Jean Paré, CM (December 7, 1927 – December 24, 2022) was a Canadian

caterer Catering is the business of providing food services at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio. History of catering The earliest account of major service ...

, author of the '' Company's Coming'' cookbook series, and founder of Company's Coming Publishing Limited. She was one of the top-selling cookbook authors in the world, selling 30 million copies as of 2011. She wrote over 200 cookbooks before her retirement in 2011. In 2004, she was made a

Member of the Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

(CM), Canada's highest civilian honour.

Life

Paré was born on December 7, 1927, in Irma,

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, to Edward and Ruby Elford. The family moved to

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

. Jean married her first husband, Clarence Lovig, in 1946. In 1959, they moved to

Vermilion, Alberta Vermilion is a town in central Alberta, Canada that is surrounded by the County of Vermilion River. It is at the intersection of Highway 16 (Yellowhead Highway) and Highway 41 ( Buffalo Trail), approximately west of Lloydminster and east of ...

, where they owned and operated the Vermilion Auction Mart. Later they built and operated the

Vegreville Vegreville () is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is on Highway 16A approximately east of Edmonton, Alberta's capital city. It was incorporated as a town in 1906, and that year also saw the founding of the ''Vegreville Observer'', a week ...

Auction Mart as well. Jean and Clarence were divorced in the mid 1960s, leaving Jean on her own with two school-age children to support. Using a $1,000 loan from a local bank, she opened a small café in Vermilion. There, she met her second husband, Larry Paré, a single father of three children. Jean Paré was the author of Company's Coming cookbooks, published and distributed by Company's Coming Publishing Limited, which she co-founded in 1981. She oversaw publication of more than 17,000 kitchen-tested recipes and the publication of more than 200 cookbooks. After 30 years and 30 million cookbooks sold, she retired in February 2011. Prior to publishing cookbooks, Paré was a caterer in her home town of Vermilion, Alberta. Because of requests for her recipes, she wrote and published her first cookbook in 1981 at the age of 53. To begin, 15,000 copies of ''150 Delicious Squares'' were produced, and sold in specially designed racks at gas stations, grocery stores, and at local fairs. This first book was the start for Company's Coming Publishing Limited. Paré went on to have more than 200 Company's Coming cookbooks published before her retirement in 2011, selling 30 million copies. Her cookbooks are typically about a single subject with easy to follow recipes that rely upon readily available ingredients. Jean Paré was also a principal shareholder in COMAC Food Group. That company owned Company's Coming Bakery Cafés, Grabbajabba Specialty Coffee, Pastels Cafés, and the Canadian rights to the

Domino's Pizza Domino's Pizza, Inc., commonly referred to as Domino's, is an American multinational pizza restaurant chain founded in 1960 and led by CEO Russell Weiner. The corporation is Delaware General Corporation Law, Delaware-domiciled and headquartered ...

franchise. Among her accomplishments was her appointment as a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2009 she donated her collection of 6,700 cookbooks, many of them collections of recipes from women from community organizations, churches, and Canadian local groups, to the

University of Guelph The University of Guelph (abbreviated U of G) is a comprehensive Public university, public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College (1874), the MacDonald I ...

. Paré died on December 24, 2022, at the age of 95.

References

External links

Image of Jean Paré
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pare, Jean 1927 births 2022 deaths Canadian businesspeople Members of the Order of Canada Canadian women non-fiction writers People from the Municipal District of Wainwright No. 61 Franco-Albertan people Canadian women food writers Canadian cookbook writers Writers from Edmonton