Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Egan kills himself

David Liu - davidl at foodconsumer.org

Richard J. Egan, the billionaire entrepreneur who confounded EMC Corp and served as US ambassador to Ireland killed himself with a gun at his Boston home on Friday. 

It is unknown why he decided to commit suicide.  But Egan, 73, was reportedly diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer in May, his family was cited as saying in a statement. 

Lung cancer hits 219,000 people in the U.S. and kills 159,000 each year in the country. Stage IV lung cancer means malignant growths may be found in more than one lobe of the same lung or in the other lung or cancer cells may be found in other parts of the body such as brain, adrenal, liver or bone. It is the most advanced stage. 

According to an article published on Sept 4, 2008 in the New England Journal of medicine, about 16,000 people of all ages in the United States die from self-inflicted gunshot wound, accounting for 53 percent of all suicides completed in 2005. 

Suicide was the second-leading cause of death among Americans 40 years of age or younger.