Thomas Houghton Hepburn

Thomas "Tom" Hepburn was the oldest sibling of actress Katharine Hepburn. On April 3, 1921, while visiting friends in Greenwich Village, Hepburn found her older brother Tom (born November 8, 1905), whom she idolized, dead from an apparent suicide. Although many reports have said Tom had hanged himself, according to the coroner's report detailed in William J. Mann's biography, Kate The Woman Who Was Hepburn, Tom had tied one end of a sheet around his neck, the other to a post, and had effectively strangled himself. The Hepburn family denied it was suicide and insisted Tom's death must have been an experiment gone awry. Katharine Hepburn was devastated and sank into a depression. She shied away from other children and was mostly home-schooled. For many years she used Tom's birthday (November 8) as her own. It was not until her 1991 autobiography, Me: Stories of My Life, that Hepburn revealed her true birth date of May 12, 1907.

Source: Wikipedia

LifeSketch: Birth: Nov. 8, 1905
Death: Mar. 30, 1921, USA

Born in Hartford, Connecticut. The son of Thomas Norval and Katherine Houghton Hepburn, Brother of Richard and actress Katherine Hepburn
He died in Manhattan, New York at 'adopted' aunt's home during Easter holiday visit with his Sister Katharine.
His sister, Katherine Hepburn, then 14, found his body hanging from the rafters
of a house the family was visiting in New York City. The Hepburns said they
never knew whether Tom had committed suicide and left open the possibility that
he had been practicing a magic trick.

Family links:

Parents:

 Thomas Norval Hepburn (1879 - 1962)

 Katharine Martha Houghton Hepburn (1878 - 1951)

Siblings:

 Thomas Houghton Hepburn (1905 - 1921)

 Katharine Hepburn (1907 - 2003)*

 Richard Houghton Hepburn (1911 - 2000)*

 Robert Houghton Hepburn (1913 - 2007)*

 Marion Houghton Hepburn Grant (1918 - 1986)*

 Margaret Houghton Hepburn Perry (1920 - 2006) 

Tom was found hanging by a sheet wrapped around his neck dead from an apparent suicide found by his sister Kate on April 3, 1921 .