Leopold Murier, our benefactor
Etienne Léopold MOURIER (1862-1923)
Knight of the Legion of Honour (1904)
Officer of the Legion of Honour (1922)
Hotel master, Chef, restaurant
President of the Société des Cuisiniers de Paris (1903)
His biography
- Born on 30 May 1862 in Montjoux (Drôme)
- Married on September 17, 1892 in Neuilly sur Seine (Hauts de Seine), with Adèle Louise TABARY (1874-1909)
- Veuf, remarried on 27 January 1921 in Neuilly sur Seine (Hautes de Seine), with Marie DUSSUT (1881-1923/)
- Died 17 March 1923 in Neuilly sur Seine (Hautes de Seine), at the age of 60
- buried in Paris at the cemetery of the Père Lachaise
His parents, Jean-Etienne MOURIER and Ernestine TURC, run the Serre du Turc inn in Montjoux, so he was naturally predestined in the kitchen.
Learning
When he was a teenager, he left the country and entered the campé brothers' apprenticeship, at the Avignon buffet, then worked at his cousin M. Rivier, a restaurant restaurant in Grenoble.
At the age of 18, exempt from active service, he decided to go to Paris.
His ascension
He began as a cooking aid at the restaurant Notta where he quickly became familiar with the various parts of the kitchen and, already, he was considered a worker of the future when, in 1883, he passed to the restaurant Mayor whose owner was Mr. Paillard.
In 1885, He became a chef at the Napolitain restaurant, which he abandoned after a short time for the restaurant Paillard de la Chaussée-d-Antin.
In 1886, Mr. Paillard placed him at the head of the kitchens of the Maire restaurant in the tenth district where he had been helped and then Saucier chef.
In 1887, At the age of 25, he took the direction of the Maire restaurant, a simple zinc counter created by a wine merchant in 1860, which became one of the most famous restaurants in Paris.
Its climax
A few years later, he became an owner-restorator and followed the acquisitions of establishments, some of which became famous:
- The restaurant Foyot in 1891,
- The Café de Paris at the top of the avenue de l ́opéra,
- The Armenonville Pavilion in 1900,
- The Pre Catalan in 1908,
- The Fouquet in 1914.
Leopold Mourier, a renowned banquetist, became during this period the chef at the Palais de l'Elysée.
And in 1904, he became the first cook to be awarded the cross of the Legion of Honour by the government of the Republic.
President of the Société mutualiste des Cuisiniers de Paris, now The Cookers of France
He will form an exceptional duo with Francis Carton, elected CEO in 1912 and together they will carry out large and beautiful projects:
- A 6-storey building will be purchased in the Opéra district at 45, rue Saint-Roch in Paris 1st, which will become the headquarters of the « House of cooks ».
- A rescue fund was established in 1913 and a free clinic.
- A family home for war orphans and pensioners was established in 1917 in Corneilles, Parisis, where Léopold Mourier provided the association with a property with 4 hectares of land. It was inaugurated in 1919 in the presence of Presidents Emile Loubet and Raymond Poincaré.
Without a child, he made the Société des Cuisiniers de France his universal legatee.
Mayor of Montjoux
He will also invest in his native region, the Drôme: mayor of Montjoux as early as 1904, he subsidizes many charities and contributes greatly to the expansion of the commune.
For his second term, he was re-elected almost unanimously: 74 out of 75 voters!
It makes a major contribution to the development of the town's road, which is often affected by the Lez floods.
On November 17, 1912, the road and the metal bridge on the Lez were inaugurated.
In 1913, a bridge was established to the Ravoux district to connect the two banks.
In the same year, the main street of La Paillette was expanded, and Léopold Murier personally bought at the intersection of the Dieulefit and Vesc roads a plot of land for the creation of a square.
From 1913 he obtained a second weekly distribution of La Poste; the telephone is operating from 1 May 1914; It is also he who finances the commemorative marble plaque in honour of the children of Montjoux who died in the war.
Death
At the age of 60, March 17, 1923 Léopold Mourier died prematurely at the Armenonville Pavilion.
3,000 people will follow the procession of his moving funeral through Paris.
To the right, Leopold Mourier's grave
at the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris
His generous legacy
Without a child, Léopold Mourier left a large part of his fortune to the Mutuelle des Cuisiniers de France. He also equips all his staff: hotel masters, kitchen and cellar chefs, cashiers and employees.
The commune of Montjoux inherits the land located in La Paillette called Place Léopold Mourier and receives in cash a sum of 300,000 francs to place, so that the interest received will reduce the taxes for the inhabitants of the village.
He bequeaths to the city of Dieulefit the full ownership of his clay quarries « in order to ensure in a constant and economical manner the potters of this municipality and the surrounding area the material necessary for their manufacture ». He gives $250,000 in cash to the hospital of Dieulefit, « provided that the said municipality still reserves in its hospices two beds for the sick of Montjoux ».
Listen below the story Leopold Murier, philanthropic cook (source Radiola media site)
