John Hofsess (May 27, 1938 – February 29, 2016) was a Canadian writer, filmmaker and

right-to-die The right to die is a concept rooted in the belief that individuals have the Self-ownership, autonomy to make fundamental decisions about their own lives, including the choice to Suicide, end them or undergo voluntary euthanasia, central to the b ...

activist.

Early life and education

John Hofsess was born May 27, 1938, to Jack and Gladys Hofsess. He began working as a busboy at 15 at

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood, Ontario, Ainslie Wood and Westdale, Ontario, Westd ...

in Hamilton, Ontario and, due to his parents' ill health, became the family's breadwinner at age 23. At age 25 Hofsess enrolled in

and, while continuing to work as a busboy there, began to study English. Three years later, in 1966, Hofsess founded the McMaster Film Board, alongside

Ivan Reitman Ivan Reitman (; October 27, 1946 – February 12, 2022) was a Canadian film director and producer. He was known for his comedy films, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. Reitman was the owner of The Montecito Picture Company, founded in 1998. ...

, who would later direct ''

National Lampoon's Animal House ''National Lampoon's Animal House'' is a 1978 American comedy film directed by John Landis and written by Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney and Chris Miller. It stars John Belushi, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Thomas Hulce, and ...

'', and the first ''

Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, three eccentric ...

'' film, and produce the sequel. During this time, Hofsess produced 1967's ''Palace of Pleasure'' (which had a brief

David Cronenberg David Paul Cronenberg (born March 15, 1943) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He is a principal originator of the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformation, infectious diseases, and ...

cameo) and ''Columbus of Sex'', which were praised by

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

critics. ''Columbus of Sex'', which Hofsess made for US$3,000 while attending McMaster, was re-edited with new footage and retitled as ''My Secret Life'' for U.S. release in the early 1970s.

Later work

After being charged with obscenity, Hofsess never worked on another film. He did however found the Filmmakers Co-operative of Canada alongside Peter Rowe and later became a film critic. Hofsess would also publish ''Inner Views'' in 1975, a collection of interviews with numerous Canadian filmmakers.

Right-to-die activism

Hofsess had long been a supporter of assisted suicide, but the suicide of Canadian filmmaker

Claude Jutra Claude Jutra (; March 11, 1930 – November 5, 1986) was a Canadian actor, film director, and screenwriter.

in 1986, following a diagnosis of early-onset

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

, was noted by him and others to be the tipping point for Hofsess progression into activism. In 1991, Hofsess created the Right to Die Society of Canada which targeted laws that made assisting suicide a crime. Hofsess would also create the magazine ''Last Rights'', which dealt with similar subjects.

Death

At 77, Hofsess was diagnosed with terminal pulmonary fibrosis and prostate cancer; he also suffered from an unstable heart. In his final weeks, he said "my quality of life has disintegrated". After assisting in the suicide of others in at least eight instances, Hofsess took his own life at a clinic of the Eternal Spirit Foundation, near

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hofsess, John Canadian non-fiction writers Euthanasia activists 1938 births 2016 deaths Deaths by euthanasia