After coming down with a delicate case of Covid-19 in November, W. Kent Taylor discovered himself tormented by tinnitus, a ringing within the ears. It persevered and grew so distracting that the founder and chief govt of the restaurant chain Texas Roadhouse Inc. had bother studying or concentrating.
Mr. Taylor instructed one good friend he hadn’t been capable of sleep greater than two hours a evening for months.
In early March, he met pals at his residence in Naples, Fla., and led them on a yacht cruise within the Bahamas. A few of these pals thought he was lastly getting higher. Then his tinnitus “got here screaming again in his head” final week, mentioned Steve Ortiz, a longtime good friend and former colleague.
On Thursday, March 18, Mr. Taylor died by suicide in his hometown of Louisville, Ky. He was 65 years previous and had overcome early flops to construct a profitable chain of greater than 600 casual-dining eating places, most of which evoke conventional roadside eateries with steaks, music and free peanuts.
Associates mentioned that so far as they knew, Mr. Taylor had no historical past of despair. “Fairly the alternative,” mentioned Mark J. Fischer, a good friend since childhood. “He was so used to being constructive and feeling good.”
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