RIP Mark Brandon 'Chopper' Read

**evilsatan** · 9th October 2013

STANDOVER man turned celebrity true crime author Mark Brandon "Chopper" Read has died in a Melbourne hospital from complications arising from liver cancer.
Read's manager Andrew Parisi said he died at 1:30pm today at Royal Melbourne Hospital surrounded by his family, including wife Margaret and son Roy.
His elderly mother and another son Charlie, from his first marriage, had been with him earlier in the day.
Read, 58, was the author of more than a dozen best-selling true crime books, which drew on his life of crime and the stories he gathered from others in his 23 years in jail.
Read revealed in April 2012 that he had cancer and said doctors had told him he may have weeks, or up to six years, left to live.
Read maintained his cancer was a result of contracting hepatitis after being stabbed by a fellow inmate Jimmy Loughnane in Pentridge Prison.
He gave a final stage show in Melbourne a fortnight ago, when he gave thanks to Margaret for helping him turn his life around.
During the show he dispelled legends about his life, including a media boast that he had killed 19 people. The true figure of his victims was only four, he said, without going into detail. He also retracted his earlier claims that he had removed the toes of rivals with pliers or a blowtorch.
“People seemed to like the stories of blood and gore so much that I just kept serving them up to them,” he said, recently.
His condition deteriorated rapidly after the show and he was admitted to hospital on September 30.
Mr Parisi said Read wished to be remembered as someone who spun a great yarn and made people laugh.
“Despite his failing health, he delighted the audience with his skills as a raconteur and storyteller,” he said.
Mr Parisi said for more than 15 years Read had lived a quiet life with Margaret in Collingwood.
“He worked as a writer, painter and public speaker, paid his taxes and took care of his family.
“At the time of his death, we ask that people reflect on how Mark was able to overcome his past and, after more than 23 years in prison, find a way to re-enter `normal' society.
“It is as a husband, father and friend that Mark will be missed most deeply.”
The family has requested privacy at this time, Mr Parisi said.
Read was portrayed by Eric Bana in the 2000 film Chopper.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1226735612299