Happy 96th Birthday, Chuck!
Dear Chuck,
It’s a rare privilege to be able to learn from someone who has done so much to define and enrich the way America cooks.
Thanks to you, millions of people have discovered a world of kitchenware, techniques and traditions. Some of us are novice cooks who, without your expert guidance, would have trouble following a recipe. Others are experienced home cooks and professional chefs who have long relied on you for everything from equipping their kitchens to introducing fresh, new ways to prepare familiar ingredients.
Today, generations of culinary enthusiasts pass along your wisdom by teaching their children and grandchildren to celebrate the pleasures of cooking a great meal for family and friends.
Thanks, Chuck – and happy 96th birthday!
All the best,
Your Williams-Sonoma Family
Learn more about Chuck Williams
Has Chuck or Williams-Sonoma changed the way you cook? We’d love to hear about it!
Please post your stories and birthday wishes below– we’ll pass them along to Chuck.
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91 comments
Chuck, you have a special place in our hearts since our grandparents share a special bond with both of us. It would be absolutely wonderful if you could communicate back to us, the grandchildren of Dana and Abagail, sons of Stan’s. There’s so much of our family history of that era that we’d like to learn. If you could be so kind, please take a moment and email us. We’d would love to share some stories!
bsniff at gmail
Our fondest wishes on your birthday!
Dearest Chuck,
Sending you birthday blessings and hugs! I have so many special memories of our time working together – they remain as precious as gold in the part of my heart that only you possess.
With love,
Gina
P.S. With age comes wisdom – boy, you must be REALLY, REALLY, REALLY wise!!
Happy Birthday Chuck. Thanks for the chapter in your book that you wrote regarding my grandparents Abbie, Dana, and my father Stanley Sniff. It’s a wonderful book, and a fabulous story. Best Wishes!
Dennis Sniff, Irvine, CA
Happy Birthday. I think you have made quite a difference to a lot of people. You can be proud of your places. I moved to Arkansas from California about 15 years ago. I was lost with WS but about 3 years ago you opened a store in Midtown Mall in Little Rock. The people there are so nice and I enjoyed going in for just a chat about cooking etc. Plus my husband says that I should have stock in your company since I spend so much money there. Whatever! Congratulations and I know you must have a wonderful life and lots of good friends.
Catherine
[…] cool, Chuck Williams just celebrated his 96th birthday! Â He started Williams-Sonoma in 1956 when he bought a small hardware store and slowly converted it […]
Happy Birthday Mr. Williams – Wishing you many more! I love the stores, and also liked working at them.
Every piece of cooking equipment in my kitchen is the best, designed to last a lifetime. There is not a crummy piece of anything from a spatula to saucepans. Most of it was acquired over the decades from Williams-Sonoma stores. I would wait for Chuck to come back from one of his buying jaunts to see what he would bring. Even a quick browse on a day meandering at the mall, there would be something like oven mitts in beautiful spring colors or real stainless steel measuring spoons that I couldn’t live without that FELT good to hold. Sale items were outright dangerous in their appeal. If something broke, I could take it back and with no questions asked, have it replaced (as with my bread machine).
Chuck always supported the food writers’ community, hosting fabulously fun book signings with dozens of food writers running around his SF store, leaning over the upper deck railing like kids at a party. The foodies loved it. We loved it.
When I wrote 2 books for Chuck, he personally reviewed the manuscript and with an eye for detail and traditional recipes, would ask for certain beloved recipes to be included. In the front of both the muffin and bread book is a chapter on basic recipes and that always has chuck’s stamp on it (the books have been incorporated into a big gorgeous Baking book only available at the store).
