Kent Taylor, the CEO and co-founder of the Texas Roadhouse chain of steakhouses, has died due to suicide caused by «unbearable» complications caused by Covid-19, according to his family.
Mr Taylor was battling lasting symptoms brought on by Covid-19, including tinnitus, according to a statement released by the family.
“Kent battled and fought hard like the former track champion that he was, but the suffering that greatly intensified in recent days became unbearable,” the statement read.
Mr Taylor apparently set up a fund prior to his death to help military veterans also suffering from tinnitus.
“But in true Kent fashion, he always found a silver lining to help others. Most recently, he committed to fund a clinical study to help members of the military who also suffer with tinnitus,” the statement said.
Tinnitus causes a dull to intense, sometimes constant, ringing in the ears.
Mr Taylor’s death was confirmed by the restaurant chain in a Facebook post.
“We will miss you, Kent. Because of you and your dream of Texas Roadhouse, we get to say we love our jobs every day,» the post, issued last Thursday, said.
The restaurateur made headlines last year when he opted to give up his bonus and base salary to pay for his employees’ salaries during the coronavirus pandemic.
The total amount that went to employee salaries was just under $1m.
According to the company’s board of directors, the president of Texas Roadhouse, Jerry Morgan, will take over as CEO.
“While you never expect the loss of such a visionary as Kent, our succession plan, which Kent led, gives us great confidence,” Greg Moore, the company’s lead director, said in a news release.
Russia’s Top Diplomat Dons Profane Anti-Quarantine Mask for China Tour
Unlike most other countries worldwide, Russia has largely rejected a return to the coronavirus lockdown measures it had imposed during the first weeks of the pandemic last spring.
And on Monday, the country’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov let his own opinions on self-isolation orders be known with a profanity-laced face mask.
Lavrov posed for a video in the black mask, which featured the words “FCKNG QRNTN,” while on tour of the Lijiang River in southeastern China.
“Pool journalists gave S.V. Lavrov a mask. Both the mask and the text suit the minister just right,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in its TikTok post.
The government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta said the pool reporters gifted the mask to Lavrov, who turned 71 on Sunday, as a birthday present.
“The mask jokingly describes an attitude to quarantine measures imposed around the world due to the coronavirus pandemic,” the paper wrote.
Subsequent footage from Lavrov’s visit to China showed the Russian diplomat wearing different face masks.
Observers drew parallels between the flippant inscription and the Russian authorities’ casual attitude toward safety measures, most recently at a packed, maskless Moscow stadium concert Thursday celebrating the seventh anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
President Vladimir Putin echoed during a Monday videoconference his frequent assertions that Russia has “stabilized” the coronavirus epidemic despite nearly 10,000 new cases registered every day.
Russia has the world’s fourth-highest total Covid-19 caseload at 4.5 million.
