Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s former chief of staff Jay Kimbrough, a South Oak Cliff High School alumnus, died at an assisted living facility in College Station last week.
He was 72.
Kimbrough’s death comes six years after he was injured in a motorcycle accident that left him with a traumatic brain injury.
Kimbrough played baseball and was quarterback of the football team at SOC, where he graduated early to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corp because he wanted to serve in the Vietnam War. He was seriously injured and almost died in the war.
The obituary provided by his family states that Perry once blew off a state visit from then President Barak Obama to ride motorcycles with Kimbrough instead.
Under Perry, Kimbrough served as a “fix-it man” for troubled Texas agencies, including the state’s prison system for children, the Texas Youth Commission.
Read his full obituary from the Austin American-Statesman.
