Sylvia Rector, Longtime Detroit Free Press Food Critic, Dies at 66

DETROIT, MI — Sylvia Rector, the longtime Detroit Free Press food critic whose restaurant reviews helped inform Metro Detroit diners about where to eat and where to avoid for 17 years, died Tuesday at her home in Beverly Hills, Michigan, at the age of 66. She had been diagnosed with colon cancer shortly after her retirement from the newspaper in December 2015.

Rector was known not only for her passion for food, graceful pen and discerning palate, but also for her love of people, according her longtime editor, Holly Griffin, who called Rector not only a “restaurant superstar” in the Metro Detroit dining community, but also a cherished friend.

“I think it was the friendships in her life that she cherished the most,” Griffin said. “She was a true perfectionist, and often her own toughest critic. Sylvia was meticulous about every word, every sentence, every story. She is someone the world will truly miss.”

Some of Metro Detroit’s A-list chefs said she didn’t just write about the city’s emerging restaurant scene, but helped nurture it. James Rigato, the chef-owner of Mabel Gray in Hazel Park, the founding executive chef and partner at the Root and White Lake and a competitor in Season 12 of “Top Chef,” credits Rector part of his success. Rector named the Root the Detroit Free Press Restaurant of the Year in 2012.

“She always argued this point, but I always said that she pretty much launched my serious career as a chef,” he said.

She was equally adored by the newspaper’s readers, Free Press Executive Editor Robert Huschka said.

“Our readers trusted Sylvia,” he said. “They loved her writing — and when she gave a restaurant her seal of approval, our readers knew they could spend their hard-earned money and not be disappointed. She cared so much about her craft. She loved her job. And it showed in her writing.”

As news of Rector’s death spread, tributes filled social media news feeds.

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