Gerry Hayden, born November 14, 1964, in Port Jefferson and died on September 2, 2015 after years of battling ALS.
A three-time James Beard Award nominee, Hayden was a trailblazer of New American cuisine and an alum of the River Cafe’s highly pedigreed kitchen.
Hayden cooked farm-to-table before it was a philosophy that every restaurant espoused, and he put in time at several influential restaurants, including Amuse and Aureole, where he was a sous-chef for Charlie Palmer.
He returned to his native Suffolk County, Long Island, in 2006 with the opening of North Fork Table & Inn, where he ran the kitchen alongside pastry chef and wife Claudia Fleming.
Though Hayden eventually lost the use of his hands, preventing him from cooking, he continued to run his kitchen, doing so from an electric wheelchair, all the while helping to raise awareness for those suffering from his condition.
Hayden passaway on september 2, 2015 after years of battling Lou Gehrig’s disease.