 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
News and Entertainment
Jonnie Barnett - Nashville singer and songwriter who wrote the 2000 Clay Walker hit "The Chain of Love", and who as a folk singer in the 70's opened for both Frank Zappa and Cheech & Chong, died after a stroke at age 56.
Edith Lutyens Taylor Bel Geddes - Colorful costume designer for theatre, ballet and film including the productions of "A Streetcar Named Desire", "Anthony & Cleopatra" and "Around The World In 80 Days", and who was once a Belgium fencing champion, died at age 95.
Connie Bracken - Broadway actress as a child in the 1930's as Connie Nickerson, who became the wife of actor Eddie Bracken, died at age 80.
Jeff Corey - Hollywood actor who became a noted acting teacher, who appeared in over 100 movies including "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", "In Cold Blood", and "Little Big Man" and on TV shows like "One Day at a Time", "Night Court", and "Roseann" (the dead salesman episode) died at age 88.
Colin Eggleston - Australian film and TV writer-director best known for his cult eco-horror classic "Long Weekend" (about a couple on a camping trip who "sin" against nature only to have nature get even), died of undisclosed causes at age 61.
Anton Guadagno - Conductor and director who lead orchestras all over the world including stints with orchestras in Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Palm Beach Florida, Mexico City, London, Paris and Vienna died of a heart attack at age 79.
Donna Hall - Stunt double in hundreds of pictures, mostly westerns, in which she doubled for stars like Debbie Reynolds ("How the West Was Won") and Barbara Stanwyck ("The Maverick Queen"), and who received the Golden Boot award in 2000, died of lung disease at age 74.
Joyce Jackson (real name Myrtle Wilson) - Singer who toured with Earl Bostic, Paul Williams, Leo Parker and Duke Ellington in the 1940's, and who recorded two blues records for Mercury Records, died after a stroke at age 83.
Phyllis Joffe - Journalist and regular contributor to the National Public Radio programs "Morning Edition", "All Things Considered" and "Weekend Edition" died from a fatal cardiac arrhythmia at age 58.
Norman Jolley - Actor turned prolific TV writer for such series as "Wagon Train" and "Cimmarron City" but most notably for portraying Agent X on "Space Patrol", then becoming head writer for the series from 1950 to 1955, died of pancreatic cancer at age 86.
Anneline Malebo - Popular South African singer and lead singer for the group Joy, who made history by becoming the first black group to top the charts in South Africa with "Paradise Road" in 1979, who contracted AIDS after being raped in 1999, succumbed to the disease at age 49.
Jesse Martinez - Drummer for the conjunto group Hometown Boys who became the third Martinez brother in the group to die (accordionist brother Joe of a heart attack at 34 in 1998, percussionist brother Roman of cerebral palsey in 1997). Jesse died of a brain aneurysm moments before the group was to take the stage. He was 34.
Eric McLean - Long-time music critic for the Montreal Star and The Gazette, who made it a personal obsession to restore Old Montreal to it's former glamour (he bought and restored several historic buildings), died of a heart attack at age 82.
Lucia Pamela - Entertainer who played all her own instruments and is best remembered for her only album in 1969 "Into Outer Space With Lucia Pamela" (an original signed copy is worth $1,000), which she claimed was actually recorded on the moon, and is the mother of St. Louis Rams owner Georgia Frontiere (that explains a lot), died at age 98.
John Peyser - Prolific director of over 100 television series including "Switch", "Quincy", "Baa Baa Black Sheep", "The Untouchables", "Combat", "Bonanza", "The Virginian", "Perry Mason", "Tales of the South Pacific", "BJ and the Bear" and "Hawaii 5-0" (whew!), died at age 86.
Dean Riesner - Silent screen child actor "Dinky Dean" and the son of Chaplin director Charles Reisner, who starred in Chaplin's 1923 classic film "The Pilgram" as the bratty kid, who became an Oscar winning filmmaker and Hollywood screenplay writer and wrote the screenplays for many Clint Eastwood movies including "Play Misty for Me", "Dirty Harry" and "The Enforcer.", died at age 83.
Dr. Marnie Rose - Houston doctor who appeared in the reality television series "Houston Medical" and allowed viewers to witness her battle with brain cancer, succumbed at age 28.
Richard Scanga - Broadway producer and writer who helped stage 1970's counter-culture productions such as "Lenny" and "Steambath", died at age 83.
