Mr. Taylor died by suicide after suffering from post-Covid-19 symptoms, including severe tinnitus, the company said.Kent Taylor, the founder and chief executive of the Texas Roadhouse restaurant chain, died by suicide on Thursday after suffering from post-Covid-19 symptoms, the company and his family said in a statement. 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.Mr. Taylor fought the condition, but “the suffering that greatly intensified in recent days became unbearable,” the statement said. It added that Mr. 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 on Sunday.Mr. 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.Until his death, Mr. 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.Kent Taylor was born on Sept. 27, 1955. He grew up in Louisville and graduated from the University of North Carolina, where he received a track scholarship, the company said.He is survived by his parents, Powell and Marilyn Taylor; 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 Mr. 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, a spokesman for the company said.Senator Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky and the minority leader, said in a statement that Mr. Taylor “didn’t fit the mold of a big-time C.E.O.”“Kent built a billion-dollar company with creativity, grit and a lot of bold risks,” Mr. McConnell said. “As Texas Roadhouse stretched around the globe, Kent kept his heart and his headquarters in Louisville.”If you are having thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK). You can find a list of additional resources at SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.

#masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and CasesRisk Near YouVaccine RolloutNew Variants TrackerAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyMelee Near University of Colorado Boulder Injures 3 OfficersAn informal gathering that swelled to as many as 800 people, most of whom were not wearing masks or social distancing, turned violent on Saturday, officials said.Over 100 people started running toward officers before tear gas was used on Saturday night, Chief Maris Herold of the Boulder Police Department said.Credit…Joaquin ArmstrongMarch 7, 2021, 8:03 p.m. ETBOULDER, Colo. — A large gathering that turned into a melee near the University of Colorado Boulder on Saturday evening left multiple students bleeding and tear-gassed, at least two vehicles damaged and three SWAT officers injured, the police said.The officers were hurt as they tried to disperse the crowd in the University Hill neighborhood of Boulder. The officers were hit with bricks and rocks and sustained minor injuries, the Boulder Police Department said on Twitter, and the windshield of an armored car deployed to the scene was shattered.Over 100 people started running toward the officers before tear gas was used, the city’s police chief, Maris Herold, said at a news conference on Sunday. The crowd was at its largest at about 7 p.m., involving as many as 800 people, the chief said.Most of the attendees were not taking precautions against the coronavirus like social distancing or wearing masks. Infectious disease experts have raised concerns that as the weather warms and local restrictions ease, social gatherings and spring break trips could cause a surge in coronavirus cases.The Boulder County district attorney, Michael T. Dougherty, said the episode was a “tremendous setback” in the city’s efforts to fight the pandemic. Jeff Zayach, the county’s public health director, called the lack of mask-wearing and social distancing “shocking and disturbing.”Colorado recently reached 6,000 deaths from Covid-19, according to a New York Times database.The university said it was “aware of a large party on University Hill on Saturday evening and allegations of violence toward police officers responding to the scene.”“We condemn this conduct,” it said, adding that “it is unacceptable and irresponsible particularly in light of the volume of training, communication and enforcement” about coronavirus restrictions.The neighborhood, known as the Hill, is home to bars and many of the university’s fraternity and sorority houses. Anna Haynes, the editor in chief of the CU Independent, a student-run news site, wrote in The New York Times last year, “It’s the place you go to party, pandemic or not.”Students who live in the neighborhood said people were having small gatherings in their yards on Saturday to enjoy a warm day after having been cooped up by the cold weather and coronavirus restrictions.But as videos of the scene were posted on social media, people who didn’t live there or were unaffiliated with the university, such as high school students, began gathering in the street.The Coronavirus Outbreak