Hugh Hart's Generosity and Cryopreservation

by Ben Best

Hugh Hart, who had been a Member of the Cryonics Institute for over a decade, died in December of 2002 and was cryopreserved by the Cryonics Institute. Hugh had never been married and had no children. Hugh was a Phi Beta Kappa who had taught mathematics for 16 years. Although He died at the age of 75, he was still working fulltime as a Counselor for a Pension Fund.

Cryonics was an important part of Hugh's life. In 1994 he wrote a letter to

Robert & Mae Ettinger in which he said, "My enthusiasm grows every time I'm able to help the movement." In support of the cryonics movement, Hugh left his entire estate well over $200,000 to the Cryonics Institute, with the exception of $10,000 given to his friend who served as the Executor of his estate. Hugh was a longtime subscriber to my magazine CANADIAN CRYONICS NEWS. In 2001 he gave $500 to the Immortalist Society to pay for gift subscriptions to THE IMMORTALIST and gave an additional $1,000 in 2002.

At the September, 2001 Annual Meeting of the Cryonics Institute Hugh made an impassioned speech about the danger of procrastinating cryonics arrangements. A friend of Hugh's who had long expressed interest in cryonics, but had never gotten around to signingup, had recently died.

Yet Hugh himself never completed his Cryonics Suspension Agreement with CI. Hugh could have had serious problems fulfilling his desire to be cryopreserved were it not for the fact that his Will was very explicit, his nearest nextofkin was a 3rd or 4th cousin and the Executor of his estate was a trusted friend who understood Hugh's wishes.

These are exceptional circumstances the dangers of probate can be great and in general a member should make every attempt to complete the Cryonics Suspension agreement.

Hugh's Will stated, "I hope that the Institute, of which I am a member, will be able to take possession of my body and keep it in cryonic suspension, or any other state deemed superior, for as long as necessary to carry out our aims. Nonetheless, the gift is unconditional." He specifically disinherited anyone not mentioned in his will. Fortunately, he had also completed a Uniform Donor Form which the medical examiner accepted as sufficient documentation to release Hugh to CI. (Again, the Cryonics Suspension Agreement is the primary document of legal authority for CI and reliance upon a Uniform Donor Form and Will alone would be risky.) Unfortunately, because Hugh lived alone, his death was not immediately discovered. As a result, the circumstances of his freezing were far from what a cryonicist would want.

I am personally touched not only by Hugh's devotion to cryonics a devotion I share but by the conditions under which he died. I have long been worried about elderly cryonicists who live alone and long been frustrated by my inability to come up with anything better than frequent checkup calls.

After the September, 2002 annual CI meeting I remember expressing my concern to Robert Ettinger about the danger of him living alone and the possibility that he could die in his sleep. Hugh Hart was the only other person in the room with us and I think we were all aware that Hugh was also a concern.

Projects, projects, projects there is so much to be done in cryonics and such limited resources. But I intend to do a thorough study of equipment available for monitoring and/or alerting others of serious medical and other problems. I will report on MY findings in the next issue of THE IMMORTALIST.

Joe Kowalsky shared a few thoughts about Hugh:

I think it important to mention that he spent a long time talking at the annual meetings about some people who had died that most of us did not know, because he felt it was important that we DID get to know them, and that at that point they could not speak for themselves.

Most of us just wanted to get back down to business, but I think that he was trying to keep things in perspective: we must take the time to care about people or we have lost sight of an important goal.

There are other things which I am sure will come out the importance of CI to him and his attempts to develop methods to get others involved (for CI's benefit and for their own benefit) but it is his kind consideration that struck me the most.

Robert Ettinger had these rememberences:

Although I met Hugh Hart several times in recent years, I have only a dim recollection of our first meeting, maybe 20 years ago. At that time, Hugh was a friend of Pat Dewey, sometime coeditor of The Immortalist.

We had some interesting conversations about cryonics and about trading commodities. Hugh was intelligent, and he combined qualities of prudence and risktaking, which seems typical of a considerable number of cryonicists. Also, although comfortable in company, he was a bit of a loner, which is not unusual either. Now I have recently spoken with Arthur "Buzz" Alpert, Hugh's longtime friend, and asked what he remembered about Hugh that might interest readers.

His main thrust was that everyone who knew Hugh held him in high regard as a decent, caring human being. (I see that word "caring" too much, but that's what Buzz said repeatedly, and it conveys something.) He was just a good guy.

For recreation he raised roses and collected things. Although a bachelor, he was an accomplished dancer and won many prizes as a professional dancer.

Who would have thought that!

Well, he "died" a few centuries too soon at least, but we have not given up on him.

And From York Porter:

I first met Hugh Hart, like I've met most other of the cryonicists I know, through the annual Cryonics Institute and Immortalist Society meetings in Detroit. Though it may be hard for some of my friends to believe, I tend to be somewhat shy when I first meet people and, regrettably, I have a terrible time remembering names so the initial meeting between Hugh and I was very brief and perfunctory.

Down through the years, however, as I listened to Hugh's impassioned statements on behalf of cryonics, his lament over a friend who had been involved in cryonics but who had not been suspended, and Hugh's personal plans to help the movement, both personally and financially, I became more impressed with this conservatively dressed and appearing man.

Then came an annual meeting when I accidentally insulted him and there was a period of a year or so when relations between us were not as warm. The cause to which we are all dedicated, however, intervened and after an apology by me and a gradual and gracious acceptance by him, we were "back on track" and I looked forward to seeing him at the annual meetings as well as exchanging some messages with him through both email and, since, as Hugh said, he was not much of a typist, through the regular and traditional channel of the U.S. Postal Service.

The last time I saw him was at an annual meeting and at a dinner which Robert Ettinger hosted for several of us at a Detroit area restaurant. Hugh, by happenstance, sat immediately to my right, and, before long, we were engaged in a wonderful conversation with both each other and the other cryonicists at our table.

On that night, it was revealed to us that Hugh, after his retirement which was planned for the following year, was going to work on a very personal basis for cryonics by literally going door to door to, as he put it, "save as many lives as possible". I was very, very pleased for, like Hugh, I think that the selling of cryonics is very much a "one on one" matter and I was deeply interested in his plans and approach and was looking forward to the results of this method of trying to increase memberships and suspensions.

Alas, it was not to be, but I am left with the memory of a man who was intelligent, dedicated, and innovative in how he wanted to help further the wonderful concept that Robert Ettinger thought up. Hugh, as many readers know, also, "put his money where his mouth was" by both making contributions to further the readership of The Immortalist and by leaving his entire estate to the Cryonics Institute which has resulted in a bequest of around two hundred thousand dollars. Hugh's comments, his bequest and donations, as well as his impassioned statements at annual meetings should serve to rededicate all of us to the work that lies before us.

To Hugh, all I can say at this point is a heartfelt and deep "Thank you!" and "Safe passage, my friend!" realizing that he and his future are in the excellent hands of the Cryonics Institute.