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For Food Network Fans, Anne Burrell Was the Fun-Loving Aunt

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The chef, who died Tuesday, built her stardom on a big, down-to-earth personality in which viewers could see themselves.

Anne Burrell, sporting her trademark white hair and a blue printed dress, presents information at an Ikea.

June 18, 2025, 6:15 p.m. ET

Anne Burrell’s great gift might have been that she really knew how to lean in.

A talented chef with TV-friendly charisma, she mixed in a my-way-or-the-highway attitude and a dramatic crest of platinum-blond hair. She became a populist star for the Food Network as it transformed from the home-cooking, dump-and-stir era of Rachael Ray and Ina Garten into one that blended restaurant-trained chefs and competition.

Her death on Tuesday at her Brooklyn home, at age 55, is the first for the family of personalities who make up the Food Network universe.

“She was one of those people who broke the mold of what chefs should say, shouldn’t say, should do, shouldn’t do,” said the chef Maneet Chauhan, who frequently appeared with Ms. Burrell on various Food Network shows. “She lived life on her terms.”

Unlike some Food Network stars from its earliest days in the 1990s and 2000s — like Sara Moulton or Ms. Ray, who dislike competition shows — Ms. Burrell understood that everyday viewers wanted a big helping of celebrity chefs and outlandish competition.

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Celebrity chefs like Bobby Flay co-hosted “Worst Cooks in America” with Ms. Burrell. Credit...Food Network