His family had him involuntarily committed a few years ago and he never came to terms with it. One of my friends from Talkbass was close with him and said that Pete tried really hard to forgive them but his mother and sister weren't making it easy. I doubt the direct cause was drugs; my guess is that it was a culmination of years of hard living. The weight he had put on recently would be in keeping with retaining fluid from heart failure, which is the official cause of death. It really saddens me because Type O Negative was one of the few bands that I liked for years that didn't disappoint me with bad new material. I hope Pete has some peace now.
