Top Chef Judge and Celebrity Chef Naomi Pomeroy Dead at 49 After Drowning Accident

Acclaimed chef Naomi Pomeroy, who competed on Top Chef Masters and served as a guest judge on Top Chef , has died at the age of 49.

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Pomeroy drowned while inner-tubing on Portland’s Willamette River with her husband Kyle Linden Webster earlier this month, her family says . A fast-moving current flipped over their flotilla, and Webster made it safely back to shore, but Pomeroy did not. Her body has not yet been recovered.

Pomeroy rose to fame as the chef of the Portland restaurant Beast, which earned her a prestigious James Beard Award, among other honors. She then parlayed her culinary cred into a number of TV appearances, competing on Iron Chef America in 2010 and pulling guest-judge duties on Top Chef in three different seasons. She also was a contestant in Season 3 of Top Chef Masters in 2011, competing against such food luminaries as Hugh Acheson, Mary Sue Milliken, Floyd Cardoz and Traci Des Jardins. Pomeroy ultimately finished fourth that season.

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Bravo, the network of Top Chef and Top Chef Masters , paid tribute to Pomeroy in a statement: “The Bravo and Top Chef family send our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Chef Naomi Pomeroy. Naomi was a powerhouse chef who made an indelible mark on the culinary industry.”

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