Texas Roadhouse founder and CEO Kent Taylor has died, on Thursday. The 65-year old restaurant chain owner committed suicide. He had been suffering from severe post-COVID complications included tinnitus, which affected his wellbeing.

Taylor’s family released a statement which said that he had battled long and hard like the track champion he was but his suffering was intense and it had become unbearable in the recent past.

The family statement also mentioned that he had given funds for a clinical study that would help military personnel who suffered from tinnitus.

Last March, Taylor gave up his multi-million dollar salary up to January 2021 in order to help hourly restaurant workers who had been severely affected by the pandemic. His gesture was appreciated by millions and his timely help to frontline workers during the pandemic will be remembered. He will go down in the annals of history as a legendary American.

At that time he had written a letter and said, “What kind of company does these things? Well, that would be a people company that happens to serve steaks, that’s who.”

In 1993, Taylor came up with the idea of a steakhouse on a cocktail napkin. The first Texas Roadhouse was opened in Louisville Kentucky. It is remains the base of the restaurant chain which now has 630 restaurants in 49 states of America. It also operates in 10 countries around the globe.

Taylor held various roles in the restaurant chain. He remained the chief executive and chairman of the board until his untimely death. He changed the lives of his employees through the years and always considered himself to be people-first leader.

Condolences and heartfelt messages have poured in for Kent Taylor. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer posted on Twitter that the city had lost “a much loved and one-of-a-kind citizen.”