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News and Entertainment
Bill Carey - Actor turned composer who appeared in movies during the 1930'such as "Roberta", "Old Man Rhythm", "Something to Sing About" and "Campus Confessions", who later became a well known songwriter, whose song "You've Changed" was a hit for Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, and who wrote other songs recorded by Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughn, Joni Mitchell, George Michael and Eva Cassidy, died Jan. 27 in Laguna Beach, California at age 87.
Robert Colesberry - Producer of such films as "Mississippi Burning", "After Hours", "The Natural" and "The King of Comedy", as well as numerous HBO movies, series and miniseries including the current police drama "The Wire", and films like "61*", "K-PAX", and "Billy Bathgate", who won an Emmy Award for his work on the HBO miniseries "The Corner", and who frequently made cameo appearances in his films and shows including a recurring role as hapless Baltimore homicide detective Ray Cole in "The Wire", died Feb. 9 after heart surgery at a hospital in New York City at the age of 57.
Rene DeKnight - Pianist and arranger for the Delta Rhythm Boys, who recorded and performed with the group from 1940 to 1961, who arranged and played on the Deltas groundbreaking and influential work including "Dry Bones" and "Take The A Train", among others, died Jan. 24 at his home in Cameron Park, California at age 90 (Carl Jones is the group's only survivor).
Michael Easton - Australian composer and arranger best known for scoring movies like the "Halifax f.p." series, "The Mao Game", "Economy Class" and "Snowy", who also wrote nine operas, three symphonies and numerous concerti including the popular "Concerto on Australian Themes", which he recorded and released in Australia, Europe and the U.S. to great success, died Feb. 4 in London from a brain hemorrhage believed to be the result of a fall in December, 2003. He was 49 years old.
Larry Elikann - Emmy Award-winning television director of such popular shows as "Barnaby Jones", "Dallas", "Knot's Landing", "Falcon Crest" and "Hill Street Blues", who is better known for his creative approach to TV movies and miniseries, ripping stories straight from the headlines in such productions as "I Know My First Name Is Steven", "A Mother's Prayer" and "Menendez: A Killing in Beverly Hills", died Feb. 11 in Los Angeles of unspecified causes at age 80.
Jacques Francais - Dealer of classical string instruments and one of the world's foremost luthiers (maker, restorer and dealer of string instruments), who founded Jacques Francais Rare Violins Inc. in New York, and who with a glance could authenticate a Stradivarius worth millions and then often match it with its next player, died Feb. 4 of Parkinson's disease in New York City at the age of 80.
Nicholas 'Niki' Goldschmidt - Conductor and leading figure in Canadian culture, who helped Canada develop its international reputation in music, who was the first director of the Royal Conservatory Opera School (later the Canadian Opera Company), who was an active participant in the international arts scene who kept a vast network of influential friends and colleagues worldwide, which he used to champion and promote upcoming Canadian musical talent, died Feb. 8 at his home in Toronto at the age of 95.
Bob Greenlee - Founder of independent blues label King Snake Records, who during the 80's and 90's revitalized the careers of talented, often overlooked musicians like Rufus Thomas, Lucky Peterson, Kenny Neal, harmonica master Raful Neal and saxophonist Noble 'Thin Man' Watts, died Feb. 12 of pancreatic cancer at his home in Sanford, Florida at the age of 59.
Martin Jurow - Longtime Hollywood studio executive and agent, who was executive assistant to movie titans Jack L. Warner and Hal B. Wallis and was instrumental in the contract negotiations and casting in some of Hollywood's biggest productions including "From Here to Eternity" and "On the Waterfront", and who produced several notable films of his own like "Breakfast At Tiffany's", "The Pink Panther" and "The Great Race", died Feb. 12 of Parkinson's disease in Dallas at the age of 92.
Solomon "Sonny" Kamahele - Legendary Hawaiian entertainer and steel guitarist, who began performing on the islands at age 11, who was considered one of the kingpins of traditional Hawaiian music, along with the late ukulele player Benny Kalama, who recorded numerous albums and performed traditional Hawaiian and hapa-haole music at venues throughout Hawaii, died Feb. 11 at his home in Hilo, Hawaii at the age of 82.
