A former White House chef Tafari Campbell,45, was found dead near the former first couple’s home on Martha’s Vineyard, according to Massachusett’s State Police in a statement dated Monday, July 24.
He was a sous chef at the White House when Barack and Michelle Obama met him, and would later transition to be their personal chef after their administration.
Another paddleboarder was with him and saw him submerge in the water, prompting the search after raising alarm. Campbell’s body was reportedly found just after 10 am, about 100 feet ashore of Edgartown Great Pond in water about 8 feet deep by the Massachusett’s Environmental Police.
The Obamas were not home when the incident occurred. In a joint statement, they said: “Tafari was a beloved part of our family. When we first met him, he was a talented sous chef at the White House – creative and passionate about food, and its ability to bring people together. In the years that followed, we got to know him as a warm, fun, extraordinarily kind person who made all of our lives a little brighter.”
This is the second time that a chef for a former American president has died in a similar nature. In 2015, a former executive chef named during the administrations of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Walter Scheib, accidentally drowned while going on a hike in Taos, New Mexico. Scheib was a chef
