[Leonard Bernstein's] emphysema had been a longstanding condition, and for years he had also suffered from asthma attacks and bouts of bronchitis. At a memorial service in 1986 for Alan Jay Lerner, Bernstein's admirers held up a sign saying, ''We love you - stop smoking.'' But despite all the illnesses and the urgings, he couldn't stop, right up to his death.
''The great thing about conducting,'' he said at the time, ''is you don't smoke and you breathe in great gobs of oxygen.''
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