From:       Lisa Frigand
Sent:        May 21, 2011 5:14 PM
Subject:  Sad news about Sid Frigand....

Our wonderful dad died early this morning.  Although we will miss him greatly, we find such solace in the fact that he was able to leave his life on his own terms, surrounded by tremendous love and support.  He redoubled that energy when he transferred love to all of us around him.

Our family feels blessed to have played a role in dad's incredible transition.  It was so unexpected to see the clarity of mind and spirit that our dad achieved once he made the decision to let go of the medical team's continual quest to prolong his life.  With virtually no energy in his depleted body after 4 weeks in the hospital, on less than 300 calories a day and a deluge of ravages to his body, he refused to be intubated for his 4th round of pneumonia.  Nourished only by some inner strength and the love of family and friends, he actually rallied within 36 hours.   However, he could no longer  swallow, and any fluid in his body had him coughing and possibly aspirating.

Dad, in his last four days had his wishes granted.  All of his children and grandchildren arrived on Wednesday and we remained nonstop, actually enjoying his remaining time with him "holding court".   On Thursday morning he greeted us with a smile and said he had a perfect night's sleep, and it's been a perfect couple of days.  He still went ahead with his plan to stop all hydration and was beginning to get occasional injections of morphine to settle his coughing.  Through Friday evening, dad was still lucid yet sleeping a lot. We all had a chance to kiss him with our personal goodbyes, with dad smiling the entire time.  He felt tremendous serenity knowing that he had received all of his wishes and looked more peaceful than he has in years.

We have placed the following death notice in the Sunday Times.   It contains the details of his Monday service.

FRIGAND -- Sidney J., 85 years old, passed away peacefully surrounded by his loving family.  Husband of the late Evelyn (Achenbaum); beloved father of Steve (Sharon Dyer), Lisa, and Nancy (Dan Berg); adored grandfather of Cara, Hannah, Michael, Zoe, Kika and Alex. Sid exited his life in the same manner in which he lived -- with love, grace and humor.  A service will held on Monday, May 23 at 10:00 AM at Riverside Memorial Chapel, 180 W.76th street. Sid requested that contributions in his memory be made to Doctors Without Borders.

We invite you to spend a few minutes with us in the third floor lounge in the Chapel after the service, followed by a lunch at 12:30 back at dad's most recent residence, the Hallmark, located at 455 North End Avenue off Chambers Street in Lower Manhattan.

With love,
Steve, Lisa, Nancy Frigand and families