Conductor and Wife Commit Suicide Together

Sir Edward Downes, Principal Conductor at the BBC Philharmonic from 1980 to 1991, and his wife, Joan, committed suicide hand-in-hand on Tuesday, July 14. 

The details are as follows:

• Joan, 74, was diagnosed with cancer and given weeks to live.
• Sir Edward was 85, deaf, and could barely see.
• The deaths occurred at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland.
• The couple drank a clear liquid and fell asleep within minutes.
• Their two children witnessed the deaths.

See Robert Mendick and Kiran Randhawa, BBC conductor Sir Edward Downes and wife commit suicide, Evening Standard, July 14, 2009.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.