Updated October 11, 2018
For years, in-the-know shoppers would plan their grocery runs to City Market, Onion River Co-op and other area food stores around the weekly delivery schedule of Gérard’s Bread. Dozens of lightly tangy, hearty and sweet loaves would appear in late morning and then, by late afternoon — poof! They’d be gone.
Now they’re gone forever: Baker Gérard Rubaud died on Sunday, October 7, at his Westford home-bakery. Health problems earlier this summer took him away from bread production. He was 77.
The baker lived the first half of his life in France. He skied for the French national race team and, as a ski coach, achieved international renown before joining ski manufacturer Rossignol to run their race-ski design division. He moved to Vermont in 1976 to oversee operations at the company’s Williston ski plant and became president of the company’s American operations.
Rubaud quit the ski business in the mid-1980s and started wholesaling high-end boil-in-bag dinners as Gérard’s Haute Cuisine. Some locals may recall seeing them on the menu at Gérard’s Restaurant in South Burlington around that time. In the mid-1990s, he turned his attention to baking.
“He wanted to simplify his life,” daughter Julie Rubaud told Seven Days earlier this week. “He wanted to do one thing really well and have total control over it.” The elder Rubaud had nursed an interest in bread since learning to bake on a French farm in his youth.
As any sourdough baker can attest, perfecting one’s loaf of pain au levain — naturally leavened country-style bread — is a pursuit that’ll keep a person up at night. For Rubaud, the quest became his focus for the last 20 years of his life.
A 2004 stroke took the baker out of production for most of a year, but he came back with a vengeance, according to those close to him. “He marked his recovery [from his first stroke] by the number of loaves he sold,” said Julie. “Of all his accomplishments, the thing he was most proud of was his stack of invoices for bread sales after his stroke.”
With help only from the occasional short-term apprentice, Rubaud ran his bread practice alone, sleeping in brief winks between tasks — building a leaven; mixing, re-mixing, shaping and re-shaping the dough; and allowing the dough to rest between each step.
“Gérard really believed in pure simple food,” said Maggie Sherman, a longtime Rubaud friend who described herself as his ‘affectionate companion.’ “It all had to do with the freshness and the wholesomeness of the ingredients,” Sherman added. “He was a stickler about that.”
Earlier this summer, the one-man Westford bakery sat idle as Rubaud underwent physical therapy following cardiac surgery and other ongoing health problems. Sherman said Rubaud had hoped to begin baking again in recent weeks, but the universe had other plans.
And local bellies are emptier for it.
Julie said that for now, family and friends are gathering in private, but they’re planning a public memorial for a later date.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the day of Gérard Rubaud’s death.
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Very sad to hear this news. Sympathies to his family.
Thanks , Ge’rard, for many happy memories of your marvelous bread with either a bowl of olive oil and chopped garlic and parsley or just spread with sweet butter. You were a magician.
Rest in peace. In a state that does not lack for excellent options in the bread aisle, Gerard’s stood a notch or two above it all. Eaten alone or shared at a large table with family and friends, easily on par with anything experienced in France. Grateful for all he did and a life lived well. Thank you for this remembrance.
Gerard brought sous-vide cooking to America. “Boil in a bag” was a term that so terrible and discredited the high quality food that was being produced. Gerard was constantly seeking to buy local products (at a time when getting ingredients from California had more clout). His restaurant in Mallets Bay won many awards.
The best bread I’ve had in Vermont, and possibly the best bread I’ve had anywhere.
May his starter live on and raise many more loaves for years to come.
Heard about the iconic Grard yesterday and was grateful to find this article… I was wondering can someone explain the correction please…? The only way tI’m understanding it is that he misstated his own death?
hi Isabella! thanks for reading. An icon for sure. Re correction on date of death – no, our reporter originally misstated it.