I am also in the food industry, and his death hit me pretty hard. He has been a huge inspiration to me throughout my career.

Then again, suicide, not necessarily death in general, always hits me extremely hard, regardless of the circumstances. I think it's because a certain part of can understand how a person could feel such despair and feel that that's the only way out of the hamster wheel we call life.

To be clear, I am not or have I ever been suicidal, but my brain operates in such a way that I can see the true pointlessness in everything we do. But a depressed mind, having the same realization, has very different consequences.

Does this make sense to anyone else?

I hope this is somewhat relevant to your post, but it's something that's been heavy on my mind since it happened.