Dr. Jack Kevorkian (Photograph from U-M Bentley Historical Library)
Dr. Jack Kevorkian, aka "Dr. Death", made his mark in the world of assisted suicide.
Some say he could have had a lower-profile while promoting his cause, but that apparently was not his nature, particularly with his sidekick, attorney Geoffrey Fieger.
He said:"Dying is not a crime." Still, he served eight years in prison for second-degree murder in a case of voluntary euthanasia. He was paroled in 2007 and he died June 3, 2011 at age 83.
Now, his legacy will live on at the University of Michigan where a collection of papers and other material, including video and audio recordings of his consultations with assisted suicide patients, have been acquired by the school's Bentley Historical Library, the school announces Tuesday on its website.
The collection, donated by Kevorkian's niece Ava Janus, has materials spanning 1911 to 2014.
"Long before Jack Kevorkian was known as 'Dr. Death,' he was a child of Armenian immigrants, a successful student, a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School, a musician, composer and scientist," said Terrence McDonald, director of the Bentley Historical Library, in a statement. "The release of his papers will allow scholars and students to understand the context of and driving forces in an interesting and provocative life."
In addition to correspondence, published works, manuscript drafts, photographs, court records, news coverage and interviews, the materials also contain files related to "medicide"—a term Kevorkian used to refer to the assisted suicides of more than 100 terminally ill people that he provided services to between 1990 and 1998, the school wrote.
