My mom passed at 83 and for her last week she would not eat. She just wasn’t hungry and she didn’t want a feeding tube. She was always underweight so she didn’t have a lot of energy reserves to live on. She was made comfortable and passed after several days. So I could see a heartbroken Mr. Hackman who wasn’t in the best of health just quit eating after his wife died.
Yes, kudos to his wife to look after him. It is surprising that they didn’t have a daily caregiver coming to the house to do cleaning, laundry, cooking and chores.
Yes, my grandmother had suffered a stroke. She was still conscious and, per the caregivers’ and attending family accounts, could follow instructions and conversations. I was away in college and didn’t talk to her during that time, so I can’t judge her mental acuity beyond that. But at the end, she just gave up and refused to eat. She passed in a couple of days. My grandfather had been dead for years. Two sons and one of the daughters were close enough that they visited daily. She was well attended.
It sounds like Gene and his wife had bunkered in and, after 20 years of this, had become social isolates. It happens. I’m still surprised that they didn’t have someone coming in, but people do odd things.
After my Whipple procedure last June, anything I ate came back up. An NG tube was installed to clear my stomach so the food wouldn't just sit and rot. I wasn't hungry. I was put on a TPN IV to provide nutrition. Surgery was June 25th. My stomach wouldn't pass any food until August 12th. TPN was discontinued and an NJ feeding tube installed. 6 cartons (250 ml) of feeding media was pumped into that tube daily until Dec 23rd. I was able to eat beginning in mid-November. Returning to the point, I still wasn't hungry and would have happily just wasted away without encouragement to eat. I overcame that indifference in late December and I'm eating "normally" now.
Gene may have be similarly indifferent to the need to eat. Assuming his wife passed Feb 11th, he lost that external source of food and encouragement to eat.
He had severe alzheimers. He didnt stop eating deliberately.