EMC Co-Founder Commits Suicide

The Register is reporting that EMC co-founder Richard Egan has committed suicide. The article has an interesting look back at some of his accomplishments. "Egan had an amazing life, encompassing involvement in the Apollo space program, the US Marines, starting and building the most successful storage company on the planet, and becoming the US ambassador to Ireland. Finally, aged 73 and facing a lingering death, he ended the battle decisively and on his terms. He was never a shrinking violet."

Comments

Re:"Committed Suicide?"

[catmistake]

What's unjustly selfish is thinking you have any right to dictate the permissible ways for a rational individual to die.

It is quite selfish of you to decide what I can think.

Re:Did he have to pick such a messy method?

[Kadin2048]

I agree that leaving the mess for the hotel maid staff to find was a bit inconsiderate. The choice of the closet, also odd. The bathroom shower stall would have been easier to clean and then replace as a unit, and he could have called the paramedics, or better yet left some sort of message with an undertaker or other professional, before he shot himself.

But I think a lot of that might be a result of the negative stigma that suicide has; it's tough to tell someone "by the way, I'm going to kill myself, could you arrange to have somebody come by and find my body so that it doesn't cause some poor maid to have to go to therapy for the next five years" without having them try and stop you. I can only imagine that's why he did it the way he did.

Of course it's possible it was a spur-of-the-moment decision, but given his medical condition it doesn't seem likely. I suspect he was just being private about it, and didn't consider the cleaning staff or the fact that someone was going to have to replace a lot of bloodstained drywall and flooring due to his choice of venue. Regrettable, but not worth total condemnation of the guy.

Re:"Committed Suicide?"

[aminorex]

Horsepucky. No one wants to scrape their Mom's brains off the garage wall. Even less do parents want to clean up after their kids with no chance to ground them during prom for making the mess. This has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with how gross your insides are and how much we'd like them to stay inside.