Derek Humphry (born 29 April 1930) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

-born

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

notable as a proponent of legal assisted suicide and the

right to die The right to die is a concept based on the opinion that human beings are entitled to end their life or undergo voluntary euthanasia. Possession of this right is often understood that a person with a terminal illness, incurable pain, or without ...

. In 1980, he co-founded the

Hemlock Society The Hemlock Society (sometimes called Hemlock Society USA) was an American right-to-die and assisted suicide advocacy organization which existed from 1980 to 2003. It was co-founded in Santa Monica, California by British author and activi ...

and, in 2004, after that organization dissolved, he co-founded

Final Exit Network Final Exit Network, Inc. (FEN) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit right to die advocacy group incorporated under Florida law. It holds that mentally competent adults who suffer from terminal illnesses, intractable pain, or irreversible phys ...

. From 1988 to 1990, he was president of the

World Federation of Right to Die Societies The World Federation of Right to Die Societies is an international federation of associations that promote access to voluntary euthanasia. It holds regular international meetings on dying and death. The World Federation, founded in 1980, consists ...

and is the current president of the Euthanasia Research & Guidance Organization (ERGO). He is the author of several related books, including ''

Jean's Way ''Jean's Way'' (originally subtitled ''A Love Story''), a book by Derek Humphry, is an account of Humphry's terminally ill wife's planned suicide from suffering. The book is his first on the issue of voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide. Ov ...

'' (1978), ''The Right to Die: Understanding Euthanasia'' (1986), and '' Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying'' (1991). Since 1978, Derek Humphry has lived in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Early years

Born to a British father and an Irish mother, he was raised in Somerset. His education was slender because of a broken home followed by World War II, when many English schools were in chaos, finally leaving at the age of 15, when he became a messenger boy for the ''

Yorkshire Post ''The Yorkshire Post'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds in Yorkshire, England. It primarily covers stories from Yorkshire although its masthead carries the slogan "Yorkshire's National Newspaper". It was previously owned by ...

''. In a 30-year journalistic career Humphry worked and wrote for the ''Bristol Evening World'', the ''

Manchester Evening News The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 20 ...

'', the '' Daily Mail'', the '' Sunday Times'' and, lastly, the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

''.

Personal life

His first wife, Jean Humphry, ended her life on 29 March 1975, in the Cotswolds with her husband at her side, with an intentional overdose of medication; she was suffering from terminal breast cancer. He told that story from his perspective in the best-selling ''Jean's Way''. Derek and Jean Humphry had three sons, the youngest one an adoptee. Humphry wrote the 1991 suicide handbook, ''

Final Exit ''Final Exit'' (fully titled ''Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying'') is a 1991 book written by Derek Humphry, a British-born American journalist, author, and assisted suicide advocate who co-f ...

''. From 1993 onwards Humphry has been president of the Euthanasia Research & Guidance Organization (ERGO), and chairs the advisory board of the new

(formed 2004 to replace the Hemlock Society dissolved the previous year in mergers). His marriage to his next wife, Ann Wickett, an American and a co-founder of the

, ended in 1989 when she filed for divorce; they had no children. Ann Wickett committed suicide during a recurrence of depression at the age of 49 on 2 October 1991. She had been battling breast cancer, but the cancer was reportedly in remission. In early 1990 Humphry married Gretchen Crocker, youngest daughter of an Oregon farming family.

Affiliations

Humphry is an advisor to the

by virtue of his past presidency and in appreciation of his 26 years of involvement with that organization. Since it was founded in 2004, Humphry has been an adviser to the

. After four members of the organization were accused in Georgia of assisting a suicide he launched the Final Exit Liberty Fund which paid most of their legal costs. In 2014 Derek Humphry was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the World Federation of Right To Die Societies for "contributing so much, so long and so courageously to our right to a peaceful death." The award was presented by the organization's president, Faye Girsh, at its 20th international conference in Chicago in 2014. It was the first time this award had been made.

