© Brad Barket/Getty The Top Chef Masters winner was first admitted to the hospital with a fever last Wednesday.

Chef Floyd Cardoz died on Wednesday at Mountainside Medical Centre in New Jersey as a result of complications from coronavirus, a spokesperson for his Hunger Inc. Hospitality Group confirms to PEOPLE. He was 59.

The Top Chef Masters winner was first admitted to the hospital with a fever last Wednesday, and subsequently tested positive for COVID-19.

At the time, he posted an update on his Instagram page, saying he sought medical help as a “precautionary measure.”

“Sincere apologies everyone. I am sorry for causing undue panic around my earlier post. I was feeling feverish and hence as a precautionary measure, admitted myself into hospital in New York,” he wrote, adding he “was hugely anxious about my state of health.”



View this post on Instagram A post shared by Floyd Cardoz (@floydcardoz) on Mar 17, 2020 at 1:34pm PDT

Cardoz was born in Bombay, India, and moved to New York City to work in restaurant kitchens. In 1997, he partnered with famed restaurateur Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group to open the contemporary Indian restaurant Tabla, which quickly became an iconic Manhattan establishment, earning three stars from the New York Times. He subsequently opened North End Grill, Paowalla and Bombay Bread Bar in the city. Most recently, he opened The Bombay Canteen and Bombay Sweet Shop in Mumbai, India.

“Good food is not only about how it looks on the plate,” he told PEOPLE in 2015 of his passion for the hospitality industry. “It’s about how good it makes the person eating it feel.”

Meyer posted a message on Twitter Wednesday morning. “Love you so much @floydcardoz,” he wrote.



Love you so much @floydcardoz — Danny Meyer (@dhmeyer) March 25, 2020

Cardoz also competed on Top Chef Masters season three in 2011, taking home the top prize. Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi wrote a touching tribute on Instagram. “Floyd made us all so proud. Nobody who lived in NY in the early aughts could forget how delicious and packed Tabla always was. He had an impish smile, an innate need to make those around him happy, and a delicious touch,” she said. “This is a huge loss, not only for the professional food world, but for Indians everywhere.”

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Padma Lakshmi (@padmalakshmi) on Mar 25, 2020 at 7:33am PDT

Fellow contestant Hugh Acheson posted a tribute to his friend and former competitor on Twitter. “Floyd. You were a gem. You were an amazing human and chef,” he wrote. “You were a father and husband full of love and grace. I am so sorry. I love you. Rest in Peace my friend.”

Floyd. You were a gem. You were an amazing human and chef. You were a father and husband full of love and grace. I am so sorry. I love you. Rest in Peace my friend. #floydcardoz — Hugh Acheson (@HughAcheson) March 25, 2020

“Devastating news about Chef Floyd Cardoz,” wrote fellow New York City chef and Food Network star Alex Guarnaschelli. “I can’t process it. A true gentleman in every sense and a great credit to the chef community. He will be sorely missed.”

Devastating news about Chef Floyd Cardoz. I can’t process it. A true gentleman in every sense and a great credit to the chef community. He will be sorely missed. #rip — alex guarnaschelli (@guarnaschelli) March 25, 2020

New York Times food critic Pete Wells wrote that Cardoz was “an exceptional talent, a chef equally at home with undiluted Indian flavors as he was with the delicious union of French, Indian and American food, a personal idiom that he invented.”

Floyd Cardoz was an exceptional talent, a chef equally at home with undiluted Indian flavors as he was with the delicious union of French, Indian and American food, a personal idiom that he invented. https://t.co/7NcTes1D01 — Pete Wells (@pete_wells) March 25, 2020

Cardoz is survived by his mother Beryl, his wife and business partner, Barkha, whom he met at hospitality school in India, and their two sons, Peter, 27, and Justin, 22.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Floyd Cardoz (@floydcardoz) on May 12, 2019 at 4:39am PDT

Before testing positive for coronavirus, Cardoz had previously traveled from Mumbai to New York City by way of Frankfort on March 8.

As of Wednesday morning, March 25, there are at least 53,852 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States and 728 deaths.

As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from CDC, WHO, and local public health departments and visit our coronavirus hub.

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