Simon Boas

Simon Charles Boas (6 July 1977 – 15 July 2024) was a British aid worker who worked for development charities and the United Nations (UN). His inspirational writings about his terminal illness diagnosis were featured in British national newspapers and on BBC Radio 4's ''Today'' programme.

Early life and education

He grew up in London where he attended Dulwich College Preparatory School, before moving to Winchester where he won a scholarship for his secondary education at Winchester College, an all-boys boarding school. His father was a businessman, and his mother was a book editor who also worked for Citizens Advice. Both volunteer for Shelter and their local food bank.

Boas volunteered at a night shelter while at school. At the age of 16 he delivered his first humanitarian aid convoy to a refugee camp near Mostar in Bosnia with a church group, encountering mass graves and bombed out villages. During a gap year he lived in Cambodia and Vietnam.

He studied English at Brasenose College, Oxford, but a car accident meant he did not sit his final exams. In 2006–7 he studied for a master's degree in international policy analysis at the University of Bath, graduating with distinction.

Career

After university, Boas worked as a tour guide in Egypt, Turkey and India. In 2004 he went on to work for the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS). In 2008 he worked in Ramallah for a year as special adviser to the Minister of Planning and International Cooperation for the Palestinian National Authority. During this time he met his French future wife Aurélie when he helped her onto a crowded bus from Tel Aviv airport to Jerusalem. She described him as "a tall English gentleman in a Panama, reading ''The Economist''". In March 2009 he became country director for Palestine at Planète Finance, a Paris-based NGO.

After their marriage, the couple lived in the Gaza Strip from 2010 to 2012 where he was head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization office. In November 2012, they moved to Nepal where he worked for the same organisation as coordinator of its Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases.

In October 2014 they returned to the UK and he began work for the Government, where he was seconded to several organisations including HM Revenue & Customs and the Government of Jersey. They moved permanently to Jersey in 2016 where he was executive director of Jersey's overseas aid agency from that October until his death in 2024.

During their time in Jersey, Boas and his wife volunteered for the Honorary Police in their home parish of Trinity, which entailed being called out to deal with incidents like dangerous overhanging branches and loose horses, but he never made any arrests. He became a Samaritans volunteer in 2019, manning a crisis hotline. He was a trustee of Jersey Heritage from 2020 and became chairman in 2023.

Cancer diagnosis

A heavy smoker, Boas estimated that he had smoked around 200,000 cigarettes over 30 years and described a few periods of his drinking as "fairly Churchillian". In September 2023, when he was age 46, Boas wrote an article in the ''Jersey Evening Post'' where he announced that lumps in his neck and difficulty swallowing had been diagnosed as terminal throat cancer. Despite chemotherapy and radiotherapy at Southampton General Hospital, the squamous-cell carcinoma spread to his lungs, liver, spine, pelvis, sternum and soft tissues.

The newspaper published the second of three articles about his diagnosis and approach to life on 11 February 2024, and it was subsequently reprinted in ''The Spectator'', ''The Daily Telegraph'' and the ''Daily Mail''. He also read it on the BBC Radio 4 programme ''Broadcasting House''.

His third and final article was published on 13 May 2024. People from all over the world contacted him, including celebrants and priests who wanted permission to read parts of the letters at weddings or in sermons.

In May 2024 he was awarded the Bailiff of Jersey's silver seal "for his contribution to the Island through service to the community and to the betterment of humanity through both his work in Jersey Overseas Aid and by his writings". On 6 July he moved into Jersey Hospice Care. During his last days, he was due to meet Charles III and Queen Camilla at a tea party during their visit to the island, but as his condition had worsened, instead the Lieutenant Governor of Jersey delivered a hand-written letter from them which said how moved they had been by his charitable work and courage.

He died at the hospice on 15 July 2024, the day of the royal visit.

''A Beginner's Guide to Dying''

His book, ''A Beginner's Guide to Dying'' (), became the second-best seller on Amazon.co.uk through pre-orders before being published posthumously in hardback by Swift Press on 12 September 2024. He also narrated an audiobook version.

The first section of the book includes copies of the ''Jersey Evening Post'' articles. A section entitled 'Death and Equanimity' includes his thoughts on meditation, gratitude, God and religion, counselling, others' grief, psychedelics in which he advocates use of psilocybin, miracle cures, hope and acceptance, thinking about death, optimism, regrets and bucket lists. The final section gives his advice on interacting with the dying.

Reviewing the book for ''The Guardian'', Alex Preston wrote that "you're struck repeatedly by the terrible juxtaposition of the rush of erudition from this fantastically bright mind still thrumming with life and wit, and the silence of the end, which is so near." ... "There are wonderful vignettes, beautiful meditations on faith and friendship, advice for the dying and those around them."

Some of the proceeds from the book will be donated to the International Children's Palliative Care Network and African Palliative Care Association. It became a bestseller in the first week of sales, and all 20,000 copies in the initial print run sold within the first month. The book is to be published in seven other countries including Germany, Japan, Latvia and Taiwan.

Legacy

At the Pride of Jersey Awards on 24 October 2024, Boas was posthumously awarded the Gary Burgess award, which was established in memory of a Jersey journalist who died of cancer in 2022 "to recognise islanders who stand out as beacons of the community and for bringing people together in times of adversity".

In November 2024, Jersey Finance renamed one of its Sustainable Finance Awards the "Simon Boas Award for Outstanding Individual Contribution". He had previously been a member of the judging panel. The award was presented for the first time in 2025 by his widow.

On 26 December 2024, Emma Barnett's interview with him for BBC Radio 4's ''Today'' programme was selected as "Interview of the Year 2024".

See also

* ''Being Mortal''

References

External links

*

{{Authority control
1977 births
2024 deaths
British aid workers
People educated at Winchester College
Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford
Alumni of the University of Bath
People in international development
Food and Agriculture Organization officials
Jersey writers
Writers from London
21st-century English male writers
Deaths from throat cancer in the United Kingdom
Tobacco-related deaths