Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926–2004) was a Swiss-born psychiatrist whose work transformed modern conversations about death and bereavement. Trained in medicine in Switzerland, she later worked in the United States, where she became known for listening to and learning from terminally ill patients at a time when their experiences were often avoided. Her landmark book *On Death and Dying* (1969) introduced a widely discussed framework describing five stages—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance—associated with responses to dying and loss. Through teaching, writing, and public speaking, she helped bring hospice and end-of-life care into mainstream medical and cultural awareness.