The coroner’s office determined the death of Tafari Campbell, personal chef to the Obama family, as accidental, officially concluded as a “submersion in a body of water”
The Obama family’s personal chef, Tafari Campbell, accidentally drowned to death while paddle boarding on a lake located on Martha’s Vineyard, the coroner’s office confirmed.
The cause of Campbell’s death was officially determined to be “immersion in a body of water,” and the manner of death was concluded to be accidental, according to the Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
The results of the chef’s autopsy were not made public according to state police, Timothy McGuirk, spokesman for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety, told the Washington Post.
Campbell, 45, a former White House kitchen staff member, was rowing on Edgartown Grear Pond off Martha’s Vineyard, where former President Barack Obama’s family has a summer estate, on July 23, lost his balance, went underwater and did not resurface.
According to a witness, Campebell was not wearing a life jacket and was not strapped to the paddleboard. Efforts to rescue him in time proved futile.
Campbell had traveled to Martha’s Vineyard to visit relatives. Michelle and Barack Obama were not at home at the time of the chef’s drowning.
Initial State Police inquiries found no evidence that Campbell’s death was suspicious, and no signs of trauma were observed on his body, the Boston Herald revealed.
Due to the death of their employee, the former first couple released a joint statement mourning Campbell.
“Tafari was a beloved part of our family,” the Obamas wrote. “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 came to know him as a warm, funny and extraordinarily kind person who made our lives a little brighter.”
“That’s why, as we were about to leave the White House, we asked Tafari to stay with us and he generously agreed,” the tribute continues. “He has been a part of our lives ever since and our hearts are broken because he is gone. Today we join all who knew and loved Tafari, especially his wife Sherise and his twin sons, Xavier and Savin, in mourning the loss of a truly wonderful man.”
Likewise, in subsequent posts on their personal Instagram accounts, Barack and Michell Obama extolled Campbell as a “friend” blessed with “immense gifts.”
Campbell, who hails from Dumfries, Virginia, previously worked as a sous chef in the White House, starting under former President George W. Bush and remaining through both Obama administrations. He was later hired as the Obama family’s personal chef.