Obama’s chef, Tafari Campbell, ID’d as paddleboarder who drowned mysteriously near former president’s Martha's Vineyard estate.
Campbell, 45, of Dumfries, Virginia, was recovered Monday morning a day after disappearing in the waters of Edgartown Great Pond on Martha’s Vineyard.
Massachusetts State Police said Campbell was employed by the former president and was visiting Martha’s Vineyard at the time of his passing.
"Tafari was 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. 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," the Obamas said in a joint statement.
Campabell's body was found just before 10 a.m. Monday at a depth of about eight feet and 100 feet from the shore of Edgartown Great Pond. MSP divers recovered the body after Massachusetts Environmental Police officers used side-scan sonar from a boat to locate it, the agency said.