(Till Eulenspiegel image from answers.com)

Recently, a man died unexpectedly while running a tractor in a small Illinois town. The man was a skilled farmer and loved his land, and he was using the tractor to clear the road for his neighbors, who were having an anniversary party. He had offered to make their grounds look nice for the party, because that was the type of person he was--generous and giving of his time. Curiously enough, the man was also a lawyer who'd been raised in the city of Chicago, but he easily moved back and forth between his rural and urban identities.

Over recent years, he had managed to survive a heart attack and cancer and almost be back to his normal high energy level, but unfortunately he was not able to survive this accident. And about the only positive thing is that if there was any choice in the way to go, this man would not have wanted to have things end while wasting away in a hospital; he probably would have preferred to have it happen as it happened, while he was outdoors and active and otherwise enjoying a beautiful day. And while doing someone a favor.

The rabbi who presided over the memorial compared this man to the German folk hero Till Eulenspiegel, because he was known for his wit and many jokes. I looked up Till Eulenspiegel and found this entry in Wikipedia referring to the Richard Strauss musical piece inspired by the original stories:

The clarinet theme is heard next, suggesting Till's laughter as he plots his next prank. The music follows Till throughout the countryside, as he rides a horse through a market, upsetting the goods and wares, pokes fun at the strict Teutonic clergy, flirts and chases girls (the love theme is given to a solo violin), and mocks the serious academics. The music suggesting a horse ride returns again, with the first theme restated all over the orchestra, when the climax abruptly changes to a funeral march. Till has been captured by the authorities, and is sentenced to hang...The funeral march of the hangman begins a dialogue with the desperate Till, who tries to wheedle and joke his way out of this predicament. Unfortunately, he has no effect on the stony executioner, who pulls the lever...After a moment of silence, the 'once upon a time' theme heard at the beginning returns, suggesting that something like Till can never be destroyed, and the work ends with one last musical joke.

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Yeah, sure sounds a lot like Stephen R. Chesler to me.