Onofframp: Where?

Monday, June 23, 2025

Where?

When reading an obituary that tells you the deceased was born in Cazenovia you'd expect (at least I did) to read that after the comma you would be told that Cazenovia is in what is now the Czech Republic, or is in Serbia, or Bosnia, or Slovenia, or Herzegovina, not upstate New York.

Well it is in upstate New York, a small village just south of Cazenovia Lake, an incorporated village of 6,740 people as of the 2020 census, in Madison County. New York state consists of 62 counties, some with very unexpected names, like Wyoming, or Chautauqua, or Cattaraugus.

Cazenovia happens to be where Anne Burrell was born, as the NYT obit headline tells us was a "Chef and Dynamic Food Network Star" who has passed away all too soon at 55.

Ms. Burrell gets a 19 gun salute of 6 columns, top of an obit page, one large photo, taking up about 45 % of the page. In column inches I guess that's about 8".

Obviously, at 55, Ms. Burrell has gone way too soon. Circumstances of her death might seem a bit less than ordinary or explainable, when it is reported that, "A New York City Police Department spokesman said Wednesday that emergency medical workers responding to a 911 call at her address found a 55-year-old woman, whom the police would not identify, 'unconscious and unresponsive' and pronounced her dead. The chief medical examiner's office will determine the cause of death."

I've never read an obit where a police spokesman weighs in with a statement about the circumstances of death.

Nevertheless, the death of Ms. Burrell sent shock waves through the food and cooking establishment. She is considered to have broken the mold at the Food Network. "She brought style, class, and a little punk, a little funk, a little bit of grace" said Ms. Wilson, the founder of the Harlem restaurant Melba's.

The lede in the obit by Priya Krishna, tells us Ms. Burrell "was known for her kinetic swoop of blond hair and an energy to match."