Kevorkian is recalled as braving the ‘wrath of society’ for assisting suicides

Mourners filed past the casket of Dr. Jack Kevorkian after a service
yesterday in a Troy, Mich., memorial park. (Rebecca Cook/Reuters)

By Associated Press June 11, 2011

TROY, Mich. – Friends, family, and supporters gathered yesterday to
pay tribute to the late Dr. Jack Kevorkian, remembering him for his
devotion to the cause of physician-assisted suicide, which cost him
his freedom late in life.

Some 150 people attended the service at White Chapel Memorial Cemetery
in suburban Detroit before Kevorkian was laid to rest. He died last
week at age 83 of a pulmonary blood clot.

Kevorkian’s stunning claim to have assisted in more than 130 deaths of
ill people in the 1990s brought him worldwide notoriety, but those who
stood behind his casket yesterday spoke also of his softer, less
public side.

A niece, Ava Janus, said Kevorkian had deep respect for anyone who was
competent at their craft, and was loyal to the Detroit Tigers no
matter the baseball team’s fortunes.

A friend, Ruth Holmes, recalled Kevorkian arriving at her home with
just a toothbrush and fresh underwear to escape media attention in
1998 after he assisted in the death of Thomas Youk, a man with Lou
Gehrig’s disease. He stayed with her family for six months.

It was video of Youk’s death aired by CBS’s `60 Minutes” that
eventually led to Kevorkian being convicted of second-degree murder.

`Few men are willing to brave . . . the wrath of society,” she said.
`That was our dear friend, Jack Kevorkian.”

The casket was draped with the US flag to signify his service in the Korean War.

His friend and attorney, Mayer Morganroth, noted that inmates lined up
to cheer Kevorkian when he was released from prison in 2007 after
eight years.

Kevorkian used throwaway parts to build a so-called suicide machine,
which injected lethal drugs. He helped people die in their homes,
motels, and in the back of his rusty Volkswagen van and often took
their bodies to hospital emergency rooms.