Spend more than six months in St. Louis, and you’ll find everyone knows someone who knows you. St. Louis is a big small town of distinct social, political and professional circles that overlap only slightly at their fringes. Tyler “Tai” Davis, who passed away on January 9, 2026, was that rarest St. Louisan, someone who effortlessly knitted together too many circles to count. He was a unicorn — well known, well respected, and genuinely admired by everyone fortunate enough to have known him, met him, received his attention and whatnot.
Tai Davis. Photo credit: Virginia Harold
Local tributes to the self-described multi-disciplinarian form threads of loving comments that, if strung together, might easily circle the Earth. Tai Davis was an icon, and his sudden passing swept his myriad admirers into a bottomless vortex of grief. The people whose lives Tai touched haven’t been shy about expressing sorrow and pain. Their heartfelt statements, poems, photos and videos radiate beauty, imagination, love and generosity. Those are the qualities that best define Tai Davis.
A founding member of Out In STL, Tai was an activist dedicated to issues affecting the LGBTQIA+ community. “I had never met someone so brimming with energy and creativity,” said Chris Andoe, CEO of Out In STL. “Tai shared his brilliant star power with Out In STL through his service on our board and his two columns, Echo and Nourish & Groove. He was deeply passionate about representation, and we are committed to honoring his memory by living up to the standards he set.”
As a savory and sweet chef, Tai learned by doing, reading and studying the work of chefs and artisans he admired. He was an artist, exceptionally talented in painting, music, photography, fashion design and decorating. If he knew the word “limited,” he never gave the slightest indication as he combined his creative interests into singular visions that enthralled St. Louis.
On January 5, Tai and business partner Kellen Myers, hosted the soft launch of Linea – The Atelier, where they announced Lineage – The Restaurant of Heritage, their next big development. Linea is a pop-up event space and supper club offering multisensory culinary experiences meant to engage every sense of its patrons. Lineage is the brainchild of Tai and his business partner Kellen Myers. “We want to expand and elevate soul food cuisine,” Tai announced at the time, “and introduce food from the African diaspora, with lots of global influences. Tapas style, lots of bites, in five or six courses. Drinks will be inclusive.”
Tai Davis with Kellen Myers. Photo credit: R.J. Hartbeck
An informal memorial service for Tai took place on January 11. Myers has vowed to fully realize their shared dream of Lineage, even as he bears the great weight of his friend’s loss. Myers is confident that Tai is with him in spirit. “I was the Pinky to his Brain,” Myers said, referring to the mid-1990s cartoon about a genetically-enhanced mouse and his kooky mouse sidekick. “Now it’s just Pinky. I need my Brain.”
Through his pain, Myers urged people to seek help for depression, and to do what they must to maintain their mental health. Tai, too, was a mental health advocate. He played the cello at the Alton Art Expo to benefit Centerstone, a national behavioral health organization. He donated his time and talent to the event.
On January 31, friends, colleagues and Black creatives assembled at Neiman Marcus to read a proclamation signed by St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer declaring February 1, 2026 Tyler “Tai” Davis Day. The emotional event, falling on the first day of Black History Month, recognized Tai’s devotion to the rich culture, artistry and community of St. Louis. Event organizers plan to make remembrance of the day an annual event.
A candlelight vigil held February 1 at the Metropolitan Artists Loft, Tai’s home, featured a 24-minute video presentation of Tai’s life. The video was a gorgeous highlight reel of a multifaceted talent who accomplished so much in his 41 years.
He was born in Mount Vernon, Illinois on June 22, 1984. Part of his early childhood was spent in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but he returned to Mount Vernon when he was 12 years old. While other middle school children might have been more interested in video games and contact sports, Tai had been introduced to the cello by his uncle, an orchestral director. Tai excelled at the instrument. He earned a scholarship to study music performance at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. He became quite accomplished. In later years, when he performed, he seemed to gracefully dance with the cumbersome instrument as he made it sing lovely low notes of somber yearning.
Tai moved to St. Louis upon leaving college. Music would remain a part of his life, but he wanted to explore other avenues of creativity. One of those avenues was food. He also branched into painting, photography, modeling and philanthropy.
He studied cooking and worked in a string of St. Louis’s best restaurants, honing his skills and feeding his imagination. Within five years, he had become an executive chef. He expanded his repertoire by turning from savory cooking to sweet, an entirely different arm of the culinary world.
As with so many creative pursuits, the art of pastry came naturally to Tai. In 2018, while working as the Executive Pastry Chef at Element Restaurant, Tai was named to Saint Louis’s “Ones to Watch” list and awarded “Best Pastry Chef – Saint Louis” by Feast magazine.
