Theodore A. Sypnier, a 101-year-old pedophile, went to prison last spring saying he would rather die than spend another day behind bars.

He died early Tuesday, and his daughter says the family is relieved.

"The world is that much safer because he is not here," said Martha Juchnowski, his daughter and one of his victims. "I think I can speak for my family: There is a sense of relief. This has been a horrible thing that has been hanging over our heads all our lives."

Sypnier, the oldest inmate imprisoned by the state, died of natural causes at 12:23 a.m. Tuesday in a prison medical unit, according to Linda M. Foglia, spokeswoman for the Department of Correctional Services.

Before he was sent back to prison in April on a parole violation, Sypnier, weeping, told The Buffalo News, "I don't want to go back. I'd rather die."

As word spread of his death, no tears were being shed for the man who authorities said sexually attacked children for decades in Buffalo and later in the Town of Tonawanda.

"I hope this brings a little bit of comfort to his family and those he hurt so deeply. You can't go back and change things," said the Rev. Terry J. King, whose organization, Saving Grace Ministries, assists ex-convicts.

Sypnier had received temporary shelter in King's East Side halfway house after he was released on parole in the fall of 2009.

"We did not want him to hurt again or victimize anyone. Certainly he had hurt enough people through his lifetime," King said. "It is sad all the way around."

Last Wednesday, Sypnier's health began to fail, and he was transferred from Groveland Correctional Facility in Livingston County to the Coxsackie Correctional Facility's regional medical unit in Greene County, south of Albany.

A prison chaplain spoke with Sypnier in his final days, but Juchnowski said she was not aware that he had expressed any remorse.

"The minister for the facility told me he did speak with my father over the weekend. He said the conversation was very inconsequential. I don't know if my father knew he was dying," the daughter said.

"At least, at this point, I know my grandchildren are safe. That is the most important thing to me. I can sleep now," Juchnowski said in recalling how Sypnier had made past statements that he wanted to reach out to younger members of his family since the older ones would have nothing to do with him.

Sypnier's release on parole in the fall of 2009 generated a controversy, with Juchnowski, other victims and area state lawmakers saying that if ever there was a case for indefinite civil confinement under state law, Sypnier fit the bill, given his predatory history.

He had been convicted of sexual inappropriate behavior with two young sisters in the Town of Tonawanda in 1999. Initially released in 2008, he was sent back to prison because of another parole violation before his release last year.

In April, Sypnier was again sent back to prison for violating his parole -- missing classes he was ordered to attend to address his sexually deviant behavior.

He also refused to take responsibility for his acts against children, at least publicly. Privately, he told a counselor who was evaluating him that he had molested children, but the admission came with an explanation.

"He angrily told the writer [of the report] some of his deviant behavior he did to his victims, but he blamed his victims for fabrications and [the fact that] he was drunk," a report on an assessment from the Mid-Erie Counseling and Treatment Services stated.

When Sypnier was brought up on the latest parole violation at a hearing last spring, he wept for mercy but was told that it would be unlikely, given his history of missing classes for sex offenders. He took off his eyeglasses and dabbed tears.

With Sypnier's death, the oldest inmate housed by the state is another local man, John H. Bunz, 91, of Amherst, who is serving 17 1/2 years in prison for bludgeoning his wife, Virginia H. Bunz, 89, to death with a hammer in March in their apartment.

Bunz is in Wende Correctional Facility's regional health care unit in Alden.

There will be no funeral service for Sypnier, and burial will be private.

"This," Juchnowski said, "is not your typical loss of a parent."

lmichel@buffnews.comnull