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News and Entertainment
Wayne Andre - Highly regarded and prolific session trombonist, composer and arranger, whose long career included stints with a wide range of artists from Woody Herman and Charlie Spivak to Liza Minelli to Alice Cooper, and who twice was voted the Most Valuable Player by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the association that presents the annual Grammy Awards, died August 26 in New York City at age 71.
Anant Balani - Promising young Bollywood director whose offbeat films were much-discussed and anticipated in India, and who was slated to release two films next month "Joggers' Park" and "Mumbai Matinee", died of a heart attack on August 28 in Mumbai, India at age 42.
Frank Bolden - Legendary journalist who was one of two accredited black war correspondents during World War II, who interviewed world leaders of the day including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, Gen. Chiang Kai-shek, Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru (wow!), who turned down positions with Life magazine and the New York Times after the war to return to Pittsburgh where he gained a reputation as Pittsburgh's foremost historian of black life, died August 28 in Pittsburgh at age 90.
Charles Bronson - Actor who made a name for himself by playing a hard-faced action stars, most notably in the popular “Death Wish” movies in the 1970’s and 80’s, who was just as popular if not more in Europe than the U.S., who had early roles in classic films like “Pat and Mike”, “You’re in the Navy Now” and “The House of Wax”, died August 30 of pneumonia in Los Angeles at age 81 .
Rand Brooks - Actor forever immortalized for his role in 1939's "Gone With The Wind" as Charles Hamilton, Scarlett O'Hara's mild-mannered and ill-fated first husband, who also appeared as Lucky Jenkins in the Hopalong Cassiday movies as well as dozens of other movie and TV roles, and who gave Marilyn Monroe her first screen kiss in the 1948 film "Ladies of the Chorus", died September 1 of cancer in Santa Ynez, CA at age 84.
Susan Chilcott - One of Britain's leading opera singers, who had performed in England, throughout Europe and in New York City, and who made headlines worldwide in 2002 when her dress was set afire by a candle during a performance of Tchaikovsky's The Queen Of Spades at the London Opera House, died September 4 in Bath, England of breast cancer at age 40.
C.E. "Pep" Cooney - President and general manager of TV station KPNX channel 12 in Phoenix for 18 years, who was familiar to station viewers for his "Pep Talks" at the end of newscasts in front of recognizable Phoenix locations, died September 3 in Phoenix after suffering an aortic embolism a week earlier. He was 70.
Gisele MacKenzie - Singer and actress known as 'Canada's First Lady of Song', who rose to prominence in the U.S. in the 1950's on "Your Hit Parade", singing covers of the most popular songs of the week, who had her own musical variety show on NBC in 1957 and later became a regular on "The Sid Caesar Show", and who recorded a top 5 hit of her own in 1955 with "Hard To Get", died September 5 of colon cancer in Burbank, CA at age 76.
Bob Pinson - Country music scholar and collector who was a research librarian for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, who built the museum's collection of over 200,000 recorded discs, and who served as an authority on numerous reference books and recording compilation projects, died Sept. 4 in Nashville of leukemia at age 69.
Piporro (real name Eulalio González) - Mexican actor and singer considered one of the last great comedians in Mexican cinema, who starred in dozens of films along side greats like Pedro Infante, Maria Felix and Sarita Montiel, and who was known by his catchphrase "Ajúa", died September 1 of cardiac arrest in San Pedro Heron Garcia, Mexico at age 81.
William Roy - Songwriter, conductor and pianist, best known as accompanist to songstress and cabaret star Julie Wilson, who wrote the score to the Broadway musicals "Maggie" and "The Penny Friend", who accompanied numerous performers including Rosemary Clooney, Dorothy Dandridge, Dolores Gray, Lisa Kirk, Linda Lavin, Ginger Rogers, Sylvia Syms and Margaret Whiting, and who appeared on every major television network variety show telecast in the United States between 1959 and 1980, died Sept. 2 in West Palm Beach, FL of respiratory failure at age 75.
