About My Father Should Die in Winter

Asher Marks was often called the “Godfather of Pulmonary Medicine” in South Florida. A towering, sometimes irascible bear of a man, capable of frightening rage and deep silences, he was also gifted with a wry sense of humor and a fierce devotion to his family. He died in 2017 after a long, debilitating illness.

Leah Marks, his granddaughter, was one of the brightest and most popular teens in the Mountain Brook suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, until her life was ended by a drunk driver in 2007.

The lives and loss of these two remarkable people resonate as the author tries to explain to his young son how a “real man” deals with grief and expresses love.