WH Staffer Dies: Jake Brewer, Husband Of Conservative Commentator Mary Katharine Ham, Killed In Bicycle Accident

Jake Brewer, a White House staffer, has died after suffering injuries in a bicycle collision in Maryland.

According to the Washington Post, Brewer — the husband of conservative commentator Mary Katharine Ham — was racing in a charity event in the Washington, D.C., suburbs of southern Maryland when he crossed a yellow line in the road and collided with a vehicle.

Ham announced the death of her White House staffer husband on Instagram, according to Mediaite.

“We lost our Jake yesterday, and I lost part of my heart and the father of my sweet babies,” Ham wrote. “I don’t have to tell most of you how wonderful he was. 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.”

According to the Post, Ham is pregnant with her and Brewer’s second child.

The White House staffer’s death sent shockwaves through the technology and political worlds on Sunday, as Brewer was a senior policy advisor to President Barack Obama through the office of the Chief Technology Officer.

In a statement on the White House website, Obama praised Brewer’s work in his administration and expressed condolences to Ham and the couple’s two children.

“I am heartbroken at the tragic loss of one of my advisors, Jake Brewer. We set out to recruit the best of the best to join their government and help us harness the power of technology and data to innovate new solutions for the 21st century. Simply put, Jake was one of the best. 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. He worked to give citizens a louder voice in our society. He engaged our striving immigrants. He pushed for more transparency in our democracy. And he sought to expand opportunity for all. 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. Michelle and I are praying for all of Jake’s family and his many friends, most of all his wife, Mary Katharine Ham, their daughter, Georgia, and their growing family. They’ll always have a family here at the White House.”

The White House staffer was 34 when he died, according to the Post.

To learn more about Brewer, you can visit his personal website.

[Image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]