Saul Kent

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

Kent became a cryonics activist while a college student, upon hearing Robert Ettinger on a radio show appearance and subsequently reading 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 Kent, lawyer Curtis Henderson and industrial designer 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 magazine, 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 extending the healthy human lifespan and the scientific research that supports this possibility. During that period, he had two books published: Future Sex and The Life-Extension Revolution. His third book, Your Personal Life Extension Program, was published in 1985.

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

In 1988, Saul Kent made national headlines because he cryopreserved the head of his deceased mother, which the authorities were unable to locate for autopsy.

Kent is also involved in a project called Timeship, which involves building a facility designed by architect Stephen Valentine to house companies conducting research in the life extension and reanimation sciences and provide long-term care for cryopreserved humans. The Timeship Project, when built, will be located at the Stasis Foundation Biotechnology Research Park, in Comfort, Texas, on a sprawling 646 acre property formerly known as the Bildarth Estate. Since 2010, more than one million dollars has been spent on both building renovations and upgrades to the infrastructure. A comprehensive master plan, including architectural site models, is underway. One of the most advanced 3D virtual reality simulations of the property and its proposed structures has already been completed.

In 2000, Kent appeared on documentary filmmaker Errol Morris' television series First Person, where he discussed in depth his beliefs and motivations, as well as the investigation into the cryopreservation of his own mother's head so her brain could be restored at a later date.