Anne Mitchell Kupper was born in 1920. As the first Director of Public Relations for Williams-Sonoma, she helped orchestrate and engineer its growth and expansion to more than 200 stores nationwide and a successful publicly traded and diversified ecommerce enterprise. She died on November 26 at her home in West Los Angeles.
Anne Mitchell was born into poverty in Ithaca, New York, the 5th of 8 children. At age 18 she left home for Manhattan, where after a brief modeling stint she took a position at Gimbel’s Department Store teaching models how to walk the runway. After World Ward II, she enrolled in Hunter College for Women and when her then husband Herbert relocated to Los Angeles she transferred to UCLA, graduating in 1949. Over the next 20 years, she had two sons and taught 1st grade at the John Thomas Dye School in Bel Air. Many of her students remember her with great fondness to this day. Superior Court Judge Jerry Pacht appointed Anne to the 1969 Los Angeles County Grand Jury, which that year indicted key members of the Manson Family.
Anne had always been an avid student of the culinary arts. When her marriage ended in divorce, she took a position at the Fauchon Paris Gourmet Shop in Beverly Hills at age 50. She was soon after recruited to set up and manage the new Williams-Sonoma in Beverly Hills, then one of only three company stores. She caught the eye of founder Chuck Williams, and moved to corporate headquarters in San Francisco as Director of Public Relations. Over the next ten years, Anne Kupper directed and oversaw the opening of dozens of Williams Sonoma stores nationwide.
One of her many innovations was to enlist symphony orchestras and famous chefs to take part in these openings-- including James Beard, Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, and Wolfgang Puck with whom she became great friends. This was the dawn of California Cuisine, a fresh style of gourmet cooking that gained great popularity in the USA, thanks in part to the availability of high-quality cookware from Williams Sonoma. The company offered cooking classes, sponsored scholarships at culinary institutes, and became synonymous with fine cuisine. She also played a vital role in setting up their catalog mail-order business, which evolved into a burgeoning ecommerce division. One of her greatest contributions was her mentorship of junior colleagues, for which she is widely appreciated and loved.
Anne’s lived well during her retirement. She savored time spent with her grandchildren and her many close friends. She remained active in the gourmet world and particularly in UCLA’s Plato Society. She loved traveling to France and Italy, and especially to her beloved Menorca. On her centennial birthday in 2020 she received cards and calls from all over the country.
Anne succumbed to a lengthy illness on November 26, 2021, passing away peacefully at her home in West Los Angeles surrounded by loved ones at age 101. She is survived by two sons: Dr. Daniel Kupper (clinical psychologist, clinical faculty, UCLA School of Medicine) and Dr. Thomas Kupper (physician-scientist and professor, Harvard Medical School), and twelve grandchildren (Oliver, Sarah, Augie, Amy, Jennifer, Barnaby, Ben, Sam, Jonathan, Isabel, Cait, and Nicholas), and two great grandchildren (Finn and Poppy).
She is a rare and inspiring example of a woman who began a professional career at age 50 in the 1970’s and rose to being a major figure in the culinary landscape of the country over the past 50 years.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to The PLATO Society of Los Angeles, 1083 Gayley Ave, Los Angeles, CA, 90024; 310-443-7676; [email protected]
A memorial service will be held at Pierce Brothers Westwood Mortuary at a future date.
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