An 82-year-old’s lifelong hobby of foraging for wild mushrooms turned tragic when he picked the wrong ones in the hills above Santa Barbara, sauteed them with a steak, and ate them. This would be his last meal.

Angelo Crippa died after he ate a heaping plate of Amanita ocreata mushrooms, known as “death angel” because of its snow-white appearance. He said he looked in his book and they looked like the kind they eat in Europe, explained Bob Cummings, a biology professor at Santa Barbara City College.

“He really ate a lot of them,” said his wife, Joan Crippa. “He said they were the best mushrooms he had ever eaten. I only eat mushrooms from Trader Joe’s or Vons, so he knew better than to ask me.”