Larger-than-life restaurateur Sirio Maccioni — the man behind seminal French fine dining restaurant Le Cirque, and one of New York’s grandest maitre d’s — has died. He was 88. Eater has reached out to his son Mauro for more details, though early reports say it was not due to COVID-19.

Maccioni immigrated to New York from Italy and worked at restaurants before opening Le Cirque in 1974. The restaurant became known as one of the city’s top fine dining restaurants, and some of New York’s most acclaimed chefs spent time in its kitchen, including Daniel Boulud, David Bouley, Geoffrey Zakarian, Jacques Torres, and Michael Lomonaco. In 2013, Esquire magazine wrote that “no restaurant in America, perhaps the world, has graduated so many renowned chefs as Le Cirque.”