(CNN) -- Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the Michigan pathologist who put assisted suicide on the world's medical ethics stage, died early Friday, according to a spokesman with Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan. He was 83.

The assisted-suicide advocate had been hospitalized for pneumonia and a kidney-related ailment, his attorney had said.

He had struggled with kidney problems for years and had checked into a hospital earlier this month for similar problems, his lawyer, Mayer Morganroth, said. He checked back into the hospital in the Detroit suburb on May 18 after suffering a relapse, Morganroth said.

Kevorkian, dubbed "Dr. Death," made national headlines as a supporter of physician-assisted suicide and "right-to-die" legislation. He was charged with murder numerous times through the 1990s for helping terminally ill patients take their own lives.

He was convicted on second-degree murder charges in 1999 stemming from the death of a patient who suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly called Lou Gehrig's disease. He was paroled in 2007.

After his release, he said he would not help end any more lives.

Morganroth told CNN Friday that he was summoned to the hospital Thursday night, with doctors telling him "the end was near" for Kevorkian.

1998 video sparked criminal case against Kevorkian

"The doctors and nurses were extremely supportive," Morganroth said. They played music by Kevorkian's favorite composer -- Bach -- in his room, and Kevorkian died about 2:30 a.m., Morganroth said.

Attorney Geoffrey Fieger, who was Kervorkian's lawyer on several assisted-suicide cases, described Kevorkian as a "historic man." What are the answers to this following set of questions: 1. Who died?
2. In what building?
3. Which is where?
4. What was his specialty?
5. What was he best known for?
6. Was he in jail?
7. When was he paroled?
8. What was his hickname?
9. Why was he in the hospital?
10. When did he check in for the last time?
Answer: 1. Dr. Jack Kevorkian
2. Beaumont Hospital
3. Royal Oak, Michigan.
4. pathology
5. putting assisted suicide on the world's medical ethics stage.
6. no
7. in 2007.
8. "Dr. Death,"
9. kidney problems
10. May 18

Problem: The engineer who was involved in Sunday's New York train derailment apparently "was nodding off and caught himself too late" before the accident that killed four people and injured 67 others, a union representative who has been meeting with the man told CNN on Tuesday.

Anthony Bottalico, the union representative, said engineer William Rockefeller Jr. recognizes his responsibility in the incident.

"I think most people are leaning towards human error," Bottalico said.

Rockefeller's lawyer, Jeffrey Chartier, characterized what happened as "highway hypnosis." He said his client had had a full night's sleep before the crash, and that Rockefeller had no disciplinary record.

In a brief conversation with investigators, Rockefeller said that moments before the derailment of the Hudson Line train in the Bronx he was "going along and I'm in a daze. I don't know what happened," according to a law enforcement official familiar with that conversation.

Asked by investigators what he was thinking when he said he was dazed, the engineer said he couldn't say. Rockefeller spoke to Metropolitan Transportation Authority and New York Police detectives at the crash site before he was taken to the hospital Sunday.

National Transportation Safety Board member Earl Weener told a news conference that Rockefeller would have had a chance to get the necessary sleep prior to his 5 a.m. shift the day of Sunday's accident, echoing comment from Rockefeller's lawyer.

According to NTSB representatives, results from alcohol breath tests for the train engineer were negative, and both the brake and signal systems in the deadly Metro-North accident appeared to be working. Other toxicology results have not yet come back.
1. When was the accident?
2. where?
3. What kind of vehicle was it?
4. how did it happen?
5. who?
6. was anyone killed?
7. was anyone injured? yes or no only
8. was it human error?
9. Who was Rockefeller's attorney?
10. What does he say about it?
11. Did the engineer answer as to what he was thinking at the time?
12. was there a news conference?
13. What was said?
14. Did the lawyer agree?
15. was there an alcohol test?
16. what was the result?
17. what was said about the break systems?
18. what about signal systems?
19. when did rockefeller talk to the police?
20. where?
Answer: 1. Sunday
2. New York
3. train
4. was nodding off and caught himself too late
5. engineer
6. killed four people
7. injured 67 others
8. most people are leaning towards human error
9. Jeffrey Chartier
10. He said his client had had a full night's sleep before the crash, and that Rockefeller had no disciplinary record
11. going along and I'm in a daze. I don't know what happened
12. Yes
13. Rockefeller would have had a chance to get the necessary sleep prior to his 5 a.m. shift the day of Sunday's accident,
14. Yes
15. Yes
16. negative
17. appeared to be working
18. appeared to be working
19. day of the crash
20. at the crash site

question: When I was a little girl I lived in a place with no winter. It was always warm there. It never got cold. It never snowed. Sometimes it rained. Sometimes there was wind. But there was no snow on the trees or on the ground. There was no snow falling on our heads. There was no snow to make a snowman.

My teacher's name was Mrs. Scott. One day in December, Mrs. Scott told us that we were going to make a snowman. We were excited! We wanted to see a snowman. We knew how a snowman looked. We knew a snowman was made of three snowballs. A snowman had to have a carrot nose and black eyes and buttons. A snowman had a hat and a scarf. We knew all these things.

Mrs. Scott asked us to bring everything we needed to our classroom to make a snowman. Jimmy said, "I can bring the hat and the scarf." Anita said, "I can bring a carrot for the nose." Selma said, "I can cut out some black circles for the eyes and the buttons." Ricky asked, "But who can bring the snow?"

Mrs. Scott said, "I know what to do."

The next day all the children brought the things for the snowman. We did not know where Mrs. Scott would get the snow. Then she showed us. Our snowman is made of three bushes! Three bushes painted white! We put all the things on the bushes and it looked like a real snowman.
1. What did the teacher say the class would build?
2. what was her name?
3. and in what month was this?
4. what was the snowman made out of?
5. Who was bringing the accessories for it?
6. Who brought items for the head?
7. And what about for the face?
8. Why was there no white powder to use?
9. what was the temperature like?
10. was there any sort of precipitation?
11. what kind?
****
answer:
1. a snowman
2. Mrs. Scott
3. December
4. snowballs
5. the students
6. Jimmy
7. Anita
8. there was no winter
9. warm
10. Sometimes
11. rain