Dora Kent

Dora Kent (May 1, 1904 – December 11, 1987) She was the mother of Saul Kent, a board member of Alcor. In her earlier years, Kent worked as a dressmaker in New York City.

In December 1987, succumbing to Alzheimer's disease and pneumonia, Kent was brought by her son to the Alcor facility in Riverside, California, where she died. Alcor workers removed her head and stored it in a nitrogen-cooled Dewar flask. No physician was in attendance when she died.

The Riverside County coroner's office, led by Raymond Carrillo, autopsied Kent's headless body and determined the cause of death to be pneumonia. Later, the coroner said that the presence of certain metabolites in the body suggested that she was still alive at the time of preservation. Drugs, specifically barbiturates, were used as part of the cryonics process, and it was therefore difficult to tell whether a drug was administered before or after death.

In a SWAT team raid a week later, most of Alcor's property was seized, although it was later returned. Alcor sued the county for false arrest and illegal seizure and won both suits, including a $90,000 settlement on behalf of the six workers who had been falsely arrested.

Ultimately, the court granted a restraining order against the coroner, protecting the head of Dora Kent and the other frozen human remains at Alcor from seizure, destruction or damage.

The case received much publicity over the ensuing years, which resulted in more interest in Alcor's services and sudden growth in the number of Alcor members. In 1988, the Alcor Life Extension Foundation had its BBS and other electronic equipment seized in a raid of their headquarters following the freezing of Dora Kent in December 1987. ALCOR sued the FBI, had the case dismissed, and then sued the County and City of Riverside, California for compensation. This case was settled for $30,000.