Pioneering Australian chef Skye Gyngell has died aged 62.
Gyngell rose to prominence in the UK after her garden center cafe in south-west London was awarded the coveted Michelin star, one of the highest culinary honours. He then ran the Spring restaurant at Somerset House and Marle and Hearth at Heckfield Place in Hampshire.
Gyngell’s family said she died Saturday in London and described her as a “culinary visionary who influenced generations of chefs and producers around the world to think about food and its connection to the land.”
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver paid tribute to Gyngell, who was diagnosed with skin cancer last year, thanking him for “everything he did to inspire young chefs”.
During the 1980s, Gyngell pioneered the “slow food movement” before becoming a private chef to clients including Nigella Lawson, Madonna and Guy Ritchie.
Lawson mourned her death, writing on Instagram: “No matter how sick you know someone, their death is always a shock. It’s just horrible that Skye is no longer in the world.”
Gyngell died just days after her mother, Ann Barr, a well-known interior designer.
His father, Bruce Gyngell, was the first person to appear on Australian television in 1956 with the phrase: “Good evening and welcome to television.” He died in 2000.
Born in Sydney, Skye Gyngell was studying at the University of Sydney when she realized the culinary world was where she wanted to be. He moved to Paris at age 19, where he trained and worked with acclaimed chefs, including the two-Michelin-starred Dodin-Bouffant restaurant.
Gyngell later moved to London and worked at the French House in Soho with Fergus and Margot Henderson.
In 2004, Gyngell became head chef at the Petersham Nurseries cafe in Richmond, where she turned the derelict site into a thriving cafe, and in 2011, she was awarded a Michelin star.
But the congratulations were a double-edged sword for Gyngell, who left the cafe a year after the award, saying she was frustrated by customers who expected a traditional Michelin experience at her rustic cafe.
His later projects included Spring at Somerset House, which was the first single-use plastic-free restaurant in London.
Gyngell, who overcame drug and alcohol addiction in her youth, was also known for her award-winning cookbooks and wrote columns for Vogue as a food editor.
Last year, she found a lump on her neck and was diagnosed with Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare and aggressive skin cancer.
She underwent an operation that included the removal of her salivary glands, which caused her to temporarily lose her sense of smell and taste.
