Patrick Clark (chef)

Patrick Dean Clark (March 17, 1955 – February 11, 1998) was an American chef. He won the 1994 James Beard Foundation award for "Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic Region" during his tenure at the Hay-Adams Hotel, Washington, D.C.^[1] and also competed in the 1997 Iron Chef.^[2] Clark is credited with having been the first chef in New York City to mix fine-dining and bistro at The Odeon in Tribeca, as well as also having been one of the first American chefs to apply French technique to growing American regional cuisine in the late 70s and early 80s.

Clark born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Melvin, also a chef, and Idella. He was raised in Canarsie. In 1979, he married Lynette. The couple had five children: two sons, Preston and Cameron, and three daughters, Aleia, Ashley, and Brooke. Preston is also an award-winning chef. At the time of his death, he and his family were living in Plainsboro, New Jersey.^[3]

Clark died due to cardiac arrest on February 11, 1998 in Princeton, New Jersey at the age of 42. Before his death, Clark, suffering from congestive heart failure and in need of a heart transplant, had been admitted to the Princeton Medical Center. His wife and their five children survived him.^[4]

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