Cem Karaca - Pioneering Turkish rock singer known for his blend of traditional Turkish folk music and rock and roll which became known as Anatolian rock, who rose to prominence in Turkey in the 1960's, but who was forced to flee the country after a 1980 army coup, was stripped of his Turkish citizenship and spent eight years in exile in Germany, died of a heart attack on Feb. 8 in Istanbul at the age of 58.
Katz Kobayashi - Noted steel guitarist who played in Marty Robbins band from 1974 until Robbins' death in 1982, who later played with Robbins' son, Ronny, as well as Johnny Russell, Jeannie Pruitt, Whispering Bill Anderson and Alan Jackson, died Feb. 7 in Panama City Beach, Florida of stroke complications at the age of 60.
Larry Krebs - Television cameraman and radio reporter in Washington, DC, who covered the night police beat for more than 50 years for WMAL radio and WJLA television, who was best known for breaking the 1974 Tidal Wave scandal when he filmed officers pulling over a Lincoln Continental containing intoxicated congressman Wilber D. Mills and stripper Fanne Foxe, died Feb. 11 at a Washington, DC hospital of complications after a stroke at the age of 81.
Preston Love - Jazz saxophonist and bandleader, who was a member of the Count Basie Orchestra during the 1940's before forming his own group, the Preston Love Orchestra, who became leader of the West Coast Motown Orchestra where he played with, among others, Ray Charles, the Supremes, the Temptations, and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and who was inducted into the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame in 1998, died Feb. 12 of lung cancer at a hospital in Omaha, Nebraska at the age of 82.
William MacQuitty - Author, photographer and historian best known as producer of the 1958 film about the sinking of the Titanic, "A Night to Remember", one of the most expensive productions of the 1950's, who used 70 Titanic survivors during the filming as advisors on everything from costumes to technical detail, died Feb. 5 in London at age 98.
Tebogo Madingoane - South African pop star and singer in the popular singing group Mafikizolo, whose group won the best African pop and best group awards at the 2003 South African Music Association Awards, was shot and killed in a road-rage incident on Feb. 14 after an altercation with another driver in the township of Soweto outside Johannesburg, South Africa. He was 32 years old.
Robert Minford - Stage actor best known for his one man show on Edgar Allan Poe called "Journey to Eldorado", who performed the show Off-Broadway and toured with it across the country, died Feb. 4 of cancer at a hospital in Lebanon, Pennsylvania at age 75.
May O'Donnell - Dancer, choreographer and teacher, who was a principal dancer with the Martha Graham troupe from 1932 to 1938, who began a long career as a choreographer in 1939 whose work included the 1943 modern-dance classic "Suspension", and who as a teacher instructed greats like Cora Cahan, Robert Joffrey and Ben Vereen, died Feb. 1 at her New York City home at the age of 97.
Tony Pope - Voiceover artist whose cartoon career included "The Transformers", "Spider-Man", "Tale Spin", "Digimon" and "The Adventures of Teddi Ruxpin", as well as numerous Disney cartoons, and whose movie credits include "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", "Shrek" and "The Prince of Light", died Feb. 11 in Los Angeles due to complications during leg surgery at the age of 56.
Jason Raize - Broadway star best known as the original Simba in "The Lion King" from 1997 to 2000, who also had roles in productions like "Jesus Christ Superstar", "The King and I" and "The Rocky Horror Show", who hosted the TV nature show "Keeping It Wild with Jason Raize", who starred in the 2000 Disney Channel special "Jessica Simpson and Jason Raize in Concert", and whose debut album, "NYC" has been scheduled for release in 2004 by Universal Records, committed suicide while visiting a friend in Yass, New South Wales on Feb. 3. He was 28 years old.
Gerhard Riedmann - Leading Austrian movie star of the 50's and 60's, who appeared in nearly 100 German-language films from the late 1940's to the early 1990's, many of which were released in England and the U.S., died Feb. 9 in Kematen, Austria at the age of 78.
