At the end of 1913, the chronically ill Post's health deteriorated to the point that he canceled public appearances.
In early March 1914, Post was believed to be suffering from appendicitis and was rushed via a nonstop train from California to Rochester, Minnesota, to be operated on by Dr. William and Charles Mayo, regarded as the preeminent surgeons of the day.
Upon examination the Mayo brothers deemed Post to be inoperable, however, and the breakfast cereal magnate returned home to Santa Barbara without surgical remedy, still plagued by stomach pain.
In the 1995 book American Empress: The Life and Times of Marjorie Merriweather Post, author Nancy Rubin argues that Post did indeed have the Mayo brothers operate successfully sometime between March 5 and 10, 1914.

On May 9, 1914, despondent over his ongoing stomach illness, Post took his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot.
He was 59 years old.
His 27-year-old daughter, Marjorie Merriweather Post, inherited his company along with most of his vast fortune, one of the largest of the early 20th century.

Marjorie Merriweather Post later married financier E. F. Hutton and owned a 177-acre (72 ha) estate on Long Island's North Shore called "Hillwood."
Marjorie sold the estate in 1951 for $200,000 to Long Island University, which founded its residential C. W. Post College in 1954, marking the 100th anniversary of C. W. Post's birth.
For a while named the C.W. Post Center and then the C. W. Post Campus, what was C. W. Post College has now become mainly a commuter campus called LIU/Post, and it has about 8,500 full- and part-time students and over 100,000 alumni.

The World War II Liberty Ship SS C. W. Post was named in his honor.
At the end of 1913, the chronically ill Post's health deteriorated to the point that he canceled public appearances. In early March 1914, Post was believed to be suffering from appendicitis and was rushed via a nonstop train from California to Rochester, Minnesota, to be operated on by Dr. William and Charles Mayo, regarded as the preeminent surgeons of the day. Upon examination the Mayo brothers deemed Post to be inoperable, however, and the breakfast cereal magnate returned home to Santa Barbara without surgical remedy, still plagued by stomach pain. In the 1995 book American Empress: The Life and Times of Marjorie Merriweather Post, author Nancy Rubin argues that Post did indeed have the Mayo brothers operate successfully sometime between March 5 and 10, 1914.
On May 9, 1914, despondent over his ongoing stomach illness, Post took his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot. He was 59 years old. His 27-year-old daughter, Marjorie Merriweather Post, inherited his company along with most of his vast fortune, one of the largest of the early 20th century.
Marjorie Merriweather Post later married financier E. F. Hutton and owned a 177-acre (72 ha) estate on Long Island's North Shore called "Hillwood." Marjorie sold the estate in 1951 for $200,000 to Long Island University, which founded its residential C. W. Post College in 1954, marking the 100th anniversary of C. W. Post's birth. For a while named the C.W. Post Center and then the C. W. Post Campus, what was C. W. Post College has now become mainly a commuter campus called LIU/Post, and it has about 8,500 full- and part-time students and over 100,000 alumni.
The World War II Liberty Ship SS C. W. Post was named in his honor.
C. W. Post