Maida Heatter


Maida Heatter was an American pastry chef and cookbook author who specialized in baking and desserts.

Biography

Heatter was born in Baldwin, New York, the daughter of radio commentator Gabriel Heatter and Saidie Heatter. She graduated from New York's Pratt Institute in fashion design and began a career as an illustrator of merchandising, then subsequently switching to jewellery design, and then finally becoming a baker and baking instructor.
Her career as a professional cookbook author began when her skills in dessert making caught the attention of Craig Claiborne, a former food section editor of the New York Times. In part through his numerous endorsements for her and his suggestion to her to write her own cookbook, Heatter began her decades-long career in teaching baking and writing cookbooks.
The quality of her recipes caught the attention of many prominent figures in the trade of cooking and baking, garnering praise from numerous celebrity and media sources. Heatter's cookbooks have been the recipient of three James Beard Foundation Awards, and she herself was inducted into the Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America in 1988. She was also inducted into the Chocolatier Magazine Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Heatter was married three times. In 1940, she married shoe designer David E. Evins, who was also Jewish; they had one daughter before divorcing. In 1949, she married Ellis Gimbel Jr., grandson of Adam Gimbel and brother of Richard Gimbel. In 1966, she married Ralph Daniels. Her only child, daughter Toni Evins, died in a glider accident in 1994. She turned 100 in September 2016 and died in June 2019 at the age of 102.

Awards