Jan Mitchell of New York City, Southampton, and Palm Beach, Florida, died on Saturday, December 5, at his Manhattan home. A co-founder of the Chabad of Southampton Jewish Center, he was 96.
Born on April 22, 1913, in Libau (now Liepaja,) Latvia, in the Russian Empire, Mr. Mitchell jumped ship while serving on a merchant marine vessel docked in Baltimore, Maryland, and then settled in New York.
Not knowing much English, he worked as a waiter at the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan and at the Concourse Plaza Hotel in the Bronx—he was nicknamed The Swede by Yankee players from the nearby stadium.
He borrowed $25,000 and by 1942 had bought the Olmsted restaurant on G Street in Washington, D.C. Following that restaurant’s success, in 1950 he purchased Lüchow’s in New York City, established in 1882 by August Lüchow, and was renowned for having restored it back to its German roots.
Mr. Mitchell revived the restaurant’s German cuisine, beer, and festivities, all the way down to restoring in 1952 the umlaut in Lüchow, which had been dropped because of anti-German sentiment during World War I, leaving the impression that it was a Chinese restaurant.
He later bought Longchamps in Manhattan, Charles French Restaurant in Greenwich Village, and the Riverboat in the Empire State Building. He revamped the latter three restaurants and sold them to the Riese organization in 1967. Mr. Mitchell’s beloved Lüchow’s was sold in 1973, but not before producing a cookbook based on its menu, “Lüchow’s German Cookbook,” printed in 1962. Another cookbook, “Cooking à la Longchamps,” was printed in 1964.
In 1960 he married actress and art dealer Ellin Hobbins, the inspiration for his transition from restaurateur to philanthropist and art collector. He and his wife were founding members of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and the Chabad of Southampton Jewish Center in Southampton, and supported numerous other charities, both local and in Israel.
In addition to collecting paintings, he amassed a collection of pre-Columbian gold artifacts, an interest that was sparked at the age of 5 when his father gave him a gold coin for learning to read. The artifacts were exhibited in 1993 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A trustee for the museum, Mr. Mitchell financed the gallery for the exhibit, which the museum renamed the Jan Mitchell Treasury.
Mr. Mitchell is survived by three sons, David Mitchell, Alexander Mitchell and Oliver Mitchell, all of Manhattan; and 13 grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife in 1993.
No information on services was available.
on Dec 9, 2009