A Sympathetic Look At Final Exit's Jerry Dicin

Here’s a more than sympathetic portrayal of the Final Exit Network’s Jerry Dicin.

Right-to-Die Advocate Jerry Dincin Awaits His Own Exit

In February, as temperatures in the Chicago area unseasonably spiked into the 60s and 70s, Jerry Dincin’s neighbors took to the streets. They strolled around the North Shore town of Highland Park wearing T-shirts and shorts, with their dogs and children, soaking up the sun. Everyone, including Dincin, a retired psychologist, marveled at how nature can surprise us. But for him, the beauty was bittersweet. “I think this is my last winter,” he told me, staring through a window at the bright blue skies.

At 81, Dincin does not want to die. He loves Susanne, his wife of 11 years; her son, Ben, who starts college this fall; and his four adult children from a previous marriage. And his cats Sparky (the fat one) and Scrappy (the skittish one). And the symphonies of Beethoven. And the wooden objects he and Susanne collect at art fairs and hang on the walls of their red-roofed ranch house. He is in no hurry to leave all this behind. more