Food

Josh Ozersky, Award-Winning Food Writer, Died After Seizure

Joshua Ozersky in 2013. Image by Ozersky.tv

By Forward Staff May 27, 2015

Josh Ozersky, an award-winning Jewish food writer, drowned in a Chicago hotel room shower after suffering a seizure, authorities reportedly said Wednesday.

The James Beard Award winner drowned May 4 in his room at the Conrad Hotel, the Cook County medical examiner’s office told the Chicago Sun-Times.

An autopsy revealed the cause of death and the death was termed accidental. Ozersky had a history of seizures, the paper said.

Ozersky, a larger-than-life figure in the food-writing world, lived in Manhattan and was in Chicago for the 2015 James Beard Awards ceremony.

The Forward’s staff contributors are listed in our masthead.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO