![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|
Sports
Clive Charles - Coach of the U.S. men's soccer team at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney (last place finish however), who in 2003 coached the University of Portland's woman's team to the national collegiate championship, and who had coached the men's team at Portland for 13 seasons, winning 439 games, died August 26 in Portland, OR of prostate cancer at age 51.
Patrick Feeney - Basketball player at the University of New Mexico, who had transferred from Portland State where he played his freshman season last year averaging 8.5 points per game, and who was expected to see action as both a guard and forward this year, was found hanged in downtown Albuquerque on August 28, apparently a suicide. He was 20 years old.
Joe O'Brien - President and chief executive of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts from 1985 to 1998, died August 28 in Worcester, MA after a long illness at age 68.
Claude Passeau - Major league pitcher who won 162 games in a 13 year career with the Pirates, Phillies and Cubs, who pitched a one-hit shutout for the Cubs against the Tigers in the 1945 World Series, who appeared in four All Star games for the National League, including a starting assignment in 1946 and as the losing pitcher in the 1941 game, died August 24 in Lucedale, MS at age 94.
Paul Scott - Wrestling coach who guided tiny Cornell College of Mount Vernon, Iowa to the national wrestling championship in 1947, ending Oklahoma State's seven-year run as NCAA champion, becoming the only time in NCAA history a private school has won the title (wow!), and who was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1992, died August 22 in Cedar Rapids, IA at age 97.
Barry Voorhees - Arena league football player who was a lineman on the 1997 ArenaBowl champion Arizona Rattlers, was found dead at his home in Las Vegas of unknown causes at age 39.
Jim Wacker - College football coach for 22 seasons, including nine seasons with Texas Christian and four with Minnesota, who coached back-to-back NAIA titles in the 70's at Texas Lutheran and Southwest Texas State, and who ended his career as athletic director at Southwest Texas, died August 26 of cancer in San Marcos, TX at age 66.
Kent Walton - Popular British wrestling commentator, who hosted wrestling on "World of Sport" for all 33 years it was on the air on ITV from 1955 to 1988, who was known for his husky-voiced welcome "Greetings, grapple fans", died August 24 in England at age 86.
Art and Literature
Haroldo de Campos - Brazilian poet who founded the 1950's Concrete poetry movement, which was a modernist and radical form of poetry where letters of words in the poems were often arranged in a shape that gave multiple meanings, and whose works had widespread influence on Brazilian popular music, with several composers basing songs on his poems, died August 16 in São Paulo of diabetes complications at age 73.
José Delarra - Cuban sculptor who is best known for designing the Ernesto Che Guevara Plaza in Santa Clara, Cuba, which has become one of the biggest tourist attractions in that country, and whose sculptures have been on display in more than 40 countries, died August 26 of a heart attack in Havana at age 65.
Amram Ducovny - Humor columnist for Boston magazine and an author who wrote "The Wit and Wisdom of Spiro Agnew", who was one of the forces behind the Yiddish-language newspaper The Forward, and who is the father of actor David Ducovny and cinematographer Daniel Ducovny, died August 23 in Paris at age 75.
Mary Viscountess Eccles (aka Mary Hyde) - Bibliophile who accrued the world's largest collection of rare books, manuscripts and other documents relating to Samuel Johnson and his biographer and friend James Boswell, including 800 letters written by Johnson and his diary for the years 1765 to 1784, and who wrote numerous books about Elizabethan plays and the Johnson collection, died August 26 in Somerset County, NJ at age 91.
Jack Eisner - Millionaire businessman who told the story of how he survived the Holocaust in the book "The Survivor", which was later adapted into a Broadway play and a 1995 film entitled "War and Love", and who founded several Holocaust remembrance organizations, died August 24 in New York City of colon cancer at age 77.
Lawrence Fixel - Influential poet who was part of the Beat Generation writers synonymous with San Francisco's literary history, who was best known for his prose poems and parables, and who published several compilations including "The Scale of Silence" and "Truth, War and Dream-Game", died August 24 of natural causes in San Francisco at age 86 .
