Chef Biography
Malte Breitlow was born in 1942 in Baden Baden, in what is known as the Black Forest of Germany, during the middle of World War II. His family survived the war, and at age 15 he began training in the kitchens of the resort hotels in Baden Baden, including the Kurhaus where he was part of the team who cooked for Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.
In 1962, at the age of 20, he decided he wanted to move to the United States and sent letters to resort hotels throughout the U.S. In 1963, the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix offered him a line cook job, and 15 years later he left as executive sous chef for a mountain camp in Wyoming’s Grand Teton Mountains, where he could use the skills he had acquired in Germany to present buffets.
In 1982, he returned to Arizona to become the executive chef of the Sheraton Conquistador. Four years later, the Great Chefs television team showed up to tape Chef Breitlow for their PBS series, Great Chefs of the West, where he appeared in episode # 14.
The following year, Chef Breitlow, who had also been a Master Sargent in the U.S. Army Reserves, was killed in a night military exercise when his helicopter crashed.