Matt Lackey at Flyte
Matt Lackey, a talented chef who ran the kitchen at Flyte from 2012 to 2014, died yesterday after a fall in Colorado. He was 31.
According to KRDO, Lackey and a group of friends were climbing on Mt. Princeton, southeast of Denver.
While Lackey was climbing the Chalk Cliff area, he grabbed a loose boulder, dislodging it and causing him to lose his balance.Lackey and his friends were climbing without the proper gear, according to the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office.
The Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office along with Chaffee County EMS, Chaffee County Search and Rescue, North and South, and Chaffee Fire responded just before 1 p.m.
Lackey grew up in the Castilian Springs area, northeast of Gallatin, and spent much time on his grandfather's farm, where he cultivated a love of food. After attending the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., and Le Cordon Bleu in Arizona, he spent time in Sean Brock's Husk and McCrady's kitchens in Charleston and considered Brock a mentor. Lackey returned to the Nashville area and eventually rose to become executive chef at Flyte. He was named a
Young Gun by Eater in 2013and a
rising star by Star Chefs in 2014.
After leaving Flyte, he eventually moved to Colorado, where he opened Arcana in Boulder last year.
The 404 Kitchen's Matt Bolus, who worked with Lackey at Flyte, remembers Lackey as a great presence in the kitchen.
"Matt was more than just a passionate chef and talented cook," Bolus says. "He was a student of our world, taking the best from not only those he worked for, but those he worked with. He could make you laugh in the hardest of times as he simultaneously helped you cook through a busy service. Today we have lost a talented soul and a friend."
