Dame Cicely Saunders is the founder of the modern hospice movement. Her view that death is a natural part of life led her to create a place where the terminally ill could receive sensitive nursing, effective pain control and be allowed to die with dignity.
Born in 1918, Dame Cicely studied at St Anne's College, Oxford. She went on to train as a nurse, but realised that to fulfil her ambitions she had to qualify as a doctor - which she did in 1957 at nearly 40 years of age. 10 years later she opened St Christopher's Hospice in Sydenham, southÌýLondon. From 1967 to 1985 she was medical director, then chairman, of the hospice. In 1980 she married Professor Marian Bohusz-Szyszko who died in 1995.
Dame Cicely's pioneering work has been recognized with many awards and honours, including her DBE in 1980. Over 40 years she has written many books on the care of the dying and her influence has been felt far and wide: all modern hospices in the UK and many in America are modelled on St Christopher's.
