Fred and Linda Chamberlain

Frederick Rockwell Chamberlain III and his wife Linda are the founders of the cryonics organization Alcor Life Extension Foundation. Their long and continued history of activism in cryonics make them among the most well-known cryonics pioneers.

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History of activism in cryonics

Fred and Linda Chamberlain met in 1970 as a result of their mutual interest in cryonics. They were both on a committee to organize the Third National Conference On Cryonics sponsored by the Cryonics Society of California (CSC). Fred worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as one of its space program engineers, married with two children, but his wife did not share his interest in cryonics. Linda’s mate also did not have any interest in cryonics.

Fred and Linda became a couple and devoted themselves to cryonics. They formed a cryonics corporation (Manrise) and wrote the first detailed procedure manual for cryonics that had ever existed ^[1]. The procedures manual was crucial in attracting people with a high level of technical expertise to Alcor rather than to CSC. By the spring of 1971, they were legally married and were preparing to give a presentation on their procedures manual, complete with a working prototype of a perfusion system, at the Fourth National Conference On Cryonics in San Francisco.

There were strong resistances to taking cryonics into high technology too quickly, within CSC, and there were other problems, including almost total secrecy as to how CSC's decisions were made and how it was organized and operated. By the summer of 1971, these stresses were beginning to weaken their confidence in CSC, and they felt that they were forced to withdraw from it and pursue some other route.

Fred's father, Frederick Rockwell Chamberlain, Jr., was a very fragile stroke victim, so they formed a new cryonics organization they named Alcor early in 1972, and (through Manrise Corporation) assisted the San Francisco Bay Area people to start Trans Time, Inc. (providing its first perfusion equipment by a contractual arrangement). Cryonics pioneer Mike Darwin moved to California and became the technological core of Alcor for over a year, during which he conducted the first organized research ever done in cryonics on a dedicated basis, supported by Manrise Corporation. Attempts to raise capital for continued research through a new corporation failed, and Mike Darwin returned to his home in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Fred's father was cryopreserved in the summer of 1976, the first neuropreservation ever. Fred's father was stored under contract at Trans Time, Inc. Alcor's Board of Directors was expanded, its methods of electing Directors were changed, Jerry Leaf became part of the cryonics team and there was a merger of Manrise Corporation with Trans Time, Inc. All of these developments considerably improved the strength of Alcor and the cryonics movement.

Fred and Linda started a new property management business (Paradise Rentals) at Lake Tahoe, Nevada. They became the hosts for an annual "Lake Tahoe Life Extension Festival". It started because as part of the merger of Manrise Corporation with Trans Time, Inc., Linda became a director of Trans Time, Inc. as well as of Alcor .

Linda's mother (Arlene Fried) attended one of the Festivals, and (with Linda's urging) joined Alcor and maintained arrangements for several years. Then, she developed terminal cancer that had been unsuspected until the last moment. Alcor mobilized a highly supported remote standby for that. Both Jerry Leaf and Mike Darwin were on hand for nearly a week in Sonoma, California, as Linda's mother went through the final stages of a deliberate dehydration on her part, with hospice support. The outcome was a very high-quality cryopreservation for the time, the best of its kind at that date.

In 1993, concerned that Alcor was in danger of political chaos, Alcor employee Hugh Hixon persuaded the Chamberlains to become involved with Alcor's activities and in the fall of that year, amidst much turmoil, Fred was elected as an Alcor Director, and the Chamberlains accompanied Alcor in its move to Arizona. In February, 1997 Steve Bridge resigned as President of Alcor and the Chamberlains offered to devote themselves to Alcor full-time. Fred became Alcor President and Linda became the Suspension Manager (the person responsible for application of cryopreservation protocol).

Alcor was in a difficult position when the Chamberlains came on board, as to maintaining pace with technology advances and paying for its staff at the same time. A Life Membership program was initiated and a supporting corporation was formed to take over the responsibilities for cryopreservation services (BioTransport, Inc.), following the patterns established earlier by Manrise Corporation, Trans Time, Inc., and Cryovita Corporation (Jerry Leaf's start-up cryonics provider organization). Many difficulties in raising capital and finding the right mix of people led to the subsidiary for cell storage (Cells4Life, Inc.), and failure to raise capital finally forced both corporations into a defunct state.

The Chamberlains had signed for all of the unsecured debt and leases of equipment in both of these corporations (BioTransport, Inc. and Cells4Life, Inc.). In the collapse of these and in the context of an unresolved dispute with Alcor over reimbursement of BioTransport, Inc. for expenses incurred in launching Alcor's vitrification program, the Chamberlains liquidated their life insurance policies for cryonics arrangements and finally had to file bankruptcy.

The circumstances of Linda's forced resignation as President of Alcor only a few months after assuming this role, together with their failure to resolve financial matters with Alcor as mentioned above, finally led to the Chamberlains joining the Cryonics Institute (CI), and beginning the process of working out cryopreservation arrangements anew.

References

• 1.^  Manrise Corporation procedures manual

See also

• Life extension