John Scott - Longtime radio personality and interviewer on WOR radio in Chicago beginning in the early days of radio, who is credited with developing the "man on the street" interviews which became widely used, died of lung cancer at age 81.
Don Sylvester - Ozarks television pioneer who was the first news director at KYTV and worked as an announcer at KGBX, died at age 78.
Vivian Toben - Actress in both silent and sound movies who appeared in 1932's "Sign of the Cross" with Frederic March, died at age 99.
Don Winters - Country music singer known as "The Yodeling King" who was a member of Marty Robbins band for many years, died of cancer at age 73.
Sports
Jimmy Bloodworth - An infielder who played 11 years in the majors for Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and most notably as a member of the 1950 Philadelphia Phillies "Whiz Kids", died at age 85.
Arne Haukvik - Founder of Norway's Bislett Games for track and field, which were opened each year since 1966 with his traditional "strawberry party" which took place in his home and brought together the media with the athletes, died of cancer at age 76.
Keefe "Con" Hurley - Standout college baseball player at Holy Cross and minor league baseball player, who went on to become a colorful Boston attorney who represented Ted Williams, Bob Cousy and Tip O'Neill, died at age 96.
Arnie Moser - Baseball player who played 5 games for the Cincinnati Reds in 1937 going 0 for 5, but is best known for an incident in a minor league game in Memphis where he got his belt caught on a scoreboard peg after leaping for a fly ball, which left him dangling from the scoreboard, died at age 87.
Dick O'Connell - GM of the Boston Red Sox from 1965 to 1977, credited with turning around a perennial losing franchise and leading them to World Series in 1967 and 1975 (winning Major League Baseball Executive of the Year honors both seasons), died at age 87.
John Roseboro - Former Los Angeles Dodgers catcher from 1957 to 1967, who played in 4 World Series but is best remembered as the player Juan Marichal clubbed over the head during a game in 1965, died of prostate cancer and heart failure at age 69.
Tom Shehan - Sportswriter, owner of Scarborough Downs racetrack and long time harness-racing promoter died of cancer at age 91.
Sunday Silence - One of the best racehorses of all time who won 9 races in 14 starts, but lost the Triple Crown in 1989 after winning the first two TC races, died of a left foreleg disease at age 12 (Yeah, my grandpa went the same way).
Wayne Simmons - NFL linebacker who was a first round draft pick for and won a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers in 1993, and who later played for the Chiefs and Bills, was killed in a car accident at age 32.
Hoyt Wilhelm - Hall of Fame baseball pitcher who was the first reliever to be elected to the hall, and one of the best knuckelball pitchers in the history of the game, died of undisclosed causes at age 79.
Art and Literature
Elias Bredsdorff - Biographer and expert on writer Hans Christian Anderson, who made it his mission to liberate Anderson from the nursery bookshelf and establish him as a serious author, died at age 90.
Ozzie Bushnell - Author and medical historian who penned the acclaimed 1956 novel "The Return of Lono" and later the medical essay collection "Gifts of Civilization: Germs and Genocide in Hawaii", died at age 89.
Eduardo Chillida - Spanish Basque sculptor whose most famous work is "The Comb of the Winds," an iron tangle on a ridge overlooking the ocean at San Sebastian that has come to symbolize the yearning for peace in the violence-ridden Basque region, died at age 78.
Fred Darrington - English sand sculptor who made mostly lifesize sculptures from sand covered with poster paints, died at age 91.
Alexander Klein - Author best known for the spy thriller "The Counterfeit Traitor" which was made into the 1962 movie starring William Holden and Lilli Palmer, died at age 83.
Jose Pedrosa - Modernist sculptor and long-time collaborator with architect Oscar Niemeyer, who is most famous for his "Pampulha", a bronze female figure, designed for Niemeyer's Pampulha Cathedral, died of heart attack at age 87.
Charlotte Read - Director of the Institute of General Semantics, a branch of linguistics popularized by S.I. Hayakawa, and adopted as a technique by a number of psychological movements, died at the age of 92.
Nicolai Rubinstein - Historian and authority on the history of Italy, especially Florence, who wrote numerous books including the treatise "The Government of Florence under the Medici", died at age 91.
Paul Tuttle - Internationally recognized furniture "artist" who combined wood, metal and glass into pieces of furniture "sculpture", such as 1964's "Z chair" and 1990's "Folly Chair" (pictured), died at age 84.
