Acclaimed Portland chef, restaurateur and cookbook author Naomi Pomeroy drowned after being involved in an inner tube accident over the weekend. She was 49.
According to The Oregonian, Pomeroy was innertubing with her husband Kyle Linden Webster and an unnamed third person on the evening of July 13. Pomeroy’s family told Portland Monthly that the accident occurred when their innertubes, which were tied together, capsized in fast-moving currents after hitting an obstruction on the Willamette River. Both Webster and the unnamed third person 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 emailed statement that “debris in the river, currents, and rough rocks” currently make it unsafe for “divers to conduct a reconnaissance underwater search.” Despite those dangers, the sheriff’s office said they will “continue our efforts to recover the victim, to [closure] to the family and the community.”
Pomeroy is credited with redefining Portland’s restaurant landscape with her groundbreaking cooking style. The self-taught chef, who created her first recipe at age 4, later opened her renowned fine-dining restaurant Beast in Portland, Oregon. When Beast closed in 2020 due to 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 10 Best New Chefs. She was also named one of the 18 Most Powerful Women in Business in the October 2010 issue of Marie Claire and one of the 10 Top Women on the Rise that same year by O, The Oprah Magazine. In 2011, she was also a contestant on Top Chef Mastersfinishing 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 plans for a memorial service at this time.