Editing Michael Lerner (rabbi) (section)

===Personal life, illness and death===
Lerner was married to Theirrie Cook until divorcing; he was then married to Nan Fink until divorcing in 1991, to Debora Kohn from 1998 until divorcing in 2014, and then to Cat Zavis in 2015, from whom he had separated in 2024.<ref name = Langer/> Lerner and Cook had a son.<ref name = Langer/>

In February 2009 Lerner publicly announced he had been diagnosed with lung cancer, and mentioned this in many promotional mailings and published pieces.<ref>There is also a champion of Alternative Medicine treatments of cancer named Michael Lerner [http://www.bigspeak.com/michael-lerner.html] who is unrelated.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://forward.com/articles/103602/tikkun-s-founder-i-have-cancer-give-to-my/|title=Tikkun's Founder: 'I Have Cancer,' Give to My Cause|author=Rebecca Spence|date=March 4, 2009|website=Jewish Daily Forward|access-date=August 27, 2013}}</ref> He was treated with surgery in March 2009, which was apparently successful.

Lerner died at his home in Berkeley on August 28, 2024, at the age of 81; he had [[congestive heart failure]], and died through assisted suicide permitted by the [[California End of Life Option Act]].<ref name = Langer/><ref name = Nossiter/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://forward.com/opinion/649188/michael-lerner-rabbi-appreciation-jewish-justice-spirituality-tikkun/ |title=How Rabbi Michael Lerner merged spirituality and social justice and influenced a generation of progressives |first=Jay |last=Michaelson |date=August 30, 2024 |website=[[The Forward]] }}</ref>