AMERICUS — Georgia State Sen. Greg Kirk, who represents the 13th senate district, has died after a battle with cancer.

Kirk’s district encompasses Crisp, Dodge, Dooly, Lee, Tift, Turner, Worth and parts of Sumter and Wilcox counties.

He was 56 years old and had announced on Dec. 18 that he was planning to run for reelection in 2019. In July, Kirk was diagnosed with bile duct cancer, but reported in Nov. that many of his tumors had shrunk.

Kirk has served district 13 since 2014 and was also the senior pastor at Rehoboth Baptist Church from 1998 to 2005. He was a licensed professional counselor.

TOO MANY ADS? GO AD-FREE
Did You Know?: The ads you see on this site help pay for our website and our work. However, we know some of our readers would rather pay and not see ads. For those users we offer a paid newsletter that contains our articles with no ads.
What You Get: A daily email digest of our articles in full-text with no ads.

In the senate, Kirk was the Deputy Whip for the Senate Majority Caucus. He served as the Chairman of the State and Local Governmental Operations Committee.

Kirk is survived by his wife Rosalyn, their seven children and five grandchildren.