Chef Charlie Trotter has died at the age of 54, NBC Chicago reported.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the famed chef was found unresponsive in his Chicago home and taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Trotter's family friend, Carrie Nahabedian, officially confirmed the chef's death.
Trotter was first discovered by his son, Dylan, before ambulance workers arrived on the scene. There's no official word on the cause of Trotter's death. Chicago police have opened an investigation into Trotter's death.
The 54-year-old restaurateur was considered Chicago's first celebrity chef. Trotter opened his self-titled restaurant in 1987 with his dad, Bob Trotter. The self-educated chef started his career during college by throwing catering parties for his friends. Trotter never attended culinary school but rather studied political science at the University of Wisconsin, CBS Chicago reports.
Trotter closed his eponymous restaurant, Charlie Trotter's, in 2012 after 25 years in business. He was also given a variety of rewards ranging from The James Beard Foundation to the Michelin Guide to the Colin Powell-founded charity, America's Promise Alliance.
"I love what I do," Trotter said in 2012 when he was awarded with an honorary street sign in Chicago the day before his restaurant's last service. "I pinch myself every day that I get to do this for a living, but on the other hand, one must change their way."
When asked why he was closing Trotter said in an interview, "There are so many other things to do in life. Twenty-five years in this line of work is fantastic. It's just time to step back, breathe deeply and do something different."
Trotter informed his staff that final New Year's Eve that he had plans to travel and go to graduate school to study philosophy and political theory, but those plans never did come to fruition.
The New York Times hailed Trotter as a "pioneering chef whose restaurant in [Chicago] helped transform American fine dining in the last quarter century."
Many of today's top chefs have passed through his kitchen including Graham Elliot, Homaro Cantu, Grant Achatz, Giuseppi Tentori, and Mindy Segal.
Elliott, a one-time Trotter protégée, tweeted Tuesday:
CHARLIE TROTTER: chef, mentor, trailblazer, philosopher, artist, teacher, leader. He now belongs to the ages.
— GRAHAM ELLIOT (@grahamelliot) November 5, 2013
#CharlieTrotter lets celebrate his amazing contribution to America and the world. He was a genuine person.Today heaven will eat better.... — José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) November 5, 2013
Just heard the tragic news of Charlie Trotter's passing. The food world has lost someone truly special.
— Alice Waters (@AliceWaters) November 5, 2013
Rest In Peace Charlie Trotter. A giant. A legend. Treated shabbily by a world he helped create. My thoughts go out to those who loved him. — Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) November 5, 2013
