Ernest Hemingway’s father, Clarence Edmonds Hemingway, committed suicide in 1928.
Clarence, known in the family as “Ed,” was a physician in Oak Park, Illinois, and the father of six children. He suffered from several serious health problems, including diabetes, angina, and severe headaches. Financial difficulties, reportedly worsened by unsuccessful real-estate investments in Florida, also added to the pressures he faced.
Clarence died on December 6, 1928, using a firearm in his home. Ernest learned the news while visiting New York and was devastated. A letter Ernest had written to reassure his father about money reportedly arrived only minutes after the suicide. The event deeply affected Hemingway and contributed to his lifelong fear that he might eventually follow the same path.
The date is sometimes confused with the year Ernest’s son Patrick was born, 1928, or with Ernest Hemingway’s own suicide in 1961. Clarence’s death occurred while Ernest was revising A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway returned to Key West afterward and continued working on the novel before traveling to France in early 1929.