News and Entertainment
Olle Adolphson - One of Sweden's best known troubadours who was called the 'king of melodies', who was known for his association with legendary troubadour Evert Taube in the 1950's, whose own career took off in the 1960's and whose songs have been recorded by dozens of Swedish singers over the years, died March 10 after a long illness at age 69.
Harry Bartell - Actor best known as a voice on old time radio as a regular on "Gunsmoke", "Dragnet" and "Let George Do It", who portrayed Archie Goodwin on NBC Radio's "The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe", who transitioned to television appearing in dozens of programs like "Wild Wild West", "Twilight Zone", "I Love Lucy" and numerous roles in his old radio shows "Dragnet" and "Gunsmoke", died Feb. 26 in Ashland, Oregon at the age of 90.
Alf Bicknell - Chauffer to the Beatles during the height of their fame, from the filming of the group "Help!" in 1964 until they quit touring in 1966, who became close to the group and was the inspiration of the song "Drive My Car", and whose autobiography written with Garry Marsh, called "The Original Baby You Can Drive My Car", was published in 1998, died March 9 at his home in Oxford, England at age 75.
Dave Blood (real name Dave Schulthise) - Bass player for the Dead Milkmen, one of punk rocks biggest acts during the 1980's with albums like "Big Lizard in My Backyard" and "Beelzebubba" and songs like "Punk Rock Girl", who had suffered depression since the band broke up in 1995, committed suicide March 10 at the home of a friend in Westchester, New York at the age of 47.
Ruth Ellington Boatwright - Sister of jazz's greatest bandleader Duke Ellington, who was the longtime president of Tempo Music, the company that managed Ellington's business affairs and owned most of Ellington's compositions, died March 7 in New York City after a long illness at age 88.
Julio "Julito" Collazo - Master percussionist and singer who rose to prominence recording and performing with Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Silvestre Méndez, Dizzy Gillespie and Machito, among others, who was best known for his contributions to the religion Santaria and his vocal recordings on that religion's songs of faith, died March 5 in New York City of undisclosed causes at age 78.
Jack Creley - Canadian actor who performed in virtually every type of entertainment, who with partner David Smith was known for the lavish celebrity-filled parties they threw in Toronto, whose credits in film and TV cover everything from "Dr. Strangelove" in 1964 to several "Police Academy" movies in the 80's to voiceovers in cartoons like "GoBots", as well as numerous TV appearances, died March 10 of congestive heart failure in Toronto at the age of 78.
Anna Carter Gordon Davis - Country and gospel singer, and one of the original members of The Chuck Wagon Gang, a popular family quartet created in Texas in 1935, and who was the widow of former Louisiana Gov. Jimmie Davis, died March 5 in Fort Worth, Texas at the age of 86.
Peggy DeCastro - Oldest member and lead singer of the Cuban-born DeCastro Sisters (with sisters Babette --died 1993 -- and Cherie), who sang on their big hit "Teach Me Tonight" (#2 in 1955) as well as other songs like "Boom Boom Boomerang" and "It's Yours", who over the last 50 years were regular performers at Las Vegas casinos and who were inducted into the Casino Legends Hall of Fame, died March 6 at her Las Vegas home after a long illness at age 82.
Frances Dee - Leading lady of films in the 1930's and 40's, who starred in one of the first talkie musicals, 1930's "The Playboy of Paris" opposite Maurice Chevalier, who appeared in numerous other significant films like "American Tragedy", "Souls At Sea", "Little Women" and "Of Human Bondage", and who was married to actor Joel McCrea, her co-star in the 1933 film "The Silver Cord", for 57 years until his death in 1990, died March 6 at the home of her son in Norwalk, Connecticut after suffering a stroke three weeks earlier. She was 94.
Tule Livingston Dillow - First wife of singer/songwriter Warren Zevon and mother to their son Jordan Zevon, who recorded with Zevon as Lyme & Cybelle and had a minor hit with "Follow Me" (#65 in 1966), died of breast cancer on March 3 in Brea, California at the age of 57.
Peter 'Dino' Dines - Keyboard player with the British glam rock band T.Rex from 1974 to 1977, who played on their albums "Bolan's Zip Gun" and "Futuristic Dragon", died of a heart attack on Jan. 28 at the age of 59.
