Rich people buying better health?

April 29, 2007 8:53 AM

Zillions of billionaire characters in fiction try to buy their way out of dying by funding crazy research efforts or moving into orbit or whatever—think of John Hurt in Contact or Lionel Luthor in Smallville. Are there any examples of such figures in reality, in history? Howard Hughes types with nothing to lose?
posted by cgc373 to grab bag (23 comments total)

Totally off point, but...John Hurt in Contact? Who was he in Contact? I'm not remembering him being in that film at all. Jodie Foster, Matthew McConawhatever, Tom Skerritt...?
posted by AlliKat75 at 9:10 AM on April 29, 2007

AlliKat75, John Hurt played the eccentric billionaire in orbit, Hadden.
posted by cgc373 at 9:16 AM on April 29, 2007

Peter Thiel has donated half a million to The Methuselah Foundation (and pledged up to 3 million more), led by the controversial Aubrey de Grey.

I haven't read anything to indicate that he expects a personal benefit from this research, though.
posted by Jorus at 9:18 AM on April 29, 2007

*whispers*

Yes, John Hurt, he plays reclusive owner, billionaire industrialist S. R. Hadden in the film.

Sorry, carry on...
posted by brautigan at 9:19 AM on April 29, 2007

Countess Erzebert Bathory was rich and powerful enough to get away with bathing in the blood of virgins in an effort to restore her youth.
posted by Wavelet at 9:35 AM on April 29, 2007

Howard Hughes founded (in 1953) the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which is devoted to biomedical research.
posted by scody at 9:40 AM on April 29, 2007

Walt Disney?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:41 AM on April 29, 2007

Billionaires for stem-cell research.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:43 AM on April 29, 2007

If we can have Countess Bathory, then Qin Shi Huang is a pretty good candidate. He died chasing immortality.
posted by Leon at 9:47 AM on April 29, 2007

Just to clarify that though Hughes might have been a bit loopy, HHMI is not the OP's "crazy research efforts." Its reputation in mainstream biomedical research is very good.
posted by Jorus at 10:08 AM on April 29, 2007

Jorus, that's true. I should have clarified: Hughes originally started the HHMI for loopy(ish) reasons (primarily he wanted a tax shelter, but he also wanted to study "the genesis of life"), but it's absolutely a very respected, non-loopy institution.
posted by scody at 10:14 AM on April 29, 2007

Says here that Ponce de León financed his expedition to find the Fountain of Youth.
posted by SPrintF at 10:57 AM on April 29, 2007

Maybe not "crazy" but it seems like there are quite a few cases of celebrities directly funding or founding organizations dedicated to fighting the alignments they themselves have. The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research and Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation both spring to mind.
posted by The Radish at 11:25 AM on April 29, 2007

Ted Williams
posted by edgeways at 11:41 AM on April 29, 2007

It sounds like you'd be interested in cryonics. Baseball player Ted Williams is the most famous person to have had his body frozen in the hope that future technology will be able to grant him extended life.
posted by gsteff at 11:45 AM on April 29, 2007

The word "crazy" may be poisoning the well, here. I'm just wondering about real-world examples of wealth used for health in the desperate way it's sometimes depicted in fiction. It's a question of whether anyone has really done what people who make up stories (who presumably lack the resources available to the fictional billionaires they depict) say they do.
posted by cgc373 at 12:12 PM on April 29, 2007

Would Michael Jackson count?
posted by vito90 at 1:31 PM on April 29, 2007

A lot of research is "crazy" before it pays off. HHMI probably does stuff routinely today that would have been "crazy" in 1953.
posted by DU at 1:55 PM on April 29, 2007

Ray Kurzweil.
posted by zoinks at 2:02 PM on April 29, 2007

I remember reading an article in Wired a few years ago about a wealthy man who started a biotechnology company specifically to find a cure for his daughter's rare disease. A possible therapy was found, but the FDA wouldn't approve his daughter for the initial drug testing because of her relation.

Google failed me in finding that article, but here's a related story on parents raising millions of dollars to research cures for their children's diseases.
posted by Gortuk at 2:09 PM on April 29, 2007

Actually, I wouldn't count Ted Williams. From everything I've read, it was not him but one of his children that was into cryonics, and the preservation of Williams' remains happened against what would have been his will. Even if the facts of his literal last will and testament remain in dispute, it's certainly not something into which he knowingly (let alone eagerly) poured his wealth while alive.

Here's one article--there was a great in-depth SI piece around the same time, which I couldn't immediately dig up (or should I say "thaw").
posted by staggernation at 2:47 PM on April 29, 2007

Kim Il-sung?
posted by gwint at 8:24 PM on April 29, 2007

John Sperling, who made his billions from the University of Phoenix (online education)...but more recently funds an anti-aging company and biotech companies.

He's had an interesting life (article), over 80 years old and very healthy and mentally acute. Not sure if his motives are for his own self-preservation or for the greater good.
posted by hazel at 12:33 AM on April 30, 2007