Jack Smight - Director of TV shows and feature films who directed the pilot for the show “Twilight Zone”, who specialized in action films like “Harper”, “Midway”, “Now Way To Treat A Lady” and “Airport 75” and TV shows like “Columbo”, “McCloud” and “Banacek”, died September 1 in Los Angeles at age 78.
Norma Storch - Wife of actor Larry Storch (“F-Troop”), who was the subject of the 2001 Emmy-winning PBS Frontline special “Secret Daughter”, where she was confronted by her birth daughter, Frontline producer June Cross, whom she had given up for adoption at age 4 in the 1950’s because she (Cross) is black, died August 28 of cancer in New York at age 81.
Tibor Varga - Hungarian-born violinist recognized as one of the world's most outstanding, who performed under some of the greatest conductors and accompanied by the world's best orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, and who founded the Academy of Music in the Swiss town of Sion, which became one of the foremost schools for musicians in the world, died Sept. 3 in Sion, Switzerland at age 82.
Bruce Waibel - Bass guitarist for several groups, most notably with the Allman Brothers Band for 10 years starting in 1982, who replaced Perry Richardson in Firehouse and recorded with the group on their "02" album last year, and who recently joined Unkel Skini, was found dead on September 2 at his Sarasota, FL home, an apparent suicide, at age 45.
Sports
Martha - Jack Russell terrier who won a "Where's Mongo" look-alike contest in Brooklyn recently and became a mascot for NASCAR, and who is pictured on the hood of Jimmy Spencer's NASCAR Winston Cup Ultra Motorsports Dodge, was struck by a tow truck and killed on August 12 in Brooklyn, NY.
Ronnie Newman - Organist for the Minnesota Twins for 21 seasons, who played "Take Me Out To the Ball Game" for 1,775 straight home games from 1977 until 1998, died September 2 from diabetes complications in Edina, MN at age 70.
Brian Ottney - College football player at Michigan State, who was the team’s center for the last 3 seasons, playing in 33 consecutive games during that time period, and who was team captain during the 2002-03 season, died September 1 after a seizure in Long Beach, CA at age 23.
Larry Shippey - Professional seniors tennis player who won six national senior doubles championships for the age group 45 and older in the 1960’s, died August 28 of cancer in Atlanta at age 87.
Peter West - Popular British sportscaster with the BBC who covered events from the Olympics to Wimbledon, but whose name is most closely associated with TV coverage of cricket, died Sept. 2 after a long illness in Bath, England at age 83.
Art and Literature
Herbert Abrams - One of the U.S.'s leading portrait artists, who painted more than 400 portraits of statesmen and other leaders that hang in government buildings, museums, board rooms and universities all over the country, and among whose subjects are former presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, died August 29 of cancer in Kent, CT at age 82.
Franklin L. Ford - Historian and dean at Harvard, who wrote several books on European history including "Political Murder: From Tyrannicide to Terrorism", and who was a central figure in a 1969 protest at Harvard when 300 students took over the administration building on campus, died August 31 after a stroke in Lexington, MA at age 81.
Terry Frost - One of England’s leading abstract painters of the 20th century, known for his bold use of color and striking compositions, whose work has been exhibited regularly in London and throughout the world, died September 1 in Hayle, Cornwall, England at age 87.
John Gould - Author and columnist who was believed to have the longest running column in the country with his weekly feature for the Christian Science Monitor, who was the author of 30 books including “Farmer Takes A Wife” and “Tales from Rhapsody Home, or What They Don't Tell You About Retirement Living”, and whose columns, essays and books were mostly set in his home state of Maine, died August 31 in Portland, ME at age 94.
Patrick Procktor - Flamboyant British artist known for his watercolor paintings, who designed the cover of Elton John's album “Blue Moves”, and whose long list of celebrity friends included Mick Jagger, Joe Orton, Francis Bacon, Michael Caine and Jill Bennett, died August 29 in England at age 67.
Warren Rogers - Author and journalist who served as president of the National Press Club in 1972 and was a founder of the National Press Foundation, and who penned five historical books including “When I think of Bobby: A Personal Memoir of the Kennedy Years”, died August 31 of cancer in Washington, DC at age 81.
