Roland Mesnier, who created often-magical desserts for five US presidents and their guests as White House executive pastry chef, has died at age 78.
His death was confirmed on the weekend by the White House Historical Association, which said he died Friday following a short illness.
"Over the 25 years I've been here, I've noticed that Democrats usually eat more than Republicans," Mesnier said. At Christmas time, he was known for the elaborate gingerbread houses he made to help decorate the White House. He said he also needed to make more pastries than usual for holiday parties because some tended to "disappear into pocketbooks or pockets" and often ended up as Christmas tree ornaments in people's homes.
White House archives describe him leaving home with a cardboard suitcase and five francs to begin his apprenticeship at the Patisserie Maurivard in Besançon, France. He later worked in Paris and the German cities of Hanover and Hamburg before landing a job at the Savoy hotel in London.In 1967, he became a pastry chef at a hotel in Bermuda and while living on the island met his future wife, a vacationing schoolteacher from West Virginia.
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