Reaction to the death of Jack Kevorkian

DETROIT – Here's reaction to the Friday death of assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian:

— Former Oakland County, Mich., prosecutor David Gorcyca, whose office won a second-degree murder conviction against Kevorkian in 1999, ending his participation in assisted suicides:

"No matter on how you feel on the issue of assisted suicide, you should respect the man who sacrificed his own liberty for a cause he believed in. However, I find a certain amount of hypocrisy that ... he didn't end his life in the same manner that he ended others. I assumed that someday he'd commit suicide and tape it and air it for the world to see."

— Terry Youk of Montpelier, Vt., whose brother's videotaped death was shown on "60 Minutes," leading to the murder charge:

"I got to know him personally in the time following my brother's death and I can testify that his passion and tenacity in fighting for the terminally ill's right to have a choice at the end of life was no publicity stunt. He wanted that right for himself. He put his life on the line and I can think of no other advocate who is so synonymous with this movement."

— Ned McGrath, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit:

"May God have mercy on his soul and on the scores of confused, conflicted, and, at times, clinically depressed victims he killed. It is both ironic and tragic that Kevorkian himself was afforded a dignified, natural death in a hospital, something he denied to those who came to him in desperation, only to be poisoned and have their bodies left in places such as vans and motel rooms."

— Kevorkian's longtime defense attorney Geoffrey Fieger:

"It's a rare human being who understands intellectually and emotionally the freedoms contained within our Constitution and the right of every human being to make decisions about their own lives consistent with their own conscience and without the interference of government."