Bernard Mayes, a multifaceted Anglican priest who started the first suicide hotline in the United States and a decade later became the founding chairman of National Public Radio, died on Oct. 23 in San Francisco. He was 85.
Matthew A. Chayt, a close friend, confirmed the death, saying Mr. Mayes had had Parkinson’s disease.
Of all his varied endeavors — he was a journalist, a professor and a gay rights activist among other things — Mr. Mayes was most proud of San Francisco Suicide Prevention, the hotline he set up in 1961 with a single red telephone in the city’s gritty Tenderloin District.
He was already juggling careers at the time — as a priest in Marin County and as a correspondent for the British Broadcasting Corporation — when his alarm at learning of San Francisco’s high suicide rate prompted him to action.
“Thinking of ending it all? Call Bruce, PR1-0450, San Francisco Suicide Prevention.”
That was one of his first advertisements, posted on city buses. Bruce was a pseudonym. The phone rang once the first night. Half a century later, it rings nearly 200 times a day, and about 100 volunteers and 10 paid staff members are there to help.
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