August 10, 2008, Hayes' wife found him unresponsive on the floor next to a treadmill, which was still running, inside his home located just east of Memphis, Tennessee. A Shelby County, Tennessee sheriff's deputy responded to Hayes' home. He was taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, where he was pronounced dead at 2:08 pm, at the age of 65. The cause of death was not immediately known.

He was a good man.

I will miss him as Chef! :(