Bobbe was born February 25, 1969, in Columbia, South Carolina, under the sign of Pisces and in the Year of the Rooster. The rooster, long associated with culinary tradition, was a fitting symbol for someone whose love of cooking shaped so much of his adult life. He passed away on March 24, 2026, in Seattle, Washington.

Bobbe passed away leaving behind a kitchen that never stayed clean for long, notebooks filled with thoughts that refused to sit still, and a legacy built somewhere between discipline and delightful unpredictability.

If you wanted to understand Bobbe, you started in the kitchen. He found great joy in teaching others to cook, helping out in his grandmother’s kitchen, and showing his cousins how to prepare some of their favorite Asian dishes. Cooking was how he expressed himself, layering flavors, trusting instinct over instruction, and bringing people together in ways that felt effortless and lasting.

He spent part of his young adult life traveling in East Asia, studying martial arts and becoming especially proficient in Silat and Kali, skills he later shared with his students. Martial arts was not just something he practiced, but something he lived, a balance of discipline, intensity, and purpose that carried into everything he did.

He approached writing in much the same way. Not polished for perfection, but driven by something that needed to be said. His words, like his meals, carried personality and force. You did not just read what he wrote, you experienced it.

Bobbe lived on his own terms. You could offer him comfort, stability, even perfection, and he might still choose something rougher, stranger, and more honest. He made his own path and invited others along for the ride, whether through a shared meal, a lesson, or a conversation that lingered long after it ended.

Bobbe was preceded in death by his parents and his adopted grandfather. He is survived by his adopted and found family, including parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, students, and friends, as well as a surrogate daughter who was very important to him. He is also survived by a brother with whom he was estranged.

In the end, Bobbe leaves behind something rare. Like Godzilla, he left a path in his wake made of stories, lessons, and lives forever altered by his presence.

In accordance with his wishes, his remains will be cremated without a service, and his ashes will be spread somewhere he can be visited often by those who knew and loved him. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to a local food bank in his honor.