Duane Aubrey, a popular chef known to friends and colleagues as Roddy, has died suddenly at the age of 61.

Mr Aubrey’s passing over the weekend devastated colleagues at the tight-knit Spot restaurant, where he had worked since 2009 after a lengthy career in the United States.

“He was kind-hearted — whatever you asked him to do, he would do it for you without ever complaining,” recalled his sister, Bev Morfitt.

She said their mother, Grace Aubrey, remembered “Roddy” cooking from the age of 3 when he insisted on frying his own bacon for breakfast.

“So mum tied an apron around his waist and put him in a chair next to the stove, and Roddy cooked his own bacon,” she said. Mr Aubrey, who “gravitated towards cooking”, got an early start at Clyde’s Café, a St George’s institution, before moving to Saginaw, Michigan, where he worked as a chef in two hotels and keenly took part in barbecue competitions around the state.

“He won several first-place awards for his barbecues, and when he didn’t win, he took second place,” his sister said.

“Twice a month, he cooked a pancake breakfast for seniors in the Michigan area.”

Donna Mello, the office manager for the Spot, said Mr Aubrey’s death had shocked customers and fellow staff. She added: “Roddy had a great rapport with everybody.

“He was happy-go-lucky, always joking, always with a grin on his face. Everyone here is so saddened to lose him.”

Thomas Powell, the owner of the restaurant, expressed shock at the news, calling Mr Aubrey “part of the team that keeps the Spot operating”.

As well as sisters Shirley Johnston Tucker Sampson and Daurene Aubrey, Mr Aubrey leaves behind his brother Michael Aubrey, and a son, Duane Roderick Meeks, with his former wife Fayerene Meeks.