A Georgia Circuit Court of Appeals judge has died at the age of 64.
Judge Clyde Reese died Saturday, the court said, saying he died unexpectedly after a brief stay in hospital. No cause of death was given.
Reese, a former commissioner for the Community Health Department, was appointed to the 15-judge court by Gov. Nathan Deal in 2016 and won the 2019 election to a six-year term.
Gov. Brian Kemp will appoint a replacement.
Reese and two cousins were among the first black students to attend Pace Academy, a private school in Atlanta, in 1969. The three were the first black students to graduate from the school in 1976.
After graduating from Georgia State University, Reese worked at his family’s real estate company. He then enrolled in law school at Mercer University and, after earning his law degree in 1996, worked for the state government. He has held positions with the Department of Insurance, the Consequential Loss Trust and the State Health Planning Board.
Reese practiced privately from 2003 to 2007, returning to the state government in 2007 as General Counsel of the Department of Community Health. Gov. Sonny Perdue appointed him commissioner for the department in 2010. In 2011, Deal appointed him Commissioner for the Department of Human Services and returned to become Community Health Commissioner in 2013.
Reese, a Lithia Springs resident, had five children and three grandchildren. Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.
