Robert Ebert, Too Soon

What happened to Roger Ebert?

Funeral services for iconic film critic Roger Ebert will be held Monday in Chicago.

The service, according to a press release, will begin at 10 a.m. Monday at Holy Name Cathedral, 730 N. State St. in Chicago.

In lieu of flowers, well-wishers are asked to send donations to The Ebert Foundation, c/o Northern Trust at 50 S. LaSalle Street.

The funeral will be open to both friends and fans of Ebertt, but seating will reportedly be limited. Open seats will be first come, first served.

So what happened to Roger Ebert, well lets read more to find out about this amazing film critic and a good man.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and long-time Sun-Times movie critic died Thursday at the age of 70 following a lengthy battle with cancer. Died: April 4, 2013, Chicago

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Ebert Foundation, a non-profit that supports arts and education programs, care of Northern Trust, 50 S. LaSalle St. in Chicago. A tribute is also being slated for April 11, but no further details are currently available.

Leaders of Kansas’ Westboro Baptist Church, notorious for picketing at the funerals of soldiers and gay teenagers, have revealed that they plan to picket the funeral of late movie critic Roger Ebert on Monday.

In its news release, the group calls Ebert a “f-g enabler” and complains that he used his Twitter “to mock the faithful servants of God at Westboro Baptist Church.”

On March 25, Ebert did in fact tweet a link to a Salon post that features an excerpt from a book by Jeff Chu titled Does Jesus Really Love Me?: A Gay Christian’s Pilgrimage in Search of God in America. Chu, a gay man, spent a day at Westboro as part of his research.
Ebert tweeted the link twice, once with the message “Just another day at Westboro Baptist” and again with a similar message: “One more day at the Westboro Baptist church.”

Ebert died at the age of 70 Thursday after battling cancer. His funeral service is set for 10 a.m. Monday at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. Westboro says it plans to picket “in lawful proximity” from 9:15-10 a.m.

The Westboro Baptist Church has also protested at the funerals of Steve Jobs, Elizabeth Edwards and the victims of the Arizona shooting that injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Ebert was first diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2002 and then with recurring salivary gland growths a year later. In 2006, he lost his ability to speak because of the cancer and reconstructive surgery complications. Through all this, he was open with his readers.

Roger Ebert will be remembered, In 2010, Ebert allowed Esquire magazine to publish an intimate profile of him complete with a full-page photograph of his face, his jaw visibly altered.

“When I turned to it in the magazine, I got a jolt from the full-page photograph of my jaw drooping,” he wrote in a blog at the time. “Not a lovely sight. But then I am not a lovely sight, and in a moment I thought, Well, what the hell. It’s just as well it’s out there. That’s how I look, after all.”

Ebert died at the age of 70 Thursday after battling cancer. His funeral service is set for 10 a.m. Monday at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago.
God bless him and his family!