Edwin S. Shneidman (born May 13, 1918, York, Pennsylvania, United States - May 15, 2009, Los Angeles, California, United States) was an American suicidologist and thanatologist. Along with co-workers from the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center Shneidman provided a major stimulus to research into suicide and its prevention. He was the founder of the American Association of Suicidology and of the principal United States journal for suicide studies, Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior as well as Professor of Thanatology Emeritus at the University of California and lived in Los Angeles.