Bill de Blasio: My Father Committed Suicide Amid Cancer Fight
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Democratic mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio revealed Monday that his father killed himself.
"While this has been a private part of my family's life, it is now clear a media story will soon emerge," de Blasio said in a statement. "My father tragically ended his life while battling terminal cancer in 1979."
De Blasio was born with the name Warren Wilhelm, Jr. His father, Warren Wilhelm, was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a car outside a motel in Connecticut, the New York Post reported.
The death certificate revealed not just the gunshot wound but also "carcinoma of the lung and metastases," the Post reported.
Wilhelm had split from Maria de Blasio a decade earlier, the Post reported.
De Blasio changed his name from Warren Wilhelm, Jr. to Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm and ultimately took the name Bill de Blasio, according to the report.
According to the most recent polls, de Blasio is enjoying a comfortable lead as front-runner against Republican Joe Lhota in the upcoming election.
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