Celebrity Bill Bray

Bill Bray, a former Los Angeles police officer who served as Michael Jackson’s longtime security chief and became a father figure to the onetime child star, has died at the age of 80.

Bray, who began working for the Jackson 5 in the early 1970s and was one of Jackson’s closest confidants until his retirement in the mid-1990s, died on Tuesday, the entertainer’s publicist, Raymone Bain, told Reuters.

“Michael is very, very, very saddened to learn of the passing of Bill Bray, who was a longtime friend and mentor to him and very trusted adviser to him,” Bain said.

She said Jackson, who has been living in Bahrain since winning an acquittal on child molestation charges in June, had spoken to members of Bray’s family by telephone.

“Bill was a father figure to all of the boys (in the Jackson 5) in the early days and when Michael struck out on his own he became sort of a surrogate father to Michael,” said J. Randy Taraborelli, author of the biography “Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness.”

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