Jeff Smith, TV's "Frugal Gourmet," dies at 65

The Associated Press

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Smith died in his sleep of natural causes on Wednesday, said business manager Jim Paddleford. He had long suffered from heart disease and had a valve replaced in 1981.

In the 1960s, Smith, a United Methodist minister, began teaching a course at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma titled "Food as Sacrament and Celebration." Eventually he got his own program on the local PBS affiliate — "Cooking Fish Creatively" — and his career took off with an appearance on Phil Donahue's talk show.

"The Frugal Gourmet" became the nation's most-watched cooking show, and a series of accompanying cookbooks broke sales records for the genre.

But in 1997, seven men filed a lawsuit alleging they had been sexually abused by Smith as youths. Six said the abuse occurred while they worked for him at the Chaplain's Pantry, a restaurant he operated in Tacoma in the 1970s. The seventh alleged Smith abused him after picking him up as a hitchhiker in 1992.

Smith denied the charges, but he and his insurance companies paid an undisclosed sum to settle the lawsuit.

Smith is survived by his wife, Patricia; his sons Channing and Jason, and their wives, Yuki and Lisa. A private service is planned.