Glen Riley Harris, Jr.

Glen Riley Harris, Jr., known to all as Jaye, died on March 5, 2026 at the age of 65 after living with cancer for more than fifteen years. Born in Washington, DC on April 19, 1960, Jaye was a compassionate, creative, loving, and strong man blessed with a sharp wit and a wicked sense of humor. He lived his adult life in Marietta and Cave Spring, Georgia before moving to Chattanooga in 1998. A U.S. Army veteran, he enlisted before finishing high school and received an honorable discharge.

A lifelong learner, Jaye pursued knowledge across many fields through certificate programs, apprenticeships, and college studies that included electronics, cabinetry, auto mechanics, information technology, nursing, religion, philosophy, graphic design, and art. In the early days of the internet, he spent countless hours on dial-up exploring the Vatican library archives. After his initial cancer diagnosis in 2011, he earned an Associate of Arts degree from Chattanooga State. When the disease returned in 2020, he was in his final semester at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture. His family is working with UTC to confer the degree posthumously in May 2026.

For more than forty-four years, Jaye was a dedicated and passionate member of the recovery community. He remained committed to sharing the light of the Divine with everyone he met, drawing from his own experience of the healing power of love. He embraced each person so they might recognize their inherent value and worth and learn to share that same light. His legacy of love, welcome, acceptance, and spirituality lives on through the countless individuals in recovery whose lives he touched.

Jaye’s foundation of love and light shines most brightly through his family. He is survived by his loving wife of thirty-four years, Susan; his sons Riley (Melissa, Aaron), Jackson (Victoria), and Duncan; and his granddaughters Jaxx, Aurora, Lillie, and Piper. He is also survived by his mother Nancie, brothers Chris (Nancy), Jeff (Sandy), and Sam, and his sister Maude, as well as the Hunt in-laws, many nieces and nephews, and dear friend Cory Smith.