A high school assistant principal and former coach died from a blood clot that formed in his leg, the Douglas County coroner said Tuesday.
Jeffrey Henderson, 32, died Monday morning after being transported to the hospital, Douglas County Coroner Randy Daniel told the AJC. Henderson was an assistant principal at Lithia Springs High School.
"He went into respiratory distress and then into cardiac arrest," Daniel said.
Henderson died shortly after 11 a.m., Daniel said Monday. Tuesday afternoon, Daniel said Henderson, who experienced leg pain over the weekend, died after the blood clot traveled to his lung.
Lithia High School principal Fred Ervin announced Henderson's death in a letter posted on the school's website.
"Condolences go out to his family and friends as well as our school family and community," Ervin said.
As an assistant principal, Henderson was in charge of curriculum and instruction at the school, located on East County Line Road. Henderson was in his first year at the school after previously teaching and serving as the graduation coach at Chapel Hill High School, also in Douglas County, according to the school system's website.
After teaching at Chapel Hill from 2002 until 2007, Henderson became the school's graduation coach until being named assistant principal at Lithia Springs in July. Henderson also coached the boys soccer team and was an assistant football coach at Chapel Hill High School.
"Jeff was a tremendous educator who stopped at nothing to help students enjoy success," said Sean Kelly, principal of Chapel Hill High School. "Jeff was the reason many of our students graduated from Chapel Hill High School. He would stop at nothing and never accept no as an answer from students as he guided them through the graduation process."
Mackenzie Lloyd, a junior at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, told the AJC she was in Henderson's American Government class as a high school freshman.
"His players and students all showed respect for him as a coach and a teacher," Lloyd said. "I know I thoroughly enjoyed being in his classroom. He will be truly missed and I am praying for everyone that had the privilege of knowing him."
Word of Henderson's death spread quickly on Twitter, where students remembered the popular teacher.
"I had the privilege of knowing him as a teacher and also as an adviser, and he was a great man who was willing to help out a student in any way he could," Lauren Johns, a sophomore at Covenant College, told the AJC.
Henderson earned a bachelor's degree at Northern Kentucky University before earning master's and specialist's degrees at the University of West Georgia.
Members of the Douglas County school district's crisis team were at the school Tuesday to help students and staff members cope with the death, Ervin said.
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