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Williams dispute piques interest in cryonics, except for scientists
By Raja Mishra and Beth Daley, Globe Staff, 7/10/2002
After the Red Sox star died Friday, John Henry Williams reportedly sent his father's body to an Arizona company to be frozen for future revival or cloning. The eldest Williams daughter, Barbara Joyce Williams Ferrell, accused John Henry, her half-brother, of defying their father's wishes to be cremated. As the famed Red Sox slugger was remembered at the All-Star game last night in Milwaukee, and as his estate lawyers prepared to ask a Florida judge today to sort out the bizarre fight among his three children over their father's final resting place, the tiny field of cryonics was besieged with calls from journalists, curiosity seekers, and even potential customers. ''I've been getting calls for two days straight from all over,'' said Guy Desrosiers, head of the Cryonics Society of Canada. ''My cellphone needs to be frozen now. Finally we are moving out of the realm of science fiction.'' The idea of cryonics - deep-freezing bodies in liquid nitrogen in hope of reviving them in the future - has a nearly four-decade history. Robert Ettinger, who wrote ''The Prospect of Immortality'' in 1964, first put forth the idea that future generations could have sufficiently advanced medical technology to bring people back to life and cure them. Johnny Carson interviewed him. Cryonics support groups popped up across the world. The idea has been featured in movies such as Woody Allen's ''Sleeper'' and, more recently, ''Vanilla Sky,'' starring Tom Cruise. By the late 1970s, there were at least six firms in the United States advertising cryonics. The process slowly cools the body to minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit, eventually storing it head-down in a thermoslike container. Heads are sometimes frozen alone, with those who arrange for it hopeful that the heads can be reattached to other bodies in the future. But science never caught up to the concept. Cryonics so far has been hobbled by an inconvenient fact: No one has ever figured out how to thaw out a body without destroying its tissues, and many scientists don't think it will ever be possible. Money dried up for some companies. In the early 1980s, one company had to thaw and bury several bodies, sources in the cryonics industry said. James Bedford, who in 1967 became the first man in America to be cryonically preserved, is now only a frozen head, according to a source in the industry. Today there are believed to be about 90 bodies, heads, or pets frozen by cryonics in the United States. Only two facilities are accepting new bodies: Alcor, which reportedly houses Williams's body, and the Cryonics Institute in Michigan. Two other companies have bodies stored, but are no longer accepting new ones. Freezing a body costs more than $100,000 in electricity, labor, liquid nitrogen, and other equipment. Charges for storing a head are $50,000. Contrary to legend, Walt Disney's body was not frozen. Alcor is the largest and most stable cryonics company, with $3.2 million in assets and a 2000 income of $792,218, according to IRS records. It began in California in 1972; by 1976 it had completed its first cryonic suspension. It later moved to Arizona. Company officials did not return calls for comment yesterday, but those familiar with the company say it has tried hard to counter early cryonic criticisms and financial problems. ''I have been watching these folks for 15 years, and they are attempting to be very ethical and very responsible,'' said Christine Peterson, president of Foresight Institute, a California group focusing on nanotechnology, or molecular-level engineering. The group is aligned with Alcor, with Peterson speaking at an upcoming conference. Peterson said the acceptance level of cryonics has gone up, but the number of people involved in the movement is still small. Alcor has about 580 members, who have paid a fee in expectation of being frozen, and the Cryonics Institute has fewer than 400. For the handful of remaining cryonics groups, the freezing of baseball's last .400 hitter has amounted to an unexpected celebrity endorsement, though not entirely a welcome one. ''There is an aspect of negativity to this,'' said Jim Yount, chief operating officer for the American Cryonics Society, the oldest existing cryonics group in the country. ''What happens if they see this as a circus? They might ask, `Do I really want my relatives subject to this?''' For Williams's eldest daughter, the answer is clearly no. Ferrell initially threatened legal action against her half-brother, although yesterday she released a statement saying she would not comment until papers were filed in court. John Henry, Williams's only son, could not be reached for comment yesterday, nor could the other Williams sister, Claudia. For now, the family feud has cooled off, and the Williams siblings have suspended their legal fight until papers are filed in court.
This story ran on page A3 of the Boston Globe on 7/10/2002.
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he controversy surrounding Ted Williams's frozen remains may be alarming fans and dividing the Williams family, but it has had one unexpected beneficiary: The fringe industry of cryonics.