Walter Scheib

Scheib went hiking in Taos, New Mexico, and went missing on June 13, 2015. He was found dead on June 21, 2015.

Scheib's mother had just died, and Scheib did not want to take on a new job. Scheib's wife submitted his résumé without his knowledge. He was among 4,000 applicants for the position, and one of just five asked to audition for the First Lady. Mrs. Clinton was impressed with Scheib's managerial skills and ability to prepare hundreds of first-class meals in a short period of time. She also wanted the White House to feature more distinctively American cooking techniques, dishes, and presentation, something she believed Scheib could bring to the White House. She also wanted to get away from the cream- and fat-heavy dishes of French cooking. Scheib was competing against some of the best chefs in the United States, including Nora Pouillon and Patrick Clark (then at the Hay–Adams Hotel). Scheib auditioned before the First Lady and several other women by presenting pecan-encrusted lamb, red-curried sweet potatoes, and morel sauce. While other chefs primarily brought in dishes they normally serve in their restaurants, Scheib's lunch featured a wide variety of American cuisines: Cal-Italian, Mid-Atlantic, Southwestern, Floridian, and even a vegetarian serving. Hillary Clinton hired Scheib after Clark, her first choice, turned her down.

In 2007, Scheib authored (with Andrew Friedman) a memoir, The White House Chef: Eleven Years, Two Presidents, One Kitchen. He subsequently formed a corporation, The American Chef, which provided his services as a consultant and lecturer, and assisted in planning, preparing, and presenting Scheib-cooked meals for large groups. Between 2007 and 2015, he traveled to nearly every U.S. state and to 154 countries.

Scheib appeared on the television series Iron Chef America, which aired on the Food Network, in 2006.

Tension between the Bushes and Scheib was soon apparent. An anonymous White House staffer later claimed that Scheib kept serving the Bushes scallops, even though they disliked them. Scheib angrily denied the assertion. The differences became too great, and Scheib was fired by the Bushes in February 2005. He was succeeded in August 2005 by Cristeta Comerford, a White House sous-chef whom Scheib had hired in 1995.

White House Executive Chefs do not normally change when a new administration arrives, and, as usual, President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush retained Scheib when they entered the White House in 2000. However, the Bushes had different tastes and styles than the Clintons. Laura Bush wanted a more formal presentation at meals, and President Bush disliked soup, salad, and poached fish—staples of Scheib's cuisine. Instead, the president favored peanut butter and honey sandwiches, BLTs, and cheeseburgers. The twin Bush girls both required that the calories in each meal be given to them. After the September 11 attacks in 2001, Scheib's cooking duties were largely restricted to the First Family, as all social engagements at the White House were curtailed for nearly a year. President Bush affectionately called Scheib "Cookie".

Among Scheib's immediate innovations as White House Executive Chef was the establishment of a vegetable garden on the roof of the White House and the modernization of the kitchen in 1993. He also taught Chelsea Clinton how to cook. Meeting the dining needs of the Clintons was demanding. Hillary Clinton enjoyed hot sauces, and Bill Clinton loved to gorge on cheeseburgers and a 24-ounce porterhouse steak with béarnaise sauce and onion rings whenever the First Lady was absent. Chelsea Clinton's decision to become a vegetarian in 1999 created major problems for the kitchen staff, who could no longer use the same utensils and pans for cooking meat and vegetables.

In 1990, he took a position as the executive chef at The Greenbrier, a luxury resort near White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. At The Greenbrier, Scheib directed a staff of 200, and often prepared as many as 1,000 meals a night.

Scheib met his first wife, Jean Prince, at the Capital Hilton, where she was working as a chef. The couple had two sons, Walter S. Scheib IV (born in 1988) and James Prince (born in 1991). Their marriage ended in divorce.

He moved to the Boca Raton Resort and Club in Boca Raton, Florida, in 1986, where he served four years as the executive chef. Scheib then returned to D.C., where he served briefly as executive chef at the Mayflower Hotel.

Scheib graduated from Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda in 1972. He enrolled at the University of Maryland, College Park, but quit and enrolled at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, where he graduated in 1979.

The White House kitchen had been dominated from 1966 to 1987 by Henry Haller, a Swiss-trained chef who emphasized French cooking. His successor, Jon Hill, lasted just five months before being replaced by long-time sous-chef Hans Raffert, but Raffert retired in October 1992, and French-born and trained chef Pierre Chambrin, who succeeded Raffert, was asked to resign in March 1994 after refusing to cook the low-fat American cuisine favored by President Bill and First Lady Hillary Clinton. Most of Chambrin's staff were also asked to leave.

Walter Stanley Scheib III (May 3, 1954 – c. June 13, 2015) was an American chef who was White House Executive Chef from 1994 until 2005.

Scheib was born on May 3, 1954, in Oakland, California, to Walter S. Scheib Jr. and his wife, Jean Scheib. His father worked for the Atomic Energy Commission, and his mother was an accountant. The Scheibs moved to Bethesda, Maryland, when Walter was a young boy.