Jerry Donnell Leaf (April 4, 1941 – July 10, 1991) was Vice President and Director of the

cryonics Cryonics (from el, κρύος ''kryos'' meaning 'cold') is the low-temperature freezing (usually at ) and storage of human remains, with the speculative hope that resurrection may be possible in the future. Cryonics is regarded with skepticis ...

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 ...

, and President of the

service firm Cryovita, Inc. until his death in 1991. He was subsequently

cryopreserved Cryo-preservation or cryo-conservation is a process where organisms, organelles, cells, tissues, extracellular matrix, organs, or any other biological constructs susceptible to damage caused by unregulated chemical kinetics are preserved by co ...

by Alcor. Leaf joined the United States Army and fought in special operations during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. Upon return, he received a bachelor's degree in philosophy from

Cerritos College Cerritos College is a public community college in Norwalk, California. It offers degrees and certificates in 87 areas of study in nine divisions. History The college was founded in 1955. It was named after Rancho Los Cerritos, a local r ...

. He also worked as a

cardiothoracic surgery Cardiothoracic surgery is the field of medicine involved in surgical treatment of organs inside the thoracic cavity — generally treatment of conditions of the heart ( heart disease), lungs (lung disease), and other pleural or mediastinal st ...

researcher at the

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

School of Medicine, co-authoring more than 20 papers from the laboratory of Dr.

Gerald Buckberg Gerald Buckberg (September 29, 1935 – September 20, 2018) was an American surgeon. His research initially centered in the area of myocardial protection and led to the introduction of blood cardioplegia, which is currently used by over 85% of s ...

. During the late 1970s and 1980s, Leaf transformed the field of

by bringing unprecedented medical expertise to the field and introducing technologies and procedures of

thoracic surgery Cardiothoracic surgery is the field of medicine involved in surgical treatment of organs inside the thoracic cavity — generally treatment of conditions of the heart (heart disease), lungs (lung disease), and other pleural or mediastinal struc ...

, especially heart-lung bypass, for improved blood vessel access and life support of cryonics patients. Leaf was involved in the first experiments done by a cryonics organization. He is most famous for developing with

Mike Darwin Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documen ...

a blood substitute shown capable of sustaining life in dogs for four hours at near-freezing temperatures. Leaf was the head of Alcor's suspension team and participated in many suspensions of Alcor patients.

Cryovita Laboratories

In 1978, after teaching surgery as a research associate at UCLA, Leaf founded Cryovita Laboratories. Cryovita was a for-profit organization which provided cryopreservation services and the building for Alcor in the 1980s, including storage of the first cryonics patient,

James Bedford James Hiram Bedford (April 20, 1893 – January 12, 1967) was an American psychology professor at the University of California who wrote several books on occupational counseling. He is the first person whose body was cryopreserved after legal de ...

, from 1982. During this time, Leaf also collaborated with Michael Darwin in a series of hypothermia experiments in which dogs were resuscitated with no measurable neurological deficit after hours in deep hypothermia, just a few degrees above zero Celsius. The blood substitute which was developed for these experiments became the basis for the washout solution used at Alcor. Together, Leaf and Darwin developed a standby-transport model for human cryonics cases with the goal of intervening immediately after

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possib ...

and minimizing

ischemic Ischemia or ischaemia is a restriction in blood supply to any tissue, muscle group, or organ of the body, causing a shortage of oxygen that is needed for cellular metabolism (to keep tissue alive). Ischemia is generally caused by problems wi ...

injury, the "gold standard" of technology at that time, in which a patient's

kidney The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blood ...

was considered to be in transplantable condition two days after his or her death. Leaf and Darwin transferred Bedford, the first person cryopreserved, to a more technologically advanced dewar at Alcor in 1991 and were able to examine him at that time. A member of the

Society for Cryobiology The Society for Cryobiology is an international scientific society that was founded in 1964. Its objectives are to promote research in low temperature biology, to improve scientific understanding in this field, and to disseminate and aid in the app ...

, Leaf objected to a 1980s change by the Society to amend its bylaws to prevent cryonicists from holding membership in the Society. With no history of heart disease, Leaf suffered a fatal heart attack in 1991. Leaf was cryopreserved by Alcor.

References

External links

Interview with Jerry Leaf''Cryonics'' tributes to Leaf
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leaf, Jerry 1941 births 1991 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War American cardiac surgeons Cerritos College alumni Cryonically preserved people Cryonicists David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA faculty United States Army soldiers 20th-century surgeons