Steve Duboff Half of the singing, songwriting and producing duo with Artie Kornfeld, who as the Changin' Times, recorded and charted with their original version of "The Pied Piper" in 1965, a year before it became a big hit for Crispian St. Peters, who also wrote the 1960's hits "The Rain, the Park and Other Things" and "We Can Fly" for the Cowsills, died Feb. 28 in Malibu, California after a long illness at the age of 62.
Berndt Egerbladh - Well-known Swedish composer and jazz pianist, who composed the music for numerous Swedish TV shows, mini-series and movies, and who recorded several albums of his own music like 1988's "Boy Full of Thoughts" with vocals by the elite in Swedish jazz, died March 2 of a heart attack in Stockholm at the age of 71.
Rust Epique - Guitarist for the hard-rock band Crazy Town, who had a number 1 pop and rock hit in 2001 with "Butterfly", who left the group after the success of their Top 10 album "Gift of Game" and had recently formed Pre)thing, whose debut album is scheduled for release on April 6, and from which the single "Faded Love" has been one of the most added tracks at rock radio in recent weeks, died March 8 at his home in Las Vegas of an apparent heart attack at the age of 35.
Marshall Frady - Emmy award-winning television journalist, civil rights reporter and author, who was was chief correspondent for "ABC News Close Up" from 1979-86, who was a reporter for several magazines including Newsweek, the Saturday Evening Post, Life Magazine and The New Yorker, and whose books included biographies of Martin Luther King, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Billy Graham and the controversial 1968 biography of George Wallace, "Wallace", died March 9 of cancer at his home in Greenville, South Carolina at the age of 64.
Spalding Gray - Actor, writer and performance artist, known for his acclaimed stage monologues in which he bared his soul to audiences, telling them of his adventures as a young man and his struggles with alcohol and depression, whose Obie-winning monologue "Swimming to Cambodia" was turned into a film in 1987, and who as an actor, appeared in dozens of movies like "Beaches", "Kate and Leopold" and "The Killing Fields", and on TV as a recurring character, Dr. Jack Miller, on the TV show "The Nanny", was found dead on March 7 in the East River in New York City. He had been missing since Jan. 10 and was believed to be suicidal. He was 62 years old.
Nancy Deale Greene - Actress, political activist and widow of "Bonanza" actor Lorne Greene (died 1987), who appeared with her husband in several episodes of the show, and who co-founded the National Women's Political Caucus and the Women's Institute of International Relations, died March 2 of cancer in Los Angeles at the age of 70.
Karel Kachyna - Internationally acclaimed Czech filmmaker who took on subjects that were taboo under communism, whose best-known film was 1966's "Kocár do Vídne" ("Chariot to Vienna"), which was done while he was part of a Czech wave of liberal filmmakers including Milos Forman and Jiri Menzel, died March 12 at a hospital in Prague at the age of 79.
Ulla-Carin Lindquist - One of the most well-known and popular news anchors on Swedish Television (SVT), who left television in 2000 after being diagnosed with ALS (aka Lou Gehrig's disease), who allowed a journalist friend to film a documentary about her struggles with the illness during the last year of her life, succumbed to the disease at her home on March 9 at the age of 50. The documentary made by her friend recently aired on Swedish television and drew 2.3 million viewers in a country with a population of only 9 million.
John Mayer - British classical music innovator who founded and led Indo-Jazz Fusions, who fused Indian and western music into a brand new music form that had critics impressed yet without the vocabulary to describe what they were hearing, whose music mixed jazz with raga improvisation, and among whose compositions are "Raga Music For Solo Clarinet" and "Dances Of India for sitar, tabla, tanpura, flute and symphony orchestra", was killed in a car accident on March 9 in England at the age of 73.
Kiki McCabe - Emmy-winning script writer for TV soap operas, who wrote dialogue for such shows as "Guiding Light", "Another World" and "All My Children" (Emmy win), in a career that spanned from the 1960's to the 1980's, died March 7 of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at her Atlanta home at the age of 75.
John McGeoch - British punk rocker and guitarist who co-founded the band Magazine in the late 1970's, who was also a member of Siouxie & the Banshees, P.I.L. and Visage at various points in his career, and who did session work for such acts as Generation X and Ultravox, died in his sleep on March 4 at his home in London at the age of 48.
