Henry Haller, longest-serving White House executive chef, dies at 97 [View all]

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Henry Haller, longest-serving White House executive chef, dies at 97

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Henry Haller, longest-serving White House executive chef, dies at 97

By Olesia Plokhii
Dec. 18, 2020 at 9:05 p.m. EST

Henry Haller, the longest-serving White House executive chef in the history of the residence, who planned and executed countless extravagant banquets, three wedding receptions and more than 250 state dinners for five presidents, died Nov. 7 at his home in Gaithersburg, Md. He was 97. ... His wife, Carole Haller, confirmed the death and said there was no specific cause.

Mr. Haller was a Swiss-born French chef who joined the White House in 1966 after impressing President Lyndon B. Johnson years earlier with his cooking at New York City’s Sheraton-East Hotel. He remained at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. late into the Reagan administration, mastering the tastes of five first families over a span of 21 years and pulling off impressive culinary feats on short notice.

A consummate professional who was never known to gossip about what he saw or heard at the White House, Mr. Haller catered to the tastes of the first families, whether asked to prepare deluxe continental cuisine or simple home-style American meals. ... “It’s quite simple, really,” he told the Albany Times Union in 2002. “You keep your mouth shut. There are no prima donnas at the White House except the president of the United States. . . . Some chefs like to tell the guests what to eat. It’s not like that at the White House. They tell you what they want to eat and you do it.”

For Johnson, that was Texan food and tapioca pudding. For the family of Richard M. Nixon, it was classic French dishes, red snapper and broiled lamb chops. Mr. Haller said the Fords enjoyed roast beef cooked with whole onions as well as red cabbage with pork chops; Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter liked fried chicken, ham, okra and string beans; and Ronald and Nancy Reagan valued variety and beautiful presentation.

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One of Mr. Haller’s most vividly remembered days at the White House was when Nixon resigned on Aug. 9, 1974. That morning, Mr. Haller said, the president walked into the kitchen barefoot and wearing pajamas and asked for corned beef hash and a poached egg. Nixon then shook Mr. Haller’s hand and said, “Chef, I have dined all over the world, but your food is the best.”

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