Paragraph 12 reads: "[Greg] started taking the anti-depressant drug Prozac three weeks before his death. Instead of helping, that seemed to depress him further. Greg was a man who would never consciously choose to cause pain to his family or to his friends. I am convinced that it was the drug that caused him to take his life," she said during the memorial service.
Tuesday, April 29, 2003 -- NORTHAMPTON - The son of the internationally renowned artist Gregory J. Gillespie has filed a lawsuit against his widow, claiming she drove his father to commit suicide in April 2000, and that since Gillespie's death she has been selling his artwork against the wishes expressed in his will. Nearly three years to the day after his father took his life, Vincent Gillespie of Northampton filed suit in Hampshire Superior Court against his stepmother, Peggy Roggenbuck Gillespie. Peggy Gillespie's lawyer said the suit has no merit, and that Vincent Gillespie has no grounds to file such a complaint. Vincent Gillespie also filed a separate lawsuit against Eli Lilly and Co., the makers of Prozac, claiming the medication played a role in his father's death. Both complaints were filed Friday by Vincent Gillespie, who is not represented by a lawyer. Gregory Gillespie's works have been extensively exhibited at museums in the United States and Europe, and are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. He died April 26, 2000, at age 63 in his Belchertown home. At the time of his death, his wife, Peggy Gillespie, said his suicide came after a long battle with depression. The seven-page lawsuit against Peggy Gillespie alleges that she cheated on Gregory Gillespie and withheld sex, driving him to depression and then to suicide. Peggy Gillespie's lawyer, David Kaplan of Amherst, said the "maliciously filed" allegations are "gross and painfully untrue." Kaplan said that Vincent Gillespie was left "five minor paintings" in his father's will and that he believes the son's purpose in filing the suit is "to cause pain to his stepmother and to reopen the will." Another prong of Vincent Gillespie's lawsuit alleges that Peggy Gillespie disobeyed her husband's will, which states that he wanted her to attempt to publicly show his artwork before it was put up for sale. "... she has just been selling the paintings for profit," the suit states. Reached at her Belchertown home Monday night, Peggy Gillespie, a social worker specializing in stress reduction, said Vincent has been filing motions for months in Probate Court. All have been struck down by judges, Kaplan said. "He's been doing one thing after another," she said. Beyond that she declined comment, referring questions to Kaplan. Vincent Gillespie blames Peggy Gillespie for her husband's death. The suit claims she inflicted conscious pain and suffering on his father, which in turn inflicted emotional distress on him, and seeks compensation for subsequent loss of his father-son relationship. The suit seeks a financial penalty "the court shall deem just and proper with interest and costs." In a memorial service held in May 2000, Peggy Gillespie said her husband had been open about his battle with depression. She said at the time that he had been worried about difficulties in his life and started taking the anti-depressant drug Prozac three weeks before his death. Instead of helping, that seemed to depress him further. "Greg was a man who would never consciously choose to cause pain to his family or to his friends. I am convinced that it was the drug that caused him to take his life," she said during the memorial service. She said she and her husband spent their last night together as they had many other evenings, rubbing each other's feet and talking. She said when she left for work the day he took his life, she told him she loved him. Kimberly Ashton can be reached at kashton@gazettenet