Albert Mol - Popular Dutch actor and TV personality, who appeared in movies and TV shows in a career that spanned nearly 60 years, who was one of the first openly gay actors in the Netherlands, who was married to a woman for a time and fathered a child, actress Kika Mol, but who later divorced and married a man (which is legal in the Netherlands), with both marriages being listed in IMDB, died March 9 in Laren, Gelderland, Netherlands at the age of 87.
Zaki Nassif - One of Lebanon's most renowned singers and composers, who was among a small group of prominent musicians in the 1950's whose songs and compositions were accepted by Radio Liban and Radio Orient, who was best known for his famous anthem "Rajeh Yittammar Libnan" ("Lebanon Will Be Rebuilt") which he wrote during Lebanon's civil war, died March 11 of a heart attack at his apartment in Beirut at the age of 88.
Priscilla Paris - Youngest sister of the pop vocal group The Paris Sisters, best known for their 1961 top 5 hit "I Love How You Love Me", who had several other hits including "He Knows I Love Him Too Much" and "Be My Boy", who in 1969 recorded a solo album of her own called "Priscilla Loves Billy", died unexpectedly on March 5 in Paris, France at age 59.
Robert Pastorelli - Actor best-known as the house painter Eldon on the TV comedy "Murphy Brown", whose character on the show began painting the house of Murphy Brown in 1988 but never quite finished his ambitious artistic projects on her walls by the time he left the show in 1994, who had his own short-lived TV series called "Double Rush" in 1995, and who had roles in numerous films, both on TV and the silver screen, as well as many guest appearances on other TV shows, was found dead on March 8 at his home in Hollywood of an apparent drug overdose. He was 49 years old.
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson - Versatile jazz pianist, theater arranger and composer of scores for television, film and ballet, who was a founding member and associate conductor of the Symphony of the New World, who was the music director of the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, who composed and arranged many songs for singers like Marvin Gaye, Harry Belafonte and Melvin Van Peebles, and who composed the themes for the TV shows "Room 222" and "Get Christie Love!", died March 9 of cancer at a Chicago hospital at the age of 71.
Willie Phelps - Country western guitarist and member of the Phelps Brothers with his brothers Norman and Earl (both deceased), who performed in more than 20 B-western films during the 1930's and 40's with titles like "Sagebrush Serenade" and "Trouble in Sundown", who later opened the Fernwood Farms recording studio and dance hall in Norfolk, Virginia used by the likes of Patsy Cline, Jimmy Dean, Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow and Bill Monroe, and who wrote hundreds of songs including "I'm Beginning to Forget You" for Elvis Presley, died March 8 in Chesapeake, Virginia at the age of 89.
Drake Sather - Comedy writer and stand-up comedian, who wrote for such shows as "Saturday Night Live", "The Larry Sanders Show" and "The Dennis Miller Show", who wrote, produced and directed TV series like "News Radio" and "Mr. Ed", and who wrote the screenplay with Ben Stiller for the 2001 film "Zoolander", committed suicide on March 3 via a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his loft in downtown Los Angeles. He was 44 years old.
Jack Sperling - Noted jazz and big-band drummer who performed and recorded with Bunny Berigan, Tex Beneke, Benny Goodman, Charlie Barnet, and others, and who was the drummer on such NBC variety shows as those of Steve Allen, Dean Martin and Andy Williams, and on "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In", died Feb. 26 in El Segundo, California at the age of 81. (see www.tributetojack.com)
Kyle Tullis - Highly regarded Nashville bass player who backed greats like Steve Wariner, Vern Gosdin, Lorrie Morgan and the Oak Ridge Boys, both in concert and on recordings, who was a member of Gram Parson's Fallen Angels and played on the influential "Gram Parsons & the Fallen Angels" live recording that featured Emmylou Harris, died of liver cancer on March 9 at a Nashville hospital at the age of 55.