Endre Szasz - Hungarian painter known for his surrealist-symbolic style, who had numerous exhibitions in Canada and the United States where his paintings fetched high prices, and who may be best known for a series of paintings he did in the late-1960s for a large calendar depicting 12 women, each representing a virtue or vice, died August 18 in Hungary at age 77.
Bethann Thornburgh - Artist and book illustrator, whose drawings have appeared for 30 years in the Washington Post, and who has illustrated numerous children’s books including the award-winning “My Ballet Bag”, died August 29 of lung cancer in Washington, DC at age 58.
Politics and Military
Webster Anderson - Medal of Honor winner for heroism in the Vietnam War, who in 1967 when his battery of soldiers in Tam Ky was attacked and overrun by the North Vietnamese, continued to direct his troops despite having one arm and both legs blown off by grenades during the attack, whose troops repelled the attack even though they were greatly outnumbered, and who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery by Richard Nixon in 1969, died August 30 of colon cancer in Fairfield County, SC at age 70.
Moe Biller - President of the American Postal Workers Union from 1980 until 2001, who came to fame in 1970 when he led a strike at the Post Office in New York that spread to 30 other cities and eventually forced the Post Office to reorganize into the U.S. Postal Service and provided workers with the right to bargain for wages and benefits, died Sept. 5 in New York City of heart disease at age 87.
General Raymond G. Davis - Marine general, Medal of Honor recipient, and one of the nation's most highly decorated military officers, who in addition to the Medal of Honor received two Silver Stars, two Legion of Merits and a Bronze Star Medal, and who was nominated this year for the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his civilian work, died September 3 of a heart attack in Conyers, GA at age 88.
Lew Dischner - One of Alaska's most powerful lobbyists, who was a force for organized labor, the Inupiat people of the North Slope and the Filipino communities in Southeast Alaska, but who went to prison in the late 1980's in a corruption scandal, died September 1 in Portland, OR of a heart attack at age 85.
Mario Onaindia - Leading member of Spain’s Basque separatist group ETA, who for years fought to restore the Basque Country's autonomy, who was once condemned to death by Spanish dictator Francisco Franco (later exonerated) and who later became a respected Basque politician, died August 31 of intestinal cancer in Vitoria, Spain at age 55.
Ptolemy Alexander Reid - Prime Minister of Guyana from 1980 to 1984, who was a key figure in the People's National Congress party for many years, died September 2 after a stroke in Georgetown, Guyana at age 85.
Ramon Serrano Suner - Spanish Foreign Minister and brother-in-law of dictator Gen. Francisco Franco, who was a top-ranking member of the fascist Falange party that governed Spain following the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War, died September 1 in Madrid of respiratory failure at age 101.
Pavel Tigrid - Czechoslovakian political figure and author who was exiled in the 1940’s and lived in Germany, France, England and the U.S., who became a prominent opponent in exile of his country's totalitarian rulers, and who went on to become a post-communist Cabinet minister in Czechoslovakia, died August 31 in Hericy, France at age 85.
Evangelos Yiannopoulos - Powerful Greek politician and founding member of Greece's Socialist Party, who served as justice minister until 2000, and who was known for partying at nightclubs with glamorous young women on each arm, died September 4 in Athens of heart and lung problems at age 85.
Social and Religion
Neil Cronin - FBI agent who has spent the last 13 years heading the investigation of the St. Patrick's Day 1990 theft of 13 paintings from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, one of the costliest museum heists in U.S. history with paintings valued at over $300 million that have never been recovered, was killed in a car accident on Sept. 3 in Boston at age 50.
Mine Ener - Villanova University professor who specialized in Middle Eastern affairs and had one book already published with another in the works, but who was charged with second-degree murder after allegedly cutting the throat of her 6-month-old daughter Raya Donagi (who suffered Down syndrome), and who had been on a suicide watch since being jailed, committed suicide on August 30 by putting a plastic garbage bag over her head at a jail in St. Paul, MN. She was 38 years old.