His skill leveled up further once he moved to The Chocolate Pig restaurant, where as a self-proclaimed “Black Willy Wonka,” his explorations into molecular gastronomy dazzled foodies. His desserts are presented as the works of art they are in his first book, Tai Davis [pastry], an elegant hardback volume featuring some of his most stunning and sophisticated creations.
By the time he resigned his executive chef position at The Chocolate Pig, Tai was successfully juggling his freelance endeavors: Æther, offering menu development, kitchen consulting, and pop-up dinners; Sacred Geometry, a collection of culinary adventures; and Alchemy, an online bakery specializing in cheesecakes, cakes, pastries and bespoke chocolates.
The St. Louis chef sensation burst onto the national stage with appearances on the Food Network. The network invited him to compete on its Halloween Baking Championship and its Thanksgiving Pie Fight series. The network recognized his star potential. He was asked to compete on Chopped, a competition show where chefs must prepare palatable dishes using four seemingly incompatible or strange ingredients in three rounds.
The October 29, 2024 episode of Chopped, titled “Zhoug-topia,” challenged contestants with, among other unique morsels, kholodets, an Eastern European gelatinous meat dish. Tai made his bones in the kitchen the old-fashioned way: He worked for them from the ground up. He conquered gelatinous meat as well as his three opponents to become Chopped champion.
“I create to inspire because I am inspired to create,” was Tai’s guiding principle.
It’s a logical companion to his personal mission, which was to motivate others to achieve their fullest potential through creativity. And it was a quotation from the artist Picasso that fueled Tai to reassess his life following his culinary successes: “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”
Those words inspired Tai to step laterally, away from restaurants. “I resolved to recalibrate my life by leaving my job and embracing a more heartfelt path,” he said in a Dec 2024 in Canvas Rebel magazine. “Transitioning into a creative entrepreneurship awakened my passion for life, cuisine, and artistic expression, enabling me to regain my self confidence and purpose.”
He turned to painting. His work was big, bold, colorful and expressive. It was whimsical and moving, and challenged the viewer to interpret or recognize its underlying message. He modeled, his striking features and slender physique lending itself well to every style of clothing.
As with his other interests, Tai put his own creative stamp on his vibe. As a modern “dandy,” he captivated in bespoke suits in unexpected patterns and fresh versions of Downton Abbey picnic wear. Commercial and video campaigns for AT&T and Germany’s Galileo TV introduced Tai to international audiences. In his 20 years of modeling, he walked more than 40 runway shows for brands such as Nike, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, and Andrew Christian. Photographers worldwide have captured his light.
Black Bird Strings, the University City Symphony, and the Neo Philharmonic are a few of the ensembles with which Tai played the cello. He recorded ANJA, an original album with the cello at the center of sound healing Solfeggio frequencies and vocal meditations.
He created the lifestyle brand Taste by Tai, a place to bring together culinary arts, wellness, fragrance, visual art, and music.
Tai affected almost every sector of St. Louis life. During the Covid-19 pandemic, when schools were closed, Tai’s concerns centered on students who relied on free school lunches. For some, those lunches were the one meal they got every day. Without hesitation, Tai launched an initiative to prepare and deliver balanced meals to students in need. Funding the initiative through donations and from his own pocket, Tai provided for as many as 1,500 students.
He was known for the warmth of his greetings, whether encountering a friend or a stranger. He openly extended his heart and hand to anyone in need — sometimes before they could even ask for help. He was a visionary and thoughtful mentor to fellow artists and creators.
Amanda Bradham-Little, Vice President of Marketing for 23 City Blocks, owner of The Chocolate Pig, shared with St. Louis Magazine one of Tai’s most vital lessons. “From my interactions with him, the greatest lesson Tai offered was this: Create without apology. Trust your instincts. Let your ideas breathe, evolve and take up space,” said Badham Little. “He lived as proof that creativity should not be contained, only shared.”
Tai Davis gave so much of himself, the very best of himself, to St. Louis. One might wonder if he perhaps gave too much. It’s tempting to sit and dream of what fresh wonders he might have created. But it would instead be more fruitful to cherish the vast wealth of Tai’s beauty, imagination, kindness and true generosity, the gifts he left to remember him by.
Crystal Hubbard is a St. Louis native and an award-winning author of more than thirty books, short stories, and plays. She is a former Boston Herald sports copy editor and reporter who currently resides in St. Louis County.
