Tarrant County jails supervisor dies

Alan Dennis, 54, executive deputy chief of confinement for the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department, died Wednesday, Sheriff Dee Anderson said.

Mr. Dennis had been out of the office for a month because of an “aggressive” illness, Anderson said.

“It was very sudden,” Anderson said.

Mr. Dennis, who started in the department as a jailer in 1992, was promoted to executive deputy last March. He succeeded Bob Knowles, who died in January.

“Somebody told me yesterday that whenever you talk to Alan, it doesn't matter what was going on, he was totally focused on you and totally interested in what you had to say,” Anderson said. “He was just so even-tempered. You never saw him angry. His temperament was just so perfect for running a jail.”

Thursday night on Facebook, Anderson wrote: “An intensely private person, [Dennis] wanted very few people to know of the seriousness of his illness when he was diagnosed. Alan attended my annual Christmas party in December and passed away less two months later. The viciousness and swiftness of the disease surprised all of us.”

The sheriff’s department now has two executive deputy openings. John Ray, chief of operations, was selected as assistant chief of the Victoria Police Department in South Texas, the Victoria Advocate reported last week.

This story was originally published February 12, 2016 at 9:25 AM with the headline "Tarrant County jails supervisor dies."