Chef Jackie Baldwin was one of the stars of Uptown Summer 2014 at The Sanctuary for Independent Media in North Troy, part of a group recruited by Lecco Morris of the Chef's Consortium to feed a large lunchtime crowd (including the famously picky eaters of the Rensselaer County Summer Youth Employment Program). Chef Jackie volunteered and brought a mountain of food one day a week, delighting in delivering a menu that everyone wanted to eat--full of healthful choices mingled with the hits!
Here she is speaking at the last meal of Uptown Summer 2014, soaking up the rapped praise of her lunchtime admirers!
Chef Jackie passed away suddenly and way too soon, still in her early '50s, on March 18, 2016. Here's what food critic Steve Barnes had to say about her in the Albany Times Union:
Jackie Baldwin, a vibrant personality and talented chef who was one of the few women to hold top posts in area restaurant kitchens, died Friday, according to a colleague and others who were close to her.
She was in her early 50s and lived in Troy, where she had been executive chef of RPI for 13 years before moving up to a regional supervisory post for the food-service giant Sodexo. A cause of death could not be independently confirmed Friday evening. A friend who had spoken to her about her health said she recently received a cancer diagnosis.
“She was a true professional dedicated to the love of her craft,” said Jaime Ortiz, partner and general manager of Angelo’s 677 Prime in Albany, who worked with Baldwin on a variety of cooking events over the years.
“The world has lost a very talented chef and a tremendous person,” said Tim MacTurk, a district manager for Sodexo.
A native of Troy, Baldwin graduated from Russell Sage College and started in restaurant kitchens 33 years ago, when women were even more of a rarity than they are now, especially at the top. While she enjoyed her time in restaurants, and regularly helped out in friends’ restaurants, she came to prefer the challenge of institutional food service.
“It’s the best job I ever had,” she once said of her post at RPI, a Sodexo client. “I have all of the days off that you would normally be working in a restaurant.”
The multiple food-service options at the college also provided significant culinary and management challenges on which she thrived. In addition to four dining halls, Baldwin’s operation encompassed cafes, the student union, a rathskellar and coffeehouse. She further pushed her staff with a catering wing that did events for both private clients and the college, including a commencement-weekend barbecue for 10,000 guests. On an average week at RPI, food operations she oversaw provided 34,000 meals.
More recently Baldwin was area executive chef for Sodexo and supervised food service at 32 college and university campuses in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
“Not only did she know her stuff, she was eager to share her knowledge, experience and talent,” said Donna Purnomo, who, with her chef-husband, Yono, met Baldwin decades ago through the area chapter of the American Culinary Federation. Purnomo said, “When she signed on for a (cooking) demo or was helping to organize culinary events or teaching a class, you never worried. She’d think of everything and follow through.”
A few years back, after yet another 34,000-meal week at RPI, Baldwin didn’t spend her Friday night at home: She was in a friend’s restaurant kitchen, helping out a fellow chef who needed another set of skilled hands to feed customers.
“I love everything about food and cooking,” said Baldwin. “I can’t get enough of it.”
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