The personal chef for Barack Obama was reported missing while paddle boarding in Martha’s Vineyard and was later found dead.
Tafari Campbell, a former sous cook at the White House, has been named as the missing paddle boarder.
The body of the 45-year-old was discovered about 10am next to the former president’s expansive $12 million (USD $11.75 million) estate.
On the weekend, Campbell vanished while paddling on Massachusetts’ Edgartown Great Pond with another paddle boarder.
After Campbell went missing, emergency personnel were called to Obama’s home.
By using side-scan sonar from a boat, Massachusetts Environmental Police officers discovered him around 100 feet from shore, at a depth of roughly eight feet.
Authorities stated in a statement that Edgartown Police and the State Police Detective Unit for the Cape and Islands District were both conducting the investigation into the fatality.
Campbell “was a part of the family,” the Obamas said in a moving message they posted shortly after his passing was confirmed.
He was a skilled sous chef at the White House when we first met him. He was imaginative and passionate about food and its capacity to unite people. We grew to know him as a warm, jovial, incredibly kind person who made all of our lives a little bit brighter in the years that followed,” the statement said.
That’s why, when we were getting ready to leave the White House, we asked Tafari to stay with us, and he generously agreed. He’s been part of our lives ever since, and our hearts are broken that he’s gone.
“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.”
According to ABC News, Campbell was visiting Martha’s Vineyard at the time of the incident; however, the Obamas were not home when it happened.
The Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit is investigating the accident for the Cape and Islands District and Edgartown Police.
The sous chef served as a personal chef to the former President and was just one of four chefs asked to stay on following the George W. Bush administration.
During Obama’s reign, Campbell became best known for brewing White House honey ale beer by using the honey from Michelle’s South Lawn garden.
Campbell often visited Martha’s Vineyard and frequently played golf nearby Farm Neck Golf Club.