Jack Slater, a Seattle high-school teacher and former actor, wrote of his lengthy battle with end-stage liver disease in "Life on the Waiting List," a series of intimate and often irreverent essays for the Seattle Times. He chronicled his long wait for a liver transplant that he received Sept. 21, 2004 at the University of Washington Medical Center. As Slater would say, he was "gifted" with a "pre-owned" liver. And he shared with readers the ups-and-downs of his post-surgery life as the disease that ravaged his original liver, hepatitis C, attacked his new one.

Slater died on March 24, 2006 with his wife and friends at his bedside. He was 59. A memorial service has been scheduled for April 30 at Seattle’s Town Hall. The service is set for 2 p.m. in the Great Hall at Town Hall, 1119 8th Avenue.

"I don't want to be missed. I'd rather be celebrated"

In all the years he was sick, Jack Slater had plenty of time to wonder why. But early on, Mr. Slater came to a conclusion. (3/25, 2006)

• Multimedia: Diary of a transplant
• In Jack's own words

The series from the beginning

Teacher bides precious time

I have hepatitis C, a nasty, blood-borne virus that attacks the liver, eventually killing it and the person in whom the liver resides. By that May morning, I had endured six months of tests in one of life's more ironic contests: trying to prove I was healthy enough to earn my place in line for a donated organ. (10/19, 2003)

• About liver disease and donation

Enduring highs, lows of needing a transplant

I'm on an organ transplant waiting list. In my case, the organ I need is a liver. I have hepatitis C, which has evolved into end-stage liver disease. Folks like me, who hope each day for the transplant that will save our lives, learn to wait but try not to be too self-conscious about it.(11/17, 2003)

• The public responds with an outpouring of love and many offers to help
• Teacher chronicles lessons learned as he waits

Reflections on navel removal, importance of organ donation

I don't have a belly button. The doctor used his navel scooper, carved it out and threw it away. In its place, he left me with a crooked, 6-inch scar.(12/3, 2003)

• Organs that can be transplanted

A slow tango with time

Think of my liver as one of those Firestone tires that caused so much trouble for Ford Explorers awhile back. It's defective and has been recalled. I am on the waiting list for a replacement — the gift of some good soul who, upon his or her death, lets someone else keep living.(3/7, 2004)

A liver patient can dream, can't he?

At this stage of the waiting-list game, fantasies of not having to take someone else's organ fill his days.(8/1, 2004)

After long wait, teacher gets a liver transplant

For two years now, every time the phone rang at odd hours, Jack Slater and his wife, Deborah Swets, thought, "This is it. " But when the call came yesterday at 9:10 a.m., amid the morning bustle...(9/22, 2004)

• Thousands travel same path
• The wait, through his eyes

Transplant patient feeling "like a million bucks"

Just hours after receiving a new liver, Jack Slater was sneaking extra ice cubes behind the nurse's back, sharing a naughty joke and feeling "like a million bucks." On a 1-to-10 scale, doctors tell him he's "a 9.5."(9/23, 2004)

• Photos from the day
• "I feel so lucky"

We'll get through this ... together

On Sept. 21, 2004, I was gifted with a donated liver. It was a 7-1/2-hour surgery. I spent two days in the intensive care unit and nine more days in the hospital, unsuccessfully trying to configure the hospital bed so that I could sleep on the 38 staples that were holding my 15-inch incision together.(11/21, 2004)

• Photo gallery