Bernard Mayes, SF Man Who Created America's 1st Suicide Hotline, Dies at 85
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The San Francisco man who is considered the founding force behind the suicide prevention movement in America has died.
Bernard Mayes created the first crisis hotline in San Francisco in the early sixties.
He had not training in psychotherapy, but felt people needed someone willing to listen. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, he put cardboard ads with a phone number on buses. Using a pseudonym "Bruce" he answered in his basement.
Mayes' work would build the foundation for a network of more than 500 help centers across the country.
He was also a BBC radio correspondent and the first station manager of KQED-FM.
KPIX awarded him a Jefferson Award in 2010.
Mayes died of Parkinson's disease. He was 85.
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