News and Entertainment
"Dimebag" Darrell Abbott - (38) Guitarist with the lightning-bolt-shaped guitar whose screaming solos for the popular, Grammy-nominated band Pantera made him a heavy-metal hero, who had recently formed a new band, Damageplan, was killed on December 8 at a concert in Columbus, Ohio by a rampaging gunman, who killed three others before he was killed by police.
Henny Backus - (93) Widow of comic actor Jim Backus and an actress and author of wit and verve, who started her career as a showgirl in the Broadway revues of the 1920s and later took on character parts in TV sitcoms like "Blondie", in which she played the matronly Cora Dithers opposite her husband, who reportedly gave him the idea for the famously droll accent that he used playing millionaire Thurston Howell III on "Gilligan's Island", and who wrote several books with her husband about their marriage, died on December 9 in Los Angeles after a series of strokes.
Larry Buchanan - (81): Filmmaker and self-declared "schlockmeister" who created such critically panned but highly successful TV movies as "Mars Needs Women", "Curse of the Swamp Creature", and "Zontar, the Thing from Venus", who also created conspiracy docudramas and quirky biopics on such subjects as Lee Harvey Oswald, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Marilyn Monroe, who made about 30 pictures over 40 years that horrified critics, delighted fans and gratified financial backers, and who wrote, directed, produced, and edited most of his films, many of which landed on "worst movies" compilations, died on December 2 of complications from a collapsed lung in Tucson, AZ.
Harry Caicedo - (76) Former Miami Herald bureau chief, foreign correspondent, and magazine editor, who was a liaison between the newsroom and El Nuevo Herald, Knight-Ridder"s Spanish-language newspaper in Miami, who helped to cofound Vista, a weekly magazine aimed at Hispanic readers, which he edited for seven years, and who wrote a thriller entitled "Conflicting Loyalties" which was published in April, died on December 11 of heart failure in Miami Beach after suffering complications from chemotherapy treatment for leukemia.
Johnnie Carl - (57) Musical director of the Hour of Power Orchestra at LA's Crystal Cathedral and one of the most prominent arrangers and composers of sacred music pianist, who won a gold record as an arranger/composer on John Tesh's Live from Red Rocks, who wrote more than 3,500 arrangements and whose music had been performed by Celine Dion, the London Symphony, Michael Crawford, and his best friend Roger Williams (their most recent CD went platinum), killed himself on December 17, minutes after police moved within a few feet of him in an attempted rescue.
Dorothy Chapman - (83) Writer and editor for the Orlando Sentinel for 25 years and the newspaper"s first restaurant critic, who created "Thought You"d Never Ask," a weekly restaurant recipe column that remains the Sentinel"s oldest continuous local column, who also wrote four cookbooks and was president of the Florida Press Club and the Central Florida chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, died on December 12 of cancer in Orlando, FL.
Michael Combs - (42) Rock guitarist; boyfriend of actor-director Clint Eastwood's daughter Alison; reported missing Dec. 13 after snowboarding with Alison Eastwood; ski patrol members and others had been looking for him; reportedly complained earlier that he wasn't feeling well and had a headache; found in a gully just off a ski trail near the bottom of Vail (CO) Mountain; autopsy report showed he died of a seizure disorder; date is that of body's discovery, Dec. 14, 2004.
Adam Dunning - (26) Australian Federal Police Protective Service officer murdered in the Solomon Islands, has been returned to his home town of Canberra; part of an international force sent to the troubled South Pacific archipelago 18 months ago after years of ethnic unrest. He is the first casualty in Australia's peacekeeping operation in the region; murdered on a routine patrol in Honiara on November 22.
Harry Errington - (94) Volunteer fireman (who worked a full time job as a tailor"s cutter in addition to his duties firefighting during World War II) who was the only member of the London Auxiliary Fire Service awarded the George Cross during WWII, during which he saved two fallen firemen who were trapped under rubble after a basement they were taking shelter in suffered a direct hit from the Germans by crawling through intense heat to save them, and who also was known as the "Father of English Basketball" for his coaching of several teams, died on December 15.
Thomas J. Gulotta - (30) son and namesake of former Nassau County (NY) executive (1987-2001) Thomas S. Gulotta; apparent suicide by handgun; Elmont NY, Dec.20, 2004.
