Ambos tenían un cancer terminal y decidieron ir a Suiza para morir juntos, informó la familía.
Es la primera vez que una pareja británica viaja fuera del país para "morir tranquilamente", según su hija, Helena Conibear.
A husband and wife with cancer have become the first terminally ill British couple to travel to Switzerland to be helped to die, their family said last night.
Peter and Penelope Duff, 80 and 70, died together at the Dignitas clinic near Zurich last week.
A neighbour said the couple had told friends they were moving out of their £2m Georgian home in Bath to spend their final years in a second home in Dorset - but instead travelled to Switzerland.
Their daughter, Helena Conibear, said yesterday they died last week. "Peter and Penny Duff passed away peacefully together in Zurich after a long battle against their terminal cancer," she said. "Penny had fought a rare cancer since 1992 and Peter's colon cancer had spread to his liver. Their decision in no way reflected on the wonderful and humbling care they have received from their consultant, doctors and nurses, for which the family, and they, were so appreciative."
The family asked for the statement "to be accepted without further comment until official matters are resolved".
The Duffs were prominent supporters of the arts in Bath and Mr Duff was considered one of Britain's leading experts on wine. He was a co-founder of the Wine Guild of the United Kingdom.
David Keeling, 64, a neighbour and friend of the Duffs for more than 10 years, said he was still struggling to come to terms with the news. "They have lived here in Bath for many, many years but recently told us they were moving to a property in Dorset," he said.
"We were aware they both had cancer in an advanced stage. We are all very sad to hear the news they were unwell. They certainly didn't tell anyone here they were going to Switzerland and that has come as a complete shock."
Keeling added: "Peter was very proud of his situation and life and therefore the sudden onset of cancer hit him very hard. He was very proud of his active life."
Mrs Duff had GIST, a rare form of cancer found in the digestive system, most often in the wall of the stomach. Her husband had cared for her until he became too ill.
It is not yet known if anyone else travelled to Switzerland with them. If they went alone it would almost certainly mean nobody else would be implicated in their deaths. It is a criminal offence, punishable by up to 14 years' imprisonment, to assist in the death of another person.
But the Duffs' deaths are bound to reignite the controversy surrounding assisted suicides. Dignitas opened in 1998 and the clinic has so far helped at least 868 people, more than 100 from the UK, end their lives.
Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, which campaigns for a change in the law on assisted dying, said: "This is an extremely sad case of two more terminally ill UK citizens being forced to travel to an unfamiliar country to die.
"Had they had the option of an assisted death in this country they [the Duffs] may still be alive, as their physical ability to travel would not have been a factor. It is time for parliament to debate this issue."
Last year police investigated after Daniel James, 23, who was paralysed from the chest down in a rugby accident, was accompanied to Dignitas to die by his parents. No charges were brought.
Last month Debbie Purdy, who has MS and has been fighting to clarify the law to find out if her husband would face prosecution if he helped her die, welcomed a hint from Lord Judge, the lord chief justice, that relatives could expect to escape prosecution in such circumstances.
A spokesman for Bath Festivals said: "Peter and Penelope Duff have been tremendous supporters of the arts in Bath and will be much missed. Our thoughts are with their family at this difficult time."
The Duffs were the first terminally ill couple to travel together to die at Dignitas, although Bob and Jenny Stokes, from Bedfordshire, went there to die in 2003. Neither were terminally ill.
A spokesman for Care Not Killing, which campaigns against euthanasia, said: "This is a desperately sad case of a couple in a state of distress. However, hard cases make bad law and the fact remains that if euthanasia was ever legalised in Britain, vulnerable people and seriously ill people would come under pressure to end their lives prematurely."
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