I bought many a gift from Williams-Sonoma and I still send gift cards, so my friends can pick out their own goodies, for it is the most appreciated of gifts. I was heartbroken when the Cupertino store moved its chaotic seconds and discount corner to Nashville or some place far away like that so that I couldnt browse the shelves of mismatched/discontinued thises and thats. It was one of my favorite hangouts. I got a blue Chinese ceramic hot pot that had lost its lid on the remainder table–it is still my favorite casserole dish and at potlucks someone always asks where I got it. For my mother’s birthday in the late 1980s, I picked up a pair of white French candlestick holders on the remainder bargain table. It was gift wrapped just so perfect and I presented it to my mother while she was painting in her studio. Those candlestick holders have been on her kitchen table ever since. Best gift I ever got her. I remember buying a nested set of hand hammered tin heart shaped baking pan molds-3 inch deep pans. It was a gift I wish I got a set for myself self still after 30 years! They were a one shot buy from one of Chuck’s shopping sprees to Mexico. The manager saved me a set of clay loaf pans, the last 2 in the store. They were outrageously expensive at $15 a piece. They were handmade by Karen Tufty and they are still the best bread pans I have ever owned. My mother got me a large white oval Italian platter that I adore. Williams-Sonoma has always been the candy store for the serious cook.
A very very happy birthday to a special person who has created a legacy of excellence and integrity while doing what he loved to do. Enjoy your day. Beth Hensperger
Happy Birthday from a Lake Avenue, Pasadena, CA long time customer…now in Longmeadow, MA.
I just picked up your new book…a fascinating read…couldn’t put it down. Kudos!
Chuck,
I hope you are able to surround yourself with the family and friends you love on this your 96th birthday. It has been a pleasure using the GUEST approach in your stores over the past 17-years. Thank you for your insight and passion of finding the perfect items to bring to the store. It has been a true pleasure working for the Williams-Sonoma Grande Cuisine family. Wishing you only the BEST !!!
I have worked at the center in Las Vegas for 11 years now. So many good memories of your birthdays past at the Bellagio.Hope your day was great. God Bless.
I love WS and enjoy browsing your website, catalog and stores as often as I can. I’d like to work in your store but I’d probably spend my entire paycheck buying things to take home! Thank you for making fine cooking accessible to the home chef. PS I have Brasserie plates for my everyday dishes, and nearly 15 years after I got them, they still look like new.
You are the best ,You inspire me to cook….. I love working @ WS I have been here for 14 yrs……Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday, Mr. Williams.
Thanks for your dedication to creating opportunities for home cooks to practice their passion with the best tools and products. Enjoy your day as much as we have enjoyed your inspiring stores!
Happy 96th Mr Williams! I have loved your stores and eagerly shopped in them since I was a teenager! Now a grandma, I still return for fresh ideas for gifts and parties, family times and holidays! I’m so proud that the first W-S was in California, as I’m a native San Franciscan. I’ve got a glimpse of you in your SF store during an Ina Garten book signing. My mother & I often shopped together in your stores—she lives to browse in gadgets—she’s 96 also & still a fabulous cook! You ought to meet some day! Anyway, have a lovely celebration and a wonderful year.
Congratulations on yet another milestone, Chuck! I’ve had the pleasure of cooking with you at a couple of our Tampa, FL stores, and continue to be inspired by your vision of service and excellence every day! Thanks for all you’ve done to bring good living to America.
Jim Snyder
Culinary Expert at WS 590, Tampa, FL
Happy Birthday, Chuck, Love your store!
Happy Birthday Chuck!!…I´m from outside of the United States, and I knew Williams-sonoma about 5 years ago….and always when I go to USA for vacations I HAVE to go to the store, now I´m very happy that you have an international shipping…Williams-sonoma is an AMAZING experience…makes me want to cook all day… Thanks Chuck
Happy Birthday, Chuck! I learned about your store only 20 years ago . . . but, I’ve made up for lost time by purchasing as much as possible since then! 🙂 Everything at Williams-Sonoma is top quality and the products make delicious meals. I continue to shop there whenever there’s something new from LeCreuset and whenever I am making a very special meal. Thank you for making it so much fun to shop! Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday Chuck!
