Robert Schindler, the father of Terri Schiavo, has died of heart failure. He was 71.
    
Schindler was a key figure in the battle over whether his brain-injured daughter, Terri, should be kept alive.
    
Schiavo's family became the center of the national debate over the so called "right to die," pitting her father against her husband who wanted to have her feeding tube removed.
    
The courts decided to remove it and let Schiavo die in 2005.
         
"I am heartbroken over the loss of my father and yet I know at this moment he is rejoicing with my sister, Terri," his son, Bobby Schindler, said Saturday in a statement.
    
Funeral services for Schindler will be held Friday in Pennsylvania.