RJ Mitte may have been best known to millions of viewers as Walter White Jr. on the hit television series “Breaking Bad.” But in Brownsville, he was helping shape the city’s cultural future through his leadership of the Mitte Foundation.
Mitte, who was 34, was found dead in his Brownsville, TX home on Oct. 12. An autopsy determined his cause of death was suicide.
South Texas mourns the loss of the local leader. He was president of the Mitte Foundation, a family nonprofit that has supported arts, culture, and education initiatives in Brownsville for decades.
A family legacy rooted in Brownsville
Although the actor spent much of his childhood between Texas and Louisiana, his family’s connection to Brownsville goes back generations. In a 2019 interview, he recalled spending time at his paternal grandparents’ ranch in Texas.
His grandfather, Roy F. Mitte grew up in Brownsville. Together with his wife, Joann Cole Mitte, he established a family foundation in 1994 tthat would eventually help restore the city’s Dean Porter Park and support the development of the Mitte Cultural District.
When RJ became president of the foundation’s board in 2019, he wanted to understand the community his grandfather called home. He spent time visiting Brownsville and meeting its people.
“I needed to hear from locals first,” Mitte said in a 2020 foundation announcement.
He later championed The Mitte: Arts and Cultural Center, a project to transform the former Brownsville Museum of Fine Art into a gathering place for exhibitions, performances, classes and community activities.
In July 2025, the city announced a 40-year agreement with the cultural district, to renovate it. Mitte and the foundation committed at least $2.5 million toward improvements.
More than a familiar face
For those who worked alongside Mitte, his contributions went beyond financial support.
“RJ believed in Brownsville. He believed in our artists, our children, our cultural institutions, and the incredible potential of this community,” said Daniella Lopez Valdez, executive director of the Mitte Cultural District, in a statement following his death.
“He understood that the arts are a bridge — a bridge between generations, between cultures, between people of different abilities and backgrounds, and between where a community has been and where it dreams of going,” she added.
Mitte’s commitment to accessibility extended beyond Brownsville. As an actor with cerebral palsy, he also became a prominent advocate for disability representation and greater opportunities for people with disabilities in entertainment.
Through his family’s foundation, he helped champion a similar vision closer to home. Making arts, education, and cultural spaces more accessible to South Texas families.
His death comes just weeks after the Mitte Cultural District received an official Texas Cultural District designation, marking a major milestone in an effort his family’s foundation helped launch nearly three decades ago.
Mitte celebrated the district’s new designation saying, “this is not the finish line, this is the starting line.” He added, “looking ahead to a brighter future for Brownsville and the Rio Grande Valley.”
MEMORIAL DETAILS: A public celebration of life for Mitte is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 16, at 10 a.m. at The Mitte, located at 660 E. Ringgold St. in Brownsville.
Brownsville City Commissioner Tino Villarreal shared the announcement on Facebook, noting that the gathering is open to the public at the invitation of Mitte’s mother, Dyna Mitte.
