Marion Cunningham was born in southern California and later lived in Walnut Creek. She was responsible for the complete revision of The Fannie Farmer Cookbook and is the author of The Fannie Farmer Baking Book, The Breakfast Book, The Supper Book, Cooking with Children, and Learning to Cook with Marion Cunningham. She frequently traveled throughout the country giving cooking demonstrations, and contributed articles to Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Saveur, and Gourmet magazines, as well as writing a column for the San Francisco Chronicle. In May 2003 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the James Beard Foundation. She died in 2012.