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 partly 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. References Bibliography Further reading 1924 births 2003 deaths Democratic Party governors of Kentucky Kentucky lawyers Democratic Party members of the Kentucky House of Representatives People from Hopkinsville, Kentucky University of Kentucky College of Law alumni Recipients of the Department of the Interior's Distinguished Service Award 20th-century American politicians American United Methodists United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century Methodists