Costas "Gus" Haris - (61) Former owner of the Maryland"s Woodside Deli whose Ladies Night half-price promotion entangled him in an attention-getting sex discrimination case in the mid-80s, and who later instituted "Skirt & Gown Night", offering a half-price entr"e and side dishes for any patron of either sex who would dress the part, a promotion that was also declared illegal, but gained publicity for the city of Silver Spring where the Deli was located, died of cancer on December 6 in Rockville, MD.
Beverly Kees - (63) Journalist and author who was a former editor of the Gary (Ind.) Post-Tribune and spent most of her newspaper career at the Minneapolis Star and Minneapolis Tribune, who wrote the book "Nothing Sacred: Journalism, Politics & Public Trust in a Tell-All Age", was a former president of the northern California chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and was currently teaching journalism at San Francisco State University, was killed on December 10 in San Francisco when she was hit by an 18-wheel truck making a turn.
Maxwell McCrohon - (76) Journalist who was the last editor of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner when it printed its last edition in 1989, who spent many years with the Chicago Tribune as editor, managing editor and Vice President of news, who left the Tribune to become editor in chief of UPI, died of lung cancer in Washington, DC on December 8.
John Monks Jr. - (94) Playwright and screenwriter; co-author of Brother Rat, which George Abbott directed and produced on Broadway in 1936, starring Eddie Albert; the play ran more than 500 performances and was made into a 1938 movie starring Albert and featuring Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman, who met on the film and later married; among other movies that Monks co-wrote were 13 Rue Madeleine, House on 92nd Street, and West Point Story, all starring Jimmy Cagney; and Knock on Any Door, with Humphrey Bogart; served in the Marines during WWII and later co-wrote documentary, We Are the Marines; died Dec. 10, 2004.
John Morgan - (74) former cast member of CBC-TV's popular Royal Canadian Air Farce; best known for his character Jock McBile, the perpetually disgusted Scotsman; his other characters included the monosyllabic Mike from Canmore (pictured), and political figures such as Liberal MP Herb Gray and Russian leader Boris Yeltsin; began performing at age 40; retired from the show in 2001 and refused to make guest appearances; originally from Wales; began TV writing career in 1966; writing credits include the pilot episode for King of Kensington; also wrote and performed in England, and had a series on BBC Radio; death announced Nov. 17, 2004.
Norman Newell - (85) Lyracist and record producer who was known for his work with "lighter" music artists of the 1950's and '60s like Shirley Bassey, Russ Conway and Manuel and his Music of the Mountains, who also was the first producer to take digital recording to NYC, when he recorded Liza Minnelli in the stage musical "The Rink," and who won a Grammy, an Emmy, a Golden Globe and six BMI awards, died in East Preston in West Sussex, England on December 1.
F(loyd) Darrin Perry - (39) Former design director of ESPN Magazine in the late '90s; introduced streamlined typography, cinematic pictorial approaches, playful typography and witty photographs; also used a film-strip approach of many small photos placed across one or two pages, giving the magazine a TV-like air; in its first year, ESPN Magazine won the National Magazine Award for Design; before joining ESPN was an art editor at Sports Illustrated and creative director of Wired, which he redesigned; investigation into cause of death is pending, with results to be announced in 14 to 16 weeks; died in SF Nov. 25, 2004.
Renata Tebaldi - (82) Italian opera singer, Soprano who was the great Italian rival of Greek Maria Callas, who had been singing since her debut in 1944 and gave her final performance in 1976, who in that time, was one of the big stars of the New York Metropolitan Opera and Milan's La Scala (she was asked to sing at the reopening of the theatre following World War II,) who was known for one of her favorite roles as Desdemona in Otello, a role she liked because it was ideal for her personality, died in San Marino on December 19.
Enrique Salinas de Gortari - (56) Youngest brother of former Mexican Pres. Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who was allegedly under investigation for various financial transactions made with his brother Ra'Z Salinas de Gortari and was sought for questioning by French officials, was found strangled on December 6 with a bag over his head in his car in Huixquilucan (just outside Mexico City,) a homicide that is believed to be related to his personal and business deaings.
