Jeff Smith (chef)
Jeff Smith (January 22, 1939 - July 7, 2004) was the author of a dozen cookbooks and the host of The Frugal Gourmet, an American cooking show that began in Tacoma, Washington and aired on PBS from 1988 to 1997. He started off as a United Methodist minister but soon received a cooking show on a local PBS affiliate in Seattle. With an appearance on the Phil Donahue show and a move to Chicago, his career took off. In 1998, Smith got into a major sex scandal when it was alleged that he had sexually assaulted several teenage boys in the 1970s. Smith denied the accusations, but was forced off the air and had to pay an estimated $5 million to the plaintiffs. He was never charged with a crime, but never returned to the public eye.
He died in his sleep of heart disease.