George Clooney is mourning the loss of his sister, Adelia “Ada” Zeidler, who passed away after a battle with cancer.
Videos by Suggest
Clooney confirmed to PEOPLE that his sister died on December 19 at the age of 65.
“My sister, Ada, was my hero,” the 64-year-old told the outlet. “She faced down cancer with courage and humor. I’ve never met anyone so brave. Amal and I will miss her terribly.”
According to her obituary on Augusta, Kentucky’s Metcalfe-Hennessey Funeral Home website, Zeidler was a “talented artist” who “shared her skills as an elementary art teacher at Augusta Independent School for several years.” The obituary notes that she died “peacefully surrounded by the people she loved” on December 19.
Adelia ‘Ada’ Zeidler Largely Avoided the Limelight
Adelia, who went by Ada, was born in Los Angeles on May 2, 1960, to journalist and TV host Nick Clooney and writer Nina Bruce Warren. Named after her great-grandmother, she later attended college in Louisville and Northern Kentucky before working as a bookkeeper.
She married Norman Zeidler, a retired army captain, in Augusta on March 14, 1987. Family and many from their small Kentucky hometown attended the ceremony, according to the Kentucky Photo Archive.
George read scripture during the wedding, and the siblings’ aunt, Rosemary Clooney, sang a song for the newlyweds. “The whole town helped with the wedding. We couldn’t have gotten through it without them,” the siblings’ mother, Nina, recalled once, per PEOPLE.
Ada lived a private life and rarely appeared in public. However, she attended her brother’s wedding to Amal Clooney in Venice, Italy, on September 27, 2014.
Ada was preceded in death by her husband, who died of a heart attack in 2004.
“In addition to her parents, she leaves behind her beloved children, Nick Zeidler and Allison Zeidler Herolaga and her [2nd] husband, Kenny; her brother, George Clooney, and his wife, Amal; and several uncles, aunts, and cousins,” her obituary added.