John Willett - English author, cultural historian and leading authority on German playwright Bertolt Brecht, who was one of the people responsible for bringing Brecht to the attention of the English-speaking world, died at age 85.
Laure Wyss - The "grand old lady" of Swiss journalism, who pioneered Swiss reporting of women's issues and who published 14 books on social issues, died at age 89.
Politics and Military
Turpal-Ali Atgeriyev - Chechen rebel commander who was sentenced in December 2001 to 15 years in prison in Russia, died of leukemia at age 32.
Carter Burgess - Former president of TWA (fired by Howard Hughes) and ambassador to Argentina (fired by Richard Nixon), who had been an assistant to General Dwight Eisenhower during WW2, died after a stroke at age 85.
Meridith Knox Gardner - Cryptanalyst who helped decode communications between Moscow and its foreign missions after World War II in the secret VENONA project, whose details have only been known since 1996, died at age 89.
Laurence Jolidan - Veteran American war correspondent and long-time editor and reporter for USA Today, who wrote the book "Last Seen Alive" about missing Korean War veterans, died of a heart attack after jogging at age 64.
Rush B. Lincoln - Army major general and advisor to President Roosevelt during WW2, who was instrumental in the planning and building of Sheppard Air Force in Wichita Falls, Texas, died at age 91.
Eriberto Mederos - Cuban who was accused of torturing communist dissidents in Cuba with electroshock torture in the 60's and 70's, but was somehow was granted U.S. citizenship in 1993, but was found guilty earlier this month of illegally obtaining his citizenship by lying about his past, died of cancer (before serving a day in jail) at age 79.
Abu Nidal - Key figure in Middle East terror for the past quarter century who was known for often changing sides and backers and who was described in one obit as "a chain-smoking schoolteacher-turned-terrorist who has struck targets from Paris to Pakistan whose followers bombed American airliners, mowed down travelers in airports, machine-gunned sidewalk cafes and synagogues and blew up hotels", was found dead of multiple gunshot wounds in an apparent suicide (hmmm) at age 65.
Lou Schalk - Air Force pilot who was the first to fly an A-12 Blackbird jet that made aviation history by being the first jet to exceed Mach 3, died of leukemia at age 76.
Social and Religion
Paul Aicher - Founder of philanthropy organizations Topsfield Foundation and Study Circles Resource Center, which were set up to engage people at the grassroots level, in an effort to improve public life in the U.S., died at age 76.
Joseph Arcaris - 5' 3" lion tamer for Clyde Beatty Circus and Benson's Wild Animal Farm who was awarded the Carnegie Award in 1940 for his heroic rescue of a workman who had wandered into a lions' den at a Florida animal attraction, died of a heart attack at age 93.
Ruth Claplanhoo - The oldest surviving member of the Makah tribe of Indians from Washington state and the last person to fluently speak the Makah language, died after a heart attack at age 100.
Adelina Domingues - The oldest authenticated person living in the United States and the second oldest in the world, died at age 114.
Gary Ethridge - Texas man convicted of stabbing to death the 15-yr old daughter of a woman who had given him a job after he was paroled in 1990, when she refused to give him money in an attempted robbery, was executed by lethal injection at age 38.
John Fage - Historian, author and expert on African history who wrote ：A History of West Africa" and an autobiography ：To Africa and Back", died at age 81.
Lillian Goldman - Benefactor of the Yale Law School who gave $20 million dollars to reconstruct and expand their law library (now named ：Lillian Goldman Law Library" - well I'd hope so), in part because it was the first law school to admit women in 1918, died of pancreatic cancer at age 80.
Art Kevin - Radio newsman for RKO radio, KHJ and KMPC radio stations in Los Angeles, and KRRI in Las Vegas, who broadcast live to RKO network stations the fatal shooting of Robert F. Kennedy as he celebrated his victory in the California Democratic primary in 1968, died of lung cancer at age 67.
Rosa Khederian - One of the last known survivors of the Armenian genocide during WW1, where beginning in 1915, Turkish soldiers began rounding up two million Armenians and either killing them or forcibly deporting them from their 3000-year-old homeland, died at age 89.
Hugh Lytle - Correspondent with the Associated Press in Hawaii who was the journalist that sent the first teletype message with the account of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, who went on to become a managing editor Honolulu Advertiser for many years, died at age 100.
