Derek Humphry

Derek Humphry (b. 1930 in UK) is an author and co-founder in 1980 (with second wife Ann Wickett), of the Hemlock Society in California and past president of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies.

Humphry is perhaps best known for his suicide handbook, Final Exit, and for his wife, Jean, who ended her life on March 29, 1975 with an intentional overdose of medication after suffering from terminal cancer.

From 1993 onwards Humphry has been president of the Euthanasia Research & Guidance Organization (ERGO), and chaired the advisory board of the new Final Exit Network (formed 2004 to replace the Hemlock Society dissolved the previous year in mergers).

In 2004 he was elected an honorary board member of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies in appreciation of his 26 years of involvement with that organization.

In 2006 the paperback Final Exit remained in print in English, Spanish and Italian. It is also available in English in video DVD.

In April 2007 the editors and books critics of the American national newspaper, USA Today, selected 'Final Exit' as one of the most memorable 25 books of the last quarter century.

In a 30-year journalistic career Humphry wrote as a staffer for the Bristol Evening World, the Manchester Evening News, the (London) Daily Mail, the London Sunday Times and the Los Angeles Times.

Humphry currently lives in Junction City, Oregon.

Books (some co-authored)

 * Because They're Black (1972) (Awarded the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize)
 * Police Power and Black People (1973)
 * Passport and Politics (1974)
 * The Cricket Conspiracy (1975) (ISBN 0-901108-40-5)
 * False Messiah: The Story of Michael X (1976)
 * Jean's Way (1978) ISBN 0-9637280-7-5
 * The Right to Die: Understanding Euthanasia (1986) (ISBN 0-9606030-9-3)
 * Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying (1991, updated 2002, 3rd edition) (ISBN 0-385-33653-5)
 * Lawful Exit: The Limits of Freedom for Help in Dying (1993) (ISBN 0-9637280-0-8)
 * Dying with Dignity (1992) (ISBN 0-517-14342-9)
 * Freedom to Die: People, Politics & The Right-To-Die Movement(1998) (ISBN 0-9637280-1-6)
 * Let Me Die Before I Wake & Supplement to Final Exit (2002) (ISBN 1-4011-0286-7)
 * The Good Euthanasia Guide: Where, What & Who in Choices in Dying (2006) (ISBN 0-9637280-8-3)