Leonard Nimoy

At the age of 83, Leonard Nimoy tweeted his last, telling followers to ‘live long and prosper’, his character’s catchphrase from the sci-fi series Star Trek. Just five days later he passed away in his Bel Air home having been admitted to hospital with chest pains the previous week. Nimoy had announced a year earlier that he was suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The progressive lung disease narrows the airways, making it increasingly difficult to breathe and is primarily caused by smoking. “I quit smoking 30 years ago. Not soon enough. I have COPD. Grandpa says, quit now!! LLAP,” Nimoy tweeted in January 2014. Nimoy began his career in his early twenties, teaching acting classes in Hollywood receiving only small parts in low-quality movies throughout the 1950s, along with a minor TV role. He served in the Army for two years, rising to sergeant and spending 18 months at Fort McPherson in Georgia, where he presided over shows for the Army’s Special Services…