Katie McGowan: Chef Homaro Cantu’s Wife

Meet Katie McGowan the wife of chef Homaro Cantu. Recent reports say, her husband of over a decade, who was known for his creations in the kitchen, was found dead at a location where he was supposed to open a new restaurant!

Her husband who was 38-years-old was found hanging inside Crooked Fork Brewery. Homaro, who friends called “Omar” owned one of Chicago’s most well-respected restaurants, Moto.

Katie is a native of Flossmoor, Illinois; she attended Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, Illinois and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Urbana, Illinois. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA), Communications.

She worked in the books industry, according to her LinkedIn she worked for Rand McNally and is currently an International Sales Manager at Annual Reviews.

Last month she and her young chef husband celebrated 12 years of marriage. Katie and Homaro met while he was working at Chicago restaurant Charlie Trotter’s. She was invited as a guest chef at the time. They tied the knot in 2003.

On a 2012 Facebook posting he writes about why he chose to go to culinary school

After living with Bill and Jan for one year, they would become my biggest influence and why I would become fixated with helping people. They would convince me to go to culinary school, they told me repeatedly that I had potential, that there was a greater plan for me and all I had to do was believe it was true. For the first time in my life, someone believed in me and I knew they would never leave me.

You can read here a lengthy explanation on why he decided to go to culinary school. The couple are the parents of two young daughters.

She currently resides in Chicago with her children. Her husband was in the middle of a bitter lawsuit, the Chicago Tribune reports.

We send Katie our deepest condolences.