 Sainte-Beuve called him the "Father of the table".He inherited the family fortune at the death of his mother in 1812, married his devoted mistress, gave his own funeral to see who would come, then retired to the Château de Villiers-sur-Orge, near Paris.Pascal Ory considers Alexandre Grimod to be "one of the founders of the modern French culture," grouping him with the Comte de Saint-Simon and Alexis de Tocqueville.