Simon Boas

Simon Boas
Born	(1977-07-06)6 July 1977 London
Died	15 July 2024(2024-07-15) (aged 47) Jersey
Education	University of Oxford University of Bath (MSc)
Occupation	Executive director
Organization	Jersey Overseas Aid

Simon Charles Boas (6 July 1977 - 15 July 2024) was a British aid worker who worked for development charities and the United Nations (UN). His inspirational writings about his terminal illness diagnosis were featured in British national newspapers and on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Early life and education

He grew up in London where he attended Dulwich College Preparatory School and then Winchester where he won a scholarship for his secondary education at Winchester College. His father was a businessman and his mother was a book editor who also worked for Citizens Advice. Both volunteer for Shelter and their local food bank.

At the age of 16 he delivered his first humanitarian aid convoy to a refugee camp near Mostar in Bosnia with a church group, encountering mass graves and bombed out villages.

He studied English at Brasenose College, Oxford but a car accident meant he did not sit his final exams.

In 2006-7 he studied for a master's degree in international policy analysis at the University of Bath, graduating with distinction.

Career

After university, Boas worked as a tour guide in Egypt, Turkey and India. In 2004 he went on to work for the Palestine Economic Policy Research Unit. In 2008 he worked in Ramallah for a year as special adviser to the Minister of Planning and International Cooperation for the Palestinian National Authority. In March 2009 he became country director for Palestine at Positive Planet, a Paris-based NGO.

From 2010 to 2012 he was head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation office in the Gaza Strip. In November 2012, he moved to Nepal to work for the same organisation as coordinator of their Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases.

In October 2014 he returned to the UK to work for the Government where he was seconded to several organisations including HM Revenue & Customs and the Government of Jersey. He moved permanently to Jersey in 2016 where he was executive director of Jersey's overseas aid agency from that October until his death in 2024.

During his time in Jersey, Boas volunteered for the Honorary Police in his home parish of Trinity and became a Samaritans volunteer in 2019. He was a trustee of Jersey Heritage from 2020 and became chairman in 2023.

Cancer diagnosis

Boas had smoked for 30 years and described a few periods of his drinking as "fairly Churchillian". In September 2023, when he was age 46, Boas wrote an article in the Jersey Evening Post where he announced that lumps in his neck and difficulty swallowing had been diagnosed as terminal throat cancer. Squamous-cell carcinoma spread to his liver, spine, pelvis, sternum and soft tissues.

The newspaper published the second of three articles about his diagnosis and approach to life on 11 February 2024 and it was subsequently reprinted in The Spectator, The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail. He also read it on the BBC Radio 4 programme Broadcasting House. He said: "What I'm trying to convey is how enjoying life to the full kind of prepares you for this."

His third and final article was published on 13 May 2024.

In May 2024 he was awarded the Bailiff of Jersey's silver seal. During his last days at Jersey Hospice Care, the Lieutenant Governor of Jersey personally delivered a letter from Charles III and Queen Camilla.

He died at the hospice on 15 July 2024.

A Beginner's Guide to Dying

His book, A Beginner's Guide to Dying, was published posthumously on 12 September 2024. Some of the proceeds from the book will be donated to the International Children's Palliative Care Network and African Palliative Care Association. It became a bestseller in the first week of sales, and all 20,000 copies in the initial print run sold within the first month. The book is to be published in seven other countries including Germany, Japan, Latvia and Taiwan.