When Walter Miller committed suicide he wrote out his will, wrote letters to each of his children, and then called the police to tell them that there was a dead man on his front lawn. He went outside, sat in his lawn chair and shot himself.
I was assigned, and read, Canticle for Liebowitz.
Never knew the author did such a thing. The anecdote you relate makes me see him as an ultimate Richard. What a horrible hateful thing to do to people.