‘Feasting at the ultimate banquet table.’ Chef John Chapiewski dies at 49
Most folks couldn’t properly pronounce his last name, so they simply called him Chef John.
But those nourished by his teaching and his food have no trouble expressing what John Chapiewski meant to them as the culinary arts teacher at Central High School.
“Chef John was a very welcoming and open and loving man who did everything he could for his students,” Bethany Fleming, a 2016 Central graduate, told the Ledger-Enquirer. “He didn’t have kids of his own, but he basically treated his students as his children.”
Chef John died Thursday in hospice care, Central special-education teacher Joanna Turner announced on the fundraising page she created at GoFundMe.com to help pay for his medical expenses. He was 49.
Battling stage 4 kidney failure, Chef John was hospitalized Dec. 2 and diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer, which spread to his bone marrow, hip and spine.
“Anyone who knows Chef John knows he loves his job and students more than anything and desires to get back to the classroom as soon as he can,” Turner wrote at the time.
On Feb. 16, Turner announced Chef John had decided to stop cancer treatment and start receiving hospice care. Without any local family, his colleagues, friends, students and former students rallied around him, providing food, visits, messages and prayer. They ensured he didn’t die alone.
“John passed peacefully in the early hours this morning in his home surrounded by an over pouring of love,” Turner wrote.
Fleming credits Chef John with encouraging her to attend culinary school at the Art Institute of Atlanta, where she graduated in 2018. He also helped get her job as pastry chef at Green Island County Club.
“It’s all due to him,” she said.
Megan Gibson is another 2016 Central grad who credits Chef John with her career.
“He is exactly why my fiancé (James Hicks) and I do what we do today,” she told the L-E in an email. “I am managing a coffee shop in Montgomery, and James is a sous chef at a fine dine restaurant in Montgomery.”
Gibson, who earned a hotel and restaurant management bachelor’s degree from Auburn University in 2022, described Chef John as “an amazing mentor and even a more amazing person. “
Chef John had “the most perfect and pure heart who only wanted what’s best for his students and people he loved,” Gibson said. “The world lost a good soul, but we will see him again.”
During his eight years in Phenix City, Chef John’s students catered school and community events and ran The Brick bistro at Central to gain invaluable hands-on experience in the industry.
“He really did teach us the ins and outs of cooking, catering and running a restaurant,” Fleming said. “It’s crazy. I couldn’t imagine anyone else achieving that.”
While grateful for the time she had with him, Fleming laments the loss.
“He was building something great in the career tech program,” she said. “Hopefully, the next person that takes his position at the school can achieve what he’s been able to.”
Chef John, Turner wrote, “is feasting at the ultimate banquet table.”
In lieu of a funeral, a celebration of life ceremony will be conducted April 15 at 3 p.m. in Central’s auditorium, 2400 Dobbs Drive, Phenix City.
As of Thursday afternoon, $9,586 from 99 donations has been raised toward the GoFundMe account’s $15,000 goal.
This story was originally published March 9, 2023 at 4:01 PM.
