David Kessler (writer)
Encyclopedia
David Kessler is an author, public speaker, and death and grieving expert. He has published many books, including two co-written with famed psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
: Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach us about the Mysteries of Life and Living & On Grief & Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief through the Five Stages of Grief. His first book, The Needs of the Dying is now in a tenth anniversary edition and received praise from Mother Teresa
and Marianne Williamson
.
, palliative care
, grief and loss. His latest work includes interviews about afterlife
, near death studies and near death awareness. He also is chairperson for the Hospital Association of Southern California Palliative Care Committee.
His experiences have taken him from Auschwitz concentration camp to Mother Teresa’s Home for the Dying Destitute in Calcutta. He also worked with Anthony Perkins
, Michael Landon
and industrialist Armand Hammer
when they faced their own deaths.
, M.D was a psychiatrist and the author of the groundbreaking On Death and Dying. She has earned a place in history as one of the world's foremost authorities on the psychology of dying, and is credited with changing attitudes towards the terminally ill. In 1995 she suffered a series of major strokes, which left her paralyzed and facing her own death. It was during this time that she and David Kessler wrote their first book together, “Life Lessons: two experts on death and dying teach us about the mysteries of life and living.”
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross died on August 24, 2004. Elisabeth’s last book, co-written with David Kessler, “On Grief and Grieving” was completed one month before her death. “On Grief and Grieving,” is her final legacy, one that brings her life’s work profoundly full circle. David Kessler worked closely with Elisabeth for ten years and was with her during her passing. He feels it is part of his mission to keep her work alive for the next generation.
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D. was a Swiss American psychiatrist, a pioneer in Near-death studies and the author of the groundbreaking book On Death and Dying , where she first discussed what is now known as the Kübler-Ross model.She is a 2007 inductee into the American National Women's Hall of Fame...
: Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach us about the Mysteries of Life and Living & On Grief & Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief through the Five Stages of Grief. His first book, The Needs of the Dying is now in a tenth anniversary edition and received praise from Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa , born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu , was a Roman Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship, who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, in 1950...
and Marianne Williamson
Marianne Williamson
Marianne Williamson is a spiritual activist, author, lecturer and founder of The Peace Alliance, a grass roots campaign supporting legislation currently before Congress to establish a United States Department of Peace. She is also the founder of Project Angel Food, a meals-on-wheels program that...
.
Biography
Kessler was born in Rhode Island. He did his undergraduate work at USC and graduate work at Loyola Marymount University in Bioethics. His mother died in 1973, an event that influenced his later work greatly. Now as a modern day thanatologist he follows death wherever it may occur. Therefore his work is a hybrid of several occupations including: working with the dying in hospitals and hospice, volunteering as a reserve officer on the police trauma team and participating with the Red Cross on aviation disasters as well as its disaster team.Career
Kessler concentrates in hospiceHospice
Hospice is a type of care and a philosophy of care which focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's symptoms.In the United States and Canada:*Gentiva Health Services, national provider of hospice and home health services...
, palliative care
Palliative care
Palliative care is a specialized area of healthcare that focuses on relieving and preventing the suffering of patients...
, grief and loss. His latest work includes interviews about afterlife
Afterlife
The afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...
, near death studies and near death awareness. He also is chairperson for the Hospital Association of Southern California Palliative Care Committee.
His experiences have taken him from Auschwitz concentration camp to Mother Teresa’s Home for the Dying Destitute in Calcutta. He also worked with Anthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins was an American actor, best known for his Oscar-nominated role in Friendly Persuasion and as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho , and its three sequels.-Early life:...
, Michael Landon
Michael Landon
Michael Landon was an American actor, writer, director, and producer. He is widely known for his roles as Little Joe Cartwright in Bonanza , Charles Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie , and Jonathan Smith in Highway to Heaven...
and industrialist Armand Hammer
Armand Hammer
Armand Hammer was an American business tycoon most closely associated with Occidental Petroleum, a company he ran for decades, though he was known as well as for his art collection, his philanthropy, and for his close ties to the Soviet Union.Thanks to business interests around the world and his...
when they faced their own deaths.
Relationship with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
Elisabeth Kübler-RossElisabeth Kübler-Ross
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D. was a Swiss American psychiatrist, a pioneer in Near-death studies and the author of the groundbreaking book On Death and Dying , where she first discussed what is now known as the Kübler-Ross model.She is a 2007 inductee into the American National Women's Hall of Fame...
, M.D was a psychiatrist and the author of the groundbreaking On Death and Dying. She has earned a place in history as one of the world's foremost authorities on the psychology of dying, and is credited with changing attitudes towards the terminally ill. In 1995 she suffered a series of major strokes, which left her paralyzed and facing her own death. It was during this time that she and David Kessler wrote their first book together, “Life Lessons: two experts on death and dying teach us about the mysteries of life and living.”
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross died on August 24, 2004. Elisabeth’s last book, co-written with David Kessler, “On Grief and Grieving” was completed one month before her death. “On Grief and Grieving,” is her final legacy, one that brings her life’s work profoundly full circle. David Kessler worked closely with Elisabeth for ten years and was with her during her passing. He feels it is part of his mission to keep her work alive for the next generation.