Vernon Williams - Singer with the R&B vocal group the Satintones, one of the first groups signed to Barry Gordy's Motown label in 1961, who sang second tenor on their singles including "I Know How It Feels", who also sang with the groups the Royal Holidays, the Pyramids and the Four Sonics, died March 11 after a lengthy illness. His age and place of death were not available. (for more information on Vernon see www.harmonytrain.com)
Paul Winfield - Venerable and prolific character actor on television, films and stage, who is probably best known for his work on notable TV mini-series like "Roots: The Next Generation" and "King", who was nominated for an Oscar for his role as Nathan Lee Morgan in the classic 1972 film "Sounder", who appeared on numerous TV shows including recurring roles on "Julia", "L.A. Law", "Touched By An Angel" and "The Simpsons", who won an Emmy in 1992 for a guest appearance on "Picket Fences", and who currently was heard as the narrator of the A&E crime documentary series "City Confidential", died March 7 of a heart attack in Los Angeles at the age of 62.
Sports
Phil Hergesheimer - Hockey player in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins, who was better known as a star player in the old American Hockey League, who won a Calder Cup championship with the Cleveland Barons in 1939 and was a five-time AHL All-Star, died March 6 in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada at the age of 89.
Ray "Hercules" Hernandez - Professional wrestler who began competing in 1979, whose trademark was carrying a long metal chain into the ring, who was probably most famous in the late 80's when he worked in the WWF and for his match with Ricky Steamboat at WrestleMania 2, was found dead on March 7 at his home in Tampa, Florida of an apparent heart attack in his sleep. March 7 was his 47th birthday.
Jack Leaman - Star basketball player at Boston University who went on to become the winningest basketball coach ever at the University of Massachusetts, who compiled a 217-126 record as head coach at that school from 1966 to 1979, whose most famous students were NBA Hall of Famer Julius Erving, and coaching greats Rick Pitino and Al Skinner, and who was inducted into the Halls of Fame at both Boston U. and UMass, died March 6 of a heart attack in Washington, DC at the age of 71.
Lloyd Merriman - Outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Cubs over parts of 5 seasons from 1949 to 1955, who hit .242 with 12 homers and 117 RBI's over his career, died Jan. 20 in Fresno, California at age 79.
Vance Pike - All-American football player at Georgia Southern, regarded by many as one of the finest offensive lineman in the history of NCAA I-AA football, who led the 1985 team to the I-AA title with a 44-42 victory over Furman, and who became the first Georgia Southern player in history to earn first-team All-America status, died of a heart attack on March 10 at his home in Marietta, Georgia at the age of 41.
Val Pinchbeck - Longtime National Football League executive and close advisor to N.F.L. Commissioners Paul Tagliabue and Pete Rozelle, whose primary role from 1978 to 1998 was to oversee the league's broadcasting division and to aid negotiations with the networks, but who for more than 30 years was heavily involved in constructing the schedule of games, died on March 6 in New York City after collapsing while crossing a busy street then being struck by a taxi cab. He was 73 years old.
Tabasco Cat - Winner of both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes in 1994, ridden by jockey Pat Day, who also nearly won the Breeders' Cup Classic that year, who was retired after 1994 but sired four other stakes winners including Storm Cat, died of a heart attack on March 6 at a breeding stable in Hokkaido, Japan at the age of 13.
Louie Unser - Older brother of Indy 500 winners Bobby and Al Unser, whose twin brother Jerry Unser was killed at Indianapolis before the 1959 race, who was a stock car racer before being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1964, and who worked as a mechanic for his brothers and as a racing engine builder, died March 2 of multiple sclerosis in Bullhead City, Arizona at the age of 71.
John Henry Williams - Youngest son of Hall of Fame baseball player Ted Williams, who set off a controversy after his father died in 2002, when he had his father's body taken to an Arizona cryonics lab for freezing, setting off a battle with his half-sister, who said her father had wanted to be cremated (the matter was settled when the sister dropped her objections), and who had attempted follow in his father's footsteps, playing baseball at the minor-league level in recent years, died March 6 of leukemia at a hospital in Los Angeles at the age of 35.
Art and Literature
Jeff R. Donaldson - Key figure in the 1960s Black Arts Movement and one of the forces behind "The Wall of Respect", a montage mural of more than 50 African-American heroes painted in 1967 on the side of a two-story building in Washington, DC (since razed), which launched the now-international trend of community-based outdoor murals, and who was a respected art historian, critic and the former dean of the College of Fine Arts at Howard University, died Feb. 29 in Washington, DC of a heart attack while undergoing treatment for prostate cancer. He was 71 years old.
