Chef Andrew Zimmern Gives Emotional Tribute to ‘Trailblazer’ Anne Burrell: ‘Such a Beautiful, Gifted Soul’
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- Chef Andrew Zimmern honored his late friend Anne Burrell at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Colo., on Thursday, June 19
- Zimmern called Burrell a “trailblazer” and a “gifted soul” in his emotional speech at the event
- Burrell died on Tuesday, June 17, at the age of 55
Chef Andrew Zimmern is remembering his friend Anne Burrell.
Zimmern, 63, gave a touching speech honoring Burrell at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Colo. on Thursday, June 19.
“This week we lost Anne,” Zimmern said, getting emotional. “And I know our entire community is beyond saddened.”
Calling Burrell “such a beautiful, gifted soul,” Zimmern added that she was a “trailblazer on the Food Network,” as well as “a brash, bold, loud New Yorker, and a woman who had a tremendous capacity for love.”
Noting that Burrell was “in the prime of life taken from us too soon,” Zimmern added that her death was “so difficult.” “How can we understand something that is incomprehensible?”
Zimmern then gave a plea to other members of the food community, asking that they all “care for our community like we never have before.”
“This community puts a lot of weight on how much we want to care for each other and we’ve done such an incredible job of it over the last 10 years,” he shared. “I can’t think of another community that has done such an incredible job looking out for each other, but I honestly don’t think we’re doing enough. When we lose someone like Anne, I don’t think we’re doing enough.”
As those gathered prepared to celebrate the event, Zimmern added, “Anne would want us to be laughing, to hunt down some late-night karaoke, to dance and belly up, to eat and drink and celebrate life this weekend. And while taken from us long before we would ever want to let her go, she is gone. May her memory be a blessing to her friends, her family, her fans and all who loved her.”
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Prior to his speech, Zimmern shared a throwback photo of himself and Burrell laughing on Instagram.
“How I choose to remember people. Happy and laughing and believing that anything in life is possible,” he captioned the snap. “Sending all our love to her family, friends, and fans. An unnecessary loss is just the hardest to handle and this one really hurts. Nothing but love for all right now, especially Anne.”
Burrell died on the morning of Tuesday, June 17, at her home in Brooklyn, N.Y. She was 55.
Burrell was found unresponsive by New York Police Department officers. According to a 911 call report provided to PEOPLE by the New York City Fire Department, a person called in at 7:50 a.m. concerned that she had suffered cardiac arrest.
Her official cause of death has not yet been confirmed by the Office of Chief Medical Examiner.
While the report did not list Burrell’s name, the address provided matched Burrell’s address, according to an online search conducted by PEOPLE.
She is survived by She is survived by her husband, Stuart Claxton, whom she married in October 2021, and his son, Javier, along with her mother, Marlene, brother Ben and sister, Jane, plus Jane’s children Isabella, Amelia and Nicolas.
Source: People
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