By Mahmoud Masad/ Shutterstock.com
Kent Taylor, the founder and chief executive of the Texas Roadhouse restaurant chain, died by suicide Thursday after suffering from post-COVID-19 symptoms, the company and his family said in a statement, according to multiple media outlets. He was 65.
“After a battle with post-COVID-related symptoms, including severe tinnitus, Kent Taylor took his own life this week,” the statement said.
Taylor fought the condition, but “the suffering that greatly intensified in recent days became unbearable,” the statement said. It added that Taylor had recently committed to funding “a clinical study to help members of the military who also suffer with tinnitus,” which causes ringing and other noises in the ear.
His body was found in a field on his property near Louisville, Ky., the Kentucky State Police told The Louisville Courier Journal. The State Police and the Oldham County coroner did not immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday, multiple outlets reported.
Taylor, who was also the chairman of the company’s board of directors, founded Texas Roadhouse in 1993. He sought to create an “affordable, Texas-style” restaurant but was turned down more than 80 times as he tried to find investors, according to a biography provided by the company.
Eventually, he raised $300,000 from three doctors from Elizabethtown, Ky., and sketched out the design for the first Texas Roadhouse on a cocktail napkin for the investors.
The first Texas Roadhouse opened in Clarksville, Ind., in 1993. Three of the chain’s first five restaurants failed, but it went on to open 611 locations in 49 states, and 28 international locations in 10 countries.
Media outlets reported that until his death, Taylor had been active in Texas Roadhouse’s day-to-day operations, the company said. He oversaw decisions about the menu, selected the murals for the restaurants and personally picked songs for the jukeboxes.
In addition to his parents, Taylor is survived by his children, Michelle, Brittney and Max; and five grandchildren. He was married twice; both marriages ended in divorce.
Greg Moore, the lead director of the company’s board, said in a statement that Taylor gave up his compensation package during the coronavirus pandemic to support frontline workers in the company.
Jerry Morgan, the company’s president, will succeed Mr. Taylor as chief executive. Texas Roadhouse will announce its next chairman at a later date.