Where would we be without you and your wonderful stores? It’s always a delight to enter a Williams Sonoma store, to get ideas, to dream, to be inspired, to relax and de-stress. Thank you for all you’ve done! :))
Happy Birthday, Chuck! Your Technique Classes are amazing. I thought I knew how to cook, but I have learned SO MUCH since I started attending those regularly. Chef Jim Snyder at the International Plaza store does a fabulous job. I have been inspired to try something new every time I attend a class. WS was a wonderful gift to the world. THANK YOU and may you have many happy birthdays yet to come!
Happy Birthday!! I live in a town that doesn’t have one of your stores, but when I do go the “bigger” citites, your store is my very first stop. I treasure everything I have bought from William-Sonona.
Thank you Mr Williams, I love going to my job at Williams Sonoma each and everyday, its so rewarding …..Have a very Happy 96th Birthday…..
Sandra Pono Wickson
Dearest Chuck. Happy birthday!! Stories, oh
my gosh, where to start? You and Julia sitting on the love seat in our living room sharing dirty jokes. You arriving for dinner with a gigantic crate of copper pots (my most treasured is the small battered copper one with your initials that you gave me for my birthday – also today). It sits on my desk always an inspiration to never give up. The image of you having dinner at Sammy’s Rumanian Steak House on the Lower East Side – your tie slung over your shoulder as you made an egg cream – and Randy at your right looking beyond uncomfortable. Crazy wild times in New Orleans. Our shared love of Wendeley and Robert. Doing the Mountain Man toast with the great Sam Arnold The homeless man in front of yout flagship SF store who instead of asking for spare change complimenting you on your tie. Your never-ending faith, generosity and support for The Boost and the books. Calling you from La Combe to sing happy birthday. But most of all I remember the very first time we met. April 1987. IACP. A noisy Miami restaurant. I was coming off a high from giving a luncheon speech about being true to your culinary roots no matter how humble. I thought life couldn’t get much better. Ten of us – a not yet so famous Emeril in the spotlight seat at the table, occupying our attention. it wasn’t until mid-entrée that I turned to the quiet, elegantly dressed gentleman to my right and said, “Hi, I’m Lora Brody. And you said, “Hi, I’m Chuck Williams. I love your chocolate book.” My life suddenly did get much better. Today David (his birthday as well!!) and I will celebrate on the Aegean sea. We will raise a glass of very good champagne to you with love and awe and gratitude for having the great honor and pleasure of having you in our lives.
Love, Lora
The Happiest of Birthday Wishes. You have inspired me in so many ways. Thank you.
Happy, Happy Birthday Chuck Williams !! May you enjoy the celebration of you and thank you for sharing so much of yourself with us ! Your store will forever be my fav and a treasure of mine !! Kind Regards.
Best Wishes to you Chuck on your 96th birthday.You have inspired many cooks and homemakers with your wonderful stores that carry all anyone would need to make a meal for 1 or 100. Thank you and have a Happy and Blessed Birthday.
Happy birthday Mr. Williams.! Thank you for products that are a cut above other kitchen stores.
I appreciate your efforts in making the best and most unusual possible.
Best wishes on your 96th birthday! I just returned from celebrating my father’s 96th (and mom’s 88th) and we toasted you as well. I cherish the fond memory of meeting with you in your gorgeous office as we planned the SF Professional Food Society Culinary Legacies event when I was SFPFS president in 2006. And of course your stores are one of the first places I turn when it’s time to add a tool to my kitchen. Wishing you happiness and health in the coming year and always! -Jennie
Happy Birthday Chuck. (Sanna Helwa Ya Chuck) from Egyptian girl that loved your store and your classes I attended the demo on Farro Salad and I was so creazy about it that I am telling every one . Farro is sold at your store . It was the main food for enciant Egypt. It is making a come back thanks to you Chuck, I love you
Amany
Happy Birthday Chuck!
It is because of you and me working at Williams-Sonoma for 7 years, that prompted me to enroll in a culinary school and earn a culinary degree. It is your influence of using the best possible cooks tools and my love of cooking and baking, that has me living & working for Walt Disney World. I am living my dream and I thank you for all your influence and pray your birthday is a wonderful day for you and those you love. God bless you and may you have many more days to celebrate your life!
