A longtime executive chef for the Facebook organization was killed in a motorcycle accident on Monday, July 22. Facebook staff and executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, remembered the 44-year-old man as an institution on the company’s Menlo Park campus who loved live and gave much of his time to volunteering.
On his own Facebook page, Zuckerberg credited the man as having “played an incredibly important role in defining our culture during those first years and right up to the present,” who “built our culinary team from a handful of employees in a single cafe into a global team with dozens of world class restaurants” across Facebook’s now-numerous facilities.
According to a 2008 interview, the beloved chef attended culinary school in South Carolina, then worked at a number of restaurants, including one in San Francisco, before moving on to work at Google and then to Facebook in that year. During his time at Facebook, he volunteered for Meals on Wheels, veterans’ organizations and a children’s music program called Little Kids Rock. In his post, Zuckerberg remembered him volunteering virtually every weekend, including hosting breakfasts for firefighters.
“Wherever [he] was, everything was not only delicious but filled with joy and a love of life,” remembered Facebook’s chief operating officer, who had first met the chef during his time at Google.
No details have been reported about the motorcycle accident or what may have caused it. We send our condolences to the chef’s family, friends and coworkers, and remind our readers to bike safely and keep a sharp eye out for motorcyclists.
Source: San Jose Mercury News, “Facebook chef Josef Desimone killed in motorcycle accident,” Brandon Bailey, July 23, 2013
The post Facebook grieves loss of beloved chef in motorcycle accident appeared first on The Cartwright Law Firm, Inc..