Frank "Son" Seals - (62) Gruff-voiced, hard-edged blues guitarist-vocalist; started playing drums and guitar professionally by age 12, at his father's juke joint in Osceola AR; nicknamed "Little Son" to distinguish him from his dad; as a teen, toured as drummer with Earl Hooker and with Albert King, two of his main influences; moved to Chicago in 1971; recorded eight albums for Alligator Records and another for the Telarc label; helped reshape Chicago blues, expanding on the traditional Mississippi Delta roots by incorporating hard-rock elements; in 1997, was shot in the jaw by an ex-wife as he slept, forcing months of reconstructive surgery; in '99, his left leg was amputated below the knee because of diabetes; survived by his 14 children; died of complications of diabetes in Chicago, Dec. 20,2004.
Bobby Jo Stinnett - (23) pregnant Missouri woman whose baby girl was cut from her womb; authorities found the infant in good health following a day of frantic searching; KS woman has been charged with kidnapping resulting in death; Stinnett died Dec. 16, 2004.
Athena Starwoman - (50?) Astrologer, columnist and television commentator; wrote regular column in Woman's Day; also wrote for newspapers and magazines overseas; published several books on star signs and helped popularize astrology; died of breast cancer in Australia, Dec. 16, 2004.
Mack Vickery - (66) Writer of such hits as George Strait's "The Fireman", Ricky Van Shelton's "I'll Leave This World Loving You", Johnny Paycheck's "I'm The Only Hell My Mama Ever Raised", and Jerry Lee Lewis' "Rockin' My Life Away"; co-writer of John Anderson's "Let Somebody Else Drive"; played in Ohio and Michigan honky-tonks as a teen; after high school graduation in 1957, headed to Memphis and recorded three songs for legendary producer Sam Phillips; the recordings were not released, so he went back to performing in Michigan; moved to Nashville in '64 and began turning out hit country songs; in '03, was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, where his walk-of-fame star is displayed next to Lionel Richie's; died at his Nashville home of an apparent heart attack, Dec. 21, 2004.
Gary Webb - (49) Investigative reporter who wrote a widely criticized 1996 San Jose Mercury News series, linking the CIA to the explosion of crack cocaine in LA; contended that Nicaraguan drug traffickers had sold tons of crack from Colombian cartels in LA's black neighborhoods, then funneled millions in profits back to the CIA-supported Nicaraguan Contras; three months after publication, the LA County Sheriff's Department said it conducted an exhaustive investigation but found no evidence of a connection between the CIA and southern California drug traffickers; the paper reassigned him to a suburban bureau; in December 1997, he quit; apparently killed himself with a gunshot wound to the head; date is that of body's discovery in his Sacramento-area home; Dec. 10, 2004
Art and Literature
Tania Alexander - (89) Russian-born aristocrat who adopted Britain as her home country and became an author, translator, and adviser to film and theater directors on how best to evoke the old way of life in Russia, (she provided translations for numerous Russian works that were adapted into productions starring such stars as Vanessa Redgrave, Ralph Fiennes, and Anthony Hopkins), and who published "The Little Russian Cookbook", which included recipes, both rare and well known, from her homeland died on December 5 in London.
Jonathan Aurthur - (56) Son of '50s TV writer Robert Alan Aurthur; in 2002 book, chronicled his son Charley's long struggle with mental illness and his suicidal leap, at 23, from Lincoln Boulevard into the morning rush-hour traffic on the Santa Monica Freeway; a longtime wetlands advocate who friends said was despondent over mounting debt, his son's suicide, and the reelection of Pres. Bush, leaped to his death from a 500-ft cliff in the Angeles National Forest; a search-and-rescue team found his battered body a week after he had been reported missing. Nov. 22, 2004
Carl W. Buell- (98) Old World-style maker of violins, violas, and cellos owned by symphony orchestra musicians around the nation, who developed his own varnish and carved instruments by hand from blocks of wood over a career spanning about 50 years, died on November 5 in Snohomish, WA.
Emilio Cruz - (66) Artist known for his mixture of human figures, animal, and natural history imagery whose paintings often illustrated the darker side of human existence, and who was linked with Abstract Expressionist painters like Lester Johnson, Bob Thompson, and Jan Muller, died on December 10 of pancreatic cancer in New York City.
H. Curt Day - (87) Three-time world horseshoe champion and a member of the National Horseshoe Pitchers Hall of Fame, who set a record for the highest ringer percentage for a complete tournament in 1966, died on December 4 in Lafayette, LA.
