X-Message-Number: 8186
Date: 07 May 97 02:12:40 EDT
From: "Stephen W. Bridge" <>
Subject: Alcor Patient Care Trust

To CryoNet
From Steve Bridge, Chairman of the Board
Alcor Life Extension Foundation
May 6, 1997
 
After five years of work, Alcor is pleased to announce that we have
initiated the Alcor Patient Care Trust.  The Trust was signed and funded
at the May 4, 1997 meeting of Alcor's Board of Directors.
 
As I have more time, I will provide CryoNet readers with a summary of the
Trust itself; and a lengthy discussion will eventually be published in
*Cryonics* magazine.  I will also let you know as soon as copies of the
completed Trust are available from Alcor (for a modest charge) in a few
days.  I won't answer any point by point questions here until I have
written the larger summary.  There's no use doing it all twice.
 
The Patient Care Trust now has ownership of about 95% of what was in
Alcor's Patient Care Fund.  (One asset is undergoing review and may be
placed in the Trust later.)
 
The reason for the Trust is to make sure that the Patient Care funds are
only spent for expenses relating to patient care, and to protect that
money (and the ability to keep patients frozen) from lawsuits which could
target it.  The Trust is still a part of Alcor (although a widely
separated part), in order to take advantage of Alcor's tax-exempt status.
The Trust document allows the Trust Board to apply for separate tax status
in the future, should that become desirable.
 
The stated purpose of the Trust is: " The Trust shall be for the exclusive
non-profit scientific research and educational purpose of providing care
for individuals (hereinafter called "Patients") who have been placed into
cryonic suspension or other forms of biostasis as long-term research
specimens by Alcor until such future time as it may be possible to repair
and revive them to such a condition as will allow them to be considered
legally alive, functional, and independent.  This applies both to those
Patients currently held in biostasis at Alcor and to those Patients who
may be placed into biostasis after this Trust has been established."
 
The Trust is revocable and amendable for two years.  Since this has never
been done before, we wanted to make sure that major errors could still be
corrected.  If the Trust is not revoked within two years, it automatically
becomes irrevocable on May 4, 1999.
 
The trustee of the Patient Care Trust is a Board of five Alcor members, at
least three of whom MUST be related to patients in suspension at Alcor.
One and only one individual Trustee must be a member of Alcor's Board of
Directors.  The individual Trustees are appointed by the Alcor Board to
five-year terms.  The first Board will have staggered terms so that no
more than one individual Trustee will be up for appointment in any year.
There is no limit on the number of terms a Trustee can serve.
 
Once the trustees are elected, they are difficult to remove, and a number
of safeguards and checks/balances are in place to safeguard the Trust
Board's independence.
 
The current Trustees are:
 
5 year appointment:
Gary S. Meade, Trust Board Chairperson
Gary is a corporate attorney and has a relative in suspension.
 
4 year appointment:
Warren L. Robertson, Trust Board Treasurer
Warren was previously Alcor's CPA for several years and has a relative in
suspension.
 
3 year appointment:
Robert A. Schwarz
Bob is a heating/AC mechanic with many years of experience in personal
investing.  He has a relative in suspension.
 
2 year appointment:
Carlos Mondragon, Alcor Board Representative
Carlos is a past president of Alcor.  He has many years experience in
banking and finance and is currently a bank loan officer.
 
1 year appointment:
Thomas Donaldson, Trust Board Secretary
Thomas is a computer engineer specializing in neural nets, the editor of
Periastron newsletter, and a frequent poster on CryoNet.  He has many
years experience in personal investing and a reputation for being picky
about details.
 
All of the Trustees are over 42 years old.  Experience in cryonics ranges
from 6 years to over 20 years.
 
For the sake of privacy, I will not discuss which Alcor patients are the
relatives of Gary, Warren, and Bob.
 
This group of Alcor members takes its new job of protecting the patients
quite seriously.  I was deeply gratified by the enthusiasm and commitment
of these individual Trustees as we met this past weekend to discuss and
organize the Trust Board.  I am confident that these people will do all
they can to increase the safety and security of Alcor's patients.
 
I will post a longer discussion in a few days.
 
Steve Bridge

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