We received this from Gina Piccolino of the Bread Bakers Guild of America:
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I am very saddened to forward the following news. This comes from the BBC's
web site:
Friday, 1 November, 2002, 12:29 GMT
Celebrity baker missing after air crash
Poilane revived the fashion for sourdough bread
One of France's best-known bakers is missing after the helicopter he was
piloting apparently crashed off the coast of western France.
A search is under way for Lionel Poilane and his wife, Irena, who are
believed to have been the only people aboard the aircraft which came down
into the sea off the town of Cancale in Brittany.
Authorities said they found a downed helicopter early on Friday afternoon
with at least one body inside.
Officials indicated there was little hope the Poilanes would be found alive.
Lionel Poilane is credited with reviving the fading fortunes of sourdough
bread, which became hugely popular in France and abroad.
Mr Poilane holds a pilot's licence and frequently flew his helicopter to
the small off-shore island Ile des Rimains which he personally owned and
where he lived in an old fort.
The accident seems to have taken place in thick fog late on Thursday as the
aircraft was trying to land on the island.
Mr Poilane is thought to have been on his way to the island to spend the
All Saints' Day bank holiday weekend there.
Mr Poilane, 57, succeeded his father, Pierre, as head of the bakery chain
founded in 1932 in Paris under the family name.
He made his mark by reviving traditional ways of baking his trademark round
loaves, by hand over wood fires.
He opened a shop in London, and exported bread to the British Waitrose
supermarket chain.
Gina Renee Piccolino
Director of Activities and Membership Services
The Bread Bakers Guild of America
3203 Maryland Avenue
North Versailles, PA 15137
Phone: 412-823-2080; Fax: 412-823-2495; Email: gina@bbga.org
Please go to: http://www.bbga.org/boardlp/index.html to share your thoughts.
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Here is a link to a article about Lionel Poilane from March of 2001
http://www.fastcompany.com/online/44/poilane.html
and this is the web site of the Poilane bakery (both French and English)
http://www.poilane.fr/
Jeff