Overview
- Veteran chef Dr. K. Damodharan, known as Chef Damu, died in Chennai on Sunday after a period of ill health while receiving treatment at a private hospital.
- He was widely known as a television personality and judge on the Tamil show Cooku With Comali, which made him a familiar face to multiple generations of viewers.
- Damu combined media work with academic leadership, earning a PhD in Hotel Management and Catering Technology from the University of Madras and leading hotel-management institutes.
- His career included record-setting feats—a Guinness World Record for a 24.5-hour cooking marathon in 2010—and national recognition with the Padma Shri in 2025.
- Colleagues, political leaders including Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, and fans have paid tribute as the culinary community anticipates memorials and retrospectives of his work.