Martin Short’s Close Circle Faces Immediate Shock and Loss After Death of Daughter Katherine Short, 42

Who feels the impact first is striking: family, clients and colleagues of Katherine Short are directly affected while her father, martin short, confronts both a private loss and public disruptions to a touring schedule. The family has asked for privacy and described Katherine Hartley Short as beloved and radiant; emergency crews pronounced her dead after responding to her Hollywood Hills home on Monday evening.

Martin Short and his immediate circle: who is most affected now

Here’s the part that matters to people close to the family: Katherine’s clients, the small professional teams she worked with, and the touring team around Martin Short and his comedy partner have already felt concrete consequences. martin short has postponed a string of live shows with Steve Martin; two appearances scheduled for Friday, February 27 and Saturday, February 28—in Milwaukee and Minneapolis—were announced as postponed by the venue handling the Milwaukee date.

What’s easy to miss is that this loss intersects with other recent grief in the same orbit—another longtime collaborator died less than a month earlier—intensifying the emotional strain on colleagues and collaborators.

Reported timeline and official responses

• Emergency responders from the Los Angeles Fire Department went to Katherine Short’s Hollywood Hills home on Monday at about 6 p. m.; paramedics pronounced her dead shortly after.
• Law enforcement described the death as an apparent suicide.
• A media outlet was the first to report the news publicly.
• The family released a statement confirming Katherine Hartley Short’s passing, asking for privacy and saying she was beloved and brought light and joy.

Katherine Short’s work, education and community roles

Katherine Short was a Los Angeles social worker who ran a private practice and worked part-time at a psychiatry-led outpatient clinic called Amae Health. She held a bachelor’s degree in psychology and gender studies from New York University and a master’s degree in social work from the University of Southern California. She also provided community outreach, peer support and psychotherapy through her clinic work and was involved with the charity Bring Change 2 Mind.

She sometimes attended events and walked red carpets with her father and was photographed with him in 2006. As the eldest of three children adopted by Martin Short and his wife Nancy Dolman, Katherine is survived by younger brothers Henry and Oliver.

Family history, public life and immediate public ripple effects

The family background noted in public records: Martin Short and Nancy Dolman first met in the early 1970s (one account specifies 1972) while working on a Toronto production of Godspell; they married in 1980. Nancy Dolman died of ovarian cancer in 2010 at age 58. Martin Short published a memoir in 2014 titled I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend and dedicated that book to his children. Martin Short’s long career includes projects such as SCTV, Best in Show and Schitt’s Creek.

In the weeks leading up to Katherine’s death, the family and touring circle faced another loss: the recent death of a longtime collaborator from a pulmonary embolism after a private battle with rectal cancer. Martin Short and his touring partner Steve Martin had paid tribute to that collaborator during a recent stop on their joint comedy tour; Martin recalled meeting her when she was 18.

Industry calendar impact and awards mentions

• Venues listed the Friday, February 27 Milwaukee show at the Miller High Life Theatre as postponed; a Minneapolis appearance for Saturday, February 28 was also postponed.
• Martin Short is up for an Actor Award this Sunday for his role as Oliver Putnam in Only Murders in the Building; the series—whose cast includes Selena Gomez alongside Martin Short—is also nominated in the ensemble category.

The real question now is how those postponed dates and awards-week obligations will be rescheduled; promoters and the touring team will set new plans in the coming days.

For readers seeking immediate help: in the United States the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available for anyone struggling or in crisis.

Rob Reiner is briefly referenced in available material: a group described as his closest friends issued a statement remembering him as a passionate, brave citizen who worked to make the world better.

Writer’s aside: It’s easy to overlook that this story has multiple layers—personal grief, mental-health work left behind, and public disruptions to live events—that will unfold on different timelines for different people.

Key follow-on signals to watch for in coming days include confirmation of funeral or memorial arrangements, official statements about additional postponed tour dates, and any further clarification from law enforcement; current details remain as described and may evolve.