A chef who took inspiration from his faith and channelled creativity into new dishes has been remembered as a paragon of calm in the often hectic kitchen environment.

Daamian Simmons was also a keen mentor to other chefs, including his younger brother, Zyun Smith, who joined him in the kitchens of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.

Staff and management there recalled Mr Simmons as a master who happily obliged the requests of guests and shared his experiments with others.

His brother said: “I am his protégé — I can say that with a happy heart.

“I’m proud to be his brother. He was all about bringing young Bermudians in to elevate them, especially those involved in the culinary arts programme at the Bermuda College.

“He was the light in the kitchen and he worked like a horse.

“Anything that needed to be done, he would make sure it happened and was up to par with our standards.

“He’s been my role model my whole life.

“After the passing of both parents, our mother and his father, he didn’t let anything wear him down. He was very resilient.”

Mr Smith said his brother “brought joy and love to almost anyone he came into contact with”.

“Chefs are not always liked by all. He was easygoing and willing to do anything, whether it came to a last-minute menu or a dessert off the top of his head.”

Mr Smith said he found comfort and joy spending time with Mr Simmons and his wife, Catarina, at their home.

“I’m glad now that I chose that,” he said. “The energy of him and his wife was just amazing. The love was real.”

Mr Smith said they had worked together for four years, going back to Mr Simmons’s time as an executive chef at Coco Reef.

He added: “Those four years have been the best experience of my life. I wouldn’t change it for anything.

“To me, he was the best Bermudian chef on the island. I probably seem biased — but that’s OK.”

Chef Michiko Campbell said he counted Mr Simmons as a brother, especially with the loss in 2008 of his twin brother, Machai, in a road traffic crash.

He said: “Our brotherhood was like no other. When I lost my twin brother, Daamian was next in line.”

The two knew each other from childhood but reconnected and became close at the Bermuda College’s culinary arts programme.

“The collaboration we had as professionals and friends was exceptional,” he said. “He was at my wedding, and I was at his.”

He described Mr Simmons as “a mediator — his whole demeanour was about love and enjoying life”.

“I loved Daamian very dearly,” he added.

Mr Simmons, who attended St Philip AME Church, took solace in faith after an overwhelming personal loss.

“People see me and know that I am a chef, but they don’t know the story behind the food,” he told The Royal Gazette in a 2021 interview.

Mr Simmons struggled to cope after he lost both parents in 2013 — his father, Daaman Caines, died that October and his mother, Leisa Smith, passed a month later.

To carry on, he relied on the memory of his parents and the love of his family, and work.

Mr Simmons said: “Cooking is an act of faith. You are pulling different ingredients together in the hope that it will be something amazing — and that’s kind of how life is.”

He met his wife, Catarina, in 2012, and they married on September 7, 2019, on what would have been his mother’s 50th birthday.

While he enjoyed helping in the family kitchen as a youngster, Mr Simmons credited his parents with encouraging him to take up his career, and his mother in particular for nurturing the dream.

At 16, Mr Simmons became an apprentice at the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club.

The hotel sent him to Bermuda College to complete his studies and he earned a bachelor’s degree in culinary arts management from the Art Institute of Charleston, South Carolina, in 2010.

In 2012, he was runner-up in the Rising Chef of the Year competition. Mr Simmons continued working at the hotel until that same year.

He then took up work in The Reefs hotel, where he was initially the youngest chef in the kitchen, until 2015.

Mr Simmons became a demi sous chef at the RBYC from 2017 to 2020. In 2021, he worked as executive chef at The White Horse restaurant and pub in St George’s.

From 2019 to 2022, Mr Simmons worked as both sous chef and executive chef at Coco Reef, and he returned to the RBYC in 2022 as a sous chef.

Colleagues there recalled him as a consummate chef who enjoyed singing in the kitchen and who was the life of the party at any social event.

Paul Adams, the club’s general manager, said there was quickly a strong demand for Mr Simmons’s cooking.

“He was so creative,” he added. “When a member would ask for something simple, it was always ‘leave it with me’. There aren’t many guys like that.

“He could promise and execute at the highest level and he was a breath of fresh air in the kitchen.”

David Furtado, the club’s former general manager, hired Mr Simmons twice, starting in 2015 at Chef Chiko’s recommendation.

“The two of them were just dynamite,” he said.

The club saw Mr Simmons as its “executive chef-in-waiting” after he returned in 2022, bringing his younger brother with him.

Mr Furtado called him “the most passionate, flexible and nicest person you would ever want to meet”.

“Anything he produced was top-notch.”

Tony McMahon, the executive head chef, said that “for seven memorable years, he brought his artistry, passion and precision to every dish”.

He added: “A cornerstone of our kitchen, his creativity elevated the club’s dining experiences, while his mentorship shaped countless young Bermudian chefs.

“Daamian’s legacy isn’t just in the meals he crafted — it’s in the standards he set and the chefs and teams he inspired and bonded with.”

Jaja Millett, the functions manager, said: “He made it easy to talk and bounce off ideas. He was the creative person in the kitchen when I needed a special menu or got a special request. He was someone I could always count on.

“In this industry, personalities can clash, but he never argued. Whatever it was, he would make it happen.”

Mr Millett said the club’s reputation for good food was “a tribute to him, to Chiko, to all those guys”.

Thomas Gomes and Kapila Liyange, both chefs de partie, recalled a committed and congenial worker who made jokes and nicknames for colleges.

Mr Liyange, who was called Papa, said: “A great guy. Whatever I told him to do, he did.”

Mr Gomes added: “He always gave it the first priority — he always said yes.”

Daamian Arthur Samuel Simmons, a top Bermudian chef, was born on November 17, 1988. He died on April 8, 2025, aged 36