Full of surprises to the end, David Bowie planned his death with just as much precision - and even more passion - as anything he did in life. UPDATE: this incredibly well-researched article about what Bowie was doing in his last 18 months gets more specific about the timelines of some of the events mentioned below, and contradicts or improves upon a few of my suppositions; when I get time I will hopefully change this list to reflect this new information.

An innovator in every sense, he orchestrated in minutia every aspect of his incredibly diverse and prolific career. That alone cemented his legend. But Bowie himself was a work of art, and he consciously treated his imminent end as the final chapter. Even at age 69, Bowie proved to the very end that he was oh so far ahead of his time. Would that we could all die with such grace, let alone live such a full life. In an entirely un-maudlin way, Bowie left everyone a parting gift of his some of his best music ever - along with some other artifacts as you will see below - to fill the gaping hole his death leaves in all of us.