Chef Charlie Trotter helps launch the Turbochef Residential Speedcook Oven at Guastavino's on April 11, 2007 in New York City.
An autopsy has determined that famed Chicago chef Charlie Trotter died of a stroke earlier this month.
Cook County Medical Examiner Stephen Cina said the 54-year-old chef suffered a stroke as a result of high blood pressure, the Chicago Tribune reports. Trotter was found unconscious at his home and taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on Nov. 5.
“Neither drugs nor alcohol contributed to his death,” Cina said. “Additionally, there is no scientific evidence to indicate that recent travel contributed to his death, though there was evidence of a prior stroke.”
Trotter was considered a pioneer in the restaurant industry, receiving numerous awards throughout his career, including an Outstanding Chef by the James Beard Foundation in 1999. The culinary luminary shuttered his longstanding restaurant on Chicago’s North Side last year, with hopes of going back to school and traveling.