Anders Ebbeson, husband of Katherine Harris, dies in reported suicide

Sven Anders Axel Ebbeson, husband of former Florida Secretary of State and U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, was found dead in what Sarasota police say was a suicide. He was 68.

Police were dispatched around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday at the couple’s home in the 1400 block of Bay Point Drive in Sarasota.

About 10 a.m., Sarasota Police Chief Bernadette DiPino, alongside the Rev. William Hild, of First Baptist Church, addressed reporters.

Speaking for the family, Hild said that Ebbeson had “taken his own life” and asked for privacy and respect from the community. Hild said Ebbeson had suffered from medical conditions that may have contributed to his suicide.

“He’s no longer suffering,” DiPino said, quoting Harris.

Born March 16, 1945, in the coastal city of Halmstad, Sweden, he was the second of three sons. He graduated with a degree in business administration from Lund University, Sweden’s largest university and one of its most prestigious. After graduating from Lund, he worked in his family’s business, which was a part of Electrolux, the Swedish appliance manufacturer.

In Sarasota, he went on to open his own company, InterCon Marketing, a distributor of appliances.
Court records show that he was married to his first wife, Margita, for 16 years before the couple divorced in 1990. They had one daughter, Louise, who was born in 1982.

He built his home in Bay Isles in 1989, according to property records. He and Harris lived in the Sarasota home they completed last year but still owned their Longboat Key home.

Ebbeson and Harris married in 1996, after meeting on a blind date at the opera in the 1990s. Ebbeson was always by Harris’ side but generally avoided the limelight.

“Anders was one of the most reserved, quiet, charming gentlemen one could ever meet. We are honored to call Katherine and Anders our dearest special friends. With family and best friends we shared some of the most cherished highlights of our lives,” wrote longtime Colony Beach & Tennis Resort owner Dr. Murray “Murf” Klauber and his wife, Sue, in an email to the Longboat Observer.