Shatzi Weisberger, a lesbian, longtime activist for many causes, nurse to people with AIDS, and death educator, died December 1 at age 92 at her apartment in New York City.Weisberger had wide-ranging interests, and one of them was preparing for death in a conscous and positive fashion.
She studied the subject of death intensively and led discussion groups on the subject.“I really want to experience my dying,” she said in 2018, according to The New York Times. “I don’t want to die in a car crash or be unconscious.
I want to be home, I want to be in my bed, I want to share the experience with anybody who’s interested.” That statement came at an event she called a “FUN-eral,” in which she appeared in a cardboard casket and hosted numerous friends.In October of this year, she was diagnosed with untreatable pancreatic cancer.
She invited the Times to cover her journey to death. She surrounded herself with friends, although toward the end she did not want visitors, and reconnected with her estranged son.