Basic Information
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Name | Thomas (Tom) Klebold |
| Best known as | Father of Dylan Bennet Klebold (Columbine) |
| Marriage | Married to Susan (Sue) Yassenoff in 1971 (later reports indicate they divorced around 2014) |
| Children | Byron Klebold (b. 1978) — older son; Dylan Bennet Klebold (1981–1999) — younger son |
| Occupation (public record) | Trained in sculpture/art; worked later in geophysics / oil & gas (has been reported to work for companies such as Conoco); later involvement in rental real-estate / property activities |
| Public profile | Low — generally kept out of the spotlight after 1999 |
| Notable public events | April 20, 1999 — death of son Dylan in the Columbine attack; early-2000s — lawsuits and settlements involving victims’ families (insurance-funded settlements reported in the multi-million-dollar range) |
| Net worth | No reliable public estimate available |
I’m going to tell this like a scene from a slow-moving film—sometimes a domestic drama, sometimes a legal procedural—because the Klebold story lives at that uneasy intersection where ordinary life and national headlines collide.
Family Landscape: who’s who (table)
| Family member | Role / Brief intro | Known dates / notes |
|---|---|---|
| Susan (Sue) Klebold (née Yassenoff) | Wife (later reported ex-wife); author and public mental-health advocate | Married 1971; published memoir in 2016; became public voice after the events |
| Dylan Bennet Klebold | Son; central to public attention due to April 20, 1999 | Born 1981 — died 1999 |
| Byron Klebold | Older son; kept a private life | Born 1978 |
| Thomas (Tom) Klebold | Father; the subject here — more private, worked in geophysics / real estate | Career spanned technical and property work; low-profile after 1999 |
When you map the family like locations on a noir map, Tom sits on the edges—an architect of normal life who, after April 20, 1999, became part of a story too big for anyone’s living room. He’s present in the public record mostly as parent and defendant in legal wrangling, not as an author, activist, or TV interviewee.
Early life, marriage, and domestic life — the human scaffolding
I imagine a college studio with plaster dust in the air: that’s where Thomas met Sue—art students whose early life included study and a marriage in 1971. From those quiet studio beginnings, they built a family: two sons, jobs, a suburban rhythm. Byron, the older son, is quietly reported as born in 1978; Dylan was born in 1981. By the 1990s the Klebold name was still just another family name—until the violence of April 20, 1999, put that name at the center of a national trauma.
Career: from art to geophysics to property
Tom’s public biography reads like a career montage: art training in college, later technical work in geophysics and the energy sector (reportedly with firms such as Conoco), then movement into property and rental-management activities. Those transitions—art to science to property—feel like beats in a character arc: someone adaptable, practical, and tethered to steady work rather than the spotlight.
Numbers matter here because they anchor rumor to fact: the early 2000s were dominated by litigation and financial settlements. Victims’ families pursued civil suits connected to the events, and insurance-funded settlements in the multi-million-dollar range resolved several claims. Those figures show consequences, not wealth: public reporting does not provide a verifiable private-net-worth figure for Thomas Klebold.
The legal aftermath and public attention — dates, dollars, and distance
The year 1999 is the pivot—April 20, 1999—when one private life became a public ledger. In the years immediately after, lawsuits were filed by victims’ families; by the early 2000s most of those suits were settled, with combined insurance payouts reported in the roughly mid-million-dollar totals. Those settlements are concrete numbers, but they represent insurance and legal resolution more than a direct measure of Thomas’s bank account.
Tom’s post-1999 life has been defined more by low visibility than by interviews or memoirs. In contrast, Sue, the mother, eventually entered the public conversation—publishing a memoir and speaking about grief and mental health in the 2010s—bringing renewed attention back to the family name and to the private people behind it.
Public image and the difficult work of being private
If you’ve read one documentary about America’s true-crime era, you know how quickly a family can be turned into a symbol. Tom’s symbol is complicated: a dad who worked in science and property, who married in 1971, fathered two sons, and—after an event that marked the national conversation about youth, violence, and mental health—retreated from public life. He’s a reminder that sometimes the most visible part of a person’s biography is the single, terrible headline that visited them.
I often think about the contrast: one parent who chose later to speak publicly and write a memoir, another parent who kept quiet. Both are strands of the same story—private grief, public fallout—and each choice shaped how the world saw the family.
Dates and a short timeline (quick reference)
- 1971 — Thomas and Susan marry (met as art students).
- 1978 — Byron Klebold born.
- 1981 — Dylan Bennet Klebold born.
- April 20, 1999 — Dylan dies; Columbine massacre takes place.
- Early 2000s — Lawsuits filed and settled; insurance-funded settlements reported in multi-million-dollar totals.
- ~2014 — Reports indicate Thomas and Susan divorced around this period.
- 2016 — Sue Klebold publishes a memoir and begins public advocacy on mental health.
FAQ
Who is Thomas Klebold?
Thomas Klebold is best known publicly as the father of Dylan Bennet Klebold and as a private figure who worked in geophysics and property management.
What family members are publicly known?
His immediate family includes his wife (Susan, later reported as Sue Klebold), and two sons: Byron (b. 1978) and Dylan (1981–1999).
What was his career?
Public records describe early art training, later technical work in geophysics/oil & gas, and subsequent involvement with rental real-estate activities.
Did he face lawsuits after 1999?
Yes—Thomas and family members were involved in lawsuits filed by victims’ families in the early 2000s, many of which were settled with insurance payouts.
Is his net worth public?
No—there is no reliable, verifiable public estimate of Thomas Klebold’s personal net worth.
Is he in the public eye now?
No—Tom has largely stayed out of public view, especially compared with his former spouse who has publicly engaged on mental-health topics.
Did the family split up?
Reports indicate Thomas and Susan married in 1971 and later divorced, with some sources placing the divorce around 2014.
Why does the name come up in discussions today?
Because the family is tied to one of the most discussed school tragedies in recent U.S. history, which continues to factor into conversations about mental health, policy, and media.
