Nach Waxman founded a Manhattan bookstore that became a global mecca for chefs, cooks, culinary academics, epicurean writers, and anyone who enjoyed eating as much as he did, died August 4 in Manhattan. He was 84.

Mr. Waxman’s passion for and curiosity about food made his store, Kitchen Arts & Letters, a go-to source for all kinds of culinary history and customs, as well as for recipes that he insisted should be sources of creative inspiration rather than rigid paint-by-numbers templates. Faced with a dining challenge, customers knew whom to call.

Mr. Waxman once said that about two-thirds of his customers were culinary careerists purchasing professional tools. “Knives are one tool,” he told The New York Times in 1998. “Books are another.”