WHY WE CALL IT THE
ERFURT-RUNKEL
BUILDING
R.C.W. Ettinger
John C Erfurt and Walter E. Runkel were two of our long-term officers, both now patients at the Cryonics Institute (along with Jack's wife, Dr. Andrea Foote).
(The lack of a period after C in Jack's name is not a typo. He had a middle initial, but no middle name. Not a herd animal, Jack.)
Walt (right) was one of the four founding members of Cl,
their names on our Articles of Incorporation in 1976. The other three were
Richard C. Davis, Mae A. Junod, and myself. Walt was Vice President for many
years, and both Jack and Andrea served as officers or/and directors for many
years.
Walt was a hands-on guy, good with tools. One time, at our original small building in Detroit we wanted to install a large, heavy, multiple operation room light, which we had bought surplus from a hospital, and Walt did the whole thing single-handed, attaching it to the ceiling.
He was technical director at one of the
TV network studios in Detroit and he owned and serviced an apple orchard that grew his own sub-species, the Runkel apple. Grimly, the orchard apparently killed him through inhalation of spray over the years. He died of pulmonary fibrosis in his seventies.But he died under good conditions. Although his wife and daughter were personally negative about cryonics-the wife, Luise (sic), for religious reasonsthey honored his wishes. Walt died without formal funding for his contract, but I believed Luise would keep her promise to pay, and she did
that, wife and ldaughter cooperated in preparations for death. Walt was at home under hospice care, constantly watched, and C I equipment was set up in the house and ready. When death appeared imminent, they called us and the paramedics. We all arrived at roughly the same time, and the paramedics obtained pronouncement of death by a physician by phone. There was only a few minutes delay between death and the start of cooling. This was on Oct. 7, 1991.Walt was an example of those who accept cryonics only gradually. He joined what is now the Immortalist Society only after attending meetings
and thinking about it for t,.r o or threc years. I don't know how many such personalities there are, but it is food for thought.Jack Erfurt and Andrea Foote, at the U. of Michigan, designed and administered a wellness program for industrialists such as the automakers, with regular blood pressure checks etc. They probably saved many lives.
Jack (below right) was a smoker, and at one point required and
had a multiple bypass operation. He then gave up smoking and gained weight. He
died at home in bed while Andrea was out, and was not
One of the photos at the CI facility is of Jack and Andrea in a pose reminiscent of American Gothic, but with stethoscope instead of pitchfork.
Andrea outlived Jack only about three years, dying of cancer on Oct. 6, 1995. She was brave and upbeat until the end.
She died at home under hospice care, watched by her sisters, who were not personally interested in cryonics but honored her wishes. Our equipment was on hand, and there was little delay.