Lewis died on the same day as John F. Kennedy
Lewis developed nephritis at the beginning of June 1961, which led to blood poisoning. He was unable to attend Cambridge for the fall semester due to sickness, but by 1962 things had started to look up and he was able to return in April. Lewis's health kept getting better, and by early 1963, according to his buddy George Sayer, he was back to 100%. Lewis became unwell on July 15 of that year and was subsequently brought to the hospital; the next day, at 5:00 pm, he suffered a heart attack and slipped into a coma, but he surprisingly awoke at 2:00 pm. Lewis went back to the Kilns after being released from the hospital, even though he was still too sick to go back to work. Because of this, he left his position at Cambridge in August 1963.
Lewis' health deteriorated further, and in the middle of November, he was identified as having end-stage renal failure. On November 22, exactly one week before his 65th birthday, at 5:30 p.m., he passed away after collapsing in his bedroom. In the Headington, Oxford, graveyard of Holy Trinity Church, he is interred. On April 9, 1973, his brother Warren passed away and was buried in the same tomb. John F. Kennedy's assassination, which happened on the same day (about 55 minutes after Lewis's fall), as well as the passing of English writer Aldous Huxley, the creator of Brave New World, nearly totally eclipsed word of Lewis's death. The book Between Heaven and Hell: A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death by John F. Kennedy, C. S. Lewis, and Aldous Huxley by Peter Kreeft was inspired by this occurrence. On November 22nd, according to the Episcopal Church's calendar, Lewis is remembered.
