Chef Joyce Chen

September 14, 1917 – August 23, 1994. Born in Beijing, China, Chen and husband Thomas left Shanghai, China in 1949 as Communists were taking over the country. Chen settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Career - Chen opened her first restaurant, "Joyce Chen Restaurant," in 1958. In 1960 she began teaching Chinese cooking at the Cambridge and Boston Adult Education Centers, introducing many Americans to homestyle and gourmet Chinese cooking techniques. Chen is credited with popularizing the Mandarin style of Chinese cooking in the United States. She found that the quality of Oriental cooking tools in America didn't live up to her high standards. So, she decided to introduce her own. Today, Joyce Chen Products is America's leading Asian cookware company. Chen died of Alzheimer's disease in 1994. Her namesake restaurant closed in 1998. Chen's daughter Helen Chen is CEO of cookware company Joyce Chen, Inc. Son Henry (d. 2007) owned Joyce Chen Unlimited, a retail store in Acton, Massachusetts, which closed in March 2008. Her son Stephen Chen is president of Joyce Chen Foods, Inc