By P.C. Staff and Press Reports
The world of TikTok, the social video app popular with teens and young people worldwide, lost one of its older-skewing sensations: Lynn “Lynja” Yamada Davis, 67, who died Jan. 1.
Lynn Yamada Davis displays her karaage chicken in an episode of her internet program “Cooking With Lynja.” (Photo : YouTube)
Over its years of existence, Davis’ “Cooking With Lynja” gained 17 million followers and connected with viewers for her “zany style and cooking tips” and “quirky dance moves.” The cause of death was esophageal cancer. She was a resident of Holmdel, N.J.
According to the obituary that appeared in the New York Times, “Cooking With Lynja” began during the pandemic lockdown when her son, Tim Davis, began recording his mother as a way for him to keep his cinematography skills sharp. In addition to TikTok, she also had legions of followers on YouTube and Instagram, with Davis appearing in more than 100 videos.
Prior to her becoming an “internet sensation,” Davis — who was born in New York City in 1956 to Mabel Fujisaki Yamada and Tadao Yamada — grew up in Fort Lee, N.J., after her parents were released from being incarcerated at the Poston War Relocation Authority Center in Arizona during World War II.
Davis went on to a career in telecommunications, including working at Bell Labs after graduating from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. She later earned a master’s degrees in business administration and public health from Columbia Business School.
Despite those achievements, it was thanks to social medi, her cooking skills and personality that Davis would gain fame as “the internet’s grandma.” She was named to Forbes’ annual “50 Over 50” list, a compilation of impactful women older than 50 and was nominated thrice for the Streamy awards, winning in 2022.
Davis is survived by her husband, Keith Davis; daughters, Hannah Mariko Shofet and Becky Steinberg; sons, Tim Davis and Sean Davis; and siblings, Jay Yamada and Karen Yamada Dolce.
