Former President Barack Obama’s personal chef, Tafari Campbell, has drowned near the Obama family’s home on Martha’s Vineyard.
via: The Hill
In a news release Monday, Massachusetts State Police (MSP) said that authorities recovered the body of a missing paddleboarder from Edgartown Great Pond.
Divers from the department’s underwater recovery unit made the recovery after a body was located by the Massachusetts Environmental Police, who found it by deploying side-scan sonar from a boat.
MSP later identified the victim as Tafari Campbell, 45, who was previously employed by the former first family as a personal chef.
Campbell, a native of Dumfries, Va., was visiting the family’s Martha’s Vineyard residence at the time of his death.
Authorities noted that the Obamas were not home at the time of the incident.
In a joint statement, former President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama remembered Tafari as a “beloved part of our family,” noting when they first met the sous chef during their time at the White House.
“Today we join everyone who knew and loved Tafari — especially his wife Sherise and their twin boys, Xavier and Savin — in grieving the loss of a truly wonderful man,” the Obamas said in their statement.
Statement from the Obamas: pic.twitter.com/q08pE0fPCi
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) July 24, 2023
We send our condolences to Tafari’s family and friends.
