Edward Downes after his health declined following a hip replacement. Lady Downes was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer that metastasised to her liver, and given only weeks to live. Lady Downes wrote a letter to family explaining that she had decided against treatment and that: Sir Edward, aged 85, and Lady Downes, aged 74, ended their lives by assisted suicide at the Dignitas clinic in Zürich, Switzerland, on 10 July 2009. Although Joan did not want the children present, Dignitas encouraged it and "Ted and Joanie" were reported to be pleased when the time came. Their children issued a statement speaking of
Peter Downes Peter Downes Sir Charles Peter Downes (born 15 October 1953) is a British biochemist and the current Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dundee. He is the former Head of the College of Life Sciences and co-founder of the Division of Signal Transduction Therapy (DSTT) alongside Sir Phillip Cohen. Having contributed to research in the pharmaceutical industry for eleven years prior to joining Dundee, he is one of the top 15 most cited bio-scientists in the UK. As a pioneering biochemist, Downes was instrumental in establishing the biological importance of the inositol glycerophospholipids and their metabolites. Among his other