Family and friends gathered last Saturday to mourn and celebrate the life of one of Grand Bahama’s originals, chef and restaurateur Peter Koll, who passed away on November 1. Born in Germany, Peter moved to the island in 1966 to work at West End’s Jack Tar Village.
A trained chef, he worked for over 56 years in the restaurant business, in a variety of positions including executive chef, food and beverage manager, resort manager and owner of his own restaurants, too.
Peter worked for some of Grand Bahama’s most famous hotels: Jack Tar, Holiday Inn, Princess Hotels, Atlantic Beach and Xanadu to name a few. He retired in 2009 but came back to the business to work with his good friend Charlie Winter and later with his daughter Nathalie, until his passing.
“I met him in 1974 when I came to the Princess as a sous chef, when the island was booming,” Winter reminisced.
“We were buddies from then on – he was German; I was Austrian. He met his wife here and had a wonderful family, and was married for over 53 years. He loved The Bahamas.”
Peter worked with hundreds of Bahamians throughout his career and made his home in Freeport, along with his wife Louise Koll, and his daughters and grandchildren.
In 2014, he was awarded the ‘Life Achievement Award’ by the Chamber of Commerce for Business Excellence. Well known throughout the community as Peter or ‘Pappi’, as he was fondly called, he was remembered by many during a memorial service at Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church.
