The cause of death of the personal chef for the Obama family has been determined. Officials confirmed that Tafari Campbell died of accidental drowning.
The ruling of Massachusetts chief medical examiner was released on Tuesday, The New York Times reported.
Autopsy results are not released to the public, The Washington Post reported.
Campbell, 45, was visiting Martha Vineyard last month when he was paddleboarding in a lake near the Obamas’ summer home. the chef was last seen struggling in the water, the Times reported. Former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama were not home, police said.
Edgartown emergency services said they had received a call of a “male paddleboarder who had gone into the water, appeared to briefly struggle to stay on the surface and then submerged and did not resurface,” state police said.
Officials said he drowned on July 23, the Post reported. He was found about 100 feet from shore, in eight feet of water in Edgartown Great Pond, the Times reported last month. His body was recovered the next morning.
Campbell was from Dumfries, Virginia, and leaves behind his wife Sherise and twin boys, Xavier and Savin. He was a White House sous chef during Obama’s term and remained with the family when the president left office.
The Obamas said, “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.”
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