LEXINGTON, Ky. – Frank Jones Jr., a lifelong racing fan, owner, and breeder who turned his passion into a long-running commitment to industry causes, often as a volunteer, died early Thursday morning, according to friends. Jones was 86 and had been suffering from a lung disease for several years.  At the time of his death, Jones was the vice chairman of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, the secretary of the commission’s Kentucky Racing Health and Welfare Fund, and a member of the board of the Kentucky Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, a position he had held for three decades.  A successful businessman, he was known for his calm public demeanor, attention to detail, and his commitment to pursuing the path he felt was best for racing. Along the way, he served as a role model to a number of commissioners and board members who arrived after him but left well before he was done. “He was one of the best,” Marc Guilfoil, a former KHRC staffer and executive director, said in an interview. “You might not agree with him, but his word, you could take it to the bank. He was golden.” Jones’s health had declined in recent years, but he remained fully engaged in all of his pursuits until several weeks ago. He had been appointed to the commission under three different administrations in Kentucky, with his first appointment coming in 1997. He was serving his second consecutive term as vice chairman when he died. “Frank was thoughtful, knowledgeable, always willing to listen and provide guidance to the commission and staff,” said Jamie Eads, executive director of the KHRC. “As a commission member, he would check in on me often, just to see how things were going. He always asked how my family was doing and he worked as an advocate for horse racing until the very end.” “The passing of Frank Jones is a huge loss for not only his family and friends, but the entire horse racing industry,” said Jonathan Rabinowitz, the chair of the KHRC. “He used his voice to elevate other horsemen, serving and providing guidance to backstretch workers who cannot afford medical assistance on their own. We have all lost a great friend who will be dearly missed." A native of Louisville, Jones attended Western Kentucky University and served in the Air Force after graduation. He was the founder, president, and chief executive officer of Recreonics Inc., a Louisville pool supplies distributor.  Jones purchased his first racehorse in 1969, and he maintained a stable of horses up until his death. His greatest success came with Tapitsfly, a homebred, who won the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and two other Grade 1 races.  Jones had only two trainers his entire life – the late Jerry Romans and his son, Dale Romans, trainer of Tapitsfly.  “It’s a tough day,” Dale Romans told Jennie Rees, a publicist for the Kentucky HBPA, for a tribute she wrote for Jones on Thursday. “He was a great man.”  Romans said that Jones was “the single most important man in my life” after the death of his father.  In an interview, Romans said that when he started out on his own career, Jones would transfer a horse from his father’s barn anytime that he took his stable out of town. “That was the kind of man he was,” Romans said. “He was always there to help people. Anything he did, he made it better. One hundred percent.” An enthusiastic handicapper who could often be found at Churchill Downs, his home track, Jones filled a number of roles for the Kentucky HBPA in his 30 years as a board member, chairing the organization’s finance committee and acting as a contract negotiator and serving as a legislative liaison for the group. “I don’t know how you replace someone like Frank,” Rick Hiles, the current president of the Kentucky HBPA, said in the tribute. “We’re going to miss him terribly. He was just an integral part of our organization, helping to negotiate the contracts that have benefited horsemen so much. His heart was in racing and the backside. That was his passion.” Mike Andersen, president of Churchill Downs, said that the Kentucky racing industry has “lost a dear friend and tremendous advocate.”  “The Kentucky horse racing and breeding industry wouldn’t be in the strong position it is today without the passion, commitment, and leadership of Frank Jones Jr.,” Andersen said in a statement. Jones also was the past president of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners Inc., and he received the organization’s Warner L. Jones Horsemen of the Year Award in 2019. Jones is survived by his wife, Nancy Delony Jones, whom he married in 2019. His first wife, Gloria, died in 2018, after 58 years of marriage.