“Our family adored having Tafari around. In a statement, the former president and former first lady Michelle said, “Our hearts are broken that he’s gone.
A “beloved” member of their staff has passed away, and former president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are in grief, praising him as “a truly wonderful man.”
The Obamas’ personal chef and former White House sous chef Tafari Campbell passed away on Monday in a paddle surfing accident close to their Martha’s Vineyard house Katama. He was 45.
According to a news release from the Massachusetts State Police, who verified Campbell’s death to PEOPLE, the Virginia native, who was from Dumfries, was found by divers in a pond on Edgartown Great Road just before 10 a.m. ET.
According to the department’s press release, “MSP Underwater Recovery Unit divers made the recovery after the victim’s body was located by Massachusetts Environmental Police Officers deploying side-scan sonar from a boat,” noting the recovery was made “approximately 100 feet from shore at a depth of about eight feet.”
“Mr. Campbell passed away while on vacation at Martha’s Vineyard. At the time of the accident, President and Mrs. Obama were not at home.
A 911 call of “a male paddle boarder who had gone into the water, appeared to briefly struggle to stay on the surface, and then submerged and did not resurface” prompted the initiation of the search at 7:46 p.m. ET on Sunday.
Following Campbell’s passing, the Obamas published a heartfelt remembrance of him, referring to Tafari as “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,” the pair wrote in a statement provided to PEOPLE. We grew to know him as a pleasant, jovial, incredibly kind person who made all of our lives a little brighter in the years that followed.
We asked Tafari to stay with us as we prepared to depart the White House because of this, and he graciously consented, the statement said. Since then, he has been a part of our lives, and his passing has shattered our hearts.
To mourn the loss of a very lovely man, they said, “today we join everyone who knew and loved Tafari, especially his wife Sherise and their twin boys, Xavier and Savin.
While Obama was president, Campbell was one of the cooks that created White House honey ale beer using honey from Michelle’s South Lawn garden. According to The Washington Post, the White House made a film in 2012 showing Campbell and his assistant chef Sam Kass explaining how to make beer.
The State Police Detective Unit for the Cape and Islands District and Edgartown Police are both working on the continuing inquiry into Campbell’s death.