Sig Sakowicz - Chicago and Las Vegas radio and TV host known his trademark show biz interviews during 25 consecutive years covering the Academy Awards, who produced and hosted three USO tours during the Vietnam War, and who in 1972 ran a mock campaign for president with the slogan "Vote for Sig Sakowicz for President. What have you got to lose?" (thanks to Geno for that tidbit), died Feb. 7 in Las Vegas at the age of 80.
Mimi Spencer - American musician who specialized in Middle Eastern music and was considered to be one of the top kanunists in the world (kanun - 77-stringed zither), who founded the groundbreaking music ensemble Jazayer in 1973, who sang songs in seven different languages, and who was the author of five books in the field of Middle Eastern music, died Feb. 5 at her home in Point Richmond, California of cancer. Her age was not stated.
Jerry Stoll - Jazz photographer and documentary filmmaker, who as the official photographer for the Monterey Jazz Festival in the 50's and 60's, made classic pictures of greats like Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis, whose photographs have been featured in exhibitions and books, including his own book "I Am Lover", and among whose films is the anti-Vietnam war documentary "Sons and Daughters", died Jan. 21 at his Oakland, California home of natural causes at age 80.
Bill Sutherland - Actor who had bit parts in films like "Father Hood" with Steve Martin and the mini-series "A Woman of Independent Means", and who was a fixture in San Antonio, Texas dinner theatre, died Feb. 5 of a heart attack in San Antonio at the age of 68.
Sports
Gordon Hooey - Legendary Canadian curling coach, who was a leader in the development of curling and many of his techniques are still used today, who coached champions like Georgina Wheatcroft, Michelle Harding, Jeanna Richard and Mike Wood, and who was inducted into the Canadian Curling Association Hall of Fame the day before his death, died Feb. 8 of cancer in Victoria, British Columbia at the age of 83.
Raymonds Jumikis - Star basketball player on the Latvian national team, who was playing professional basketball in Sweden, collapsed and died of a massive heart attack during a game on Feb. 10 in Sweden. He was 23 years old.
Hub Kittle - Colorful baseball coach and pitching instructor, who began in 1936 as a minor league pitcher and continued working in baseball all the way until 2003 when he served as special pitching instructor for the Seattle Mariners, who for many years was a minor league manager before becoming a pitching coach for the Houston Astros in the 1970's, who was pitching coach for the 1982 World Series champ St. Louis Cardinals, and who in 1980 at age 63 pitched a scoreless inning in a minor league game for Louisville, becoming the oldest player to pitch in a professional baseball game, died Feb. 10 at a hospital in Yakima, Washington of kidney failure and diabetes at age 86.
Michael Rowland - Well-known jockey who had 3,998 career victories over 25 years, who was Thistledown's winningest jockey with 30 meet titles, and who twice tied the Ohio thoroughbred riding record with six wins in one day, died Feb. 9 in Cincinnati from injuries received in a three-horse spill at Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky on Feb. 4. He was 41 years old.
Jim Russo - Longtime scout for the Baltimore Orioles who worked in the organization from 1954 to 1987, who helped identify and sign future stars such as Jim Palmer, Boog Powell, Davey Johnson and Dave McNally, and for whom the Orioles' Jim Russo Scout of the Year Award is named, died Feb. 8 at his home in Grover, Missouri of a heart condition at age 81.
Scott Walker - Welterweight boxer and one of the sport's strangest characters during the 1990's, who fought under the moniker 'The Pink Cat' wearing pink boxing trunks and slicked-back hair a la James Dean, who had a lifetime record of 25-7 with 13 K.O.'s, among whose bouts were a win over Alexis Arguello in 1995 and a loss to Julio Cesar Chavez in 1996, was found dead on Jan. 31 in Apache Junction, Arizona of unspecified causes at age 34.
