Ariel Sharon, Fierce Defender of a Strong Israel, Dies at
85
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/12/world/middleeast/ariel-sharon-fierce-defender-of-a-strong-israel-dies-at-85.html?hp&_r=0
Ariel Sharon, one of the most influential figures in Israel’s
history, a military commander and political leader who at the height of his
power redrew the country’s electoral map, only to suffer a severe stroke from
which he never recovered, died Saturday in a hospital near Tel Aviv. He was 85.
Gilad Sharon, one of his two surviving sons, told reporters
at the hospital where the former prime minister spent most of the last eight
years that his father “went when he decided to go.”
A cunning and unforgiving general who went on to hold nearly
every top government post, including prime minister at the time he was struck
ill, Mr. Sharon spent his final years in what doctors defined as a state of
minimal consciousness in a sterile suite at the hospital, Sheba Medical Center.
Visits were restricted for fear of infection.
Related in Opinion
Op-Ed Contributor: Ariel Sharon, the Ruthless Warrior Who
Could Have Made PeaceJAN. 11, 2014
Prof. Shlomo Nov of the medical center said heart failure
was “the direct cause of his death,” resulting from organ deterioration that
had deepened over “a number of days.”
Sharon,
Through the Years
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/01/10/world/middleeast/sharon_timeline.html#/#time130_4322
As a warrior and political leader, Ariel Sharon left a
profound imprint on Israel.
JAN. 11, 2014
Feb. 27, 1928
Born
Mr. Sharon was born to Russian immigrants on a
semicollective farm, or moshav, named Kfar Malal.
May 13, 1962
Wife Dies
Mr. Sharon's wife, Gali, was killed in a car accident. He
later married Gali's younger sister, Lily.
Oct. 13, 1967
Loses Son
His son Gur, 11, was accidentally shot and killed when a
friend pointed an old hunting rifle stuffed with gunpowder at his head. Mr.
Sharon flagged down a car to take Gur to the hospital, but the boy died en
route.