Anders Gisson - Leading American realist painter whose work is in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution and the Triton Museum of Art, who was known for his one-man shows all over the U.S., Europe and Japan, died July 28 in Atlanta after a long illness at age 81.
Vivien Greene - Widow of novelist Graham Greene who became a notable authority and collector of dollhouses, and who published "Vivien Greene's Doll's Houses: The Complete Rotunda Collection" in 1998, died August 19 in Oxfordshire, England at age 98.
Marion Hargrove - G.I. at Fort Bragg, NC during WW2 whose light-hearted look at basic training "See Here, Private Hargrove" became a surprise No. 1 best seller during 1942, and which was made into two movies by MGM starring Robert Walker as Hargrove, died August 23 of pneumonia in Long Beach, CA at age 83.
Tom Feelings - Award-winning artist and book illustrator who collaborated on such books as "Now Sheba Sings the Song" with poet Maya Angelou and the upcoming "I See Your Face" with Kwame Dawes, who is best known for "The Middle Passage: White Ships/Black Cargo", a book of 64 black and white illustrations depicting life on the ships that brought slaves from Africa to America, died August 25 of cancer in Mexico (where he was undergoing treatment) at age 70.
Robert Jackson - Muralist and master of trompe l'oeil artistry (a form of painting in which texture and shading produce the illusion of depth), whose best known murals are the Renaissance Revival Parlor and the American Wing period rooms at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, died August 17 of ALS in Livingstone, NY at age 72.
Robert Koch - Art historian and world-renowned expert on Art Nouveau, who was an authority on Tiffany glass, writing numerous books including "Louis C. Tiffany, Rebel in Glass" and "Louis C. Tiffany's Glass - Bronzes - Lamps", as well as a collector and dealer, died August 13 in Stamford, CT of natural causes at age 85.
Ian MacDonald - Authority of both popular and classical music, known for his 1990 treatise "The New Shostakovich" (about Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich), who became associate editor of the popular music magazine The New Musical Express, before writing the book that would bring him the most fame, "Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the 1960's", which was called the most thorough examination of Beatles songs had ever received, committed suicide on August 21 in Gloucestershire, England at age 54.
Thomas Savage - Author of novels about the American West that were characterized by lack of the violence that typified westerns of that era, whose best known works are "The Power of the Dog", "The Sheep Queen" and "I Heard My Sister Speak My Name", all re-published in recent years, died July 25 in Virginia Beach, VA at age 88.
Sir Wilfred Thesiger - English explorer, author and photographer whose reputation was established by two epic journeys he made by camel in the 1940s across the Rub 'al Khali, the largest sand desert in the world, which was the least known and least penetrated region of Arabia, who spent most of his life traveling through unknown and treacherous regions of the world, and who wrote of his journeys in books like "Arabian Sands", "The Marsh Arabs" and his autobiography "The Life of My Choice", died August 24 in Coulsdon, Surrey, England at age 93.
Politics and Military
General William Creech - Four-star general known as the "Father of the Thunderbirds", who was credited with rescuing the Air Force's Aerial Demonstration Team from congressional cuts after four pilots were killed in 1982 during a training exercise, and who oversaw the development of such modern air weaponry as the F-117 stealth fighter, died August 26 in Henderson, NV at age 76.
Frederick L. Deming - Under secretary of the Treasury in the Johnson administration and president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, who played a leading role in developing the special drawing right, better known as the S.D.R., as an alternative to the dollar and gold as an international reserve currency to finance global trade, died August 21 in Fort Myers, FL at age 90.
William Hogoboom - California Superior Court judge and administrator and noted authority on juvenile law, who served on the National Advisory Committee for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in the Ford administration, and who co-authored the attorneys' guidebook "California Family Law Practice", died August 24 in Pasadena, CA of heart failure at age 84.
John Lansdale - Chief of security for the Manhattan Project, who was involved with the decision to appoint J. Robert Oppenheimer to lead the scientific team for the atomic bomb project, and who developed the Alsos Mission which investigated, located and removed the products of a German atomic bomb project at the end of WW2, died August 22 in Harwood, MD at age 91.
