LESTER CRUZAN, 62, FOUGHT FOR DAUGHTER'S RIGHT TO DIE.

Byline: Eric Pace The New York Times

Lester ``Joe'' Cruzan, a sheet-metal worker who figured in a landmark 1990 Supreme Court right-to-die ruling that involved his daughter Nancy Beth Cruzan, was found dead Saturday at his home in Carterville, Mo. He was 62.

Cruzan apparently committed suicide by hanging, law-enforcement officials said in Jasper County, which includes Carterville.

Jerry Neil, chief deputy in the Jasper County Sheriff's Department, said Cruzan left a note, found by his wife, Joyce, that mentioned their dead daughter. Neil did not disclose what the note said.

Nancy Cruzan was left in a vegetative state by an auto crash in 1983. Her parents waged a prolonged legal campaign to have her feeding tube removed. The case became the focus of a widespread, acrimonious debate about when and how relatives can decide to stop nourishment or medical treatment and let an incapacitated loved one die.

Legal efforts of Nancy Cruzan's parents eventually succeeded. The state of Missouri, which had opposed them, dropped out of the case after the Supreme Court ruling in June 1990, which affirmed in general terms that a patient whose wishes are clearly known has the right to have his or her life-sustaining treatment ended. After further legal steps, Nancy Cruzan died before the end of 1990. Later, her father expressed uncertainty about whether the right action had been taken.

His daughter had been comatose for more than seven years by the time the Supreme Court ruled in her case. Eight justices affirmed that a person with clearly known wishes has a constitutional right to have life-sustaining treatment ended.