In December, Chef Benoit Violier's restaurant near Lausanne, Switzerland, was named the world's best by France's La Liste, which ranks the world's 1,000 best eateries. Swiss police say Violier, 44, was found dead Sunday afternoon in his home in Crissier, the town that also houses Violier's Restaurant de l'Hotel de Ville, rated three stars by Michelin. "It would seem that he has ended his life with a firearm," the police said in a statement. Violier had worked in the restaurant since 1996, and took it over along with his wife, Brigitte, in 2012.
Violier was born to a winemaking family in western France, and moved to Paris in 1991 to study with top chefs. He earned a reputation for inventiveness and perfectionism, especially in preparing wild game, and was named 2013 chef of the year by the influential Gault and Millau guide. Police aren't releasing any more details about his death, but French media speculates that Violier was upset over a slight demotion in the Gault and Millau guide and fear that he was about to lose a Michelin star, The New York Times reports. His apparent suicide also comes just a few months after the sudden death of his mentor Philippe Rochat, the previous head chef at the Restaurant de l'Hotel de Ville.
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