Robert Nix - Chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, who when he was appointed in 1972 became Pennsylvania's first black justice, and then when he became chief justice in 1984, he became the first black chief justice in any state, died August 22 in Philadelphia from Alzheimer's disease at age 75.
Pierre Poujade - Founder and leader of the French right-wing political movement known as UDCA that rose to prominence in the 1950's as an anti-taxation movement, who was a mentor to Jean-Marie Le Pen, the bombastic far-right politician who stunned France in 2002 with an unexpectedly strong finish in first-round presidential elections, and whose name led to the coining of a French word, "poujadisme", which is a derogatory term referring to groups that defend their narrow interests against the good of the state, died suddenly on August 27 of a heart attack in Bastide-L'Eveque, France at age 82.
Tuanku Bahiyah ibni Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman - The Sultanah of Kedah, which is the equivalent of a princess, in the tiny country of Borneo, by virtue of her marriage to the Sultan of Kedah in 1956, who was known for spending much of her time doing social and welfare work and who served as the chancellor of Universiti Malaya from 1972 to 1986, died August 26 after a long illness in Alor Star, Borneo at age 73.
John Rhodes - U.S. Congressman from Arizona who served as a Republican from 1952 to 1982, who paid a pivotal visit to President Nixon at the height of the Watergate scandal to urge him to resign, and who served nine years as house minority leader, died August 24 of cancer in Mesa, AZ at age 86.
William B. Ross - Groundbreaking political consultant, who with his late partner Herbert Baus, were among the first to use techniques such as telephone polling and direct-mail campaign efforts in the 1950’s and 60’s, and who worked on many notable elections including both of Richard Nixon’s presidential campaigns, died August 28 after surgery in Los Angeles at age 88.
Bill Scherle - U.S. Congressman from Iowa who served four terms as a Republican from 1967 to 1975, who is best known for attempting to pass legislation that would force public universities to revoke scholarships for students that protested the Vietnam War, died August 27 in Council Bluffs, IA of prostate cancer at age 80.
Social and Religion
Stormy Bryant - Indianapolis baby girl who was born with only about 20 centimeters of small intestine (normal amount is 200 to 300 cm), who underwent a groundbreaking transplant operation where she received new intestines, a liver, pancreas and stomach on August 23, died on August 30 of kidney and lung failure resulting from the anti-rejection meds. She was 14 months old.
Rev. John Burgess - First African-American to preside as bishop over an Episcopal diocese in the United States, who served as head of the Diocese of Massachusetts from 1970 to 1975, died August 24 in Vineyard Haven, MA at age 94.
Torrance Cantrell - 8-year-old autistic boy, who was being taken to a Milwaukee church by his mother to have him prayed for to "release the evil spirits that caused the boy's illness", who had been prayed over three nights a week for the last three weeks for one hour periods, and who was wrapped in a sheet to restrain him from scratching himself or others, died during one such prayer service on August 22. The cause of death is under investigation.
Melvin Graham - North Carolina farmer who made a name for himself as a folksy lay evangelist, who spoke to church, civic and business groups about his famous brother, evangelist Billy Graham, and his own deep Christian faith, and who often "opened" for nephew Franklin Graham at recent crusade meetings, died unexpectedly on August 24 of a heart attack in Charlotte, NC at age 78.
Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim - One of Iraq's most important Shiite clerics, who was the spiritual leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, and who on August 29 had just given a sermon at a crowded mosque in Najif, Iraq, calling for Iraqi unity, was killed along with more than 20 others when a massive car bomb exploded during prayers at the mosque. He was 64 years old.
Anthony Howlett - Founder and president of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, who organized annual trips to Switzerland to re-enact scenes at the locales described in the Arthur Conan Doyle books with participants in full Victorian costume, and who was largely responsible for the reconstruction of the Sherlock Holmes sitting-room which is the centrepiece of the Sherlock Holmes Museum at Meiringen, died August 21 in London at age 78.