Art and Literature
James Crowe - Sculptor known for his signature dramatic mobiles, among whose pieces are the 50-foot mobile in the atrium of the Radisson Hotel at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, died Jan. 10 at his home in Duncanville, Texas of emphysema at the age of 72.
William Herrick - Author best known for the 1969 novel "Hermanos!" about the Spanish Civil War, who wrote several other notable novels dealing with espionage and terrorism including "Shadows and Wolves" (1980), "Love and Terror" (1981) and "Kill Memory" (1984), died Jan. 31 at his home in Old Chatham, NY at age 89.
Fritz Hirschberger - World War II concentration camp survivor who in the 1980s began to paint Holocaust scenes from his memories and research, whose paintings were called "angry" and are typified by a painting called "The Concordat", which depicts a corpulent Nazi officer and a faceless Catholic bishop standing on the emaciated body of a concentration camp victim, died Jan. 8 in San Francisco of natural causes at age 91.
Edward Jablonski - Author best known for his biographies of composers such as George Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Alan Jay Lerner and Irving Berlin, who was also known for his expertise in aviation, writing such books as the four volume series "Airwar", "Ladybirds: Women in Aviation" and "Flying Fortress: The Illustrated Biographies of the B-17's and the Men Who Flew Them", died Feb. 10 of heart failure at a hospital in New York City at age 81.
Julius "Julie" Schwartz - Legendary comic book editor at DC Comics, widely credited with reviving a dying comics industry in the 1950's, who helped reinvent new versions of such superhero comics such as The Flash, Batman and Superman, becoming the architect of what became known as the "Silver Age" of comics, died Feb. 8 in Mineola, New York at age 89.
Max Shaye - Artist whose paintings adorned walls around the world, including in the Pentagon and the White House and who was the longtime co-owner of the Grosse Pointe Quality Food Co. in Detroit, died Feb. 8 in Franklin, Michigan at the age of 92.
Norman Thelwell - Popular British cartoonist best known for his strip featuring the pig-tailed girl Penelope and her fat, hairy pony Kipper, whose work was published for many years by the Sunday Express and the satirical magazine Punch, and who produced 32 books that sold over two million copies in the UK, died Feb. 7 after a long illness at age 80.
Politics and Military
Scott Hoffman - Aide to Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson, who disappeared on Feb. 9 after taking his dogs for a walk (his dogs returned home alone), was found dead on Feb. 10 in a pond in McCook, Nebraska at the age of 33. It is believed he went after his dogs as they chased geese onto the park pond's thin ice and fell through.
Paul Ilyinsky - Cousin of Russian Czar Nicholas II, whose family emigrated to the U.S. in the 1930's, who embraced democracy and a life in politics, becoming the mayor of Palm Beach, Florida from 1993 to 1999, died Feb. 10 of heart problems and emphysema in Palm Beach at the age of 77.
Ryszard Kuklinski - Polish Army officer who was one of the CIA's most important spies during the Cold War, who covertly provided the United States with critical information that may have staved off a Soviet invasion of Poland, who during the 1970's and 80's handed over thousands of secret documents before defecting to the U.S. in 1981, died Feb. 10 at a hospital in Tampa, Florida of complications from a stroke at the age of 73.
Jozef Lenart - Prime minister of Czechoslovakia from 1963 to 1968 and head of the Slovak Communist Party until 1988, who after the fall of Communism, was tried for treason for his role in the 1968 Russian-led invasion of the country that crushed the anti-Communist uprising known as the Prague Spring, died Feb. 11 following heart surgery at a Prague hospital at the age of 80.
Rolf Pohle - Noted member of the terrorist group German Red Army, who in the 1970's initiated a series of arson and bombing attacks, mainly against U.S. military targets, in what it said was retaliation for the war in Vietnam, and who later staged bombings and slayings of West German industrial and banking leaders, for which he served many years in prison, died Feb. 7 in Athens, Greece at the age of 62.
Claude Ryan - Canadian political leader, who headed the Liberal Party in Quebec from 1978 to 1982, who was best known across Canada as the leader of the "No" forces that defeated René Lévesque in the 1980 referendum on Quebec sovereignty, died Feb. 9 of stomach cancer in Quebec at the age of 79.
