Controversial pathologist, writer and inventor, Jack Kevorkian was theonly son of Levon Kevorkian a former auto-factory worker who owned anexcavating company and his homemaker wife. He had 2 sisters.Kevorkian's parents were Armenian refugees, whose relatives were amongthe 1.5 millon victims of Turkish atrocities in World War I. As a youngboy he quit Sunday school because he did not believe in ArmenianOrthodox teachings. He taught himself German and Japanese in highschool during World war II. Kevorkian graduated from Pontiac HighSchool with honors in 1945 at 17. He then enrolled at the University ofMichigan from where he graduated from Medical school in 1952. Kevorkiancompleted an internship in Pathology at Henry Ford hospital in Detroit,during which period he had an epiphany when he saw a woman who wasdying of cancer. It was then that he began to think of ways toalleviate suffering in his patients. In 1953 he got his medical licensefor Michighan state. He then did a 15 month stint in Korea as an ArmyMedical Officer during the Korean War. He returned and completed hisresidency at Pontiac General Hospital, Michigan. He got his nickname'Dr. Death' in 1956 when he started photographing the retinas ofpatients at the moment of death to differentiate between coma anddeath. From 1956-57 he did research in West Germany. In 1957 heobtained his California medical license. In 1958 he presented a paperon 'Capital Punishment or Capital Gain' at the American Association forthe Advancement of Science' at Washington, DC. He suggested theharvesting of organs from death row prisoners. This was consideredcontroversial because death row inmates don't necessarily have anyrights. By 1960 he was licensed in Pathological Anatomy and in 1965 inClinical Pathology. In April 1960 he testified before a Joint JudicialCommittee in Columbus, Ohio to revise the death penalty and to legalizemedical experimentation on condemned inmates. In 1976 he moved to LosAngeles, California. He changed jobs frequently. Between 1982 to 86 hemainly did his writing and research. In 1988, even the pro-suicideHemlock Society founder, Derek humphry rebuffed his methods as "tooperilous and risky". In 1989 after reading about a patient who hadasked for euthanasia he began working on a lethal-injection machinethat would be able to do the task at the 'flip of a switch'. It wascalled the Thanatron (and later Mercitron). He got a lot of publicitybecause of this. On June 4, 1990 he performed the first of his'medicides' as he liked to call physician-assisted suicide. His'client' was a 54 year old woman suffering from Alzheimer's. She hadcontacted him herself after reading his ads in the papers. It wasperformed in the back of his VW van. She received sodium pentothal (ananesthetic) and potassium chloride (to stop the heart). By the time ofthis 3rd medicide his medical licemse was revoked for violatingMichigan state laws regarding euthanasia. One of his 'clients' was evenfound on autopsy not to have any major pathology. He continued to dohis medicides by giving his clients carbon-monoxide. There were reportsthat one patient had asked her mask to be removed twice (maybe a changeof mind) but Kevorkian had continued with his task. On August 17, 1993he was formally charged with violating the law. By then he had alreadyhelped 20 clients to their peaceful deaths. He was jailed first inNovember 1993 and then again in December 1993. Kevorkian went on aliquid only fast for 18 days and was acquitted in May 1994. By now hehad even gained several supporters in the general community. By 1998 hehed committed over 100 medicides. Relatives of some of his clientsclaimed that he had continued despite protests from his 'victims'. Hewas now charged with 2nd degree murder. During his trial he wasdefended by the flamboyant lawyer Geoffrey Fieger. In March 1999 Dr.Kevorkian was sentenced by a Michigan jury to 10-25 years for hiscrime.