David Mattax, the Texas insurance commissioner, died Thursday, according to Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home.
Mattax, who was 60, learned he had lung cancer in late 2015, according to the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas.
|'Brilliant lawyer'
Mattax was appointed to serve as the Texas commissioner in January 2015. He was elected secretary-treasurer of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, a group for state insurance commissioners, in December 2016. He was also the chairman of the NAIC's Financial Regulation Standards and Accreditation Committee.
Related: NAIC elects its officers for 2017
Ted Nickel, the president of the NAIC, said in a statement that Mattax worked right up until the end of his battle with cancer. The NAIC met in person in Denver from April 8 through April 11. Mattax participated in the meeting from his home, via telephone, Nickel said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who named Mattax to be his state's insurance commissioner, said in his own statement that Mattax was a brilliant lawyer who had taken great pride in mentoring young lawyers.
"David's brilliance, wit and wisdom will be dearly missed by all who knew him," Abbott said.
|Born in Oklahoma
Mattax was born in 1957 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, according to Weed-Corley-Fish. He earned a bachelor's degree in history and a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin. He also earned his law degree from the University of Texas.
He spent 23 years working in the Office of the Attorney General in Texas before moving to the Texas Department of Insurance.
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Allison Bell
Allison Bell, a senior reporter at ThinkAdvisor and BenefitsPRO, previously was an associate editor at National Underwriter Life & Health. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached through X at @Think_Allison.
