The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Massachusetts has ruled the death of the Obama family’s personal chef an accident.
Tafari Campbell, 45, drowned in a Martha’s Vineyard lagoon last month. An eyewitness saw Campbell struggling to stay afloat after falling off his paddleboard. He quickly submerged, never to resurface alive. Campbell was not attached to his board or wearing a life jacket.
The Obamas were not home at the time of the incident.
As The New York Times notes:
The emergency services in Edgartown had responded to a call 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 said in a statement. Another paddleboarder was on the pond with him at the time and saw him go underwater, the police said.
Mr. Campbell, whose survivors include his wife, Sherise, and twin boys, Xavier and Savin, had worked as a sous chef when the Obamas were in the White House and stayed on with them afterward.
Barack and Michelle Obama released a joint statement following Campbell’s tragic death.
“Tafari was a beloved part of our family,” the former president and first lady began.
“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,” the couple said.
The Obamas noted that they asked Campbell to stay on as their personal chef after leaving the White House.
“He’s been part of our lives ever since,” they said. “Our hearts are broken that he’s gone.”
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