Rose Gray obituary

One of the most influential modern British restaurateurs and chefs who co-founded the iconic River Cafe in London

Ronana Bennett in The Guardian, Sunday 28 February 2010

Left - Rose Gray at the River Cafe. Photograph: Martin Argles

Rose Gray, who has died of cancer aged 71, was the co-founder, along with Ruth Rogers, of the iconic River Cafe in London, and was one of Britain's most influential modern chefs and cookery writers. In a 23-year partnership with Ruthie, she revolutionised Italian cooking in this country through an emphasis on freshness, seasonality and simplicity, and, with a bestselling series of ground-breaking and beautifully designed books, established a worldwide reputation for herself and the restaurant.

Rose was tall, worldly and beautiful, and had a well-earned reputation for indomitability. Watching her on the floor of her coolly glamorous restaurant, confident, composed, so obviously enjoying who she was and what she did, it is hard to imagine that Rose had ever experienced a single setback. But setbacks there were, in her personal and business lives. These she overcame with a no-nonsense determination that became one of her defining characteristics. "Rose just got on with things," her oldest friend, the architect Su Rogers, says of her. "She always made the best of whatever happened."

Full obituary at The Guardian online.

Tributes paid to River Cafe founder Gray
01.03.10 The Bookseller

Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have paid tribute to "one of the most important chefs of our times", River Cafe founder and author Rose Gray, who has died at the age of 71.

Both men worked at the restaurant during the formative stages of their careers. According to the Press Association, Oliver described Gray as a "pioneer" and a "really great boss".

Oliver said: "I'm so saddened by the death of Rose. She really was one of life's very, very special, natural, genius chefs - a true pioneer of delicious simple cooking. It was my honour to have worked with her - a really great boss, a wonderful person who gave me some of my fondest cooking memories and great funny times.

"The quality of food and chefs that have left the River Cafe over the last 20 years speaks for itself and is all credit to the partnership, love and values of Rose Gray and Ruthie Rogers. Without question the world has lost one of the most important chefs of our times, she will be sorely missed."

Fearnley-Whittingstall said during his time at the River Cafe he had "learned more from Rose than from anyone I have ever cooked with."

Gray, a chef and cookery writer, set up the River Cafe in Hammersmith, west London with Lady Ruth Rogers in 1987. Her first title, The River Cafe Cookbook, was published by Ebury in 1995.
In an obituary in The Guardian, Ronan Bennett said Gray and her co-founder Ruth Rogers were at first "reluctant to write a book, insisting they were chefs not writers".
However, he writes that it is "impossible to overstate the influence these books have had in shaping our eating habits and our expectations of what we are served in restaurants".