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The Massachusetts State Police have provided an update on the drowning of a personal chef who cooked for former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama.
According to the agency, the body of Tafari Campbell, 45, of Dumfries, Va., was recovered Monday morning from Edgartown Great Pond after an extensive search, Fox News reported.
Police said that Campbell was paddleboarding near the Obamas’ home in Martha’s Vineyard and was not wearing a life jacket. They added that no foul play is suspected in the incident.
According to a paddleboarder who was with Campbell, he was seen standing on his paddleboard when he lost his balance and fell into the water. The paddleboarder recalled that Campbell struggled to stay afloat but eventually submerged.
The fellow paddleboarder informed investigators that they made an effort to swim to Campbell’s location but were unable to reach him in time, Fox News noted.
They eventually swam back to shore and sought assistance from someone to call 911. Upon receiving the distress call, the Dukes County Regional Emergency Communications Center promptly launched an emergency search and rescue operation involving multiple public safety agencies, the network noted further.
The search efforts were temporarily halted late Sunday, police said. However, on Monday, police reported that sonar equipment from a boat successfully located the body approximately 100 feet away from the shore at a depth of approximately 8 feet.
“The on-scene observation of the victim by state police personnel and the post-mortem examination by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner revealed no external trauma or injuries,” Fox noted.
While a 911 call originated from the Obamas’ residence, the former first couple was not at home during the incident.
In a statement, the former president and his wife called Campbell 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,” the couple said. “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.”
“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.”
Prior to Campbell’s tragic incident, another former White House chef faced a similar fate. In June 2015, Walter Scheib, who had been an executive chef at the White House, serving former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, drowned while hiking a trail in Taos, New Mexico, Fox News reported.
The Obamas’ last made news after the Supreme Court effectively put an end to Affirmative Action on college campuses some of the most vocal critics were former President Obama and his wife Michelle Obama, but in a long screed from the former first lady, she forgot to mention something important.
After the decision was announced, the former first lady waxed poetically about justice and equality and why she believes Affirmative Action is needed, and she cited examples from her life.
And the former president only posted two sentences as he retweeted what his wife said.
“Affirmative action was never a complete answer in the drive towards a more just society. But for generations of students who had been systematically excluded from most of America’s key institutions—it gave us the chance to show we more than deserved a seat at the table. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent decision, it’s time to redouble our efforts,” Michelle Obama wrote.
“But the fact is this: I belonged. And semester after semester, decade after decade, for more than half a century, countless students like me showed they belonged, too. It wasn’t just the kids of color who benefitted, either. Every student who heard a perspective they might not have encountered, who had an assumption challenged, who had their minds and their hearts opened gained a lot as well,” she claimed.
