Peter Kump, who died of liver cancer last Thursday at his home in East Hampton, N.Y., was a food visionary, consummate cooking teacher and president of the James Beard Foundation.
Kump, 57, began his cooking school career in the kitchen of his New York apartment in 1974. The venture eventually blossomed into a 20-week professional course and new headquarters, called Peter Kump's New York Cooking School. He also taught classes for amateur cooks at Peter Kump's School of Culinary Arts. The distinctive avocational curriculum is also taught at six other branch locations, including one in Washington, D.C.
Karen Metz, director of the Washington school, which holds its classes at the Sutton Place Gourmet store in Alexandria, said that "whether professionally or personally, Peter was the ultimate teacher. He totally understood the concept of teaching." Metz, who was formerly head teacher at the New York school, said Kump "believed very strongly in building techniques, so you can cook anything you want to, and not just walk away with a nice set of recipes."
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As a result, the Kump curriculum starts with knife skills and goes on to sauteing, baking, grilling, trussing, roasting and other skills. Each lesson focuses on a single technique so that by the end of the class, the dishes prepared reflect those skills, not a well-planned menu. "One of Peter's horrors was that someone would come back and say, Oh, I prepared all of lesson three for company last night,' " Metz said.
Kump was proud of his cooking schools and of his son, Christopher, chef and owner of Cafe Beaujolais in Mendocino, Calif. In addition to them, friends say, Kump was most proud of his work in founding the James Beard Foundation. After Beard died in 1985, it was Kump who organized fund-raising to save the well-known food writer's Greenwich Village brownstone. Beard had left the house and its contents to Reed College, and Kump mobilized friends and chefs to raise money to buy the property back. The house, now extensively renovated, is used for many food events, including lunches, dinners, workshops, meetings, exhibits and book signings. The foundation also sponsors the annual James Beard Awards, given to chefs, cookbook authors and journalists.
"His greatest accomplishment was saving the James Beard house and starting the foundation," says Francois Dionot, owner of L'Academie de Cuisine, the Bethesda cooking school. Dionot, who served with Kump for many years on the board of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (Kump was president in 1986-'87), said Kump's energy and hands-on work for the Beard Foundation were typical of the way he approached things. "As soon as we talked about something, boom, the next day he started it," Dionot said.
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Kump was known for his skills as a manager, as one who could delegate and organize. "He was a kind, caring individual who loved to organize and put things together, and then step back and let other people take the glory," said Terry Schwerin, vice president and general manager of Kump's New York school. "He did not have a big ego, and he wasn't a prima donna."
Share this articleShareCooking was actually Kump's third career. Born in Fresno, Calif., he attended Stanford University, where he majored in speech and drama. He formed and ran the Comedia Repertory Company after graduation, then went on to get a master's degree at Carnegie Mellon University. From there, he taught at Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics and in 1967 moved to New York to become the national director of education for the reading program. During that time, he even taught speed reading to members of the Nixon White House, including John Dean, John D. Ehrlichman, Jeb Stuart Magruder, Rosemary Woods and Ron Ziegler.
His bond with cooking was formed when he took classes at James Beard's school, taking lessons from, among others, Beard, Diana Kennedy and Marcella Hazan. It wasn't long, however, before Kump's new food friends would teach at what would become his own school.
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Schwerin says that one of Kump's greatest joys was attending the Kump school's graduation dinner, in which the new chefs would prepare a meal for their family and friends. "He truly enjoyed watching young people start out in their careers," recalls Schwerin. "He loved the food world."
Kump's schools will continue to operate, according to Schwerin, including a new downtown location in New York, planned by Kump and slated to open in a couple of weeks. Kump knew for some time that he was ill, Schwerin said, so he made various arrangements for the continuation of his schools. "He had great confidence in his staff and faculty," Schwerin said. "We plan on continuing with Peter's legacy."
Donations in memory of Peter Kump can be made to the Beard House, c/o Peter Kump Scholarship, 167 W. 12th St., New York, N.Y. 10011.
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