Hamilton journalist Eric McGuinness, who publicly pleaded for his right to die with medical help, has died in Zurich.

The 69-year-old, who was battling cancer, said goodbye to friends last week, telling them he was going to Switzerland, where he was legally allowed to die on his own terms.

At McGuinness's request, friends are not disclosing details of his death. He feared that those close to him could come under scrutiny or judgment for their role in his death and there are legal matters to finalize.

In an op-ed piece published in October, McGuinness, a longtime reporter and editor at The Hamilton Spectator, said the only thing on his bucket list was to "to die as easily and humanely as a loved family pet."

The group has helped more than 1,700 people end their lives, according to its website.

Friends say McGuinness had to provide notarized affidavits and medical reports in order to be granted membership in the organization. Once given what the group calls a "provisional green light," he had four months to carry out his wishes.

"If there had been death with dignity laws in Canada, he could have waited until the time was right, he couldn't take it any more and he was ready to go," said longtime close friend Barb Brown, who spoke to him the day before he left for Zurich accompanied by two loved ones.

He was feeling quite well at the time, she said.

"Instead, he had this artificial deadline imposed by the process."

In his opinion piece, published in both The Ottawa Citizen and The Hamilton Spectator about three months ago, McGuinness said the medical system had done all it could.

"I'm resigned to the fact that it will kill me. What worries me most is how I will die," he wrote.

"If I wind up in a hospice rather than a hospital and if the symptoms can be controlled, perhaps a dignified, quick and peaceful death is possible. Or I could be one of the people who die slowly and painfully: unable to care for myself, pleading for an end to my suffering. Some people who are terminally ill see no choice but violent forms of death that are horrific to contemplate."

With that piece, McGuinness joined others calling for right-to-die legislation, including Dr. Dr. Donald Low and Brittany Maynard.

Low, who guided Toronto through the SARS crisis, pleaded for medically assisted dying in a video eight days before his death last year.

Maynard made headlines worldwide when she went public with her decision to move to Oregon, a state with right-to-die laws, and set a date for her own death. She took a fatal dose of prescribed barbiturates Nov. 1.

Friends say McGuinness, known for his organization, fastidiousness and attention to detail, also fully explored palliative care options in Hamilton.

Brown, a retired Spectator court reporter now living in Victoria, says McGuinness was quietly reflective about his fate.

"In the manner he died, it reflected his life. He was extremely organized and thoughtful about how he lived his life … and he was controlled and organized about the way he died."

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He was told in June that a cancer he had fought off with chemotherapy and surgery before was returning in an aggressive way. McGuinness chose not to have further treatment.

He left a job as a copy editor at Postmedia in Hamilton and spent times with friends and exploring the city.

"There wasn't much we could do for him except listen," said John Burman, who worked as a reporter with McGuinness for about 30 years.

Burman said his friend loved the history and the architecture in Hamilton and was especially proud of his residence in the landmark Piggott building downtown.

In the last few months of his life, he attended rock concerts at Supercrawl, something he hadn't done much before because his true love was jazz. He took in art exhibits and continued his love of hiking.

"Once he decided he wasn't doing chemo, he started to really live in the last six months," said Burman. "He found out to his surprise that an awful lot of people cared about him and that buoyed him."

McGuinness never married and his siblings and mother live in the United States. He grew up in New York state and came to Canada in the late 1960s.

Even close friends say he didn't talk much about his family, his childhood or the circumstances that brought him to Canada. That's why many were surprised when he chose to go so public with his wish for assisted suicide.

Spectator managing editor Jim Poling said McGuinness's wish to see changes in Canada's assisted suicide laws outweighed his natural inclination toward privacy.

"So he took the unusual step of writing about his own life in an attempt to affect change."

Poling says the article led to a number of discussions with top health-care officials in the country, including Hamilton Health Sciences president Rob MacIsaac, who contacted McGuinness after it was published.

"He was a quiet crusader, a journalist who believed in building better societies and improving people's lives and he advocated for change right until his end," said Poling.

He had worked at The Spectator in two stints for a total of 33 years, retiring in 2010. He spent much of his time as a reporter, but also took on roles as night metro editor and city editor.

"I was really touched by what he wrote about his death. We really have to push this discussion," said Mary Pocius, who got to know McGuinness while she was the director of the International Village BIA and he was a city hall reporter.

"I admired Eric for writing that. He was so eloquent in his writing and so honest. It made some people uncomfortable … but he started a lot of conversations across the city," she said.

"I hope part of his legacy is that we have this conversation. We owe him that."