President Obama’s personal chef, Tafari Campbell, lost his life in a drowning accident on Martha’s Vineyard on Monday.
Obama, reacting to the incident in a statement, wrote: “Tafari was 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. 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.”
According to a Washington Post article, police recovered the body of 45-year-old Tafari Campbell, roughly 100 feet from shore, just before 10 a.m.
Campbell, of Dumfries, Virginia had been a sous chef in the Obama White House and worked for the family after they left.
Campbell drowned in Edgartown Great Pond, near the Obamas’ Martha’s Vineyard home. The former president and first lady were not present at the time of the drowning, according to police, though they frequently spend time on the island during the summer.
Last August, pastor Keith Bulgin and his wife Jacqueline of the Palmers Cross New Testament Church of God lost their two sons, Tavaris and Tavaughn, after they jumped from a popular bridge located on Martha’s Vineyard.
On Monday, August 15, 2022, at roughly 6:30 a.m., the Coast Guard, along with state and local police, pulled the body of 26-year-old Tavaris from the water. His brother was found days later.
