Saul Kent

Saul Kent is a prominent life extension activist, and co-founder of the Life Extension Foundation, a major dietary supplement vendor and promoter of anti-aging research. He is also a pioneer in the controversial practice of cryonics, and is a board member of the cryonics organization Alcor Life Extension Foundation (no connection to the Life Extension Foundation).

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Organizational Activities

Saul Kent became a cryonics activist upon reading Robert Ettinger's book The Prospect of Immortality shortly after it was published in 1964. Kent helped form the New York City branch of Evan Cooper's Life Extension Society (LES). Mr. Kent and others became frustrated with LES when Cooper refused to give names and addresses to the New York group of New Yorkers who had contacted Cooper. Deciding to form a new organization, a meeting took place in August 1965 that included Saul Kent, a lawyer named Curtis Henderson and an industrial designer named Karl Werner .

At the meeting, Karl Werner coined the word "cryonics", and the new organization was called the Cryonics Society of New York (CSNY). In 1966 CSNY began publishing CRYONICS REPORTS, with Saul Kent as its editor.

From the mid 1960s to 1980, Saul Kent wrote articles and books, directed conferences, and was interviewed by the media about the possibility of the extending the healthy human lifespan and the scientific research that supports this possibility. During that period, he had two books published: Future Sex (Warner, 1974) (ASIN B0006W5IRC) and The Life-Extension Revolution (Morrow, 1980) (ISBN 0-688-01952-8). His third book, Your Personal Life Extension Program, was published in 1985 (Morrow) (ISBN 0-688-00629-9).

In 1980, Kent started the Life Extension Foundation, a membership organization that informs people about the latest advances in the life extension sciences, sells dietary supplements, and funds life extension research by offering grants to scientists in universities and by supporting startup biotech companies.

The companies being funded by the Life Extension Foundation include: Twenty-First Century Medicine, which conducts research to cryopreserve organs for transplant and to perfect human suspended animation; Critical Care Research, which conducts hypothermia and resuscitation research; BioMarker Pharmaceuticals, which conducts research to determine the genes involved in aging, with the aim of developing therapies to reverse the aging process; and Suspended Animation, which conducts research to develop advanced systems to improve the practice of human cryopreservation.

Mr. Kent is also involved in a project called Timeship, which involves building a unique facility designed by architect Stephen Valentine to be built somewhere in the United States. This facility will house companies conducting research in the life extension and reanimation sciences and provide long-term care for cryopreserved humans.

In 2000, Kent appeared on documentary filmmaker Errol Morris' television series First Person, where he discussed in depth his beliefs and motivations.

See also

• Alcor Life Extension Foundation
• Cryonics
• Life extension
• Twenty-First Century Medicine