I remember him saying that after he saw a couple of his colleagues who were the same age, doing the same thing die either doing their work or shortly after ... he realized his time was up and he just retired before it killed him. Yes he said he did smoke like everyone, just not as heavily as most and he quit earlier than most.

He said he saw the writing on the wall and knew that if he continued, he would have died at his desk .... so he and his wife just packed it all in, sold everything they had in the city, moved to the country and opened a bed and breakfast instead.

His place was amazing tho ... they had a small library that was filled with all his old magazine, newspaper work, books, prints, documents, papers, everything ... and when you sat with him, he could sit for days telling you stories. This was all about 20 years ago and the old guy (he was in his 70s at the time) is probably gone now but what a character.