Last year, a Brooklyn resident named Henry McGowan ran the New York City Marathon, raising more than $10,000 for the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
“I had a manic episode in January 2022 and was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type I,” he wrote on a web page dedicated to his effort.
“Many people who suffer from mental illnesses,” he noted, “are not blessed with the level of support or access to care that I am fortunate to have.”
Among his most loyal supporters was his father, John.
Just a year later, John McGowan is dead, and his son has been charged by authorities in Ireland with his killing.
Henry McGowan, Irish officials said in a news release, “did murder one John McGowan, contrary to common law,” on Tuesday night at Ballyfin Demesne, a hotel in County Laois, about 60 miles southwest of Dublin. Set in a former manor built in the 1820s, the upscale hotel has catered to celebrities, including Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, who honeymooned there, according to British and Irish press accounts.
Shortly before 8 p.m. local time on Tuesday, police officers were called to the hotel where they found a body, a result of a “fatal assault,” the police said in a statement. The body was later identified as John McGowan, 60.
In a statement, the McGowan family said it was “deeply saddened by the death of John McGowan. He did everything within his power to bring his son Henry, who suffers from a severe mental illness, the help he so desperately needs. The family requests privacy at this difficult time and will not be commenting further.”
On Monday, the day before he died, John McGowan had learned that Henry, 30, had gotten on a flight to Ireland, according to someone close to the family who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity because of the tragic circumstances.
John McGowan, who lived in New Canaan, Conn., and worked at an investment firm nearby, was exceptionally devoted to Henry and knew his condition was serious, this person said. Later on Monday night, he himself boarded a plane to Ireland, following his son in an attempt to get him help as quickly as possible.
Henry McGowan, who grew up in Greenwich, Conn., and graduated from the University of Virginia, had worked for Affirm, a technology software company. He had been living in Brooklyn Heights with a girlfriend, according to a neighbor who was reached by phone. The neighbor expressed shock that Mr. McGowan had been accused of killing his father.
The younger McGowan had written on his marathon fund-raising page that after his manic episode in early 2022, he was hospitalized until later that year. It was upon his release, he said, that he “began the process of reconnecting with reality, my dear friends and family, and eventually my work and hobbies.”
“There is no greater lesson from this experience than the importance of community,” he wrote. “My family, friends, therapists/psychiatrists, and employer were a formidable force that put a large landing pad (spanning from NYC to Paris) underneath me, one that very well could have saved my life.”
He also mentioned Dr. Robert Hirschfeld, “who was instrumental in getting me transitioned back to life.” Dr. Hirschfeld died earlier last year.
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