R.I.P. F.M. Esfandiary, the futurist and “chronic optimist” who legally changed his name to FM2030 because of his

confidence that he would live to 100 (the year 2030) and beyond, has died at 69. Believing that immortality could be

achieved by replacing worn-out organs with synthetic substitutes and thus that age was irrelevant because a person might

have artificial body parts of many different ages–he had a hip that was only 2 years

old–he died Saturday in New York City of cancer of

the pancreas–one body part for which no substitute has been created and which he

recently denounced as “a stupid, dumb, wretched organ.” LATimes