Growing up in the Phoenix area, my folks listened to KOY, and thus so did I as a youngster.  One of the station's premier radio personalities was Bill Heywood.  He had a smooth voice that I can still hear in my head today.  By all accounts, he was a wonderful man to work with, every bit as gentle and refined as his voice might suggest.

He apparently committed suicide with his wife yesterday in a Scottsdale hotel room.  

This was a man who enjoyed a great deal of success in radio, and was a local celebrity.  The sort of person who seemed to have it all together, truly enviable.   It was a shock even many years after hearing his voice, to hear that he had ended his life.  Initial news reports are painfully vague as to whether or not this was indeed suicide, but this report seems to make it pretty clear that it's exactly what it was.  

It would appear that motivating factors could include recent changes for the worse in the area of finance, as well as health difficulties with his wife.  The linked article above seems to imply that the nature of her illness was such that they decided to end their lives together rather than be separated by lingering illness or death.  

I thought the article I linked to above was interesting from several perspectives.  Firstly, it provided a lot more detail and back-story than many of the other articles I found, which simply reported his fame and now death.  I also thought it was interesting how the article ended, with multiple quotes about Heywood and his wife emphasizing their closeness.  Doing so leaves the reader with the impression that this is a reasonable choice of action to take.  That two people who love each other shouldn't have to face separation from each other.  

I can't speak to how Heywood and his wife were dealing with the issues in their lives.  But I lament a growing trend in our culture that seeks to justify nearly any and all actions simply based on the fact that somebody chose them.  It's a tragic end to beautiful lives both individually and together, from all accounts.  I wish we could be honest about the tragedy instead of feeling the need to make it seem somehow beautiful and reasonable.