Ruth Reichl - pronounced RYE-shil - is an American food writer, co-producer of PBS's Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie, culinary editor for the Modern Library, host of PBS's Gourmet's Adventures With Ruth, and the last editor-in-chief of the now shuttered Gourmet magazine. She has written a trilogy of critically acclaimed, best-selling memoirs: Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table, Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table, and Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise and has lately published Not becoming my Mother. Her latest book is Gourmet Today a 1,008 page cookbook containing over 1,000 recipes. 

January 16th, 1948 in Manhattan (Age 76)