Nov. 25–Celebrated chef Charlie Trotter died of a stroke earlier this month, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Test results after an autopsy determined that Trotter “died of a cerebrovascular accident (a stroke) as a consequence of hypertensive arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease (high blood pressure),” Cook County Medical Examiner Stephen Cina said.
“Neither drugs nor alcohol contributed to his death,” he said. “Additionally, there is no scientific evidence to indicate that recent travel contributed to his death, though there was evidence of a prior stroke.”
The 54-year-old chef was found unconscious and not breathing in his Lincoln Park home the morning of Nov. 5 and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:48 a.m.
Trotter was found by his son Dylan at the home in the 1800 block of North Dayton Street and an ambulance was called at 10:45 a.m., according to a family friend and fire officials.
The family told police Trotter had been taking medication for seizures, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Two days before he died, he had flown to Jackson Hole, Wyo.
Trotter burst on the scene in 1987, when the self-taught chef opened Charlie Trotter’s restaurant on Armitage Avenue.
In short order, the chef’s intense creativity and never-repeat-a-dish dictum made Trotter’s the most talked-about restaurant in Chicago, and his fame quickly spread throughout the country and beyond.
He was named the country’s Outstanding Chef by James Beard Foundation in 1999; in 2000, Wine Spectator magazine called Trotter’s the best restaurant in the nation. More awards and accolades followed, including a 2002 Beard Award for Outstanding Service; at the time, Trotter called it the award he was most proud to receive, as it represented “a team award.”
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