A Toronto restaurant owner has tragically passed away following an accident overseas, sending shock waves through the community.

The Stockyards Smokehouse and Larder, a St. Clair West institution known for southern-style BBQ dishes and brunch, posted to their social media yesterday informing everyone that founder and owner Thomas Evan Davis had passed away.

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He was vacationing in Negril, Jamaica whe he was hit by a car on June 13. He was rushed to the hospital but sadly passed away due to his injuries.

Davis would have been 57 this year. He had a 17-year-old daughter named Ella and a wife named Monique who server Lisa Josephs tells blogTO were the "lights of his life." Josephs says he opened the restaurant five minutes away from where he lived to be close to them.

Josephs describes Davis as a "huge part of the community" and one of the "greatest human beings" who "fed the hungry." She says you "couldn't get two steps down the street" without someone recognizing or stopping him, and "took care of" his staff.

"You walked in and it felt like home," Josephs tells blogTO. "That was Tom."

Jospephs says they're honouring the legacy of Davis at Stockyards by keeping everything he put in place just the way it is, and keeping the doors open.

"It's what he would have wanted," Josephs says.