Ken McCutchan - Ohio Valley Historian and columnist, who wrote half a dozen local history books about Evansville Indiana and the surrounding area, died of heart problems at age 89.
Allen R. Myerson - A business and financial editor for the New York Times, who was in charge of weekend coverage, and had edited the book ：The New Rules of Personal Investing: The Experts' Guide to Prospering in a Changing Economy" which was just released, jumped to his death from the 15th floor of the newspaper building at age 47.
Dara Onishi - Hawaiian woman killed by a boulder that rolled down the side of a mountain and crashed thru the roof of her house while she was sleeping (I guess you just never know, do you). She was 26.
Swami Satchidananda - Indian Yoga Master and spiritual leader who came to the U.S. in 1966, opened Woodstock and became spiritual guide to celebrities like Carole King, Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern, died of a heart attack at age 87.
Marion ：Freddie" Speights - Pioneer in the button collecting world, who made his living selling and collecting buttons, who founded the Texas State Button Society, and was editor of National Button Bulletin, died at age 78.
Waddles - Duck who greeted guests of a Chillicothe Ohio swimming pool as they came in the door, died of undisclosed causes.
Jack Winter - Founder of Daystar Ministries, a nondenominational counseling organization with ministries in several Midwest states, died of brain cancer at age 71.
Business and Science
Bernard Canavan - Former president of American Home Products (now Wyeth Corp.), a major maker of medical supplies, prescription drugs and over-the-counter medicines, from 1990 until 1994, died of heart disease at age 66.
Robert Dedman - Billionaire and founder of ClubCorp International, which owns and operates over 200 golf courses and resorts worldwide, died of a heart attack at age 76.
Dr. Martin Deutsch - MIT physicist who helped develop the atomic bomb as part of the Manhattan Project during WW2 (this is like the tenth to die this year), who went on to discover the substance positronium (what would life be like without positronium?), died at age 85.
James R. Fendley - Engineer for Zenith Corp. who was credited with the invention of the flat-screen TV monitor, and who held more than 40 patents from other inventions, died of prostrate cancer at age 71.
Harvey Kapnick - CEO of Arthur Anderson from 1970 to 1979 whose insistence that the accounting and consulting businesses be separated due to conflict of interest lead to his departure in 1979 after it was rejected (bet A.A. wished they'd have listened!), died at age 77.
Lyman C. Josephs - Aerospace engineer who was the chief designer of the F-16 fighter jet, which became one of the most mass-produced fighter planes of all time, which the U.S. sold to 18 countries, died of Parkinson's disease at age 81.
Mariafranca Morselli - Pioneering botanist in the field of maple biology at the University of Vermont (where else!) who received the Center for Research's Lifetime Achievement Award just last month, died of leukemia at age 80.
Allen E. Murray - CEO of Mobil Oil from 1985 to 1994, who was one of the few oil company chiefs that were not engineers (Murray came from accounting and finance), died of a heart attack at age 73.
Somporn Saekow - Pioneer in monkey-training who taught monkeys to pick coconuts commercially, a common practice now all over southeast Asia, died after a heart attack at age 62.
Jan Stenbeck - Wealthy Swedish businessman who owned an extensive network of telecommunications and media companies, died of a heart attack at age 59.
Benjamin Thompson - Architect who specialized in rehabbing historic buildings and whole districts such as Boston's Faneuil Hall Marketplace and Baltimore's Harborplace, died of heart failure at age 85 .
Dr. Frederick Tischer - Pioneer in space communications and space vehicle guidance and navigation, died at age 89.
John Twomey - Manufacturing engineer whose work with C&K Components in the 1970's helped introduce bar coding as a means of tracking inventory and components in manufacturing, died of a brain hemorrhage at age 75.
Sol Weiner - Second generation owner and president of Weiner's Department Stores, which was at one time one of the nation's largest family-owned apparel firms, but ceased operations in 2001, died at age 75.
James Tinkle West - Former co-owner and president of Wolf Brand Chili, who along with brother Doyle, took over the company in the 1950's from their father J.C. West, and eventually sold it to Quaker Oats Co., died of pneumonia at age 86.
Samuel Wylde - Owner and chairman of Energ-G Foods, Inc. since 1962, the first bakery to make gluten-free bread, died of cancer at age 88.
Return to Top