LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) --J. Michael Brown, a lawyer and judge who held high-ranking positions in Louisville and Kentucky state governments, including as the secretary of the state Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, has died. 

His death was confirmed Saturday morning by Gov. Andy Beshear's office. Brown served as the governor's executive cabinet secretary until his retirement in 2022.  

A cause of death was not given. 

"Michael made a positive difference in the lives of so many people – including mine," Beshear said in a statement. "His guidance and advice were unmatched, and so was his friendship. Throughout his career, he served our country and state with poise and decency."

A New York native, Brown served in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division as an infantry officer and paratrooper, according to a biography published by the University of Louisville’s Brandeis School of Law, where he graduated from in 1979.

He presided as a judge in Jefferson District Court and worked as Assistant Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney before joining the administration of former Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson in 1985, first as director of the city’s building inspections agency, then the head of the city’s law department.

Brown was a former president of the Louisville Bar Association and board member of the Louisville Regional Airport Authority, where he also was the board chair.

He was named state Justice Cabinet secretary in 2007 by former Gov. Steve Beshear. He served two terms in that role, later joining the Kentucky Attorney General’s office under Andy Beshear and then the current governor’s administration from 2019 to 2022.

In 2022, Brown began working for Simmons College of Kentucky as its chief of staff. Brown was “one of the most brilliant legal minds to serve in our Commonwealth,” Simmons President Rev. Kevin Cosby said in a statement. “He was a man of impeccable integrity, character and vision.”

Cosby said Brown was instrumental in the school’s partnership with the University of Kentucky to create a constitutional studies concentration at the historically Black college in Louisville.

At this time of his death, Brown also served on the board of the West End Opportunity Partnership, the state-created organization overseeing investment in nine western Louisville neighborhoods from a tax increment financing district. 

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