The private chef to the Obama household died of unintended drowning final month in a Martha’s Vineyard lake, the chief health worker of Massachusetts has dominated, officers stated on Tuesday.
The chef, Tafari Campbell, 45, of Dumfries, Va., had been visiting the island in late July and was paddleboarding close to the previous first household’s summer season dwelling when he was seen struggling within the water, the Massachusetts State Police stated final month.
The chief health worker’s workplace has decided that Mr. Campbell’s loss of life on July 23 was an accident, Timothy McGuirk, a spokesman for the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, stated on Tuesday night time. Former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama weren’t dwelling on the time of the accident, the state police stated.
The emergency providers in Edgartown had responded to a name of a “male paddleboarder who had gone into the water, appeared to briefly struggle to stay on the surface and then submerged and did not resurface,” the state police stated in a press release. Another paddleboarder was on the pond with him on the time and noticed him go underwater, the police stated.
Mr. Campbell, whose survivors embrace his spouse, Sherise, and twin boys, Xavier and Savin, had labored as a sous chef when the Obamas have been within the White House and stayed on with them afterward.
In a press release on the time, Mr. and Mrs. Obama referred to as Mr. Campbell “a truly wonderful man” and “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,” they stated. “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.”
The Obamas stated they’d requested Mr. Campbell to remain on with them as they have been on the point of depart the White House.
“He’s been part of our lives ever since,” they stated. “Our hearts are broken that he’s gone.”
Source: www.nytimes.com