‘I have ended my job as multi-media artist with the provision of MAID (Medical Assistance In Dying) on February 7, 2023’ read a posthumous post on his website
And true to his values, the outspoken musician and painter and activist, who lived a life that rejected compromise, left on his own terms: through medical assistance in dying Tuesday morning, finding final relief from the onset of Parkinson’s that he had been diagnosed with circa 2018.“Medically speaking, I’m shaking and rattling as it’s been over five years since Parkinson’s Disease surfaced,” he wrote in an end-of-life statement published on his website. “Parkinson’s is a dead end for me.
“I think it was well understood that Joe’s time was up. You just needed to spend a few moments in Joe’s presence to know he was very clear on what constitutes a quality of life. Once the news began spreading over social media of Joe’s passing, Toronto’s music and artist communities began to mourn and reminisce about a passionate man who could be equally parts irascible and pleasant, humorous and vitriolic, generous and damning.
When something pleased or irritated him, he was quick to send out postcards and letters wielding either bouquets or brickbats, depending on the circumstance. Joe maintained he was exercising his democratic rights by doing so. “But even in my case, it wasn’t all complimentary. If he didn’t like something, he bluntly told you.”Born Birrel Josef Mendelson in Maple, Ont., in 1944, he taught himself to play the guitar at the age of 11 and began performing the blues as Joe Mendelson in 1964.
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