Anna Nicole's Dad Dies of Lung Cancer

Donald Hogan passes away at the age of 62 after spending three weeks in hospice; Hogan had long blamed Howard K. Stern for his daughter's death

By Gina Serpe, Claudia Rosenbaum Sep 24, 2009 5:59 PMTags
Anna Nicole Smith, Howard K. Stern, Donald HoganScott Suchman / Getty Images, AP Photo/Alan Diaz

This is not a good week to be closely associated with Anna Nicole Smith. First, her doctors and onetime lawyer-lover feel the full weight of the legal system. Now comes word that the late model's father, Donald Hogan, has died after a battle with lung cancer.

Hogan's other daughter and Smith's half-sister, Amy Chapman Hogan, told E! News that "he had a lump in his chest that kept giving him a lot of pain. But for some reason the X-rays didn't find it. By the time the doctors diagnosed he was in the last stages of lung cancer."

The 62-year-old, who had long and loudly blamed Howard K. Stern for his daughter's death, refused treatment and spent three weeks in hospice before passing away.

"He just wanted to go home," Hogan said. "We just buried him on Tuesday. It's been a tough week."

Unfortunately, despite repeat attempts, Hogan said her father never got to see his granddaughter Dannielynn before he died. She says the family tried to contact Larry Birkhead several times to set up a meeting to no avail.

As it is, it's not the only event Hogan wishes her father had been able to witness.

As for the handful of new felonies Stern was slapped with yesterday, she said, "Dad would have been really happy about that."

Something tells us he's not the only one.

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Catch up on the ongoing Anna Nicole Smith saga.