WASHINGTON/MUMBAI: Floyd Cardoz , the Indian-born celebrity chef, died from complications following the Covid-19 infection on Wednesday morning in New Jersey.Cardoz, 59, fell ill soon after returning on March 8 to New York via Frankfurt from Mumbai, where he was culinary director and partner at cafepub Bombay Canteen that recently celebrated its fifth anniversary, the Goa-inspired O Pedro and Bombay Sweet Shop, the third brand out of the Hunger Inc stable he launched on his three-week visit.Last week, Hunger Inc issued a statement about Cardoz’s medical condition, stating that he was admitted to a hospital in New York where he tested positive for Covid-19 on March18. As a precautionary measure, the company informed the health department in Mumbai and was reaching out personally to people who had interacted with him during his visit to India to take necessary medical advice for self-quarantine. After more than two weeks of fighting the virus, Cardoz died at Mountainside Medical Centre in New Jersey on Wednesday. He is survived by mother Beryl who lives in Mumbai, wife Barkha and sons Justin and Peter.Cardoz, who spent years earning his culinary chops in the east and the west, feeding the likes of Barack Obama, Nicole Kidman, Harrison Ford, Elton John, Madonna, Kofi Annan and Bill Gates, had trained as a biochemist before he ditched his white lab coat for the chef’s white. A Bandra boy from birth, Cardoz studied at St Andrew’s High School and graduated from St Xavier’s College before enrolling at the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition in Dadar. He trained with the Taj Group of Hotels for a few years before leaving for Les Roches, one of the world’s leading hospitality schools in Switzerland, to broaden his familiarity with classic culinary technique.An opportunity to work under legendary chef Gray Kunz led Cardoz to New York City in 1988, where he managed to open his own restaurant a decade later — Tabla — in New York’s Madison Square. Revered as one of the first upscale Indian restaurants there, Tabla had to unfortunately shut shop after a decade when recession struck but it was only a matter of time before he came up with the chic White Street in Tribeca that drew in the likes of Barack Obama. In the meantime, winning the popular American culinary show Top Chef Masters in 2011 came as an icing on his culinary cake. His winning entry? A humble bowl of upma. Cardoz donated the top prize of $100,000 he won entirely to a cancer charity in memory of his father whom he had lost to the disease.More than 20 years after he had left India, Cardoz returned home in 2015 to cook up a storm with the Bombay Canteen, his first restaurant outside the US. There was always something about Cardoz and his fascination with memories that inspired him and his culinary creations, and will now take the shape of a legacy that he leaves behind on a platter.