The Devastating Death Of Julie And Julia Author Julie Powell

The New York Times reports that Julie Powell, food blogger and author of the book "Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously," died on October 26 at her upstate New York home due to cardiac arrest. She was 49 years old.

Powell rose to fame as a blogger chronicling her attempts to cook her way through every recipe — that's right, all 524 — in Julia Child's book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1." The blog eventually became fodder for Powell's aforementioned 2005 book. That book was later turned into a movie, 2009's Nora Ephron-directed "Julie and Julia," in which actress Amy Adams portrayed Powell (via People).

According to Salon, the platform on which her blog was originally published, Powell had no formal culinary training and was teaching herself and learning as she went along. "I'd written about all of it, my mistakes and my minor triumphs," Powell wrote about her blog, which raked in over 400,000 views, in "Julie and Julia." "She truly made her own lane. We were lucky enough to be in the conduit," said Salon senior writer Mary Elizabeth Williams. 

Unsurprisingly, many of Julie Powell's fans and fellow members of the writing community were quick to memorialize the late writer on social media. For example, @mollytempleton reminisced on Twitter about how inspiring she found Powell's work. "I remember with alarming clarity what it felt like to find Julie Powell's blog in the mid-2000s, when I was bored and frustrated and not writing what I wanted to; she made things feel possible in a way I had not seen them before," Templeton wrote. "I'm so sad about this news." 

In addition to remembering Powell's contributions to the world of culinary arts, many were also quick to note the tragic nature of Powell's death at such a young age. Author Benjamin Dreyer tweeted his sadness at finding out the news, noting that he will miss online conversations with the famous writer. "How sad to read this," Dreyer wrote. "Julie was a longtime Twitter chitchatterer of mine, and I was always happy to see her pop up. Goodbye to her, far too soon."

A number of celebrity chefs also shared their thoughts on Powell's passing. For example, Pim Techamuanvivit tweeted, "How very sad. She was so young. I was a huge fan of her blog, and I am definitely old enough to remember when social media was more about being snarky about oneself than putting down others. RIP Julie."