"Patriotic Kenny," Navy vet with 4 million TikTok followers, dies at 84, as per account
Kenny Jary, the 84-year-old Navy veteran and social media personality known as "Patriotic Kenny," has died, according to an announcement posted to his social media accounts.
Jary had built a combined following of more than 4 million people across Instagram and TikTok, where he was known for sharing positive messages and riding his electric scooter. In March, he had publicly shared that he was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer.
"The tears may never stop flowing. It is with the most indescribable sadness we share that Patriotic Kenny has passed," the announcement shared. "He experienced the most profound love and was Earth's bright light. He passed surrounded by love and he was in peace."
The post directed followers to make memorial contributions to the Patriotic Kenny Foundation, his nonprofit, which the announcement said "will live on in his memory."
A friend told WCCO that, as recently as two weeks ago, Jary was present at a board meeting for the foundation he created, and was very adamant that their work should continue when he passed.
Jary was from Willernie, Minnesota. Beyond his social media presence, he used his platform to support fellow veterans — most notably by gifting mobility scooters to veterans across the country.
When Jary needed a new scooter of his own, his followers raised money to buy him one. He then began paying it forward alongside his friend Amanda Kline, and the two had gifted scooters to more than 50 veterans.
In that report, Jary and Kline were shown on a Zoom call with a Navy veteran named Vicky from Washington State.
"Your daughter Jennifer, she nominated you, Vicky," Jary told her. "So you will be getting a mobility scooter, and God bless you with that."
Jary credited the community he found on TikTok with changing his life.
"It made me into a different person," he said, adding that before he had been struggling and alone. "It hits me so hard, I just got to break down and cry like I am now, because that's what these nice people throughout the world have done for me."
