Roy Herron, former Tennessee legislator, dies in jet ski accident

Former Tennessee legislator from the Democratic party Roy Herron succumbed to injuries at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville Sunday after a jet ski accident that took place on July 1 on Kentucky Lake.

According to his family’s Caring Bridge Website, the 69-year-old was hospitalised followed by the injury in which he suffered internal bleeding and extensive injuries to his arm and pelvis.

"Roy loved his family with all his might," Herron's wife, Rev. Nancy Carol Miller-Herron, said.

“He passed doing what he loved most — spending time with our sons and their friends in Tennessee outdoors where his spirit was always most free.”

He was an attorney from Dresden, Tennessee, and served a total of 26 years in the state's House and Senate, becoming the chairman of the floor and caucus chair for the Democrats.

Roy Herron’s website: "He never missed a day of the session, except for when his youngest son was born."

He was leading the state Democratic Party from 2013 to 2015.

The former lawmaker who graduated from the University of Tennessee at Martin, was also one of the first students to earn joint degrees in divinity and law from Vanderbilt University.

Herron had also written three books one named, "God and Politics: How Can a Christian Be in Politics?"

People expressed their condolences Sunday. On Twitter, former Vice President Al Gore called his fellow Tennessee Democrat "a dear friend and one of Tennessee’s most devoted citizens."

Democratic Representative Steve Cohen called Herron “bright, diligent, and honest. A politician destined for greatness.”

Herron dedicated his life to serving West Tennessee, and the entire Volunteer State, said Republican Representative David Kustoff.

Tennessee House Republican Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison said on Twitter he was "the kind of guy that you couldn’t help but like."

The deceased lawmaker ran briefly for governor and then became the Democratic nominee in Tennessee's 8th Congressional District when then-Representative John Tanner announced that he is retiring after more than 20 years.