RSS FEEDUPDATED: Joey Belcher, a Sticky Rice co-owner, was found unconscious yesterday afternoon in D.C. and declared dead, a Baltimore Business Journal blog reported this morning. He was 37.
Mourners already are responding to Belcher's death on Sticky Rice DC's Facebook page, including a post from one of Sticky Rice's owners, who wrote:
"To those of you suffering this incomprehensible loss with me, Joey Belcher was simply an awesome guy. He was kind, sympathetic, endlessly generous, weird and funny, and he loved everyone of you."
On Monday, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department responded to the scene in the 200 block of I Street NE, the BBJ blog said. The cause of death is undetermined, and an autopsy will be performed.
DCist.com reported that Belcher was found unresponsive in his apartment. The death is not being investigated as a homicide, it said.
Belcher owned Sticky Rice and Dangerously Delicious Pies on H Street NE in D.C., several food trucks, and was a partner at 1905, a D.C. bistro, according to a family press release.
"Joey is the last person in the world who would have us standing around sobbing," the Facebook post said. "So, carry on we shall."
A public wake will be held from 5-8 p.m. at Joseph Gawler's Sons in D.C. A Roman Catholic funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday at the same location.
Sticky Rice also has a location in Fells Point. Joey was originally a partner there, a family spokeswoman said, but recently sold his shares to one of the other owners.
Photo courtesy of Sticky Rice DC.
