George Lang

George Lang (born György Deutsch; July 13, 1924 – July 5, 2011 ) was a Hungarian–born American restaurateur, food and travel writer, critic, and journalist.

Life Lang was the only child of Simon Deutsch, a tailor, and Ilona Láng. He grew up in this "modestly prosperous" Jewish family in Székesfehérvár, Hungary, where he practiced violin. After Germany occupied Hungary, and Döme Sztójay took over as prime minister in March 1944, György was ordered into a labor camp; both his parents later were murdered in Auschwitz, but György escaped within six months. In order to survive, he hid his identity and joined the pro-Nazi Arrow Cross, in which he served for three months before he was discovered. Soviet forces occupied Budapest before he could be executed, however. Although he was tried for war crimes as an Arrow Cross member and was acquitted, but "Europe was finished for him." He changed his name (Deutsch means 'German'), taking his mother's maiden name, and moved to the United States in 1946 with his cousin Évi. In 1992, along with fellow Hungarian-American Ronald S. Lauder, son of famed cosmetics mogul Estée Lauder, Lang bought and restored the famous Budapest restaurant Gundel.

Lang's autobiography, entitled Nobody Knows the Truffles I've Seen (a reference to the spiritual "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen"), was published by Knopf in 1998. He published several books on food and travel, including the classic reference The Cuisine of Hungary, a 1982 book reissued in 1994 as George Lang's Cuisine of Hungary, and had a stint as a columnist for Travel + Leisure magazine.

Lang married three times, had four children, and was divorced from his first two wives. He was married to the concert pianist, opera singer and actress Doe Lang, born Caplow. Their son Brian Lang is a concert violinist, and their daughter Andrea Lang was a graphic designer. Andrea died in a Santa Barbara wildfire in 1990 while attempting to flee her home.

Lang, who was married to Jenifer Harvey Lang at the time of his death, had been treated for Alzheimer's disease and died at age 86 at his home in Manhattan. He was survived by his first and third wives, his son Brian, and two other children, daughter Georgina and son Simon.