Sonoma County chef Clayton Dorney dies at 31 after motorcycle accident

When Clayton Dorney wasn’t cooking, he was enjoying the outdoors.

Dorney, a 31-year-old chef from just outside Sebastopol, loved hiking and canoeing on the Russian River. He especially liked hunting for mushrooms, which he used in his own cooking.

“He really had a passion for the outdoors,” said Alea Reimann, his 28-year-old sister. “If he wasn’t working, he was outdoors doing something.”

On Sunday, Dorney died as a result of his injuries from crashing his Suzuki motorcycle into the back of a tree-trimming truck west of Rohnert Park a couple of days before. Authorities said Dorney likely was speeding and was unable to stop his motorcycle in time before hitting the truck.

“We’re just devastated,” said his father, Keith Dorney, who played in the NFL for the Detroit Lions in the 1970s and ’80s. “Clay was such a vibrant young man at the peak of his ... health and joy in life.”

Clayton Dorney was born in Orange. When he was in kindergarten, he and his family moved to Sonoma County, where he had lived ever since. He played basketball at Analy High School, said his father, who taught English and coached football at Cardinal Newman High School in the early 2000s.

After graduating from Analy, Dorney studied at Santa Rosa Junior College’s culinary program. He was an experienced chef and worked at several restaurants in the county, including Monti’s Santa Rosa, Underwood Bar and Bistro in Graton and Handline in Sebastopol, his father said. Dorney loved cooking with his mother, Katherine Dorney, who is a talented chef herself.

Dorney is survived by his parents, sister and grandmother Mary Harger. He also was expecting a nephew - his sister, who lives in Valdez, Alaska, is nine months pregnant and anticipates giving birth any day now.

“(Clayton) would’ve been a really great uncle,” she said, crying. “He was really excited about it.”

Family members described Dorney as a kind, generous person. Reimann said her brother was “always happy” and was very friendly, often trying to cheer people up if they were having a bad day.

“He’d be the first person to lend a hand to a friend in need,” his father said. “I’m going to miss him, and I think a lot of other people will, too. He was well loved.”

You can reach Staff Writer Chantelle Lee at 707-521-5337 or chantelle.lee@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ChantelleHLee.