Harlem’s ‘Queen of Soul Food’ Sylvia Woods dies at 86 

Her restaurant is 'meeting-place for black America," says Al Sharpton

STUART RAMSON/AP

Sylvia Woods, center, moves to the music outside her restaurant, Sylvia's, during the restaurant's 40th anniversary celebration in 2002.

New York’s legendary “Queen of Soul Food” Sylvia Woods, whose iconic restaurant drew dignitaries and ordinary folk from all over the world to Harlem to taste her fried chicken, died Thursday at 86.

News that she died broke just as Mayor Bloomberg was paying tribute to the 50th anniversary of “Sylvia’s” at a gala reception at Gracie Mansion.

“We lost a legend today,” the mayor said. “Generations of family and friends have come together at what became a New York institution.”

The Woods family said she was surrounded by loved ones when lost her battle with Alzheimer's.

Publisher's Personal Note:

My deepest condolence goes out to Ms. Sylvia's family.  She was a lovely woman, and had helped to make Harlem what it is today . . . historical!

 

Health officials: South Carolina boy dies of rare brain infection caused by warm-water amoeba

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina boy has died from a rare brain infection caused by an organism that lives in warm, fresh water, according to state health officials.

The Sumter County boy, whom the Department of Health and Environmental Control did not identify, was killed Tuesday by an amoeba known as Naegleria fowleri (neh-GLARE-ee-ah FOW-luhr-eye).

Deaths caused by the organism, which lives in lakes, rivers and hot springs, are extremely rare. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were only 32 documented cases of this kind of infection between 2001 and 2010.