Well-known Nashville attorney and politician John Jay Hooker has passed away at the age of 85 after a long, hard battle with melanoma.
Hooker was legendary in Music City Politics. Once a nominee for Governor and former aide to Robert F. Kennedy, he was one of the few who were born, raised and chose to remain in Music City.
John Jay Hooker had politics in his blood. The son of a prominent Nashville attorney, John Jay Hooker Sr., Hooker Jr. received his law degree from Vanderbilt in the 1950s.
He spoke with NewsChannel 5 on Inside Politics in May 2015.
"My mind was made up to protect the integrity of the constitution,” he said.
Even though the cancer was spreading through his body, even though he had months to live, he was continuing to fight.
"I'm like a melanoma tree, if you took your hand and ran it through my hair or my arms you'd see all these different melanomas,” he said.
At the end of his life he focused on the "right to die" movement, pushing for legislation that would allow those with terminal illnesses like him to die peacefully and by their own accord.
"We all have something to live for, but only a few have something to die for," he said.
He served for a few years under Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy as a special assistant. Then in 1970, he won the democratic nomination in the Tennessee gubernatorial race.
Though he lost, Hooker never left politics or the public eye.
Multiple friends and politicians released statements Sunday after Hooker's passing including Congressman Steve Cohen:
“John Jay Hooker was Tennessee's largest political actor for half a century. He thought big and he acted on those thoughts and beliefs. I met him when I was Mr. Commodore in 1969, and he flew me and others to Ann Arbor, Michigan to cheer for the 'Dores. I became a fan of John Jay and worked on his gubernatorial campaign in 1970 and voiced my support for him again in 2014. You knew John Jay was right on the issues as he was lifetime progressive. We joined together in opposing the Constitutional referendum in 2014 on judicial appointments. He was brilliant, bodacious, and brash. He was John Jay!”
