The Tragic Death Of Barack Obama's Father

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By all accounts, former United States President Barack Obama has done his best when it comes to parenting daughters Sasha and Malia, despite all the challenges fatherhood sometimes presents. However, that drive to be a good dad partially stems from the politician's own difficult upbringing. That's because the heartbreaking truth is that Barack never had much of a relationship with his own dad, Barack Obama Sr., which left a tragic mark on Barack Jr.'s childhood in Hawai'i. Even more tragic, Barack Jr. never got the chance to forge a real bond with his father before the latter's untimely death.

The politician opened up about his complicated relationship with his father in a March 2021 Instagram post. The 44th President recalled that he only truly met Barack Sr. once, well after he and Barack Jr.'s mother Stanley Ann Dunham split up. "I didn't really know my father — he left my mother and me when I was two years old, and only traveled from Kenya to visit us once, when I was ten. That trip was the first and last I saw of him; after that, I heard from him only through the occasional letter, written on thin blue airmail paper that was preprinted to fold and address without an envelope," Barack Jr shared. He added that while spending a bit of time with his father affected him deeply, it left him with "more questions than it answered." And by the time the then-future President was 21, Barack Sr. would be dead.

Barack Obama Sr., who worked as a government economist in Kenya, had to contend with much of his own personal tragedy prior to his death at the age of 48. More specifically, he was in not one, but three serious car accidents during the final 12 years of his life, each of which would have far-reaching repercussions. The first happened in 1970, and left Barack Sr. in the hospital for nearly a year. He also had to deal with a lingering leg injury after the fact. Sometime later, he was involved in another crash, and as a result, lost both of his legs outright. In 1982, Barack Sr. was in one last car crash, which would prove to be fatal.

The state of Barack Sr.'s relationship with son Barack Obama Jr. in 1982 was made clear in Barack Jr.'s 1995 memoir, "Dreams from My Father." "At the time of his death, my father remained a myth to me, both more and less than a man," he wrote. Later, in 2013, Barack Jr.'s half-brother Mark Obama Ndesandjo penned his own memoir, in which he described father Barack Sr. as a gifted but deeply problematic man who was severely abusive. Barack Jr. himself had acknowledged this in a 2009 CNN interview. "It's no secret that my father was a troubled person ... He had an alcoholism problem ... he didn't treat his families very well. And, you know, so obviously it's a sad part of my history and my background," he said at the time.