Robert Eugster, died Nov. 8, 2021, after battling against Parkinson’s disease for the past few years, but succumbed to an apparent heart attack. Born in a small village near Amriswil, Thurgau, Switzerland, he was the son of Robert and Emma (Rechsteiner) Eugster.

He left home at 16 to start his apprenticeship at the Hotel Hecht in St. Gallen, Switzerland where he was classically trained as a chef and for restaurant management. After graduating in 1956, he served as an infantryman in the Swiss army.

After being discharged from the army, he began to travel the world as a chef. Some of the most notable kitchens he worked in inclued The Palace Hotel in St. Moritz, The Schweitzerhof in Berne, The Dorchester in London and the Bermundiana Hotel on Bermuda. But, it would be his stint at the quaint little Pineapple Hill restaurant in Maui, Hawaii, that would change the course of his life. In Maui, he met a young waitress, Patti Harned, and they married. They moved back to Patti’s home in the Lehigh Valley and he soon became the head chef at the Stockton Inn, in Stockton, N.J.

In May of 1969 they bought Cab Frye’s Tavern in Palm. He transformed Cab Frye’s into one of the most popular spots for dinner in the Lehigh Valley. His philosophy was to treat the customer to world class dining in a casual atmosphere. In 1992 he retired and sold Cab Frye’s Tavern.

In addition to his love of cooking, he loved to sail the Chesapeake Bay, the Eastern seaboard, was an avid skier, skiing in Switzerland, Austria and Vermont and took yearly trips out West. In the late 1970s his love of motorcycles morphed into an interest in motocross racing. He and his sons traveled the East Coast, racing competitively until the mid-1980s, when his son Chris, won the 1984 National Championship.

He is survived by sons, Robert (Robi) and his wife, Susan and their children, Gretchen and Maximilian, all of Emmaus, Christopher and his wife, Colleen, of Kutztown and her children, Ellen and Neil Underwood; his former wife, Patti and the whole Harned family: Suzi and Freddy, Peggy and Janet, Hillie and Joe, Michael and Susan; a brother-in-law, Emil Gerschwiler, of Urnaesch, Switzerland.

A memorial celebration will be held in the near future, where memories will be shared. And, maybe, finally, the elusive recipe to the Swiss Onion Soup.