Judge Reichbach, 65, falls to cancer

July 15, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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Advocated use of pot as pain-killer

By Brooklyn Daily Eagle Staff

Judge Gustin Reichbach died Saturday at his home in Downtown Brooklyn after a three-and-a-half year battle with pancreatic cancer.

In May, he wrote a column for the NY Times in which he described his battle with cancer and supported the medical use of marijuana as a pain reliever.

His Times column began:

“Three and a half years ago, on my 62nd birthday, doctors discovered a mass on my pancreas. It turned out to be Stage 3 pancreatic cancer. I was told I would be dead in four to six months. Today I am in that rare coterie of people who have survived this long with the disease. But I did not foresee that after having dedicated myself for 40 years to a life of the law, including more than two decades as a New York State judge, my quest for ameliorative and palliative care would lead me to marijuana.”

His daughter Hope Reichbach died last year at age 22.

Reichbach’s funeral was set for 3 p.m. Sunday at Congregation Mt. Sinai, on Cadman Plaza West in Brooklyn Heights.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle will update this post.