Holocaust survivor Felix Brinkmann escaped death in the gas chambers time and time again, but the popular New York City disco owner ended up losing his life to violence decades later.

Brinkmann was bound, beaten and asphyxiated at the age of 90 in his apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in 2009 as part of a robbery gone wrong.

It was a tragic end for a man whose son, psychologist Rick Brinkman, described in a videotape played in court in 2012 as “a real sweetheart of a guy,” according to the New York Post. 

“I think I’ve seen him angry five times in his whole life,” the son said on the tape.

Brinkmann’s story will be featured on the upcoming third season of .

Brinkmann’s friends and family have chosen to remember him for his larger-than-life personality.

“He loved being the center of attention,” family friend Greg Goloborodko told the Times. “But he wouldn’t have wanted to be remembered for how he went out. He would have wanted to be remembered for how he lived: the family, the friends, the women. Good God, there were a lot of women.”