Happy Birthday. Thank you for creating the best store ever! You have made cooking and creating so enjoyable for me. One of my best vacation trips was to San Francisco to visit your flag ship store. What a treat!
Sincere wishes for a Happy Birthday! Married to a chef and being a former cooking school director – we appreciate and shop at our local store at least once a week, best store ever. Always go there to buy gifts for friends, because i always want gifts from there 🙂
Thank you for your dedication to the culinary field and helping people make cooking fun for family!
Happy Birthday. I am a proud employee of Pottery Barn. Every visit I make to WS I learn about new products I have to have for my kitchen. You are a true inspiration. Happy Celebrating.
I give my family gift cards from Williams-Sonoma. Happy Birthday Chuck
Your stores and catalogs have shaped my kitchen, my cooking and my home — always in excellent taste and design, and I really don’t know what I would have done without you! Thank you for everything — for showing me what I wanted to be before I even knew what that was!
Dear Mr. Williams, Thank you so much for the wonderful hours spent dreaming of fantastic foods prepared in spectacular cookware. What a full life you have lived – spent in kitchens and dining rooms. I hope your day was filled with joy. Happy Birthday!
Best Wishes! Have a wonderful Birthday!
When I visit your store, I feel like child in a candy store.
I use your recipes all the time.
Thank you!
Sending you very happy birthday wishes from Austin, TX. I’ve worked at three of WS stores in my career, and consequently, my kitchen became well-stocked, my family well-fed. Thank you for your vision, your passion, your stores that brought so many people like me to cooking and enjoying the process.
Best Wishes on your special day! I’ve enjoyed all of the concepts that make up the Williams Sonoma umbrella.
Happy Birthday, Chuck! Oh how I love the great culinary mecca you have created!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! My son who just turned 7 will forever be happy, as he got a banana cutter from Williams Sonoma for his birthday last month. ” Look mom, it really makes all the pieces the perfect size!”. Thank you for the products and the stories. God Bless.
Dear Chuck,
Happy Birthday! I am sure you will have no recollection of meeting me which I don’t have a problem with. I, however, have a wonderful memory of meeting you. I used work at the call center in Las Vegas, Nevada. You came to the most lovely Christmas party I have ever been to. It was an amazing way to test the products and sell them in complete integrity. Forgive me, but I thought you would be a little on the haughty side. You were far from it. Walking through adjusting things on the Christmas tree, picking bits or tools off of the floor, making sure everything was just right. It was so pleasing to me and gave me so much pride to work in the company of such a great man. I love that you have not let your success alter your determination.
I hope you have a very blessed day and that you feel the love of God surrounding you and filling you with his peace and joy.
Much love,
Jewel Johnson
(previously Jewel Pearce)
Happy Birthday Chuck. I remember so well having lunch with you in San Francisco for “Product Expert of the Year” award. You are a true inspiration to us all. God Bless You.
Happy Birthday Chuck! It was such a great pleasure meeting you a few years ago in Oklahoma City. It was the highlight of my 10 years with William Sonoma. I hope you have a Wonderful Birthday! You have influenced so many people from your life. Your a great man! You truly are an inspiration to the culinary world.
Happy Birthday Mr. Williams! Thank you for your wonderful and intuitive products that have inspired me to cook. Now inspires my son. You also so easily allow for us to make various cultural items through your versatile tools!
Thank you for following your dream. I celebrated your 90th BD in Scotsdale Arizona by giving you a tight squeeze. You made my years at WS so very special.
Working @ WS has been a wonderful experience. Our customers are the nicest people. I think that has to do with you and your philosophy behind WS. Thank you. Happy birthday.
Happy Birthday Chuck, I used to do demonstrations in most of your Massachusetts stores and loved every minute of being on stage in a Wm Sonoma store. It was awesome~ ~ ~ ~ ~ It is so hard to beleive you are 96,
I love your store. Hope your birthday was terrific
Happy Birthday Mr. Williams . Know wonder I love Williams Sonoma we have the same birthday. Hope you had a great day. !!! I did.
