Still grieving over his 15-year-old son’s suicide, Dr. Ergun Caner has stepped down as the 16th president of Brewton-Parker College. Braxton took his own life last July.
“I was back to work a week later because, frankly, that’s all I knew to do. The subsequent result was my hospitalization in November,” Caner told the school’s trustee board in a statement. “A heart catheterization, the removal of seven pints of fluid and all the tests in the world can’t resolve this one issue.”
Referring to himself, Caner said Brewton-Parker College cannot become a healthy, growing and stable college under the leadership of a man who is broken.
“I can’t get over his death, and I am not sure I want to. I do know that I cannot muster the fight needed to be the leader of our college,” he said. “My family and my heart need healing, and you deserve better.”
Caner plans to go back to Texas to heal with his wife and 10-year-old son, Drake. It’s one thing to lead a college through a crisis, he said, but this position demands a person’s full attention and full strength. At the moment, he said he has neither: “When Braxton died, a part of me died as well.”
Caner plans to fulfill whatever obligations are necessary through the year, though he said he believes attending to the needs of his family are most important to him at the moment.
“I want to personally thank you for calling me as president, and allowing me to see the greatest victories I’ve ever experienced in my entire 30-year professional life,” he concluded. “I believe God has an incredible future in store for Brewton-Parker College. I shall be cheering you on.”
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