Patrick Dempsey's Parents: All About His Late Mom and Dad

Patrick Dempsey has spoken fondly of his late mother and father, Amanda and William

Patrick Dempsey has spoken fondly of his late parents.

The Ferrari actor, who was just crowned PEOPLE’s 2023 Sexiest Man Alive, was born to Amanda and William Dempsey on Jan. 13, 1966, in Lewiston, Maine.

Though he eventually left Maine at a young age to pursue his acting career, he still has close ties to the area in which he grew up.

In 2008, he founded the Dempsey Center in honor of his mother Amanda, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1997 and died in 2014.

Over the years, the actor has talked about his parents and the impact they had on his life. Notably, Dempsey told PEOPLE in April 2023 that the grieving process of losing his mother made him become a better husband to Jillian Dempsey and father to their three children.

"You really do prioritize your family and your children," he said. "The family unit I think is really important and makes me appreciate that more."

Read ahead for everything Dempsey has said about his parents.

He grew up with his parents in Maine

Dempsey was born in Lewiston, Maine, but grew up in nearby Buckfield and Turner, which he described as a “mill town” during the podcast Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris. He added that his father was an insurance salesman and his mother was a secretary.

His parents had two other children

Dempsey is the youngest of three; his older sisters are Mary Dempsey (pictured above) and Alicia Hatten. His sisters also co-founded the Dempsey Center with him, which provides personalized and comprehensive cancer care at no cost.

His father died when he was 17 years old

During his appearance on the podcast Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris, Dempsey shared that his father, who was much older than his mother, died when he was 17, around the same time he moved to N.Y.C. to pursue acting.

“I had just left Maine,” he said of his father’s death. “He had passed that first year I was here in New York, in '83. That was the toughest."

“Right around that time as a man, you’re looking at your father differently. I’d been out on my own. There were a lot of things that I wanted to ask him that I didn’t get a chance to do," he continued. "I regret not having more time with him as an adult now.”

His mother remarried after his father’s death

Following the death of Dempsey’s father, his mother eventually married a man named Howard Lowell. They were together at the time of her death in 2014, per her obituary published in The Portland Press Herald.

His mother died of ovarian cancer in 2014

Dempsey’s mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1997 and died in 2014. “She survived much longer than anticipated,” he said on the podcast Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris. “She had a slow-growing cancer that came back almost every two years and she fought it for a very long time.”

Speaking with PEOPLE in April 2023, Dempsey said he felt a sense of closure by the time his mother died.

"There were a couple surgeries, we weren't sure that she was gonna make it,” he said. “And we had some of our best conversations where everything was on the table. She was very open and very clear and forthright with what she was feeling. And so for me, yes, but not all of my siblings. My siblings did not have that closure and are still paying the price of that."

He founded the Dempsey Center in honor of his mother

In 2008, he founded the Dempsey Center in honor of his mother Amanda. During his appearance on the podcast Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris, he noted that he got the idea for the center during his time on Grey's Anatomy, when people asked him what charities he was involved with.

“That’s when the [idea] of a wellness center or complimentary therapy came up,” he said. Thankfully, his mom was able to see the Dempsey Center come to fruition before she died in 2014 and even worked as a volunteer.

Speaking with Today, Dempsey said the experience “meant more to her than she could verbalize.”

“She wanted to give back,” he added. “She was incredibly vulnerable but always had a strong facade. And, I think for her to come back as a volunteer meant a lot to her, and it meant a lot to the people in the community that she was here too.”

During his cover story for PEOPLE’s 2023 Sexiest Man Alive, Dempsey told PEOPLE that he thinks his mother would "be proud” of all the work he’s done.

“We founded it in 2008, and one of the things that kept her going was going into the Center. She would come in and talk to people who were newly diagnosed,” he tells PEOPLE. “There’s a lot of healing between both people in those moments.”

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