Naomi Pomeroy Dies at 50

(RepublicanDaily.org) – A freak tubing accident has claimed the life of renowned celebrity chef Naomi Pomeroy. She was 50 years old.

Pomeroy, who was most known for her appearance at the reality show “Top Chef Masters”, drowned in the Willamette River in Corvallis, Oregon. Authorities say that Pomeroy and her husband’s tube – which they were sharing with one other person – got snagged on something sticking out of the water. Pomeroy was pulled under the water and got trapped by a paddle board leash she was attached to. She was unable to come back up the surface for air, causing her to drown.

Pomeroy’s husband, Kyle Linden Webster, as well as the other rider on the tube, were rescued on the river’s shoreline. Authorities were only able to find Pomeroy and retrieve her body four days after the incident.

Already an accomplished chef before her TV appearance, Pomeroy joined the reality cooking competition Top Chef Masters in its third season that aired in 2011. She won fourth place, bagging a prize of $26,800. Her farm-to-table restaurant, “Beast”, located in Portland, specializes in French and Pacific Northwestern dishes. Pomeroy established the restaurant in 2007 through a business partnership with Micah Camden. The next year, Beast won the Restaurant of the Year award by the Oregonian, with Pomeroy winning the Best New Chef award from Food and Wine magazine in 2009. In 2014, Pomeroy’s work in the restaurant earned her the prestigious and highly-coveted James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef.

Alongside running her successful restaurant, Pomeroy also continued to be a part of the Top Chef franchise, appearing as a guest judge for the show’s tenth, fifteenth, and eighteenth seasons.

Fellow Top Chef judge Gail Simmons lamented Pomeroy’s loss in a tribute post on social media, saying that the food industry was made stronger, wiser, gentler because of Pomeroy’s presence and contributions.

“Thank you Naomi for giving so much of yourself to us,” Simmons wrote.

Top Chef’s longtime host Padma Lakshmi, who hosted the show from 2006 to 2023, called Pomeroy an “inspiration” and a “welcome presence at the judges table.” Pomeroy’s death, Lakshmi said, was an “incredible loss to our [culinary and food] community.”