Ted Gottfried - World famous "smut author" who under the pseudonym Ted Mark wrote over 100 books of racy adult fiction, including the "Man From O.R.G.Y." series of spy books, who also wrote fiction for young adults, including a notable series on the Holocaust, died March 7 in New York City at the age of 75.
Mel Hunter - Artist and science fiction illustrator who drew dozens of covers beginning in 1953 for such magazines as Fantasy & Science Fiction and Galaxy Science Fiction, who has produced 150 editions of original graphics, and who is credited with revolutionizing the field of lithographics with the developement of his Mylar lithographic technique, died Feb. 20 of bone cancer at the age of 75.
Tichi Wilkerson Kassel - Longtime editor and publisher of The Hollywood Reporter, who married Reporter founder Billy Wilkerson when she was 19 and he was in his 60's, who took over the magazine upon his death in 1962, and who founded the nonprofit group Women in Film in 1973, died March 8 after complications from intestinal surgery at a Los Angeles hospital at age 77.
Joan McCord - Criminologist and author of numerous books and articles, who studied the effectiveness of many social intervention programs aimed at diverting juveniles from crime, who found that many programs such as boys clubs, summer camps and Scared Straight prison visitations made no difference, who documented her finding in books like "Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice" and "Coercion and Punishment in Long-Term Perspectives", and who served as president of the American Society of Criminology, died Feb. 24 at her home in Narberth, Pennsylvania of lung cancer at age 73.
Susan Okin - Political philosopher and author who brought a feminist perspective to the study of work and family issues, who viewed inequalities within the family as the linchpin of gender inequality and whose most notable books include "Women in Western Political Thought" and "Justice, Gender and the Family", died March 3 at her home in Lincoln, Massachusetts of natural causes at the age of 57.
Pedro Pietri - Puerto Rican born poet and playwright who defined the Nuyorican experience (Nuyorican - Puerto Rican living in New York City) through his work, who was perhaps best known for "Puerto Rican Obituary", an epic poem published in 1973 that sketched the lives of five Puerto Ricans who came to the United States with dreams that remained unfulfilled, died Mar. 3 of stomach cancer on a flight from Mexico, where he was receiving experimental treatment, to New York. He was 59 years old.
Noah Purifoy - Artist renowned for his large and sprawling "assemblage sculptures", unwieldy but artful combinations of bicycle wheels, bowling balls, train tracks, old refrigerators and rubble, most of which was assembled at his ranch in Joshua Tree, California, which became an open-air studio, gallery and museum, whose best known work was "66 Signs of Neon", a traveling exhibition of sculptures made from 3 tons of rubble from the 1965 Watts riots, and whose work is on permanent display in several prominent galleries in the U.S., died March 5 in a fire at his home in Joshua Tree at the age of 86.
Stephen Sprouse - American fashion designer who came to fame in the early 1980's with his line fashions that resembled punk rock with an uptown sophistication, whose Day-Glo colors, all-black palettes, mirrored sequins, high-tech fabrics and Velcro attachments were different than anything that had been seen before, died March 4 of lung cancer at a hospital in New York City at the age of 50.
Mihai Ursachi - Acclaimed Romanian poet and head of the national theater in Iasi, who was imprisoned in 1961 for trying to flee then-communist Romania by swimming across the Danube River, who later moved to the U.S. but returned to Romania after the fall of communism in 1990, died March 10 in Iasi, Romania of heart problems at the age of 63.
Miriam Waddington - Canadian poet and essayist who played a major role in the development of poetry in Montreal in the 1940's, coming into prominence with such other poets as Al Purdy, Margaret Avison, Raymond Souster and Eli Mandel, who wrote 12 books of poetry, including "Green World" (1945), "The Visitants" (1981) and "The Last Landscape" (1992), and an expert from whose poem "Jacques Cartier" will appear on Canada's new $100 bill, died March 3 in Vancouver at the age of 86.
Guy Williams - Modernist artist known for his intellectual geometric paintings and mixed-media assemblages, whose work has been exhibited at galleries throughout southern California, died Feb. 24 in Santa Barbara, California at the age of 71.
