After a short stay with his friend Candy in Goa, Bob came down with a chest infection and was unable to fight it off. He went to hospital, and after several hours there he suffered respiratory failure and passed away. His old friend Candy was with him at the end. He had been living with emphysema for seven years and was recently becoming severely burdened by it. He had been informed that without stopping smoking, his life would be considerably shorter, but as smoking with his dear friends was so central to his life, it was, of course, not an option.