President Obama has paid tribute to White House staffer Jake Brewer, who was killed Saturday in Maryland when his bicycle collided with a car during a charity bike ride. He was 34.
In a statement posted to Facebook, police in Howard County said Brewer was killed around 3:40 p.m. ET when he lost control of his bicycle while traveling on a sharp curve on a Mt. Airy road. He crossed the double yellow lines and was struck by a car traveling in the opposite direction.
Brewer was pronounced dead on the scene, police said, while the 51-year-old driver of the car was not injured.
A statement posted to the website of the Ride to Conquer Cancer said there had been a fatal accident. "This has been a very sad day for the ride community and our supporters," the statement read.
Brewer worked as a senior policy adviser in the Office of the Chief Technology Officer, which is part of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy.
In a statement, Obama said he was "heartbroken" at the "tragic loss" of Brewer, who lived with his family in Alexandria, Virginia.
"Simply put, Jake was one of the best," the president said. "Armed with a brilliant mind, a big heart, and an insatiable desire to give back, Jake devoted his life to empowering people and making government work better for them."
In addition to working at the White House, Brewer co-founded the Define American organization, a media group working to change perceptions of immigrants.
Obama praised Brewer's efforts helping immigrants and working to increase democratic transparency.
"I’ve often said that today’s younger generation is smarter, more determined, and more capable of making a difference than I was as a young man. Jake was proof of that," the president said.
Brewer's wife, Mary Katharine Ham, a journalist who serves as the editor-at-large of conservative website Hot Air, paid tribute to her late husband on Instagram.
"I don't have to tell most of you how wonderful he was," she wrote. "It was self-evident. His life was his testimony, and it was powerful and tender and fierce, with an ever-present twinkle in the eye."
"I will miss him forever, even more than I can know right now," she wrote.
The couple have a young daughter, Georgia, and Ham is pregnant with their second child.
A GoFundMe has been established to support the children's education.
Obama said he and the First Lady were praying for the Brewer family. "They'll always have a family here at the White House," he said.
SOURCE: BuzzFeed
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