Natan Yonatan - Israeli poet best-known for "That Man", an ode to assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin that was set to music in 1995 and widely played, who wrote 20 books of poetry that have been translated into several languages, including English, Russian and Spanish, died March 12 near Tel Aviv at the age of 81.
Politics and Military
Abu Abbas - Head of the terrorist group Palestine Liberation Front, who masterminded the 1985 hijacking of the Italian passenger ship Achille Lauro in which wheelchair-bound American tourist Leon Klinghoffer was thrown overboard, who was captured by U.S. forces in Iraq in April, 2003 and was being held in U.S. military custody in Iraq, died March 8 of natural causes after a period of declining health at the age of 55.
Carlos Julio Arosemena - President of Ecuador from 1961 to 1963 and founder of Ecuador's Nationalist Revolutionary party, who was elected vice-president in 1960 and rose to the presidency after the ouster of President Velasco Ibarra a year later in a military coup, and who was himself overthrown in a military coup in 1963 and exiled to Panama, died March 5 in Guayaquil, Ecuador after a long illness at age 84.
Herbert Choy - Federal appeals judge who became the first Asian American to serve on the federal bench when he appointed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by President Nixon in 1971, died March 10 of pneumonia in Honolulu, Hawaii at the age of 88.
Mary Lindsay - Widow of former New York City Mayor John Lindsay (died 2000), mayor from 1966 to 1973, who was known as a smart, tough and protective advisor to her husband, died March 9 of cancer in Palm Beach, Florida at the age of 77.
Mike O'Callaghan - Popular Democratic governor of Nevada from 1971 to 1979, who was known for his programs to help the disadvantaged, improve state welfare and build affordable housing, and who became executive editor and chairman of the Las Vegas Sun newspaper after leaving office, died March 5 of an apparent heart attack while attending church in Las Vegas. He was 74.
Robert D. Orr - Governor of Indiana from 1981 to 1989, whose major achievement was the passage of his "A-Plus" legislation in 1987 which resulted in the overhaul of the state's educational system, who also presided over the strengthening of the state's economy after the recession of the early 1980's, and who after leaving office served as U.S. ambassador to Singapore, died March 10 in Indianapolis of heart arrhythmia at the age of 86.
Boris Trajkovski - President of Macedonia elected in 1999, who had the backing of many Western governments as the leader most-likely to maintain stability in the region, and whose stated goal was to lead Macedonia towards membership in the European Union and NATO, was killed in a plane crash on Feb. 26 in Bosnia-Hercegovina at the age of 47.
Russell Weigley - One of the U.S.'s foremost scholars of military history, whose books detailed the history of wars, weapons and strategies, who authored numerous award-winning books including "A Great Civil War: A Military and Political History, 1861-1865" (2000), "Eisenhower's Lieutenants: The Campaign of France and Germany, 1944-1945" (1981) and "The Age of Battles" (1991), died March 3 of a heart attack in Philadelphia at the age of 73.
Social and Religion
Chaim Berger - One of the founders of the Hasidic Jewish village of New Square, New York, who masterminded the theft of $11.6 million from federal anti-poverty programs, who fled to Israel to avoid prosecution but was arrested and returned to the U.S. in 2001 to stand trial and was serving a six year sentence, died March 9 of cancer at a prison hospital in Butner, North Carolina at the age of 79.
Tim Brooks - Gospel radio DJ at syndicated radio JOY-FM, heard on stations in North Carolina and Virginia, died Feb. 27 from a heart condition at his home in Elkin, North Carolina at the age of 42.
Jorge Guinle - Brazilian millionaire playboy, born into what was once Brazil's richest family, who beginning in the 1930's made it his mission to spend as much of his family fortune as he could, who befriended Nelson Rockefeller and went to Hollywood in the 1940's, where he became a well-known man about town, dating such starlets as Rita Hayworth, Veronica Lake, Lana Turner, Hedy Lamarr, Jane Russell, Anita Ekberg, Jayne Mansfield and Marilyn Monroe, but who squandered most of his family's fortune, relying on a government pension and loans from friends over the last 20 years, died March 5 in a suite at the luxurious Copacabana Palace Hotel (once owned by his family) of an aortic aneurysm at the age of 88.
