Protesting Iraq war, a Chicago man sets self on fire and dies.

Peter Margasak at the Chicago Reader blog writes,

On Saturday the Sun-Times ran a small item about a man who had set himself on fire during rush hour Friday morning near the Ohio Street exit on the Kennedy. His identity had not been determined at the time, but members of the local jazz and improvised music community now say they are certain it was Malachi Ritscher, a longtime supporter of the scene.

At left, a photograph of Mr. Ritscher at an earlier anti-war protest in Chicago. More about his apparent self-immolation here: Link. (thanks, agnieszka)

Reader comment: Anonymous says,

He had a myspace page: Link; And even wrote his own obituary: Link.

Another article about his death: Link.

bri adds,

There is also this "Mission Statement"/suicide note.

Joe Germuska says,

Thanks for posting Malachi's story on Boing Boing. I thought you might be interested in this local TV news coverage, including a
chopper flyover of the scene. Link.