George Clooney has announced the death of his sister Adelia “Ada” Zeidler at age 65.
Us Weekly can confirm that Clooney’s older sibling died from cancer on Friday, December 19.
“My sister, Ada, was my hero,” he told People. “She faced down cancer with courage and humor. I’ve never met anyone so brave. [Clooney’s wife] Amal and I will miss her terribly.”
An obituary for Zeidler clarified that she “died peacefully surrounded by the people she loved” at St. Elizabeth Healthcare in Edgewood, Kentucky.
Zeidler was described in her obiturary as a “talented artist” who put her skills to tremendous use as an art teacher at Augusta Independent School in her hometown of August, Kentucky.
“In high school, her academic achievements qualified her to be a National Merit Scholar,” the online memorial read. “Her love for reading connected her with other readers in a local book club. She was also a member of the Augusta Art Guild and was a past grand marshal of Augusta’s Annual White Christmas Parade.”
Zeidler was born on May 2, 1960, to beauty queen and city councilwoman Nina Bruce Warren and acclaimed journalist Nick Clooney. Her younger brother George arrived almost one year to the day later on May 6, 1961.
Aside from her teaching work, Zeidler was a bookkeeper. She married her late husband, retired army captain Norman Zeidler, on March 14, 1987, near “the banks of the Ohio River in Augusta,” according to the Kentucky Photo Archive.
“The whole town [of Augusta] helped with the wedding,” Zeidler’s mother Nina told the local newspaper at the time. “We couldn’t have gotten through it without them.”
Norman died of a heart attack in October 2004, according to The Northerner.
“In addition to her parents, [Ada] leaves behind her beloved children, Nick Zeidler and Allison Zeidler Herolaga and her husband, Kenny; her brother, George Clooney and his wife, Amal; and several uncles, aunts, and cousins,” her obituary read.
A funeral for Ada will be held on Monday, December 22, at the St. Patrick Catholic Church in Maysville, Kentucky.
While Ada lived a very private life, she did attend her younger brother’s wedding to his wife Amal at the Aman Canal Grande Hotel in Venice, Italy, in September 2014. (George and Amal are parents to twins Ella and Alexander, 8.)
George has spoken occasionally about his bond with Ada over the years. He told CBS This Morning in 2015 that he was “very close” to his sibling.
“I’ve got a niece and nephew,” he revealed. “My nephew was just made prom king. From the high school that I went to where I was not named [prom king].”
The two-time Academy Award winner looked back on special moments with Ada during their childhood as part of a speech for the Workhuman convention at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville in March 2019, according to The Tennessean.
“On Christmas morning, when we woke up, before we could open any presents we would drive an hour and a half to some stranger’s home and spend the morning having Christmas with these people, bringing presents,” the actor recalled. “The understanding was that we are all in this together. It taught me so much.”
The Clooney family kept close ties to their hometown of Augusta, Kentucky, and even had a local venue named the Clooney Community Center in their honor.
