Science & invention / Civil rights & activism / Law
Jack Kevorkian
1928–2011 · pathologist, right-to-die activist
Pontiac-born pathologist who assisted in the deaths of scores of patients in metro Detroit in the 1990s and was convicted of second-degree murder in 1999.
- Born
Pontiac, Michigan- Died
Royal Oak, Michigan
aged 83- Birth name
- Murad Jacob Kevorkian
- Also known as
- Dr. Death
- Detroit years
- 1928–2011
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Jack Kevorkian was born in Pontiac to Armenian refugees; his father worked in a local auto foundry. He graduated with honors from Pontiac Central High School in 1945 and from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1952, and later worked as a pathologist at Pontiac General Hospital. In 1987 he began advertising in Detroit newspapers as a consultant for 'death counseling,' and from 1990 he helped dozens of people end their lives, most of them in Oakland County, prompting repeated trials and the loss of his medical license in 1991. After he administered a lethal injection himself and the tape aired on 60 Minutes, an Oakland County jury convicted him of second-degree murder in 1999. Paroled in 2007, he ran for Congress in a suburban Detroit district in 2008. He died at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak and is buried in Troy.
Highlights
- Said he assisted in the deaths of about 130 people, 1990–1998
- Michigan revoked his medical license in 1991
- Convicted of second-degree murder in 1999; served eight years
- Ran as an independent for Congress in Michigan's 9th district in 2008
- Portrayed by Al Pacino in the 2010 film You Don't Know Jack
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 4
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1941–1945
Pontiac Central High School
Closed
The public high school in Pontiac from which he graduated with honors in 1945, aged 17.
Worked here · 1960s
Pontiac General Hospital
Status being checked
He worked here as a pathologist and ran controversial experiments transfusing blood from the dead into living patients.
Related place · 2011
William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak
The hospital where he died of a thrombosis on June 3, 2011.
Buried here · 2011
White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery
His grave is in this Troy cemetery.