be Feted On His 90th Birthday. Colleagues, Former Students, Admirers Pay Tribute To Beloved Industry Leader.

On Sunday, October 9, 2011, Bakers Dozen East and Dessert Professional Magazine will honor Chef Albert Kumin's 90th birthday at a reception from 2 pm to 5 pm in Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City. A highlight of the reception will be a parade of birthday cakes prepared by prominent cake artists who are friends, former students, and admirers of Chef Kumin.



Albert Kumin, after training as a pastry chef in his native Switzerland, came to North America first as pastry chef at Montreal's Ritz Carlton Hotel. He then moved to New York as opening pastry chef at the famed Four Seasons restaurant. Kumin's distinguished career includes positions at the White House, the opening of Windows on the World in New York's World Trade Center, and a variety of influential teaching experiences during which he has trained and created a lasting influence on many of today's leading pastry chefs around the world.



Among the notables creating cakes for Chef Kumin's birthday event are Ellen Baumwoll, Toba Garrett, Charmaine Jones, Cheryl Kleinman, Rosemary Littman, Colette Peters, Michelle Tampakis, and Betty Van Nortsrand. Each of the nine cakes will be themed for a decade of Kumin's life. The birthday cake served to guests, made from Swiss chocolate, will be prepared by students at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City.



Honorary chairman of the event committee, Ambassador Francois Barras, Consul General of Switzerland in New York, said, "Albert Kumin has had a long and illustrious career sharing his knowledge of Swiss baking, pastry, and chocolate, all of which are at the very heart of our gastronomic traditions. His remarkable devotion to excellence, craftsmanship, and mastery bring much honor to Switzerland, his homeland," Barras continued, "and we salute his outstanding achievements and wish him a happy birthday."



A native of Wil, Canton St. Gallen in eastern Switzerland, Albert Kumin, after professional training and various work experiences in his native country, came first to Canada in 1948, and then to New York to work for Joe Baum's Restaurant Associates in 1958, most memorably as opening pastry chef at New York's Four Seasons restaurant and its sister location, the Brasserie. After a time as the executive pastry chef for the Howard Johnson's chain, Chef Kumin began his teaching career at The Culinary Institute of America in 1972.



When Baum won the contract for all the food service in the newly built World Trade Center, Chef Kumin came on board as executive pastry chef in 1976 and developed all the desserts and other bakery items for dozens of the buildings' outlets, including Windows on the World. He continued on a consulting basis while resuming his teaching duties at the CIA, and in 1979 accepted the position of pastry chef at the White House during President Carter's administration.



In 1984 Chef Kumin became executive pastry chef for Country Epicure, a wholesale baking company, and with them established his own school, the International Pastry Arts Center, where he taught hundreds of pastry chefs and other food industry professionals. After his retirement to Vermont, he opened Green Mountain Chocolates with his daughter Julie; the profitable company continues to thrive under new ownership. Kumin now lives in Vermont with his wife of many years, Eva, and continues to enjoy gardening, a lifelong avocation.



Tickets for the October 9 reception go on sale August 30: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/195577



For more information: http://www.albertkumin.com