Edward T. Breathitt - Later Life and Death

Later Life and Death

Breathitt was limited to one term by Kentucky's constitution at the time. He returned to his legal practice in Hopkinsville, and in December 1967, became Special Counsel in Kentucky for Southern Railway. In July 1968, he was named director of the Ford Foundation's Institute for Rural America, suggesting legislative remedies for poverty including the establishment of state area development districts. In 1971, he helped found the Coalition for Rural America and was elected its chair. The Coalition worked to implement the suggestions of the Institute for Rural America. Breathitt also served as president of the American Child Centers to promote private preschool education and was appointed as the federal representative on the Southern Interstate Nuclear Board in September 1968. When Southern Railway became part of Norfolk Southern Corporation in 1972, Breathitt became vice-president for public affairs, a position he held until his retirement in 1992.

Breathitt was an important adviser to Governor John Y. Brown, Jr., who appointed him to the University of Kentucky's Board of Trustees in 1981 and 1982. Breathitt's wife Frances died of complications from cancer on July 11, 1985. On April 2, 1988, he married Lucy Alexander Winchester, a former social secretary to First Lady Pat Nixon and cousin to Libby Jones, wife of future Kentucky governor Brereton Jones.

Breathitt later served on the boards of regents of Kentucky State University and Morehead State University, in both cases serving with former political rival Louie B. Nunn. From 1992 to 2000, he again served on the University of Kentucky's board, acting as chairman of the board in all but his final year. During his chairmanship, he clashed with Governor Paul E. Patton over a plan to separate all of the state's community colleges (except Lexington Community College) from the university's governance and place them under a newly created body called the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. Patton's plan prevailed, and he and Breathitt later mended political fences.

In 1992, Breathitt joined the law firm of Wyatt, Tarrant, and Combs. He undertook several volunteer community service activities, including serving as director of Home Loan Bank in Cincinnati and chairman of the Kentucky Heart Fund. He was appointed to the Southern Region Education Board and the Kentucky Council on Higher Education. In 1994, he was named to the Gatton College of Business Alumni Hall of Fame at the University of Kentucky; in 1997, he received a similar honor from the College of Law at the university. He also received an honorary doctorate from Murray State University in 1994. In 1999, he received the Henry Clay Medallion for Distinguished Service and in 2000, Eastern Kentucky University's Center for Kentucky History and Politics presented him with the John Sherman Cooper Award for Outstanding Public Service to Kentucky. He retired from the practice of law in 2002.

While giving a speech at Lexington Community College on October 10, 2003, Breathitt collapsed due to ventricular fibrillation. He was resuscitated and admitted to the University of Kentucky Hospital but remained comatose and died on October 14. He was buried at the Riverside Cemetery in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. In 2000, the Pennyrile Parkway in western Kentucky was renamed the Edward T. Breathitt Pennyrile Parkway in his honor.