
David Gregory Bouley was born on May 27, 1953 in Storrs, Connecticut. His mother, Mr. Theresa Salembier Bouley, was an education teacher and his father, Henry Bouley Sr., was self-employed. His maternal grandparents immigrated to Rhode Island from France in 1929; As a child, Mr. Bouley often said, he collected eggs, milked cows and made butter on their 43-acre farm in Woonsocket, sparking his lifelong dedication to fresh ingredients.
He attended the University of Connecticut in Storrs and took the French Civilization Course at the Sorbonne in Paris before seeking work at the famous restaurant Moulin de Mougins, near Cannes, in 1977.
He and Ms. Bartelme, an artist and founder of the TriBeCa Film Festival, were married in August 2006 in the Loire Valley of France.
He is survived by his wife; five brothers and sisters: Martin, Jon, Marc, Michelle and Theresa Bouley; and 14 nieces and nephews.
After the attacks of September 11, 2001, Mr. Bouley turned the Bouley Bakery, a few blocks from Ground Zero, into a base from which he fed firefighters and police officers. Through a $5.8 million contract from the Red Cross, Mr. Bouley, along with an army of staff and volunteers, also fed first responders and construction crews, cooking 20,000 to 30,000 meals every 24 hours, rejecting shelf-stable ingredients in favor of whole salmon, lobsters and produce donated from across the country.