Rose Gray

Clemency Anne Rosemary Gray MBE (née Swann; 28 January 1939 – 28 February 2010)^[1] was a British chef and cookery writer. With Ruth Rogers, she set up The River Café in 1987, which won a Michelin star in 1998. It was here that the talents of Jamie Oliver were first spotted. She had a profound influence on a generation of celebrity chefs including Oliver, Theo Randall, April Bloomfield and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the latter stating that she had had more influence on him than any other person he had worked with. She wrote a series of cookery books and presented a twelve-part television programme for Channel Four, The Italian Kitchen, in 1998.^[2]

She was born in Bedford. Six months before her birth, her father, Flight Lieutenant Clement Nelson Swann, age 26, and a seven-month-old sister were killed in a domestic fire.^[1] She was brought up in Scotland and Surrey. Her mother, (Elizabeth) Anne Lawrence,^[3] daughter of Sir William Lawrence, 3rd Baronet, settled near Guildford, Surrey, and Rose studied at the Guildford College of Art, where she gained a BA in Fine Art. Her career as a professional chef began at Nell's restaurant in New York City, after which time she returned to London.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001. In 2004 she became a "Breast Cancer Ambassador" and was also co-founder of the Cooks in Schools charity. She was in remission from breast cancer for five years before it returned and metastasised to her brain^[1] in late 2009 or early 2010. She died at home in Marylebone, London,^[4] aged 71, on 28 February 2010.^[3] She had been working on what was to be her last book (with Ruth Rogers), the River Café Classic Italian Cookery Book. Her other works (many of which were co-authored with Ruth Rogers) include the River Café Cookbook,^[5] the River Café Cookbook Green and River Café Pocket Books: Salads and Vegetables.

In 1961^[6] or 1962,^[1] she married Michael Selby Gray. They had a son, Ossian, and two daughters, Hester and Lucy;^[3] the marriage ended in divorce. She had a son, Dante MacIlwaine Gray (born 1973), by her partner David Robin MacIlwaine, to whom she was married from 2004 until her death.^[6] They lived part of their life in Tuscany,^[3] where Rose first developed her interest in Italian food.

• Grice, Elizabeth (2 March 2010). "Rose Gray: formidable, funny and irrepressible". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
• Rogers, Ben (2 March 2010). "Rose Gray, my other mother and a great cook". The Times. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2010.