Mark Brandon Chopper Read dies at age 58 from liver cancer in Melbourne Witty, intelligent, but potentially very dangerous OBITUARY: after more than 23 years in prison, Mark "Chopper" Read found a way to re-enter "normal" society as an author, musician, husband and father. PT2M40S http://www.smh.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-2v8fk 620 349 October 9, 2013 - 6:12PM Notorious Melbourne crime figure turned author Mark Brandon Read has died after a long battle with liver cancer aged 58. Read died at the Royal Melbourne Hospital on Wednesday afternoon "after a long and courageous battle with liver cancer," his manager Andrew Parisi said. Back in the day: Mark 'Chopper' Read is escorted to a police divvy van. I am deeply saddened to confirm the death of Mark Brandon Read, known widely throughout Australia and the world as 'Chopper'. Mark passed away today at the Royal Melbourne Hospital after a long and courageous battle with liver cancer. Read made his last public appearance in front of a sold-out audience at Melbourne's Athenaeum Theatre a fortnight ago. "Despite his failing health, he delighted the audience with his skills as a raconteur and storyteller," Mr Parisi said. Chopper Read has died of liver cancer. Photo: Jon Reid This is how he would wish to be remembered, as someone who spun a great yarn and made many people laugh. Read's death was a tragic loss for his wife, Margaret, and his sons, Roy and Charlie. For more than fifteen years, Mark has lived a quiet life with Margaret in Collingwood. He worked as a writer, painter and public speaker, paid his taxes and took care of his family. "At the time of his death, we ask that people reflect on how Mark was able to overcome his past and, after more than 23 years in prison, find a way to re-enter "normal" society. It is as a husband, father and friend that Mark will be missed most deeply. The family requested privacy in their time of grief. Read had spent much of his adult life in prison for committing multiple violent crimes, and gained infamy in his younger days for sometimes using a blowtorch or bolt cutters to remove the toes of his targets. He also had a fellow Pentridge Prison inmate slice off both of his ears while in jail. Read later used his career in crime as the basis for a series of bestselling true crime books, although exactly how "true" many of the stories are has been questioned. "Look, honestly, I haven't killed that many people," Read said in an interview with The New York Times earlier this year, "probably about four or seven, depending on how you look at it." Read was diagnosed with liver cancer in April last year and he also had cirrhosis. He said his illness started after contracting hepatitis C while in prison. Wilhelmina McGee won't soon forget the first bloke to walk into the Leinster Arms Hotel when she and her husband bought it in 2001. "Chopper" would become a good mate and regular source of entertainment. "He lived his life pretty hard," she said. Even in the past four years when his drink of choice was a "raspberry lemonade" Chopper could hold the room with his humour. "The 12 years I've known Mark I've never seen a bad side, an angry side, I don't know what he did in his previous life, but he was just a normal family man," she said. He told so many stories over the years I don't even know where to start. For his former publicist and friend Di Rolle, Read was simply "a unique Australian character." "Beneath his incredible machismo was a very gentle, straight shooting giant of an Australian man," she said. There's only ever going to be one Chopper Read.