Kevorkian Aids 2 More Suicides, 1 an O.C. Man’s

Two Southern Californian cancer patients were the latest suicide victims to turn to retired pathologist Jack Kevorkian for help in ending their lives Thursday in Michigan.

Jonathon David Grenz, 44, of Costa Mesa, who sold real estate until he was diagnosed last year with throat cancer, and Martha Ruwart, 40, who lived in San Diego County before moving to Michigan last year to live with her family, became the 14th and 15th to die with Kevorkian’s assistance.

In the past month alone, the Michigan doctor has assisted in six suicides, prompting critics to charge he has increased the frequency of his work because a Michigan law will make such assistance illegal on April 1. Kevorkian has said that he will ignore the law.

Though the two Southern Californians died down the hall from each other in the home of a friend of Kevorkian, they apparently were unaware of their fatal bond. An officer who went to the home said Ruwart’s family members told them they did not know another person had committed suicide in the same house that morning.

Waterford Township police, who were summoned to the home, said they found Ruwart dead on a couch in the living room, having inhaled carbon monoxide through a plastic hose and face mask. Grenz was lying on a bed in a back room and was also dead, apparently having used the same device, police said.

A former co-worker of Grenz’s at a Century 21 real estate office in Newport Beach described Grenz as devastated by both the cancer and his mother’s recent death.

“He was very depressed,” Linda Healey said. “He talked about whether it all wasn’t worth it anymore. But it was normal depression.”

Grenz’s throat cancer, diagnosed last year, led to the removal of most of his tongue, Healey said. The surgery, performed nine months ago, required Grenz to use an electronic device to speak, she said. Grenz had lost his mother to cancer only three months ago, Healey said.

UCI Medical Center officials confirmed that Grenz was hospitalized there for a week in January and treated again earlier this month. Grenz’s doctor declined to comment, a spokeswoman said.

Michael Schwartz, one of Kevorkian’s attorneys, said Grenz “was suffering terribly because the cancer had spread.” Grenz’s sister, Susan, was with him when he died. She is from Palm Harbor, Fla., police said. The telephone directory there lists her as a physician.

Grenz, an avid auto mechanic who forever seemed to be carrying a wrench, began selling real estate early last year, Healey said. Just a few months later, he complained of a sore throat.

“The throat cancer was very traumatic,” Healey said. “ . . . He went through some very traumatic times with the cancer and then losing his mother.”

Grenz lived for at least two years in a small one-story bungalow behind a larger home on Santa Isabel Avenue in in Costa Mesa. In recent weeks, his brother had come to care for him.

Neighbors said that Grenz ran a small business selling used furniture at garage sales out of his home. The final sale was Saturday.

“He looked skinny and pale,” said Anne Fenton, a neighbor. “He didn’t look like himself at all.”

Grenz, a lifelong bachelor, was a “wholesome, bright, very good guy,” Healey said. Gardening was one of Grenz’s favorite hobbies, she said, adding that he took pride in the plantings surrounding the bungalow. She last saw Grenz about three weeks ago and they made some small talk, but he never mentioned death or Kevorkian.

Martha Ruwart, who was with her three sisters and two other friends when she died, had cancer of the small intestines that had spread to her ovaries. Letters from two of her doctors, which were read at a press conference after the deaths, described her prognosis as “very poor.”

“Her doctors had not given her hope,” said Mary Ruwart, a sister who lives in Kalamazoo, Mich. “She was having trouble eating and having trouble with her normal alimentary functions. She decided, rather than prolong things, she would rather leave now. She was very happy she had an option here in Michigan with Dr. Kevorkian.”

Martha Ruwart began calling Kevorkian about three or four weeks ago, her sister said.

“Marty had heard about him and wanted to not linger once she realized she was in for months of pain and suffering without any hope of a cure,” Mary Ruwart said. “Dr. Kevorkian is a very generous and wonderful man.”

One of six children, Martha Ruwart moved to California from her native Michigan in 1976 and graduated from San Diego State University. A former roommate described her as a quiet, introverted person who “led a very simple lifestyle” and tended to stay home and read much of the time. She was single.

Ruwart’s cancer was diagnosed in April or May of 1992, her sister said. She had an operation at that time in San Diego and another late last year in Michigan. She had moved from Cardiff-by-the-Sea to San Diego in late 1991 and returned to Michigan in November. “She came back to live with me so I could take care of her,” her sister said.

Called Marty by her friends and family, Ruwart was a computer software engineer.

Susanne McNeil, a former roommate, said that Ruwart worked for Palomar Technologies International, now called SKF Condition Monitoring, in San Diego.

Kevorkian’s attorneys offered no specifics about how Ruwart and Grenz began consulting with the Michigan doctor, saying only that Kevorkian usually counsels each patient for about a month before a suicide is carried out.

During that time, Schwartz said, Kevorkian spends hours advising them, reading their medical histories and requiring them to travel to Michigan for final counseling sessions.

“In each case, there has to be a situation where there is absolute documentation that the patient was suffering from a physical disease and it is clear that the patient will not be able to obtain relief,” Schwartz said.

The Michigan Legislature passed a law in December that will ban assisted suicides. When it goes into affect April 1, violators will face four years in prison and a fine of $2,000.

Contacted late Thursday, Kevorkian declined comment on the advice of his attorneys.

Times correspondents Deborah Cano and Shelby Grad contributed to this report.