Edwin S. Shneidman

Thanatologist and co-founder of suicidology

Edwin S.Shneidman (May 13, 1918 – May 15, 2009) was an American clinical psychologist, suicidologist and thanatologist.Together with Norman Farberow and Robert Litman, in 1958, he founded the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center where the men were instrumental in researching suicide and developing a crisis center and treatments to prevent deaths.

In 1968, Shneidman founded the American Association of Suicidology and the principal United States journal for suicide studies, Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior.

In 1970, he became Professor of Thanatology at the University of California, where he taught for decades.He published 20 books on suicide and its prevention.