Author. He was the author and publisher of the "Egon Ronay Guide" to British food and eating establishments. Raised in Budapest by a wealthy family that ran five restaurants, he studed law while still intending to join the family business. When the Soviets confiscated all private property in the country at the end of World War II, the Ronays were left impoverished. Thru influential family friends, Ronay was able to leave Hungary in 1946, arriving in England completely broke. He immediately developed a low opinion of British palates and cuisine and set out to improve matters. In 1952 he borrowed the money to open his own small restaurant, "The Marquee" near Harrod's Department Store, which featured menu items such as pate de champaigne and bouillabaisse previously unknown in England. His business was so successful that food critic Fanny Craddock made him a regular on her BBC television show. In 1957 he published the first edition of the "Egon Ronay Guide", England's counterpart of the famed French "Michelin Guide", of which he thought little. The work became a best seller, and soon restaurant owners were eager to put the Egon Ronay sticker in their windows if they got good reviews. He could be brutal: airline food was "premeditated gastronomic murder", while that served in train stations was "pig swill". (Even Army chow got an evaluation). The book was completely rewritten each year after a fresh visit by one of his anonymous staff of around 200, with free meals and drinks never accepted by him or his employees. (Sometimes he would disguise his appearance and park his Rolls Royce out of sight to make his own inspections). Starting in 1983, his Guide critiqued American establishments, but in 1985, Ronay sold his publication to the Automobile Association (AA), though he was to get it back in 1996 after the group to which AA had sold it went bankrupt. The first non-Frenchman named to L'Academie des Gastronomes, he published one cookbook, "The Unforgettable Dishes of My Life" (1989). Ronay, who became a British citizen in 1951, remained active until his death following a short illness.