Gunter Sachs | Photographer, 78

German-born photographer Gunter Sachs, 78, best known for his playboy lifestyle and brief marriage to French actress Brigitte Bardot, has committed suicide, his family said Sunday.

In a statement released by his family at his request, Mr. Sachs said he chose to end his life after concluding that he was suffering from an incurable degenerative disease affecting his memory and ability to communicate.

"I have always stood up to big challenges," the statement said. It provided no details on the timing or circumstances of his death, but German weekly Focus reported that Mr. Sachs shot himself Saturday at his home in the exclusive Swiss Alpine resort of Gstaad.

He was born into a wealthy industrialist family in 1932, and he used his inheritance and business acumen to fund a glamorous lifestyle that fascinated many in postwar Germany of the 1960s and 1970s.

He is survived by Bardot, to whom he was married from 1966 to 1969; his third wife, Mirja Larsson; and their sons Christian and Alexander, and son Rolf from his first marriage. - AP