Sidney Salomon - World War II hero who was awarded two Purple Hearts and a Silver Star for his role leading men onto Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion at Normandy, who recounted the events of June 7, 1945 to author Stephen Ambrose, author of "D-Day", the book used as the primary source for the film "Saving Private Ryan", and whose graphic description of the carnage on Omaha Beach was depicted in the film's opening sequence, died Jan. 21 of cancer in Doylestown, Pennsylvania at the age of 90.
Zelimkhan Yanderbiyev - President of Chechnya in 1996-97, who rose to prominence in the early 90's when Chechnya broke away from Russia, who was vice-president under Dzhokhar Dudayev in 1996 when Dudayev was killed during fighting and became president until elections were held, who was forced into exile after the invasion of Chechnya by Russia in 1999, and who then became a Chechen rebel representative with suspected links to al-Qaeda who was considered a terrorist by both the U.N. and Russia, was killed in a car explosion in Doha, Qatar on Feb. 13. He was 51 years old.
Jan Zurakowski - The first test pilot of the revolutionary Avro Arrow aircraft, who was a Polish war hero in 1952 when he was recruited by Avro to fly Canada's first supersonic jet, who in 1958 under much fanfare, took the Avro Arrow RL-201 aircraft to 1,600 kilometres an hour and showed that it could become the world's most advanced interceptor, but who saw Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker cancel the project and order all prototypes destroyed, died Feb. 9 in Barry's Bay, Ontario of leukemia at the age of 89.
Social and Religion
Catarina Carreiro - Portugal's oldest citizen and the world's 11th oldest person, who in her youth was struck by lightning as she hid from heavy rain underneath a tree, who suffered severe burns and had a priest read her last rites, but survived those injuries, died Feb. 14 of natural causes in Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal at the age of 113.
Bobby Ray Hopkins - Texas man convicted in the 1993 stabbing deaths of acquaintance Sandi Marbut, 18, and her cousin Jennifer Weston, 19, who stabbed the victims over 100 times and whose motivation for the killings was never completely understood, was executed by lethal injection on Feb. 12 at the state prison in Huntsville, Texas at the age of 36.
Frances "Frankie" Jones - Very old Colorado woman who was born one week after Grover Cleveland was elected president in 1892, died Jan. 31 of pneumonia in Pueblo, Colorado at age 111.
Edward Lagrone - Texas man who in 1991 while on parole from a prior murder conviction, began dating Pamela Lloyd, the mother of 10-year-old Shakiesha Lloyd, who began sexually assaulting the girl, eventually impregnating her, who, once Pamela Lloyd found out and threatened to go to police, broke into the home with a shotgun and killed Shakiesha and two elderly relatives, Zenobia Anderson, 83, and Caola Lloyd, 76, who had cancer and was blind (Pamela Lloyd was unharmed), was executed by lethal injection on Feb. 11 at the state prison in Huntsville, Texas. He was 46 years old.
Trude Lash - Close friend of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and wife of Roosevelt biographer Joseph Lash, who devoted herself to the Roosevelt legacy through the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, and who was the longtime program director of the Citizens Commission for Children of New York, which was founded by Eleanor Roosevelt, died Feb. 4 at her home in New York City at the age of 95.
Antoine Miller - One of the four men prosecuted in the beating of truck driver Reginald Denny during the 1992 riots in Los Angeles sparked when white police officers were acquitted in the beating of black motorist Rodney King, was shot to death on Feb. 1 at a nightclub in Hollywood at the age of 31.
Corinthian Nutter - Teacher and civil-rights pioneer, who in 1948 led a walkout of the dilapidated Walker Elementary School in Merriam, Kansas and became a key witness in a lawsuit against the school district, winning a landmark ruling that became a precursor to Brown vs. the Board of Education several years later, died Feb. 10 at her home in Kansas City, Missouri at the age of 97.