I am privileged to work for your amazing company for 14 years, and hope to be here for 14 more! You are an amazing mentor to throngs of William Sonoma groupies, thank you for encouraging America to cook. It was an honor meeting you many years ago. Have a blessed birthday. Susie Tilton WS#142 Germantown, TN
Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday, Chuck! I had the privilege of meeting you while employed at the Williams-Sonoma in Naperville, IL. It’s still one of the great moments of my Williams-Sonoma career!
Happy Birthday Chuck! I’m not much of a cook but WS items always inspire me. I love browsing your stores, catalog and website.
You come from a great generation!
Dear Chuck,
I had the privilege of speaking with you several times over the years when I worked for WSI, including a memorable trip to your office in San Francisco where you presented us all with a signed cookbook. For all the accolades, triumphs, and accomplishments, the one thing I always carry with me is your humble and simple approach to life and the kindness you hold for others. Happy Birthday, Chuck, may you continue to live a blessed and full life.
Happy Birthday Chuck! Your humility and passion continue to inspire me; even years after I stopped working at WS.
I spent today with your catalogue, planning for my new kitchen. Thanks for a lifetime of quality goods and excellent taste! Happy Birthday Sir!!!!
Happy 96th Birthday Mr. Williams!! It is because of your stores that I had to work for so long!!! Needless to say…my favorite stores!! God Bless you!!
Happy Birthday Chuck. Thank you for helping me fall in love with cooking and keeping that love affair going.
Happy, Happy Birthday to you, Mr. Williams! I’m so grateful to you for giving us chefs a wonderful place to shop, thank you. I’m wondering if you might share with me your favorite dish to cook and your favorite dish to eat. I wish you well in the coming year!
Happy Birthday Chuck… You have made a great store and products that make our lives so much easier. It is always very exciting to see the new WS products and foods every season.. THANK YOU SO VERY KINDLY…
Happy Birthday! I love your stores. The staff is always helpful and make it a pleasure to shop there. Thanks for everything you have done over the years.
I loved working for WS. Finding out about what a wonderful man Chuck is and learning everything he stood for, his simple love for food and techniques for best ways to cook them. I am glad I learned everything I did during the years I worked at Williams-Sonoma and the great store/empire Chuck built. Happy Birthday!!
Happy Happy Birthday Chuck!!! Just by having a “Williams-Sonoma” kitchen inspires me to COOK. Thank you for all the great “toy’s” I have in my kitchen. Love it………………………..
Happy birthday Mr. Williams! As a former WS employee, I have had the honor of meeting you a few times. Your vision, passion for people (and food!!) and integrity has helped make the culinary world the marvel it is today. Thank you for still inspiring the home chef!! Again, happy birthday!
Your knowledge of cooking has inspired me for many years. I always love to see your catalogue, but better are the recipes that you share each season. Your Thanksgiving Menus are what I am especially thankful for.
Happy Birthday Mr. Williams!
I happily worked for you when HQ was still in Emeryville, answering your mail and answering questions in Product Information. My career started there and has remained in food and cookware. You gave me my start and a good one it was. You told me with a smile that I “didn’t exactly have the subtlest palate in the office,” when I wanted you to put more ginger in the ginger cookies recipe. I have tried to bring your sense of excellence and your dry wit to all my work, and I wish you the happiest of birthdays.
Happy Birthday Chuck! “With inspiration to cook” is what you wrote many years ago on the tattered, yellowed book plate that hangs on my kitchen wall, surrounded by all things WS (the result of working there for many years). Thank you for inspiring me in so many ways. 96 birthday wishes to you!
Happy Birthday! What a great empire you have built! Love your products
Happy Birthday, Chuck! I work for you in Ft Wayne, IN. I’ve always loved W-S, and it was my dream job that I got 4 years ago. I work part time on the floor and teach tech classes. It has been the most wonderful job ever! I get to chat with customers about products that I love. I get to share in their enthusiasm for cooking, and I always try to inspire them to try new things. I’ve acquired better cookware and utensils since starting this job, and ultimately I also cook much better. That’s probably also a result of being surrounded by people who love to cook! Thank you very much for starting this ‘hardware store’ so many years ago! Sincerely, Joanie
Hi Chuck,
Wishing you a very Happy and Healthy Birthday!!! I still have the book you signed for me at the opening of the Short Hills Mall in NJ!!
