White House spokesman Josh Earnest paid tribute at the opening of Monday's briefing to Jake Brewer, a senior policy adviser to President Obama who was killed in a bicycling accident Saturday in Maryland.
Brewer was biking in a charity event to raise money to fight cancer when he lost control at a curve and hit an oncoming car in the other lane. He left behind a wife, Fox News contributor and Hot Air writer Mary Katharine Ham, a young daughter and another child on the way.
"I think many of you saw the statement from the president indicating that he was heartbroken when he learned of this news, and just on behalf of all of my colleagues here at the White House, we're thinking about and praying for Jake's family today," Earnest said. "They're going through, obviously, a very difficult time, but as the president said at the end of his statement, they have a family here at the White House that they can rely on. We're going to keep them in our thoughts and prayers, certainly, in the days ahead."
"Jake devoted his life to empowering people and making government work better for them." —@POTUS on Jake Brewer: pic.twitter.com/uX9Ewn3BXn
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 20, 2015
Ham posted a moving tribute to her late husband on her Instagram account, writing she had "lost part of my heart." The two had been married since 2011. An education fund in Brewer's memory has been set up for the educations of their two children.
The Washington Post reported Brewer, 34, served as a senior policy adviser in the office of Science and Technology Policy at the White House, and he previously worked as director of external affairs at Change.org.