Fuchsia Pickett - Influential Biblical scholar, author and evangelist who founded the Fuchsia Pickett Ministries, who is said to have impacted many Christian leaders including Benny Hinn and Judson Cornwall, who was a prolific author putting out books like "Presenting the Holy Spirit", "God's Dream" and "Stones of Remembrance" as well as dozens of tapes and study guides, died Jan. 31 at her home in Blount, Tennessee of natural causes at age 85.
Cardinal Opilio Rossi - U.S.-born Vatican diplomat and a former president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, who served in Berlin during World War II and also served in the Vatican's missions in Ecuador, Chile and Austria, died Feb. 9 in Vatican City after a long illness at age 93.
Lina Villegas - New York City teenager who on Feb. 10 dropped her cell phone onto the tracks in a subway station in Elmhurst, New Jersey, who climbed down onto the tracks and retrieved the phone but saw a train coming, who tried to climb back onto the platform and had grabbed the hands of two good Samaritans for help, but was killed when the subway hit her before she could be pulled to safety, stunning numerous onlookers. She was 18 years old.
Business and Science
Dr. Robert Bruce - Cardiologist known as the "father of exercise cardiology", who was one of the first researchers to study methods of testing for early signs of heart disease, and whose studies led to the 1963 publication of the standardized treadmill test, which involves hooking patients up to electrodes and an oxygen analyzer and having them exercise on a treadmill that grows faster and has a steeper incline every few minutes, died Feb. 12 of leukemia in Seattle at age 87.
Ron Jones - Entrepreneur who co-founded SongPro, Inc., the maker of a computer device he invented that turns Nintendo's Game Boy into a digital audio and video player, whose company is the first African American-owned portable digital multimedia device manufacturer, died Feb. 9 of gastric cancer at a Los Angeles hospital at age 48.
Humphrey Osmond - Psychiatrist and researcher of such mind-altering substances as LSD and mescaline, who was interested in researching the way LSD altered perceptions of time and space and whether it could help could help alcoholics kick their addiction, who was closely associated with British author Aldous Huxley and coined the term "psychedelic" in a letter to Huxley to describe to describe manifestations of the mind, died Feb. 6 at his home in Appleton, Wisconsin at the age of 86.
Fuad Rouhani - Iranian-born international attorney who became the very first secretary general of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) when that coalition formed in 1959, a post that involved mediating between conflicting factions (usually between Islamic and non-Islamic countries), and who is credited with helping forestall radical Arab influence within OPEC that kept it strong, died Jan. 30 at a nursing home in London at the age of 96.
Herbert Semmel - Noted civil rights attorney best known for his work for the elderly and disabled, who in 1992 successfully sued the Empire State Building to force it to make its observatory and adjacent areas accessible to the disabled, who also successfully sued in several states to continue Medicaid benefits for people who were losing Social Security insurance and who fought for legislation requiring better staffing for nursing home residents, died Feb. 5 of cancer at a hospital in Los Angeles at the age of 73.
Irving Schottenstein - Founder and CEO of M/I Homes, one of the Midwest's largest home building companies, who formed the company with his cousin Melvin Schottenstein in 1976, and which has built 56,000 homes since that time, posting net income of $81.7 million on sales of nearly $1.1 billion during 2003, died Feb. 11 in Columbus, Ohio at the age of 75.
William Tabler - Architect at the head of the movement to design hotels for efficiency rather than charm, who designed more than 400 hotels in his career, most notably the mammoth hotels for the Hilton chain including the New York Hilton at Rockefeller Center in New York, the Washington Hilton and the Hilton in San Francisco, died Feb. 3 in Upper Brookfield, New York at the age of 89.
Helmut Werner - Chairman of automaker Mercedes-Benz from 1993 to 1997, who took over the company when it was deeply in the red and was able to turn it around by cutting jobs and through clever marketing, who was responsible for starting up the first Mercedes factory in the United States, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and who was included on Business Week's 1996 list of the 25 most successful top managers, died Feb. 6 of undisclosed causes at a hospital in Berlin at the age of 67.
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