Monsignor Robert Hupp - Priest who headed the famed Boys Town home for troubled boys from 1973 to 1985, who took over when the center was in crisis and instituted many changes, including a family-teacher system where the boys moved into cottages with married couples, a system that has been copied nationwide, died August 28 or 29 of a viral infection in Wisconsin at age 88.
Donald Malonson (aka Chief Running Deer) - Chief of the 1000-member Wampanoag Tribe on Martha's Vineyard for the last 51 years, whose tribe received federal recognition in 1987, died August 22 in Aquinnah, MA at age 86.
Tyler Miller - Senior at the University of Western Washington, whose hobby was "buildering" or climbing up on the sides of tall buildings, who went on an urban climbing excursion with several friends during the early morning of August 26 in downtown Bellingham, Washington, was killed when he accidentally bumped into power lines and was electrocuted before falling to the ground. He was 21 years old.
Wilbur Nelson - Radio evangelist who founded the daily radio ministry "The Morning Chapel Hour" (now known as Compassion Radio) in 1944, and who pastored the historic Country Church of Hollywood, died August 22 in Laguna Woods, CA after a long illness at age 92.
Generosa Ammon Pelosi - New York woman in the news the last two years, who was the widow of millionaire investment banker Theodore Ammon, and who married Danny Pelosi, the man being investigated in his killing, just three months after Ammon's death in 2001, died of cancer on August 22 in New York City at age 46.
Santa Claus - Illinois man formerly known as Robert Rion, who legally changed his name to Santa Claus in 1997 because after years of playing the role at Christmas, he wanted to be able tell the truth when a youngster asked him "You're not really Santa Claus, are you?", was found dead on August 26 at his home in Mundelein, IL of an apparent heart attack at the age of 59.
Cardinal Corrado Ursi - Archbishop of Naples who served for 21 years beginning in 1966, whose goal was to assist the poor of Naples, died August 29 in Naples, Italy after a long illness at age 95.
Business and Science
Dr. Frank Falkner - Researcher who initiated one of the oldest and largest ongoing study of twins in the U.S., which focused both on physical growth, behavioral factors, intelligence and personality, died August 21 in Berkeley, CA at age 84 (the study now in it's 45th year continues).
Dr. Herschel S. Horowitz - Public health dentist whose studies with the effects of adding fluoride to drinking water influenced the dental health of communities worldwide, who became a tireless advocate of community water fluoridation both nationally and internationally, died August 10 in Bethesda, MD at age 71.
John Ogbu - Anthropologist and one of the nation's leading scholars examining the minority achievement gap in the schools, who argued that the gap was rooted in deeply entrenched cultural attitudes, as well as differences in income and racial discrimination, and who wrote several books including his latest "Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb: A Study of Academic Engagement", died August 20 in Oakland, CA after back surgery at age 64.
Willa Player - The first African American woman to serve as president of a four-year college as president of Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina from 1956 to 1966, who was a staunch supporter of the civil rights movement, helping organize sit-ins and other demonstrations in Greensboro, died August 27 in Greensboro at age 94.
Charles Scaife - Professor of chemistry who in 1994 created the KIDS (Kids Involved! Doing Science!) traveling science show, with the theme "Science Is Fun!", which he took to 30 states, and who used materials from the grocery store or garbage can in his experiments (e.g. running a magnet over breakfast cereal to show that it contained iron), died August 24 of liver cancer in Schenectady, NY at age 65.
Irving Shwayder - President of Samsonite luggage who retired in 1987, who was the last family member to run the luggage company founded in 1910 as the Shwayder Trunk Manufacturing Company (don't know why they changed the name!), died August 23 in Denver of heart failure at age 81.
Sylvain Vaugeois - Canadian entrepreneur who was the mastermind of the Cité du Multimédia program to encourage development in Montreal's high-tech sector, died August 24 of a heart attack in Montreal at age 46.
Norman Waitt - Iowa cattleman who was the last of four generations of Waitts to make their mark in the cattle business at the famous Sioux City Stockyards, which was founded by his grandfather George Wiatt in 1888, died August 27 in Sioux City, IA at age 72.