Enjoy your special day!!!
Kathy
Happy Birthday Chuck!!! Love your store!!
Terrie
Mr. Williams, I am from El Salvador and live in NY. It is known in our culture that once a woman knows how to cook, she is ready to get married. (ja ja) I live now in Long Island NY and I feel like heaven when I go to William’s Sonoma Store. I am an addict of your products. If I need to cook something, I look at your recipes. I am very sure you enjoyed life while coming up with new ideas. Happy Birthday and God Bless you for sharing your yummy secrets.
Many Happy Birthday wishes! I met you several years ago in Florida when I worked part time for WS at the Gardens Mall. You were kind enough to sign a cookbook for me! Thank you for inspiring us with your products and recipes and your Grand Cuisine!
Happy, Happy Birthday! Love, love Williams-Sonoma! I used to have to drive three
hours to Memphis to visit my favorite store but thankfully now we have one in Little Rock!
Happy Birthday Chuck! Williams Sonoma has been one of my favorite stores for many years!
Alll the Best……Pam Bell
Happy Birthday Chuck! Your stores are just wonderful and it is aways a treat to visit them. Fortunately I live about 20 minutes away from the one in Baltimore, MD so I’m a regular customer there. Thank you for the unique items you offer as well as the high standards you have always maintained for your merchandise.
Happy Birthday! I want to live in your stores!
Hoping Chuck has a wonderful birthday! Been a huge fan of Williams-Sonoma for many years!
Happy Birthday! I think of you when I am stuck with something I want to cook or bake and need help. What would Chuck do? enjoy your day
I love to visit all Williams-Sonoma stores,, especially Germantown, TN., to find unusual gadgets and also useful essentials. You have made my culinary trials much easier to endure. Have a very Happy Birthday and I hope you have many more in order to keep helping me with my cooking.
Happy Birthday Mr. Williams!
I hope you many more years of health and happiness…
You are an American institution …. and I am proud to work in your Fashion Valley store (part time) for the last 14-ish years….
Your friend
Pepe Martinez
God Bless you on your birthday and everyday. And thanks for your contribution – so many – to our quality of life.
Hi Chuck, I am one of your Managers in Germantown Tennessee. It has always been a privilege to work for you and work in a company that has the expectations as we do at WMS. You set those expectations 56 years ago and we are so very proud to continue them to this day. May your Birthday be the best ever and may you know how very many people are sending your way Birthday wishes. May you have many many more! Congratulations and Happy Birthday, Sincerley, Debbie Lammel #WS142!
Happy Birthday to YOU!! I must say that it is a special treat for me to shop in a Williams-Sonoma store. My friends and I took a cooking class recently in your store in South Coast Plaza. Delightful! I learned a lot and had a splendid time. Thank you for creating a store that pleases the senses…whether I am making a purchase or just window shopping it never fails to stir my imagination. Enjoy your birthday!!
I first heard about Williams-Sonoma when I moved to San Francisco in 1985 and my culinary skills have never been the same. Thank you Mr. Williams for all the family dinners, the holiday get togethers, the dinners at the family table with my daughter and the education that you learn more from life sharing a dinner with friends and family. For all those special moments, with Williams-Sonama products or recipes included, I thank you. Happy Birthday and hope you have may more!
Happy Birthday and thanks for all your hard work!
Happy Birthday Chuck, remember meeting you in Oklahoma City several years ago when I worked for the Co. I am honored to wish you “Happy Birthday!!”
Ray Carman
Happy Birthday!!!!! I can barely afford anything in your store..But I love to browse!!! Have a wonderful Birthday!!!!
The best of birthday wishes to you Chuck. You and your stores have inspired me more times than I care to remember.
Happy Birthday!