12 Facts About Charlie Trotter

Charlie Trotter was an American chef and restaurateur.

Charlie Trotter opened his first restaurant in Chicago with his father, Bob Trotter, as his partner.

Charlie Trotter likened cooking to an improvisational jazz session in that as two riffs will never be the same, so too with food.

Charlie Trotter wrote 14 cookbooks and three management books, and promoted a line of organic and all-natural gourmet foods distributed nationally.

Charlie Trotter was awarded the Humanitarian of the Year award in 2005 by the International Association of Culinary Professionals.

Charlie Trotter invited groups of public high school students into his restaurant as part of his Excellence Program two to three times per week: after eating a meal, the students were told how the food was prepared and the motivations of those preparing it.

Charlie Trotter was unusual among celebrity chefs for his outspokenness in matters of ethics, most famously when he took foie gras off the menu in 2002 for ethical reasons.

On June 13,2013, Charlie Trotter was sued by brothers and wine collectors Bekim and Ilir Frrokaj, who accused him of selling them a counterfeit bottle of 1945 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti for $46,000; Charlie Trotter denied any wrongdoing.

Charlie Trotter married his first wife, Lisa Ehrlich, on August 31,1986.

Charlie Trotter's second marriage, to Lynn Thomas, produced a son, Dylan, born on May 24,1991, who was 22 years old at the time of his father's death.

In February 2010, Charlie Trotter married girlfriend Rochelle Smith, who later became his publicist.

Charlie Trotter was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead as a result of a stroke.