Dr. Nicholas Bartha, the Upper East Side doctor who blew up his E. 62nd Street townhouse as a part of his complicated divorce strategy/suicide attempt, died late last night at New York Presbyterian hospital, where he'd been in a medically induced coma since the explosion last Tuesday. Bartha had been ordered by the court to sell his house in order to pay the $4 million judgment awarded his ex-wife Cordula, but in an incoherent suicide email sent shortly before the building collapsed, he wrote, "I will only leave the house if I am dead." No comment from the ex, but she's probably on the phone with a realtor, cancelling the paperwork on some new bachelorette pad she'd had her eye on.

Meanwhile, an update on more of the real victims: Bartha's neighbors filed suit against him on Friday and intend to proceed against his estate, claiming that his little stunt damaged their building and forced them to leave their co-op. The poor things — nobody forces Muffy out to the Gin Lane manor before she's had a chance to properly pack.

Suspect in NYC Building Collapse Dies [AP]
Earlier: Gawker's Coverage of the UES Explosion