Joseph T. Quinlan, 71, whose legal crusade to allow his daughter Karen Ann to "die with dignity" thrust him into the national spotlight, died of cancer Saturday in Wantage, N.J.
His care had been supervised by the Karen Ann Quinlan Center of Hope, the Newton, N.J., hospice he and his wife, Julia, helped start with proceeds from a book and television movie about their daughter's case.
Karen Ann Quinlan was 21 when she slipped into a coma at a party on April 15, 1975. Convinced that her condition would not improve, her parents requested that her respirator be turned off. Doctors refused. The New Jersey Supreme Court sided with the Quinlans in March 1976.