Saunders, Cicely (1918–2005)

British founder. Name variations: Cicely Saunders until 1980; Mrs. Cicely Bohusz or Dame Cicely Saunders from 1980. Born in Barnet, north London, England, June 22, 1918; died July 14, 2005, in the London hospice she had founded; dau. of Gordon Saunders (estate agent) and Chrissie (Knight) Saunders; attended St. Anne's College, Oxford, and St. Thomas's Hospital, London; m. Marian Bohusz-Szyszko (Polish artist), 1980; no children.

Founder of the hospice movement for the care of terminal cancer patients and head of St. Christopher's, London, Britain's 1st modern hospice, who was ahead of her time in recognizing the close connection between a patient's physical, emotional, and spiritual condition; worked as a nurse (1939–43); served as an almoner (medical social worker, 1945–51); served as a doctor (1951–); was a research scientist (1957–59); realizing that British doctors and hospitals were dedicated to attempting cures, and that patients who had no prospect of recovery were out of place in their hands, founded and became head of St. Christopher's Hospice (1963); taught a semester at Yale School of Nursing (1965); writings include The Management of Terminal Malignant Disease (1984) and (with Mary Baines) Living with Dying: The Management of Terminal Disease (1989); also edited with Robert Kastenbaum, Hospice Care on the International Scene (1997).

See also Shirley du Boulay, Cicely Saunders: Founder of the Modern Hospice Movement (Amaryllis, 1984); and Women in World History.