Causes of death among white male anaesthesiologists from 1930-1946 were compared to causes of death for contemporaneous physicians & anaesthesiologists in later eras. 10 cases of death by suicide were identified; 8 of these were in the 45-64-year age range. The suicide rate of the anesthesiologists was nearly equal to that of contemporaneous white men & physicians. It is noted that suicide rates were high among white males during the depression years (1930-1940).