York was a three-pack-a-day smoker for much of his life and often smoked cigarettes on the set of "Bewitched"; he spent his final years battling emphysema. By 1989, he was using an oxygen tank to help him breathe. While bedridden in his Rockford, Michigan, home, he founded "Acting for Life", a private charity to help the homeless and others in need. Using his telephone as his pulpit, York motivated politicians, business people, and the general public to contribute supplies and money.