Goddess And Grocer Chef Remembered For 'Boundless Energy'

(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The executive chef at The Goddess and Grocer has died of an aneurysm at the age of 49, and her loss is being felt by those she worked with and by those she cooked for.

It was more than a decade ago when Jill Dedinsky appeared at the West Randolph Street restaurant owned by celebrated Chicago breakfast chef Ina Pinkney.

“She said, ‘I’ve just moved to Chicago and everybody I spoke to said I needed to meet you and I needed to work for you.’

“And I looked at her and said, ‘OK, you just started.’”

But Pinkney says one day Dedinsky said, “I have to cook.” Pinkney understood when Dedinsky moved on.

“Her energy was boundless. Boundless energy. And her love of feeding people was part of that.”

We are very sad to announce that our Executive Chef, Jill Dedinsky, passed away yesterday in the hospital.⁠ She had suffered a brain aneurysm last Sunday and unfortunately never woke up. While we were hopeful at first that Jill would survive because of her true fighting⁠ spirit and zest for life, the brain damage was too severe for her to recover. Jill had just returned from Jacksonville and was all prepared to jump into the holiday swing. She is survived by her son Jay Ridgeway and her little dog Pepper. ⁠ ⁠ The @GoddessGrocer will be introducing a hot pink cupcake in her memory with 100% of the proceeds going to her favorite charities. A Go Fund Me has been set up by Jill’s friends to help put her son Jay through college.⁠ www.gofundme.com/f/all-in-for-jill

A post shared by Goddess and Grocer (@goddessgrocer) on Aug 30, 2020 at 12:20pm PDT

Pinkney says Jill Dedinsky texted her about 10 days ago, when she got back home from dropping her son off at college, saying, “I’m home and I’ve never been happier.”

A few days later she died of a brain aneurysm.

An online fundraiser has been set up for medical expenses and for her son.