Joel Dean, 73; Was Co-Founder of Food, Kitchenware Firm

Joel Dean, 73, co-founder of Dean & DeLuca, a leading retailer of gourmet and specialty foods and high-end kitchenware with stores in New York City and elsewhere, died Monday at New York University Medical Center of complications from a staph infection, the New York Times reported.

A native of Midland, Ohio, Dean graduated from Michigan State University and moved to New York to study English at Columbia University. He was working for the publishing house Simon & Schuster as a business manager in 1976, when he quit to join a friend, Giorgio DeLuca, in a business venture in Manhattan’s SoHo district.

The two men rented loft space and opened an exclusive food emporium that became a tourist spot for food fanciers from around the world.

The business relocated to a 10,000-square-foot store in 1988 and began attracting corporate investors in the early 1990s. The company now has 19 stores and cafes -- including in Napa Valley’s St. Helena; in Washington, D.C.; near Kansas City, Kan.; and in Tokyo -- and sells online.