Funeral set for former l’Auberge owner, longtime Dayton-area restaurateur

Josef Reif died last week; services are Oct. 25

Credit: Chris Stewart

Credit: Chris Stewart

Funeral arrangements have been set for a former Kettering restaurant owner who once operated Ohio’s only four-star dining establishment.

A Mass of Christian Burial for Josef Reif, who operated l’Auberge for decades, is scheduled for Oct. 25, according to Larry Glickler of Glickler Funeral Home & Cremation Services.

Services for the Centerville resident will be at 2 p.m. at Calvary Cemetery Chapel, 1625 Calvary Drive in Dayton, Glickler said. A burial will follow immediately after at Calvary, he said.

Reif succumbed to prostate cancer Friday, according to Hospice of Dayton. He was 78.

Donations are requested to be sent in memory of Reif to The Foodbank Inc., 56 Armor Place, Dayton, or Hospice of Dayton, 324 Wilmington Ave., Dayton.

Reif and l’Auberge partner Dieter Krug transformed the restaurant after buying the Far Hills Avenue site known as The Inn in the late 1970s, according to Dayton Daily News archives.

They turned it into l’Auberge, once the most highly credentialed restaurant in Ohio. L’Auberge held a four-star rating from the Mobil Travel Guide for 19 years. The Maisonette in Cincinnati held a five-star rating, but closed in 2005.

l’Auberge opened in 1979 and closed in 2012, longtime office manager Connie Zavakos said, and the building later was demolished to make way for a bank.

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