The Michelin Starred and James Beard Foundation Award-winning restaurateur, master sommelier and 1992 Lumberjack graduate Bobby Stuckey has yet another recognition to add to his resume: earning the 11th Julia Child Award.
The prestigious award, bestowed annually by the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts, is among the food world’s most coveted recognitions. Previous recipients include Alice Waters, Jacques Pépin, Rick Bayless and other inspiring figures—people just as influential in the world of gastronomy as the trailblazing Child herself.
To accompany the award, the Julia Child Foundation makes a $50,000 grant to the recipients’ selected organization, and the famously generous Stuckey elected to use it to support NAU. He said the funds will bolster support for first-generation students in the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM).
“I am deeply honored to receive this recognition from The Julia Child Foundation,” Stuckey said. “Julia’s impact on American culinary culture extends far beyond cooking techniques—she championed education, excellence and the joy that comes from sharing good food and wine. These values have guided my career, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to pay it forward through the NAU scholarship, supporting the next generation of hospitality professionals, and particularly first-generation college students.”
With a distinguished career spanning almost four decades, Stuckey has worked his way from busboy to award-winning master sommelier, restaurateur, winemaker and cookbook author. In June 2024, Stuckey earned Food & Wine’s second annual Mentorship Award for his work in the industry, following the inaugural award given to Pépin. Stuckey’s restaurant Frasca Food and Wine, which opened in Boulder, Colorado, in August 2004, was just nominated for the 2025 Outstanding Restaurant Award by the James Beard Foundation. Stuckey said he’s proud to have three outstanding NAU grads working at Frasca.
Stuckey has long been a champion of first-generation Lumberjacks. In 2022, he and his wife established the Bobby and Danette Stuckey Endowed Scholarship, which provides financial support to first-generation students enrolled in the HRM hospitality program who maintain a GPA of 2.5 or greater and have remaining costs of attendance not covered by other aid. Stuckey, a frequent public speaker, said that early on, the scholarship funds were almost entirely made up of his donated speech fees. The $50,000 Julia Child Award grant will further strengthen the scholarship fund, supporting more first-generation students.
“I think it’s incredible, the university’s dedication to first-generation students,” Stuckey said. “When you go to a university that has a diversity of life experiences represented in the students, it creates a unique type of experience. My wife and I want to support that, and this is our little way of doing it.”
Stuckey said he came to NAU in the late 1980s after a childhood full of academic difficulties. NAU’s smaller size and low student-to-teacher ratio was an ideal fit for him; without the university’s hands-on, dedicated faculty, he may not have found confidence and success.
“I’m dyslexic, and I had a really tough relationship with academics,” Stuckey said. “It’s not that I didn’t want to be a good student—I just didn’t fit in the bell curve of ‘traditional.’ NAU was what I needed without knowing it.”
Ashok Subramanian, dean of NAU’s W.A. Franke College of Business, said he wasn’t surprised to hear about Stuckey’s latest achievement.
The presentation of the Julia Child Award will be held at a special event this fall.
“Bobby exemplifies Julia’s commitment to education, excellence and genuine hospitality,” said Eric W. Spivey, chairman of The Julia Child Foundation. “His lifelong dedication as a Hospitalian, his mentorship of countless hospitality professionals and his advocacy for independent restaurants perfectly align with Julia’s values. We are thrilled to honor his contributions to American culinary culture with this award.”
Jill Kimball | NAU Communications
(928) 523-2282 | jill.kimball@nau.edu