In the 1950s, suicide was a taboo subject. It wasn’t just not talked about, it was hardly studied, and no one would think of calling themselves a suicide researcher. Shneidman, a clinical psychologist, set out to change that: in 1958 he co-founded (with Norman Farberow and Robert Litman) the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center.
“Suicide is a complex malaise,” Shneidman once said. “Sociologists have shown that suicide rates vary with factors like war and unemployment; psychoanalysts argue that it is rage toward a loved one that is directed inward; psychiatrists see it as a biochemical imbalance. No one approach holds the answer: It’s all that and more.”
In 1966 he left the center to help establish “suicidology” as a field of research by founding the American Association of Suicidology, founding the journal Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, and writing 20 books on suicide and death. In 1987 the American Psychological Association gave him their Award for Distinguished Contributions to Public Service. He died May 15 of complications from diabetes, cancer and congestive heart failure. He was 91.