Books and publications

Humphry was newsletter editor for the

for a number of years. As of 2016, the paperback ''Final Exit'' was in print in English, Spanish and Italian. It has sold more than one million copies in twelve languages since 1991. In April 2007 the editors and book critics of ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

'' selected ''Final Exit'' as one of the most memorable 25 books of the last quarter century. In 2017 he published his life story, ''Good Life, Good Death: The Memoir of a Right To Die Pioneer'' (Carrel Books, New York. ) The film ''

Nomadland ''Nomadland'' is a 2020 American drama film written, produced, edited and directed by Chloé Zhao. Based on the 2017 nonfiction book '' Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century'' by Jessica Bruder, it stars Frances McDormand ...

'', which won three Oscars in 2021, makes an error regarding ''Final Exit''. One of the characters explains that she had

small-cell lung cancer Small-cell carcinoma is a type of highly malignant cancer that most commonly arises within the lung, although it can occasionally arise in other body sites, such as the cervix, prostate, and gastrointestinal tract. Compared to non-small cell c ...

, that it had metastasized to her brain, and that her doctors have given her seven or eight months to live. Then she says, "I have this book called ''Final Exit'' by Dr. Kevorkian. Some people call him Dr. Death. It's like various ways that you can end your life if you need to. It's kind of like a recipe." The author of ''Final Exit'' is Humphry, not Dr. Kevorkian.

Derek Humphry bibliography

* ''Because They're Black'' (with

Gus John Augustine John (born 11 March 1945)Biography
, Gus John website. is a Martin Luther King Memorial Prize The Martin Luther King Memorial Prize was instituted by novelist John Brunner and his wife and was awarded annually to a literary work published in the US or Britain that was deemed to improve interracial understanding,Derek Humphry''Good Life, Goo ...

Margaret Gay
"Humphry, Derek (1930–)"
in Kathlyn Gay (ed.), ''American Dissidents: An Encyclopedia of Activists, Subversives, and Prisoners of Conscience, Volume 1'', ABC-CLIO, 2012. * ''Police Power and Black People'' (with a commentary by Gus John; 1973), * ''Passport and Politics'' (with Michael Ward; 1974), * ''The Cricket Conspiracy'' (1975),

National Council for Civil Liberties Liberty, formerly, and still formally, called the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), is an advocacy group and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, which challenges unjust laws, protects civil liberties and promotes hu ...

, * ''False Messiah: The Story of Michael X'' (1977), * '' Jean's Way: A Love Story'' (1978), * ''The Right to Die: Understanding Euthanasia'' (1986), * '' Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying'' (1991, updated 2002, 3rd edition), * ''Lawful Exit: The Limits of Freedom for Help in Dying'' (1993), * ''Dying with Dignity'' (1992), * ''Freedom to Die: People, Politics & The Right-To-Die Movement'' (1998), * ''Let Me Die Before I Wake'' (& Supplement to ''Final Exit''; 2002), * '' The Good Euthanasia Guide: Where, What & Who in Choices in Dying'' (2006), * '' Good Life, Good Death: The Memoir of a Right To Die Pioneer'',

References

* ''Curiosities of Literature'', pp. 141, 248–249. By John Sutherland/ Arrow Books 2008. * ''NOTE: For a full and independent biography of Derek Humphry, see ''Current Biography'', Volume 56, Number 3, March 1995'' * Derek Humphry's books, manuscripts, papers and documents are archived at Special Collections, Allen Library, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

External links

''Good Life, Good Death''

Assisted Suicide.org website

Amazon Bibliography for Derek Humphry
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Humphry, Derek 1930 births Living people American male journalists 20th-century American novelists British male journalists People from Bath, Somerset Euthanasia activists Euthanasia in the United States Persons involved with death and dying People from Junction City, Oregon 21st-century American novelists British emigrants to the United States American male novelists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers