Food Network Celebrities We've Already Lost

In the relative dark ages of the '90s, cable TV was so wide open that there was a spot for most any niche interest or programming focus. The creators of Food Network had a hunch that there was not only a place, but a deep hunger for a channel that showed nothing but shows about cooking, eating, and culinary history, the kind of material often relegated to off-hours on public TV and educational channels. They were right — Food Network became one of cable TV's signature outlets, a source for some of the most excitedly beloved shows on TV. The network also turned charismatic and/or telegenic chefs — including Rachael Ray, Bobby Flay, Ina Garten, Emeril Lagasse, and Guy Fieri — into some of the most famous people in America.

Over the decades, hundreds if not thousands of chefs and food writers have helped bolster Food Network's programming, but sadly, many of them have died, and with little media fanfare. Here are some notable names from Food Network's past who we have already lost.

At the age of 18 in the mid-2000s, Fatima Ali moved from her native Pakistan to the United States in order to attend culinary school and follow her chef dreams. After working as a sous chef at New York City's Café Centro, according to The New York Times, Ali moved into TV, appearing on (and winning) an episode of the Food Network competition show "Chopped" in 2012, and competing on Bravo's "Top Chef" in 2017. Shortly after that show began filming, Ali was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma — a rare type of cancer that affects the bone or soft tissue (per Johns Hopkins Medicine) — and was given one year to live, according to Bon Appétit. 

Ali continued to cook, stayed active on Instagram, and appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." In January 2019, just four months after doctors said she had a year left, Ali died. The news was delivered on Instagram by her friend and fellow chef Bruce Kalman. Ali was 29.

Debuting on the BBC in the United Kingdom but popularly exported to the Food Network in the United States, "Two Fat Ladies" both delighted and concerned viewers on both sides of the Atlantic. Ignoring the conventional wisdom and healthy eating trends of the '90s, hosts Clarissa Dickson Wright and Jennifer Paterson unabashedly went heavy on cream, butter, and other potentially artery-clogging ingredients over four seasons of their cooking show. "Two Fat Ladies" was also memorable for its ostensible premise of Wright and Paterson traveling around England to cook their large, fattening meals in exotic locations; the opening sequence showed animated versions of the hosts traveling via motorcycle and attached sidecar.

According to the Independent, Paterson became ill while shooting the fourth season of "Two Fat Ladies," and in July 1999 was diagnosed with lung cancer. She died in August of that year at age 71. Then in 2014, Wright died in a hospital in Scotland after a brief illness, per The Guardian. She was 66.

Carl Ruiz was just minding his own business, doing what he loved and bringing happiness in the form of good food to other people, until fame came calling. After receiving classical chef training and working in many restaurants in his native New Jersey, according to The New York Times, Ruiz and his wife at the time, Marie Riccio, opened Marie's Italian Specialties. Per Patch, Guy Fieri popped in for a meal and the place was so "freakishly busy" that Ruiz put Fieri to work on the sandwich prep line. Not long after, Fieri returned to Marie's with his "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" crew in 2013, launching in earnest Ruiz's long association with Food Network. He appeared on "Triple-D" twice more, and made regular appearances on Fieri's "Guy's Ranch Kitchen." He also served as a judge, mentor, and contestant on "Guy's Grocery Games."

While visiting friends in Maryland in September 2019, Ruiz died in his sleep. A medical examiner's office, per Today, would later determine that Ruiz died of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. He was 44. "I'm heartbroken that my friend chef Carl Ruiz is gone," Fieri tweeted at the time of the death. "His ability to make me laugh and smile under any circumstances was only outshined by his talent as a chef."

According to her Food Network bio, Cristie Schoen Codd was raised in the South and was exposed to regional cooking styles there early. She learned to cook Cajun cuisine with her father, but also incorporated elements of European food, which she picked up when she studied in Germany as a college student. All that helped Codd win a spot on the competition series "Food Network Star" in 2012, where she was the first contestant eliminated that year. Nevertheless, Codd had ascended the celebrity cooks ladder, and had plans on opening a New Orleans café serving healthy meals made with local ingredients. She catered the production of the big-budget sci-fi movie "Ender's Game" and was preparing two food shows to pitch to various outlets, including one called "Catch, Clean, and Cook."

Neither show was ever produced, owing in part to the tragic death of Codd. According to Inquisitr, Codd — who was five months pregnant at the time — and her husband were reported missing from their North Carolina home in March 2015. Soon after, Robert James Owens confessed to murdering the couple and dismembering and burning their bodies, then staging what looked like a botched home invasion and robbery.

Years before Food Network even launched, when food on television consisted primarily of instructional cooking shows on public television, in came Keith Floyd, a globetrotting bon vivant who helped create the modern ideas of both the celebrity chef and food personality. Born in Somerset, England, Floyd initially endeavored to be a journalist, but then joined the army, where he built up his skills by cooking interesting dishes for officers, according to the Irish Times. Floyd also performed various duties in restaurants in London, eventually opening three restaurants in Bristol; there he was discovered by a TV producer, who helped him get onto the BBC in the mid-'80s with the shows "Floyd on Fish" and "Floyd on Food." He'd go on to publish more than 20 popular cookbooks and star on numerous culinary shows for the burgeoning Food Network U.K.

According to Express, Floyd was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2009. Later that year, he died of a heart attack after a large lunch in honor of his partner's 65th birthday, per the Evening Standard. Floyd was 65 years old.

In the way that "Home Improvement" was a sitcom about a DIY TV host that included a show-within-a-show, so too was "What's for Dinner?", a Canadian cable TV show created by and co-starring chef and food writer Ken Kostick. With co-host Mary Jo Eustace, they'd joke and tease each other and also prepare dishes in the built-in cooking program. A two-time nominee for the Gemini Awards (Canada's Emmy equivalent), Kostick was so influential on the Canadian food scene that he also published 15 cookbooks, including "The $10 Gourmet," and had his own line of cookware. Kostick would team up with Eustace again on various TV and radio projects, while his cooking-oriented variety show, "Ken Kostic and Company," became one of the first and signature shows upon the launch of Food Network Canada.

In 2011, Kostick was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis. While recovering at home after treatment, he suffered a complication, and died according to the National Post. Kostick was 57.