Charlotte Ann Albertson, cooking school founder and culinarian, has died at 90

Charlotte Ann Albertson, 90, a pioneer in Philadelphia’s culinary scene through her long-running cooking school, died Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026, at her home in Harveys Lake, PA.

For more than five decades, Mrs. Albertson, a longtime Wynnewood resident, ran Albertson Cooking School, which has introduced generations of home cooks and aspiring professionals to global cuisines, wine, and hospitality. In the years before round-the-clock food television, the school also helped to elevate the profiles of local chefs.

Born in Chicago to Joseph and Veronica Sutula, she grew up in Scranton and attended Marywood Seminary and Marywood College, graduating in 1957. She earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania, where she met her husband, Dr. Richard P. Albertson, an anesthesiologist and president of the medical staff at Lankenau Hospital; he died in 2024.

After their marriage in 1961, Mrs. Albertson taught fifth- and sixth-grade English at the former Wynnewood Road School in Lower Merion. In 1974, after taking classes with food writer/teacher Ethel Hoffman, she launched L’Epicure, later Albertson Cooking School.

Mrs. Albertson proved adept at recruiting talent for the school, which relies on itinerant faculty. “Her term was always: ‘Be bullheaded — don’t ever take no for an answer,’” said her daughter Ann-Michelle.

Mrs. Albertson’s classes, held at first in her condo kitchen and later at a variety of venues, ranged from the sublime to the whimsical. She booked a woman whom she saw teaching cake-decorating at a department store to share the secrets to the butter cookies of her native Scandinavia. She hired a baker from the Commissary (one of the most popular restaurants in town in the late ’70s) to demonstrate desserts, got a Japanese friend to teach sukiyaki and tempura, and landed a cheese artist to teach how to sculpt cheddar into footballs and pine cones.

Lankenau Hospital was a rich recruiting ground. Her early instructors included the hospital’s chef, Bruce Cooper. “She was a tremendous supporter from the start, even investing in Jake’s [the landmark restaurant in Manayunk that opened in 1987] for its initial five years,” Cooper said last week.

In 1977, she met Le Bec-Fin chef Georges Perrier at Lankenau after his teenage stepson required surgery and Dr. Albertson was the anesthesiologist. She persuaded Perrier to teach, and he led classes even as his and his restaurant’s international reputation grew.

That same year, after reading about the impending closure of the Bellevue Stratford Hotel, Mrs. Albertson invited its executive chef to teach. “He said that he was too old, but he recommended a new guy in town, a master chef working at the Marriott,” Mrs. Albertson told The Inquirer for a 1994 profile.

He was Tell Erhardt. Although he had a heavy German accent, she said, he was “a charmer” and led 16 classes for her. Chef Tell parlayed that into spots on local TV and, later, frequent appearances on Regis and Kathie Lee and Saturday Night Live. (Chef Tell also inspired the gibberish-speaking Swedish chef on The Muppet Show.)

Mrs. Albertson traveled and studied extensively, taking classes at La Varenne and Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. “She showed us the world — Vietnam, South Africa, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Italy, China,” Ann-Michelle said. “Everywhere she went for culinary work, she took us with her.”

She and her husband were also notably open about their choice to adopt. “I was adopted in 1967, when it was still pretty taboo,” Ann-Michelle said. “But from the beginning, the message was: ‘You were picked out special.’” The family maintained ties to St. Joseph’s Center in Scranton, from which Ann-Michelle and middle child Peter were adopted. Their third child, Kristin, was adopted privately in 1976.

Kristin’s dearest memories of the cooking school were the hands-on birthday party classes for kids; children were taught how to bake and decorate a cake from scratch as well as make pizza using homemade dough. “Getting to meet Julia Child multiple times and dine with countless celebrity chefs are also at the top of the list of my fond memories,” all thanks to her mother, Kristin said.

Beyond the classroom, Mrs. Albertson consulted for food and wine companies, libraries, and cultural institutions. She received the Delaware Valley Restaurant Association’s Panache Award in 1993 for promoting professional growth through education.

Only later did Ann-Michelle — a pediatric speech pathologist who now runs the cooking school — fully grasp her influence. “People would stop me and say, ‘Your mom did so much for me. I wouldn’t be where I am without her,’” she said.

As the business grew, Mrs. Albertson directed its success toward philanthropy, supporting causes including the Ronald McDonald House and Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.

Mrs. Albertson attended Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church in Overbrook and Our Lady of Victory at Harveys Lake. “We went to church every Sunday,” Ann-Michelle said. “The perk at the lake was that I could water-ski to church — and ski back.”

Mrs. Albertson was a charter member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and belonged to the Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, Les Dames d’Escoffier, Société Mondiale du Vin, the Philadelphia Culinary Guild, and the American Institute of Wine & Food.

She is survived by her children, Ann-Michelle Albertson, Kristin Keifer, and Peter Albertson; seven grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 25, at Presentation B.V.M. Church, 204 Haverford Rd., Wynnewood. A celebration of life will follow at 12:30 p.m. at Savona, 100 Old Gulph Rd., Gulph Mills.

In keeping with her spirit, her family asks attendees to wear bright colors in remembrance of her zest for life.