Legendary editor Judith Jones has died

The culinary world is in mourning today after learning of the death of legendary cookbook editor and author Judith Jones. Jones passed away last evening at her summer home in Walden, Vermont, from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. She was 93. 

Jones was a long-time senior editor and vice president at Alfred A. Knopf. She was instrumental in the publication of several monumental books including Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl  and Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The latter had been rejected by several publishers when it landed on Jones’ desk in the late 1950s. “Here was the cookbook I had been dreaming of – one that took you by the hand and explained the whys and wherefores of every step of a recipe,” Jones recalled in a 2004  New York Times article. 

In addition to her ground-breaking editorial work, she co-authored three cookbooks with her late husband Evan, two of them on breads and one on New England cooking. After Evan passed away, Jones began cooking for herself and in 2009, she published a solo book titled The Pleasures of Cooking for One. She also wrote an autobiography, The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food.