TAMPA, Fla. — Saturday was a solemn day for some people around the world who have lost loved ones to suicide in lieu of International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day.

Liz Dimmitt says from the first day her brother Lawrence was born, she knew her baby brother was special.

What You Need To Know

  •  Florida averages more than 3,000 suicides annually, according to the CDC

  •  In Hillsborough County, 209 people died by suicide in 2021

  •  Liz Dimmitt lost her brother Lawrence to suicide. Now, she and her family have created the Love IV Lawrence Foundation to help other families in crisis

“So Lawrence, he’s one of four children,” she said. “He was the only boy, and he was Lawrence Hunley Dimmitt, IV.”

Carrying the name and the legacy of a family who’s been selling Cadillacs and Chevrolets to people in Tampa Bay for nearly a century is a lot to live up to, but Dimmitt said he seemed to carry it well — a handsome, athletic, outgoing man who always was willing to lend an ear.

“That kind of brother or friend that would really spend hours listening to you talk about your problems,” Dimmitt said. “Circle back and check on you and really making an effort to make sure you were okay, but then you know he was struggling internally himself and not sharing it very well with us.”

That internal struggle ended tragically in 2017, when Lawrence died by suicide. It was a shockwave that still resonates through everyone who knew him.

“I mean, it’s still very hard, like this is hard today. It’s very hard every day. You know, people I think who have been through a big loss and a traumatic one, people dying by suicide is especially hard. It doesn’t get easier. You get used to it being hard,” Dimmitt said.

Clara Reynolds, who is the CEO of the Crisis Center for Tampa Bay, says depression and thoughts of suicide can indiscriminately affect anyone.

“The things we’re hearing, from youth and young adults, from military veterans to veterinarians, to farmers. I mean, there are so many subgroups that feel like that suicide is just impacting them,” she said.

So, the Dimmitts have turned their grief into action with the Love IV Lawrence Foundation, to take what they had to learn the hard way and make it easier for other families to ask the tough questions.

“Now we just understand you address the hard questions head on.” Dimmitt said. “You don’t skirt around it, you say, ‘Are you thinking about suicide? Are you having suicidal ideation? Do you think you’re going to hurt yourself?’ The goal is that no other family or no other friend group has to go through this.”