 Of Beard’s “most significant romantic attachments” was his “lifetime companion” of thirty years, Gino Cofacci, who was given an apartment in Beard’s townhouse in the will and died in 1989, and Beard’s former cooking school assistant Carl Jerome.John Birdsall, a food writer who won two James Beard Awards, ties Beard’s sexuality to his food aesthetics, and said in 2016 it’s only recently that people are accepting the connection.Beard's also had an admission of having "until I was about forty-five, I guess I had a really violent temper."