Dr. Jack Kevorkian, also known as "Dr. Death," became well known in the 1990s for his fight to make assisted suicide a right for every person. A retired pathologist who devised a "suicide machine," Dr. Kevorkian worked to help terminally ill people end their lives. His belief was that people have a right to avoid a dreadful, lingering death by ending their own lives with the help of a physician who can ensure a peaceful death.

Jack Kevorkian, the only son of Armenian refugees, was born in Pontiac, Michigan on May 26, 1928. He graduated from high school when he was seventeen years old and then went on to college and medical school. Kevorkian graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1952 earning a medical degree with a specialty in pathology.

He earned the nickname "Dr. Death" early in his career when as a pathology resident he photographed the...