George Lang, the Hungarian-born restaurant owner and cookbook author, has died at the age of 86. His career in the world of gastronomy was marked by establishments such as the Café des Artistes in New York. In the early 1990s, Lang helped breathe new life into the Gundel restaurant in Budapest.

According to his wife, Jenifer Harvey Lang, her husband died on Tuesday. He had been receiving treatment for Alzheimer’s disease for some time, the New York Times reported.

George Lang – whose original name was György Deutsch – was born in Székesfehérvár on 13 July 1924. As a teenager, he moved to Budapest, where he learnt to play the violin. During the Second World War, he escaped from a forced-labour camp and, in an attempt to save his life, joined the Arrow Cross. Whilst „hiding” amongst the fascists, however, he rescued Jews; they later testified on his behalf when he was captured by the advancing Soviet forces.

Lang was eventually smuggled into Austria in a coffin. In 1946, he arrived in New York with just a few dollars in his pocket. He did not speak English, and his dream was to become a concert violinist. However, after hearing Jascha Heifetz play, he came to the conclusion that he would have to seek his fortune in another field, which he eventually found in the world of restaurants.

He quickly rose through the ranks, first becoming a chef, then a banquet manager, and finally developing new restaurant concepts whilst working for an organisation called Restaurant Associates. He was a founding partner of the Four Seasons restaurant and, in 1970, set up his own consultancy firm – the first of its kind in the United States.

In 1975, a member of the management team at the Hotel des Artistes asked him to take over the hotel’s restaurant, which, under his leadership, became one of the city’s favourite haunts. He never lost touch with his Hungarian roots either; in the 1990s, he helped breathe new life into the Gundel restaurant in Budapest.