Naomi Pomeroy, esteemed chef and alumna of “Top Chef Masters,” passed away at 49 years old due to a tubing accident on the Willamette River near Corvallis, Oregon. The fatality occurred on July 13, 2024, with friends confirming her death two days later. Her body was recovered on July 16, 2024, by canoers who spotted it in the river.
The accident involved Pomeroy, her spouse Kyle Linden Webster, and a companion who were tubing down the river. Their tubes and a paddleboard, which were tied together, got entwined with an underwater tree. Pomeroy, who didn’t have a life jacket on, was drawn underwater by a paddleboard leash and failed to resurface. Strong currents and river debris made recovery efforts difficult, despite the Benton County Sheriff’s Office and the Corvallis Fire Department deploying sonar, underwater cameras, and drones.
Pomeroy was renowned for her Portland, Oregon restaurant, Beast, which played a significant role in establishing Portland’s culinary reputation. Beast was one of the city’s early food industry stars, earning Pomeroy various accolades, including a James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Pacific Northwest in 2014. Her unique cooking techniques and dedication to using seasonal ingredients earned her a loyal customer base.
Following her death, the culinary community and others paid their respects. Congressman Earl Blumenauer, who partnered with Pomeroy during the COVID-19 pandemic to aid independent eateries, hailed her as “a fabulous chef and entrepreneur and an amazing human being whose impact extended far beyond Portland. She helped establish our leadership and reputation for food excellence.”
Chefs like Tom Colicchio, Dominique Crenn, Andrew Zimmern, and Amanda Freitag posted tributes to Pomeroy: “She was a force to be reckoned with. I was always inspired by her extreme creativity & commitment to her craft,” Freitag wrote. “She was always ahead of the curve and stood strong for everything she believed about the proper way to feed people good food & support her culinary community.”
Born in Corvallis, Oregon in 1974, Pomeroy honed her culinary skills without formal training. She started her career by learning from television chefs and created her first recipe when she was just four years old. In 2007, she launched Beast in Portland, a unique restaurant known for its communal dining and fixed-price menus. In addition, Pomeroy co-founded Gotham Tavern and Gotham Coffee Shop with Michael Hebb.
Just a fortnight before her untimely demise, Pomeroy had revealed a new dining series called Garden Party. This series offered a vegetarian-friendly menu featuring seasonal ingredients from her garden. In her final Instagram post, she displayed enthusiasm about cooking for customers again, writing, “See you all again soon! I can’t wait to cook with you again.”
Pomeroy’s impact extended beyond her restaurants. She participated in “Top Chef Masters” in 2011 and earned widespread acclaim for her culinary skills. In 2014, Food & Wine named her one of the Best New Chefs, and Marie Claire included her in their list of 18 Most Powerful Women in Business.
Pomeroy’s significant contributions to Portland’s food culture included Beast, which closed in 2020 due to the pandemic and later became Ripe Cooperative, a marketplace selling meal boxes for home preparation until it shut down in 2022. She recently opened a permanent location for her custard shop, Cornet Custard, and was in the process of launching a new restaurant in the previous Woodsman Tavern space.
The loss of Pomeroy has deeply affected the community she served and inspired. Her legacy will live on through the numerous chefs and food enthusiasts she influenced and the innovative culinary paths she pioneered.
