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A creative bon vivant with an outsized appetite for food and life, Byron Ayanoglu, a former restaurant critic for the Montreal Gazette, died Friday of lung cancer in Ste-Agathe-des-Monts.

Ayanoglu, 73, is survived by his husband, filmmaker Algis Kemezys, his partner for three decades.

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A playwright, cookbook author, novelist, documentary maker and travel writer, he appeared on radio and TV as a food critic and chef, catered for film shoots, and even served as Mick Jagger’s personal chef.

Ayanoglu became the Montreal Gazette’s fine-dining critic in September 1997, following the death of Helen Rochester, who died on May 7, 1997, after covering the restaurant scene for 33 years. He left in May 1999 and was followed by long-time food critic Lesley Chesterman.

He was also restaurant critic for Toronto’s Now Magazine from 1985 to 1991, helping to launch the thriving restaurant scene on that city’s Danforth Ave., both in publicizing new restaurants and as a consulting chef.