Henry Haller

Henry Haller (January 10, 1923 – November 7, 2020) was a Swiss-American chef who served as Executive Chef of the White House from 1966 to 1987. Haller's death was announced on November 9, 2020.

Early life Haller was born in Altdorf, Switzerland, in 1923. He was of French descent on his mother's side and German descent on his father's. and as a young boy Haller loved to cook.

Haller enrolled in an apprenticeship when he was 16 years old, and trained at the famed Park Hotel in the ski resort town of Davos, Switzerland. Discharged at the age of 20, he spent several years working at the exclusive Hotel Des Balances in Lucerne, where he attended the Hotel Training School—considered one of the best cooking academies in the world. He then moved to the five-star Hotel Belle-Vue-Palace in Bern, and then the Grand Hotel in Bürgenstock. While working there as chef tournant (filling in as needed on stations in the kitchen), the hotel owner asked if he would move to Canada to cook at another company-owned property, and Haller readily agreed.

White House Haller (far right) working on the Nixon-Cox wedding cake in 1971. Lyndon B. Johnson had stayed at the Ambassador Hotel when he was Vice President of the United States, and enjoyed Haller's cooking.

In 1976, Haller oversaw food preparation for White House events in honor of the United States Bicentennial. For much of 1976, the Ford administration had a normal schedule of one or two state dinners a month.