Jaime Osorio Márquez, a Colombian director known for creating and directing HBO Max's first Colombian series, "A Thousand Fangs," chose to die by assisted suicide on Thursday in Colombia, where the practice is legal.
Osorio was 46 and had beaten an aggressive bout with kidney cancer in 2009 and in 2012 when it returned.
However, his increasing pain and a growing intolerance of pain medications pushed him to want to end his life before his health got worse and he became a burden to his family, his producing partner, Federico Duran of Rhayuela Films, said, NBC News reported.
The director was born in Cali, Colombia, and studied at the University of Rennes in France. When he returned to his native country, he directed commercials for major brands.
Soon he would begin directing on the big screen, for which he would receive multiple awards, including two Cannes Silver Lions and a Cannes Golden Lion.
"My soul brother left this earthly plane last Thursday," Duran said to NBC News. "He was my great friend, that's why all the memories of the nearly 15 years of working with him I reserve for myself, at least while I process the pain of his departure. Everyone has asked me what happened to him when he seemed so well, that they had seen him very active recently and that he was at such an important moment in his career."
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Duran went on to say that it was not cancer that killed him, and he wanted the "whole world to know."
"That disease that struck him for the first time in 2009, just before we started production on his debut feature, 'The Squad,' ('El Paramo') and that despite all the treatments, ruthlessly re-announced itself in the form of a metastasis over the weekend when they gave him the award for best director at the Sitges festival," Duran added.
After being diagnosed with cancer for the second time in 2012, Márquez defied the prognosis his doctor gave him, living more than a few months, being productive for several more years.
"No, Jaime was not killed by the disease. He survived it, defeated it and dominated it. He managed to write and stage a play, direct his second film, 'The Sacrifice' ('7 Cabezas') and the series' A Thousand Fangs,' a titanic effort that turned out to be one of the most outstanding productions in Latin America; and then, before the disease took over his life again, he pushed ahead of it," Duran said.
Duran went on to compare his friend's decision to take his life as "if he were the writer of his own script."
"In his moment of greatest glory, he made the decision and put the words 'The End' to his own life," Duran said. "Fly high, my brother.
Osorio is survived by his father and two siblings.
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