We talked to workers at Texas Roadhouse and Kate Spade about what happens to a company when a leader takes their own life Summary List Placement The morning of March 19 began as usual for Chané Doolabh. She woke up, grabbed her phone, and checked her rotation of social media apps. But when she got to LinkedIn, she saw a post that stopped her scroll in its tracks. A colleague had posted that Kent Taylor, CEO of the Texas Roadhouse restaurant chain, had died by suicide at the age of 65. For the past three years, Doolabh had been a Texas Roadhouse server at a San Marcos location. Doolabh, saddened and shocked, texted a group of coworkers to confirm the news. They began to gradually piece together the details. Taylor took his life on March 18 in his hometown, Louisville, Kentucky, after experiencing COVID-related symptoms and severe tinnitus. Taylor had no history of depression, according to friends, but he hadn't been able to sleep for more than two hours in months due to his symptoms. "It definitely has taken a toll on work life," Doolabh told Insider. "It hit people pretty hard because it's close to home, but also not really." As a server at the chain, Doolabh had never met the CEO personally, but his presence and values were very much felt throughout the company, she said. "He's brought up in everything we do." Doolabh is one of some 58,000 Texas Roadhouse employees who had to grapple with Taylor's death in the past weeks.