'Top Chef' Star Leah Cohen's Husband Ben Byruch Dies Suddenly at 44: 'He Was the Heart and Soul of Pig & Khao'
(Illustration: USA Current Affaires)
The New York restaurant world is mourning Ben Byruch, the restaurateur and husband of former "Top Chef" contestant Leah Cohen, who has died suddenly at the age of 44.
Byruch died on Tuesday, November 10. The news was announced on Thursday, November 12, in a statement shared on Instagram by Pig & Khao, the New York City restaurant the couple co-founded together. The statement captured both the shock of the loss and the scale of what Byruch meant to the restaurant and the community around it.
"We are heartbroken to share the passing of Ben Byruch — husband to our chef and owner, Leah Cohen, devoted father, son, brother and friend to so many. Ben was the co-founder of Pig & Khao and its creative heart," the statement read.
No cause of death has been publicly disclosed, and those close to the family have asked for privacy as they grieve. What is known is that the loss came without warning — and just days after the couple had been celebrating their work together at sea.
A Partnership Built on Food and Family
Cohen and Byruch married in July 2016, and together they built both a family and a restaurant that became a beloved part of New York City's dining scene. They shared two young sons, Carter, 6, and Baker, 3, who are now at the centre of an outpouring of support from friends, diners and fellow chefs.
The couple opened Pig & Khao, a Filipino-Thai restaurant, in 2012, and also run Piggyback Bar in New York City. For Byruch, the restaurant was never just a business. As its co-founder and creative heart, he shaped the warm, generous spirit that made Pig & Khao a neighbourhood favourite — a place where the food was bold and the welcome was warmer still.
Cohen first became known to television audiences on Season 5 of Bravo's "Top Chef" (2008–2009), where she finished sixth. She went on to build a career as a chef and restaurateur, with Byruch beside her every step of the way — partner in the kitchen, partner in business, and partner in life.
Days before his death, the couple were aboard Food Network's Chefs Making Waves cruise, which ran from November 6 to 11. On November 9, in Jamaica, they hosted a presentation on their signature Filipino dishes — doing together what they had done for more than a decade: sharing the food and culture they loved with people who loved it back.
An Outpouring of Love
Since the announcement, tributes have poured in from across the food and television worlds. Friends, colleagues and regulars at Pig & Khao have shared memories of Byruch's warmth, his humour and his devotion to his family — a man remembered as much for who he was outside the restaurant as for what he built inside it.
A GoFundMe launched in Byruch's memory to support Cohen and their sons had raised more than $38,000 of its $50,000 goal by Friday morning — a measure of how deeply the couple's story has touched people, and how quickly a community can rally around a family in its hardest moment.
For Leah Cohen, the loss is immeasurable: a husband, a business partner and the father of her two young children, gone suddenly at 44. For the restaurant world, it is the loss of one of its own — a creative force who helped build a place that felt like home to so many.
General Hospital star Bree Williamson also recently lost her husband, and the entertainment world has seen more than its share of sudden goodbyes this year. But each one lands differently, and this one lands hard — because Ben Byruch was, by every account, a man who gave everything to the people and the place he loved.
Our thoughts are with Leah Cohen, Carter and Baker, and all who loved Ben Byruch.
Would you like to share a memory of Pig & Khao, or a message for Leah and her boys? Leave it in the comments below.
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