In 1959, Pépin went to the United States to work at the restaurant Le Pavillon. Wanting to complete his education, he enrolled in English for foreign students, a GED equivalent and eventually General Studies classes toward a Bachelor of Arts degree at Columbia University. Soon after his arrival, "The New York Times" food editor Craig Claiborne introduced Pépin to James Beard and Helen McCully. McCully introduced Pépin to Julia Child, who became a lifelong friend and collaborator. In 1961, after Pépin had declined an offer from Joseph Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy to serve as chef at the White House, Howard Johnson, a regular Le Pavillon customer, hired him to work alongside fellow Frenchman Pierre Franey to develop food lines for his chain of Howard Johnson's restaurants, where Pépin served as the director of research and development for a decade. In 1970, Pépin earned his Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University's School of General Studies, and in 1972, his Masters of Arts in French literature from the Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Pépin entered into a doctoral program at Columbia, but his proposed thesis on French food in literature was rejected for being "too frivolous for serious academic pursuit", (Pépin, para. 3)