Chuck Williams, who founded the Williams-Sonoma empire and ushered in an era of aspirational culinary retailing, has died. He was 100.
The retailer of high-end home goods said Williams died peacefully of natural causes Saturday at his home in San Francisco.
Williams opened his first Williams-Sonoma store in Sonoma, California, in 1956 inspired by a trip to Paris three years earlier. A lover of cooking and entertaining, he wanted US professional chefs and home cooks to have access to high-quality cookware and tools.
(Source: CNBC)