An advisor to White House Chief Technology Officer dies in bicycle accident

Tom Boggioni
Rawstory
Sun, 20 Sep 2015 15:42 UTC

© Via instagram

Mary Katharine Ham, Jacob Thomas Brewer

Jacob Thomas Brewer, 34, a policy adviser in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, died Saturday in a tragic cycling accident while participating in a cancer research fundraiser, the Washington Post has reported.

Brewer was the husband of frequent Fox News guest and conservative columnist Mary Katharine Ham and the father of an infant girl. According to Ed Morrissey at Hot Air, Ham is pregnant with their second chld.

According to the Post, Brewer was participating in the Ride to Conquer Cancer and lost control of his bike when rounding a corner, colliding with an oncoming car. According to police, riders had been warned that the course was open to traffic.

On Instagram, Ham, a popular and frequent guest on The O'Reilly Factor, posted an announcement that she had lost "part of my heart and the father of my sweet babies."

"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. No arms can be her father's, but my daughter is surrounded by her very favorite people and all the hugs she could imagine. This will change us, but with prayer and love and the strength that is their companion, we can hope our heartache is not in vain - that it will change us and the world in beautiful ways, just as he did," she wrote. "If that sounds too optimistic at this time, it's because it is. But there was no thought too optimistic for Jake, so take it and run with it. I will strive and pray not to feel I was cheated of many years with him, but cherish the gift of the years I had."

President Barack Obama issued a statement saying, in part: "I am heartbroken at the tragic loss of one of my advisers, 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."

Comment: From the White House:

Who Jake Was:

Jake Brewer served as a Senior Advisor to the U.S. Chief Technology Officer within the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). In this role, Jake oversaw efforts to connect the nation's tech and innovation assets (people, places, tools, data, and methods) to the Administration's opportunity creation efforts, enabling all Americans to take part in, contribute to, and benefit from the economy of the future. Jake helped to advance the Administration's TechHire initiative to create more pathways to well-paying tech jobs by empowering Americans with the tech skills they need to succeed in those jobs. At OSTP, Jake also worked with federal agencies and stakeholders to accelerate the release and use of workforce data to inform workforce training efforts. Jake also supported Administration initiatives to expand America's access to greater broadband connectivity.

Jake Brewer's impactful career focused on building citizen-led open government and increasing citizens' capacity to have real impact in executive offices and the halls of government. Prior to joining the OSTP team, Jake led global policy and external affairs at Change.org with the aim to remake the relationship between government or corporate leaders and the international public impacted by their decisions. Jake also served as co-founder and board president of Define American, working to reframe the American immigration debate in media and culture. Jake's past work also included leading the engagement division of the Sunlight Foundation; launching an initiative on veteran employment with the White House and Code for America; helping create US Ignite—a national "gigabit" initiative responding to the Administration's call to transform healthcare, education, transportation, and more through next-generation Internet applications; and designing the national Civic Data Challenge to bring critical "civic health" data to civic decision-makers. Outside the office, Jake was a competitive triathlete and a published photographer, and he served in a variety of advisory and board roles with organizations building a healthier democracy. He graduated with a B.S. in Psychology / Human and Organizational Development from Vanderbilt University and studied Political Science at the United States Naval Academy,