James Beard award-winning chef Naomi Pomeroy has died at age 49

Acclaimed Portland chef, restaurateur and cookbook author Naomi Pomeroy has died by drowning after being involved in an inner tubing accident over the weekend. She was 49 years old.

According to The Oregonian, Pomeroy was inner tubing with her husband Kyle Linden Webster and an unnamed third individual on the evening of July 13. Pomeroy’s family told Portland Monthly that the accident occurred when their inner tubes, which were tied together, flipped over in fast-moving currents after hitting a snag on the Willamette River. Both Webster and the unnamed third individual survived, the outlet reported. 

Efforts by the Benton County Oregon Sheriff’s Office to recover Pomeroy’s body are ongoing. Sheriff Jef Van Arsdall told Eater in an email statement that “debris in river, currents, and ragged rocks” currently make it unsafe for “divers to conduct any exploratory search underwater.” Despite those dangers, the sheriff’s office said they’ll “continue our efforts to recover the victim, to bring [closure] to the family and the community.”

Pomeroy is credited with redefining Portland’s restaurant landscape with her trailblazing style of cooking. The self-taught chef, who put together her first recipe at age 4, later went on to open her renowned fine-dining restaurant Beast in Portland, Oregon. When Beast shut down in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the space was used for Pomeroy’s new project Ripe Cooperative — an all-in-one restaurant, wine shop and grab-and-go market — until its closure in 2022. 

In 2009, Pomeroy was recognized by Food & Wine magazine as one of America’s Top 10 Best New Chefs. She was also named one of the 18 Most Powerful Women in Business in Marie Claire’s October 2010 issue and one of the Top 10 Women on the Rise that same year by O, The Oprah Magazine. In 2011, she also competed on Top Chef Masters, finishing in the top four. In 2014, Pomeroy won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific.

According to Portland Monthly, Pomeroy’s family asks for privacy and has not announced any plans for a memorial at this time.