Honorary Degree | Patrick James O'Connell L.H.D. '21
Patrick James O’Connell, you are a recognized innovator and entrepreneur, a self-taught chef and restauranteur whose cuisine has drawn admirers from around the world. Your Inn at Little Washington
has earned countless honors, including being the only restaurant in the Washington, D.C., area to earn three stars from the Michelin Guide, and the only Michelin-rated restaurant in Virginia.
As a young man growing up in Clinton, Maryland, you took a job at Mr. H Hamburgers at the age of 15. You have described this as the best decision you ever made. From the moment you walked in, you found restaurants to be like living theaters, and discovered a place where you could truly be yourself amongst kindred spirits.
After earning an undergraduate degree in drama from the Catholic University of America and studying at George Washington University, you pursued the arts of extraordinary hospitality in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Using a wood-burning cookstove and an electric frying pan purchased at a yard sale, you started a catering business out of your farmhouse in Washington, Virginia. You opened your own restaurant in an abandoned garage — the iconic launch site for all entrepreneurs.
With passion and vision, you have transformed your restaurant from a neighborhood eatery to an international culinary phenomenon. At a time when few thought there could be anything refined about American cooking, you took cherished childhood flavors and reimagined them in ways piquant and grand.
Lovingly referred to as “The Pope of American Cuisine,” you have earned such distinctions as the James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award. The Inn has been named as one of the top 10 restaurants in the world by the International Herald Tribune.
In addition to your work at the Inn, you are deeply invested in your community, serving in such roles as chairman of the Architectural Review Board of Washington, Virginia, and working with multiple charitable organizations, including Share Our Strength and Population Services International. You currently serve as president of Relais & Chateâux North America, and your American Culinary Pioneer Awards are presented annually. In the more than 40 years since you first opened the doors of your Inn, you are in your kitchen nearly every day — the spot in the universe where you flourish and help ensure your guests will too.
Patrick James O’Connell, for the immense creativity your talents have brought to our Commonwealth and the world, this university is proud to honor you. By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Board of Visitors and the Ancient Royal Charter of The College of William & Mary in Virginia, I hereby confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa.
