Couple Opt for Cryogenics for Themselves and Their Dogs

Jan. 25, 2006 — -- David and Trudi Pizer own a resort in Arizona, but today they're visiting the Alcor Life Extension foundation in Scottsdale. It's a place where they'll spend many, many years -- cryogenically frozen.

"It's the only alternative to dying," David Pizer said.

This procedure attracted a lot of attention when baseball legend Ted Williams was frozen at Alcor. Williams and the Pizers could be neighbors there for 100 years or more. About 142 human bodies and heads are now held in cold storage at one of two U.S. cryonics facilities.

Cryogenics was spoofed in the first "Austin Powers" movie, but the Pizers are dead serious about it. In fact, David Pizer feels uncomfortable in the room where he'll be housed after he dies.

"I would rather take an anti-aging pill than have to do this," he said.

But Trudi Pizer is fine. She said she has friends in this room already.

Being frozen and stored at Alcor isn't cheap.

"Some people just have their heads frozen, believing that in the future they'll be able to use another body," said Tanya Jones, Alcor's chief operating officer. "If you're having your head frozen, it will cost $80,000. The whole body is $150,000."

The Pizers plan on having their dogs frozen as well, which may remind some of the era of Egyptian pharaohs who had their whole families and servants buried with them so everyone could go to the afterlife together. But the Pizers aren't talking about the afterlife -- they just want to continue this life.

They also want to continue their life with some money. Right now, their estimated worth is $10 million. They plan on having even more money when they come back to life. The account they will set up is called a personal revival trust, and if it works as planned, David Pizer expects to be one of the wealthiest people on the planet.

But this couple say it's really not about money but about being together now and forever.

"I want to be with her forever, I mean it," David Pizer said.