Paul Hill - Member of the Army of God anti-abortion group and former Presbyterian minister, who in 1994 gunned down Dr. John Britton, 69, and a man who was escorting him, retired Air Force. Lt. Col James Barrett, 74, outside The Ladies' Center clinic in Pensacola, Florida, and who remained unrepentant and hoped to be viewed as a martyr in the anti-abortion movement, was executed by lethal injection on September 3 at the state prison in Starke, FL at age 49.
Donal Lamont - Roman Catholic bishop of Umtali, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1977 in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) for opposing the then white-ruled country’s policies of racial discrimination, but who was expelled from Rhodesia rather than imprisoned, and who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978 and was later pictured on a Zimbabwean postage stamp, died August 14 in Dublin, Ireland at age 92.
The Rogers Family - Liberty, Missouri family who were returning from a wedding on August 30 by car in heavy rains, whose minivan stalled in high waters on I-35 near Emporia, Kansas, who passed the time waiting for rescue by singing Bible songs and praying, but whose car was swept away by flood waters killing all but husband/father Robert Rogers. Dead are mother Melissa, 33, and children Makenah, 8, Zachary, 5, Nicholas, 3, and Alenah, 21 months.
Brian Wells - 46-year-old pizza delivery man from Erie, Pennsylvania who entered a bank on August 28 with a bomb strapped to his body and demanded money, who was apprehended by police shortly thereafter, and who told them he had delivered a pizza to a remote location and someone there forced him to rob the bank and collared the bomb to his body, was killed when the bomb went off while police were waiting for a bomb technician, leaving police with more questions than answers (and many more twists and turns than can be covered here).
Business and Science
Robert Abplanalp - Inventor and notable friend and confidant of Richard Nixon, who made his fortune after inventing a plastic aerosol can valve and starting the Precision Valve Corporation in 1949, who held more than 100 patents and has been called the 'Henry Ford of the packaging industry', but who is better known as the longtime friend of President Nixon along with Bebe Rebozo (both of whom vacationed at Abplanalp's home in the Bahamas frequently), died August 30 of cancer in Bronxville, NY at age 81.
Horace Babcock - Astronomer who invented, with his father Harold Babcock, the first solar magnetograph (measures the general magnetic field of the sun), who also developed magnetographs for more distant stars as well as several other notable devices and astronomical techniques, and who was the director for many years of the Carnegie Observatory, died August 29 in Santa Barbara, CA at age 90.
Donald Davidson - One of the 20th century's most influential philosophers, noted for his battery of landmark essays on topics like linguistic analysis and the nature of truth, who coined expressions to express complex ideas like "triangulation" and "anomalous monism", died August 31 in Berkeley, CA at age 86.
Werner Goldsmith - Internationally-known mechanical engineer who was an expert on the biomechanics of head an neck injuries, whose research centered around automobile collisions, physical abuse, including the shaken baby syndrome, and other causes of brain and neck trauma, and who published the landmark monograph “Impact: The Theory and Physical Behavior of Colliding Solids”, which remains the top textbook in the field, died August 23 in Oakland, CA after a brief illness at age 79.
Nguyen Xuan Oanh - Harvard-educated economist who tried to improve communist Vietnam's economy and its relations with the United States, who in 1986 helped create an economic reform package allowing more private enterprise and loosening state control over the economy, died August 29 in Ho Chi Minh City at age 82.
Charlotte Selver - Founder of the Sensory Awareness Foundation and inspiration for the school of psychology that is known as the human potential movement, which combined experimental techniques, like group encounters and primal therapy, with spiritual seeking in an effort to help people shed social conditioning, who worked with psychology giants Erich Fromme and Fritz Perls (and even gave them sensory awareness training), and who continued to give classes and individual sessions until recently, died August 22 in Muir Beach, CA at age 102.
David B. Truman - Political scientist and popular dean at Columbia University in the 1960’s, whose actions during student demonstrations on campus in 1968, when he allowed police to use force to break up the demonstrations, eventually led to his ouster, and who later became president of Mount Holyoke College, died August 28 in Sarasota, FL at age 90.
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