Private Service for Hunter S. Thompson

Wed May 25, 1:18 PM ET

ASPEN, Colo. - Plans for a public ceremony celebrating the life of Hunter S. Thompson have been canceled in favor of a private memorial service.

The Aug. 20 ceremony, which will include the scattering of the author's ashes on his Aspen-area ranch, will coincide with the six-month anniversary of Thompson's death, said Doug Brinkley, one of the planners of the memorial.

Thompson shot himself in the head on Feb. 20 after a long and flamboyant career that produced new journalism classics such as "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," and cast his image as a hard-charging, drug-crazed daredevil.

The rest of the story