Noah Kasper - Canadian musician and songwriter who was in the news in 2000 when he received transplants of six organs (liver, spleen, kidney, pancreas, stomach and small bowel) in one marathon 15-hour operation, who continued to perform often taking the stage connected to an intravenous drip, died March 4 at a hospital in Victoria, British Columbia at the age of 24.
Marlin Maddoux - Conservative Christian radio show host and author, whose program "Point of View" had been heard on Christian radio stations around the country since the 1970's, who was known for his combative style while championing conservative issues such as evolution, abortion and home schooling, and who authored numerous book including such titles as "America Betrayed", "A Christian Agenda", "Homosexuality: The Straight Facts", "Countdown To Eternity" and "Earth's Two Minute Warning", died March 4 of complications following heart bypass surgery at a Dallas hospital at the age of 70.
Ricardo Ortega - Correspondent for Spanish TV network Antena 3, who was in Haiti covering the uprising against President Aristide, was shot to death on March 7 while covering a demonstration by opponents of former President Aristide in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He was 37 years old. American news photographer Michael Laughlin was also shot and severely injured. Both sides in the conflict are blaming the other in the attack.
Joan Riudavets-Moll - Spaniard recognized by Guinness Book as the oldest man in the world and second oldest person, who attributed his longevity to his Mediterranean diet and daily walks which he continued to do to the end, died March 5 at his home in Es Migjorn Gran, Spain from a cold (it doesn't take much at this age) at the age of 114. (Charlotte Benkner of the U.S. is the only authenticated person still living who was born before 1890).
Business and Science
Eugene Booth - Distinguished physicist who made pioneering scientific and engineering contributions to U.S. nuclear programs, who helped construct a cyclotron at Columbia University and was involved with the Manhattan Project, which led to the development of the atomic bomb, died March 6 in Briarcliff Manor, New York at the age of 92.
Dr. Harold Kletschka - Cardiac surgeon who in the 1960's, developed the Bio-Pump, an external pump that circulates blood during open-heart surgery, and who held several other medical patents, died March 6 at a hospital in Robbinsdale, Minnesota after a stroke at the age of 79.
Jack Lockton - Founder of the U.S.'s largest independently owned insurance brokerage, the Lockton Cos., who merged his agency with that of his parents in 1966 and eventually grew a business that now includes nearly 1,700 associates in 13 cities who provide a full range of commercial insurance and related services, died March 11 of pancreatic cancer in Kansas City, Missouri at the age of 61.
Marc Miringoff - Founder the Fordham Institute for Innovation in Social Policy and inventor of the Miringoff social health index, which tracks statistics on 16 different social problems in an effort to better understand the nation's social well-being, which he said reached a peak rating of 77 in 1973 and had its lowest state of health in 1993 with a rating of 33, died March 4 at his home in Poughkeepsie, New York of undetermined causes at the age of 58.
Paulo Niemeyer - Groundbreaking Brazilian neurosurgeon who developed a treatment which reduced involuntary movement in Parkinson's patients, and who was the brother of famous architect Oscar Niemeyer, died March 10 following heart surgery at a hospital in Rio De Janiero, Brazil at the age of 89.
George Pake - Computer pioneer and first director of the Palo Alto Research Center of the Xerox Corporation, whose engineers, during the 1960's and 1970's, invented a range of computing technologies, including the laser printer, office networking and the graphical user interface, and who in 1987 was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Ronald Reagan, died March 4 at his home in Tucson, Arizona of multiple organ failure at the age of 79.
Warren Pfaff - Adman at the J.Walter Thompson agency and later his own company Warren Pfaff Inc., who created many well-known ad campaigns including the "You deserve a break today" spot for McDonalds, the "Pan Am makes the going great" ad, and "We're looking for a few good men" campaign for the U.S. Marines, who won Clios for his work on the Pan Am account and also was recognized with numerous other industry awards, died March 10 of lung cancer at a hospital in Stamford, Connecticut at the age of 74.
Marilyn Yarbrough - Esteemed law professor at the University of North Carolina and previously at Duke University, who served on the Pulitzer Prize board from 1990 to 1999, died suddenly on March 10 of unknown but natural causes at her home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina at the age of 58.
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