Lyn Yamada Davis, the TikTok creator who entertained millions of people with her funny style and cooking tips on her Cooking With Lynja account, died on January 1 in Riverbank, New Jersey. She was 67.
The cause of death at Riverview Medical Center was esophageal cancer, her daughter, Hannah Mariko Shovit, said. Mrs. Davis lived in Holmdel, New Jersey
Ms. Davis started making the handy Cooking With Lynja videos in 2020 with her youngest child, Tim Davis, to help keep his cinematography skills up during the pandemic lockdown.
Her social media accounts remained active after her death, because she asked him to post already edited videos. One video shows the two searching for truffles in Italy.
“My mom was like my partner in crime,” Mr. Davis, 27, who edited the TikTok account, said in a phone interview.
Another thing she asked for was that he post some old videos they made together about a decade ago, Mr. Davis said.
Those early versions of what later became a TikTok sensation known for its lightheartedness were a way for Mr. Davis to learn how to prepare food his mother cooked “and also have a time capsule,” he said.
He said that after the last Cooking With Lynja videos are uploaded, the account will stop posting.
Cooking With Lynja debuted in 2020 and gained widespread attention with a video in which the 5-foot-tall Ms. Davis prepares a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich while showing off some bizarre dance moves. Soon, about a million people were watching her abnormal content. (Today, the account has more than 17 million followers.) Potential sponsors noticed the success of the videos and began contacting her.
More than three years later, Cooking With Lynja’s YouTube account has nearly 10 million subscribers, and Ms. Davis’ Instagram account has more than 2 million followers.
In 2022, Forbes included Ms. Davis on its annual “50 Over 50” list, which pays tribute to successful women over the age of 50. It received the Streamy Awards honoring online videos in the editorial and food categories. In 2023, she attended the Forbes Women’s Summit in Abu Dhabi, where she spoke at one of the sessions.
Lynn Yamada Davis was born on July 31, 1956 in New York City and lived most of her early life in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Her father, Tadao Yamada, was a businessman, and her mother, Mabel Fujisaki Yamada, ran the household.
She graduated from MIT in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and received master’s degrees in business administration as well as public health from Columbia Business School.
Ms. Davis worked at Bell Labs (now AT&T Labs) and had a long career in communications before her unexpected TikTok fame, said her daughter, Ms. Chauvet.
“She went through this entire semester as a lead engineer, and she was very proud of that,” she added.
As a TikTok star, Ms Davis has been recognized around the world, including Japan and Italy, where she has traveled with her youngest son Tim. Sean Davis, her other son, is a professional soccer player who was a midfielder for the New York Red Bulls and now plays for the Nashville Football Club.
“She was my first coach,” he said. He said that when she would visit him in Nashville, she would be recognized on the street, often by young people who used TikTok a lot.
“That’s how I realized how famous she was,” Sean Davis said. “People would ask for pictures, and I would take the picture.”
Most of all, Cooking With Lynja provided Ms. Davis with a lot of fun, Tim Davis said. With special effects featuring tiny versions of Ms. Davis flying across the screen and quotes like “Lynja’s got that dope!” Her videos have attracted several generations of viewers. In her videos, she has been seen preparing all kinds of foods, heard sinking her teeth into crunchy sandwiches or chips, showing off ramen noodles, karate chopping, and much more.
Ms Davis was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2019, which affected her voice. Two years later, she was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. In one video, Ms. Davis bakes cookies for medical workers who treated her.
In addition to her daughter, Hannah, and her sons, Mrs. Davis is survived by her second husband, Keith Davis. another daughter, Becky Steinberg; two brothers, Jay Yamada and Karen Dolce Yamada; and two grandchildren. Her first marriage to Hank Steinberg ended in divorce.
In her later years, Ms. Davis got to travel the world, meet people, cook and eat great food, Sean Davis said. “I think her final chapter was exactly how she wanted to write it,” he added.