Death
Shortly after midnight on 6 November 2005, the day before his scheduled swearing-in for his fourth term in Parliament, he died suddenly at his Christchurch home after suffering for a few days from Campylobacter jejuni food poisoning from an unknown source. An autopsy initially ruled out a heart attack, but subsequent test-results determined that death resulted from an inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis), which is a very rare consequence of C. jejuni infection. He was 48 years old. His funeral took place at the Cathedral of ChristChurch was attended by over 1,000 people, with his casket arriving on board an electric bus, and his wake took place at the adjacent Warner's Hotel. The Parliament showed its respect for Donald by suspending a day of business, and a minute of silence was observed in the House of Representatives.
Read more about this topic: Rod Donald
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“Or I shall live your epitaph to make,
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Though I, once gone, to all the world must die:”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)