Famed Chef Georges Perrier Undergoes Triple Bypass Surgery [Updated]

Updated 3/8/18: Perrier is recovering from triple bypass surgery. Genevieve Perrier told Philly Mag the surgery went well.

3/7/18: Georges Perrier is undergoing double bypass heart surgery today after collapsing outside his apartment in Center City on Monday. The famed Le-Bec Fin chef played a major role in putting Philly’s dining scene on the map.

The chef, 74, was unresponsive and had to be revived with CPR, according to Philadelphia magazine, who spoke with his daughter. Genevieve Perrier told the magazine, “Thank God he passed out and it happened on the street, because if he’d gone into his apartment, he would’ve died.”

Perrier, originally from Lyon, France, came to the U.S. in 1967, and in 1970 opened Le-Bec Fin at 1312 Spruce Street, in what’s now Vetri Cucina. The upscale French restaurant relocated to 15th and Walnut in 1983, eventually shutting its doors just five years ago. A long list of this city’s most well-known chefs passed through Le-Bec Fin’s kitchen over the years. The restaurant, and Perrier, were captured in the 2015 documentary King Georges.