Episode 133 - Chris Palmer - Author, Filmmaker Extraordinaire!

Chris Palmer is an author, speaker, wildlife filmmaker, conservationist, educator, professor, and grandfather. He dedicated his professional career to conservation but now devotes his life to end-of-life activism. Bloomsbury will publish his 10th book, Achieving a Good Death: A Practical Guide to the End of Life, on October 1, 2024. He is a trained hospice volunteer and founded and runs an aging, death, and dying group for the Bethesda Metro Area Village.

He serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Montgomery Hospice & Prince George’s Hospice (MHI), is vice president of the Board of the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Maryland & Environs (FCAME), and serves on the Advisory Council for the Maryland Office of Cemetery Oversight (OCO). He also serves on the Boards of Final Exit Network, Hemlock Society of San Diego, and Funeral Consumers Alliance. He is on the Bethesda Metro Area Village Board and, until recently, was a Board member of the Green Burial Association of Maryland.

Chris and his wife, Gail Shearer, created and funded the “Finishing Strong Award” with the Washington Area Village Exchange (WAVE) to encourage villages to hold more discussions about end-of-life issues. WAVE is the largest regional village organization in the nation.

He frequently gives presentations and workshops to community groups on aging, death, and dying issues.

Chris is also president of the MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundation, which produces and funds IMAX films on science and conservation issues. MacGillivray Freeman Films is the world’s largest and most successful producer of IMAX films.

For over thirty-five years, he spearheaded the production of more than 300 hours of original programming for prime-time television and the IMAX film industry, which won him and his colleagues many awards, including two Emmys and an Oscar nomination. He has worked with Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Jane Fonda, Ted Turner, and many other celebrities. His IMAX films include Whales, Wolves, Dolphins, Bears, Coral Reef Adventure, and Grand Canyon Adventure.

During his filmmaking career, he swam with dolphins and whales, came face-to-face with sharks and Kodiak bears, camped with wolf packs, and waded hip-deep through Everglade swamps.

His books include Fi