Saul Kent (July 18, 1939 – May 26, 2023) was a

life extension Life extension is the concept of extending the human lifespan, either modestly through improvements in medicine or dramatically by increasing the maximum lifespan beyond its generally-settled biological limit of around 125 years. Several resea ...

activist, and co-founder of the

Life Extension Foundation The Biomedical Research & Longevity Society, formerly the Life Extension Foundation (LEF), is a company founded in 1980 to extend the healthy human lifespan by discovering methods to control aging and eradicate disease. Along with the Life Exten ...

, a

dietary supplement A dietary supplement is a manufactured product intended to supplement a person's diet by taking a pill (pharmacy), pill, capsule (pharmacy), capsule, tablet (pharmacy), tablet, powder, or liquid. A supplement can provide nutrients eithe ...

vendor and promoter of anti-aging research. He was also a pioneer in the practice of

cryonics Cryonics (from ''kryos'', meaning "cold") is the low-temperature freezing (usually at ) and storage of human remains in the hope that resurrection may be possible in the future. Cryonics is regarded with skepticism by the mainstream scien ...

, and was a board member of the cryonics organization

Alcor Life Extension Foundation The Alcor Life Extension Foundation, most often referred to as Alcor, is an American nonprofit, federally tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization based in Scottsdale, Arizona, United States. Alcor advocates for, researches, and performs cryonics, the ...

Career

Cryonics

Kent became a cryonics

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

while a college student, upon hearing

Robert Ettinger Robert Chester Wilson Ettinger (; December 4, 1918 – July 23, 2011) was an American academic, known as "the father of cryonics" because of the impact of his 1962 book ''The Prospect of Immortality''. Ettinger founded the Cryonics Institu ...

on a radio show appearance and subsequently reading Ettinger's book ''The Prospect of Immortality'' shortly after it was published in 1964. Kent was

cryopreserved Cryopreservation or cryoconservation is a process where biological material - cells, tissues, or organs - are frozen to preserve the material for an extended period of time. At low temperatures (typically or using liquid nitrogen) any cell m ...

by Alcor in May 2023.

Cryopreservation of mother

In 1988, Saul Kent made national headlines, because he brought his mother, Dora Kent, to the

, a California cryopreservation facility, where she died and her head was cryopreserved. The authorities were unable to locate her head for autopsy.

Life Extension Foundation

In 1977 he established the ''Florida Cryonics Association'' as a public charity with the stated purpose of promoting cryobiology research. In 1980, Kent started the

along with William Faloon, a membership organization that claims to inform people about the latest advances in the

sciences, sell

s, and fund life extension research by offering grants to scientists in universities and by supporting startup

biotech Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists in the field are kn ...

companies.

Timeship

Kent and Faloon were involved in a project called Timeship, which involves building a facility designed by an architect Stephen Valentine (starting from 1997) to house companies conducting research in the

and reanimation sciences and provide long-term care for cryopreserved humans. The Timeship Project, when built, will be located at the Stasis Foundation Biotechnology Research Park, in

Comfort, Texas Comfort is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Kendall County, Texas, Kendall County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, it had a population of 2,363. Comfort ...

, on a 646-acre property formerly known as the Bildarth Estate.

References

External links

Alcor's Dora Kent Crisis and Legal Aftermath
(source documents)

at Alcor {{DEFAULTSORT:Kent, Saul 1939 births 2023 deaths American chief executives Life extensionists Cryonically preserved people Place of birth missing Date of death missing