Stolen wholesale from the Baen Universe site:

• Tuckerization is the use of a real person's as a character name, place name, or equipment name in a story. The term is related to the term Red Shirting where a real person's name is used for a character who dies, this term taken from the tendency in Star Trek for red shirted characters to be short lived.
  
• Note that tuckerized characters share only the NAME of the person, not their other characteristics. There are no guarantees.
  
• The term is derived from the works of Wilson "Bob" Tucker, who frequently incuded his friends names as characters in his stories.
  
• Tuckerization is the opposite of the more common roman à clef story in which the characters are all real people whose names and titles have been changed (to protect the innocent) but whose background, appearance, and personality have been kept.
  
• Being tuckerized is considered a high honor in Science Fiction fandom, and popular authors will sometimes auction off tuckerization at conventions as charity auctions, frequently bringing very large prices. The members of the Tucker Circle have agreed that Universe is important enough that they will provide the service of tuckerization of Universe Club members. We are very greatful.

But as for getting killed off due to your own effort, kudos! My grandpappy always used to say a man should be knocked off due to his own bad habits. 'Course grandpappy used to think that the squirrels in the yard could play a mean game of poker. Needless to say, he was a bit crazy. Let's be real: squirrels can't bluff worth a darn. Tails give it away you know.