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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGladys Bourdain, Who Helped Her Son Reach an Audience, Dies at 85
Gladys Bourdain, a longtime copy editor at The New York Times who helped kick-start the writing career of her son Anthony, the chef who became a world-famous memoirist and television host, died on Friday at a hospice facility in the Bronx. She was 85.
Her son Christopher confirmed the death. He said she had been in failing health for some time.
Ms. Bourdain began her career at The Times in 1984 and worked there until 2008, developing a reputation as a strict grammarian on the culture and metropolitan desks. She also wrote for outlets like Opera News, Musical America and The Times.
...Anthony Bourdain became a hard-living chef, and in the late 1990s he wrote an article chronicling the seamier secrets of life in the restaurant business. He was struggling to publish it in 1999 when Ms. Bourdain mentioned to him that she knew a Times reporter, Esther Fein, who was married to David Remnick, the newly minted editor of The New Yorker magazine.
She came over, and she said, You know, your husbands got this new job, Ms. Fein (who left The Times in 1999) said on Monday. I hate to sound like a pushy mom, but Im telling you this with my editors hat on, not my mothers hat on. Its really good, and its really interesting, but nobody will look at it, nobody will call him back or give it a second look. Could you put it in your husbands hands?
Ms. Fein persuaded Mr. Remnick to read the article, and The New Yorker published it under the title Dont Eat Before Reading This. Mr. Bourdain later said that he had a book deal in a matter of days after that.
...Mr. Bourdain committed suicide in 2018 at 61.
Ms. Bourdain memorialized her son with a tattoo of his name on her wrist her first and only tattoo.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/14/dining/gladys-bourdain-dead.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
Her son Christopher confirmed the death. He said she had been in failing health for some time.
Ms. Bourdain began her career at The Times in 1984 and worked there until 2008, developing a reputation as a strict grammarian on the culture and metropolitan desks. She also wrote for outlets like Opera News, Musical America and The Times.
...Anthony Bourdain became a hard-living chef, and in the late 1990s he wrote an article chronicling the seamier secrets of life in the restaurant business. He was struggling to publish it in 1999 when Ms. Bourdain mentioned to him that she knew a Times reporter, Esther Fein, who was married to David Remnick, the newly minted editor of The New Yorker magazine.
She came over, and she said, You know, your husbands got this new job, Ms. Fein (who left The Times in 1999) said on Monday. I hate to sound like a pushy mom, but Im telling you this with my editors hat on, not my mothers hat on. Its really good, and its really interesting, but nobody will look at it, nobody will call him back or give it a second look. Could you put it in your husbands hands?
Ms. Fein persuaded Mr. Remnick to read the article, and The New Yorker published it under the title Dont Eat Before Reading This. Mr. Bourdain later said that he had a book deal in a matter of days after that.
...Mr. Bourdain committed suicide in 2018 at 61.
Ms. Bourdain memorialized her son with a tattoo of his name on her wrist her first and only tattoo.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/14/dining/gladys-bourdain-dead.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
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Gladys Bourdain, Who Helped Her Son Reach an Audience, Dies at 85 (Original Post)
BeyondGeography
Jan 2020
OP
panader0
(25,816 posts)1. I really miss Bourdain.
I still watch his stuff on Netflix. Travel, history, social commentary and,
of course, food. He was very cool.
RIP Momma Bourdain.
greatauntoftriplets
(175,729 posts)2. RIP, Ms. Bourdain.
I never knew that his mother was a copy editor and that she gave Tony's career such a great start. What a wonderful life story.