John dePol - (91) Artist whose familiar woodcut images were long a considerable presence in American art and illustration and were known for both their technical excellence and for their artistry, whose work was featured in illustrated books, in books about his work, and in numerous exhibitions and one-man shows in museums and galleries across the country and overseas, died on December 17 in died in Cliffside Park, NJ.
Sidonie Goossens - (105) Harpist who played with the BBC Symphony Orchestra as principal harpist for 50 years, who gave her last performance with the group in 1991 at age 92, who was the first harpist to be featured on radio (1924) and television (1926), who was a member of a famous family of musicians that included three conductors (her brother, father and grandfather), an oboe player (her brother), a French horn player (another brother) and a second harpist (her sister), died in her sleep on December 15 in Reigate, England.
Cleve Gray - (86) Painter admired for his large-scale, vividly colorful, and lyrically gestural abstract compositions, who achieved his greatest critical recognition in the late "60s and "70s and was inspired by artists like Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, whose works included Threnody, a suite of 14 paintings, each measuring 20 ft by 20 ft, dedicated to the dead on both sides in the Vietnam War that is considered one of the largest groups of abstract paintings created for a specific public space, and whose work is included in collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and many other museums, died on December 8 in Hartford, CT of a massive subdural hematoma suffered after he fell on ice and hit his head outside his home.
Jackson Mac Low - (82) "Composer of Poetry" who dared the boundaries of poetry by using other mediums to take it to levels beyond logic, who often used nonsense words and music and the print for his poems might run any way he pleased, who was inspired by avant-garde composer John Cage, who wrote 27 books but was best known for his works as performed by the author himself, died after suffering a stroke in November on December 8 in New York City.
Agnes Martin - (92) Abstract painter whose works she said were "tranquility," who won the National Endowment for the Arts National Medal of Arts in 1998, whose works hang in galleries across the United States and was allegedly the donor of millions of dollars to programs in her hometown of Taos, New Mexico, died there on December 16.
Irving Lawrence Petite - (84) Author of a best-selling book about raising an orphaned bear cub and other writings about his love of animals and unspoiled nature; free-lance writer for the Seattle Times and author of five books; in decades of living on a rustic ranch east of Seattle, was known as "Issaquah Thoreau"; books included the best-seller "Mister B" (1963), "The Elderberry Tree" (1964), "The Best Time of Year" (1966), "Life on Tiger Mountain" (1968), and "Meander to Alaska" (1970); was so fond of animals that when one of his 12 goats was born with a hole in the heart and needed care, he moved the goat into his cabin, let the other goats in when they became jealous, and wound up living for a time in his shed; died in his sleep in Keller WA, a hamlet on the Colville Indian Reservation, Nov. 27, 2004.
Bernarda Bryson Shahn - (101) Painter and illustrator who also supported the career of her renowned artist husband, Ben Shahn; gained early recognition for her lithographs, many of which portrayed the disappearing American frontier; wrote and illustrated children
Sports
Arthur "Bo" Agee Sr. - (52) Father of a high school basketball player whose life was chronicled in the acclaimed 1994 documentary "Hoop Dreams," who appeared along with his son in the documentary, who himself overcame a cocaine habit and later became a minister after appearing in the movie, was shot to death on December 15 in an alley near his home in Berwyn, IL.
H.R. "Bum" Bright - (84) Former owner of the Dallas Cowboys and a leading Texas businessman, who bought gas and oil leases and became a millionaire by the time he was 31, who then went on to purchase the Cowboys in 1984 for $85 million (he sold it to current owner Jerry Jones for $170 million), who was also was a member of the Texas A&M Board of Trustees, and donated $25 million to the university died on December 12 in Highland Park, TX.
E. E. Edwards 3rd (_Bo_) Edwards - (61) Criminal defense lawyer who built a reputation fighting government forfeiture laws, he believed the government abused its power by taking money and property from people on the mere suspicion that it was the product of criminal activity and worked with Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) on the Civil Asset Reform Act of 2000, which shifted the burden of proof to the government, making prosecutors show that they seized only items connected to criminal activity,whose most famous case involved a landscaper with no previous run-ins with the law who was stopped at an airport in 1991 for carrying $9,600 in cash, which he said he planned to use to buy shrubs from a greenhouse that preferred cash transactions but was accused, instead, of being a drug courier (a judge ordered the money be returned,) died in Nashville, waiting for a kidney transplant in Tennessee on December 14.
Pete Franklin - (76) Pioneering sports radio host, known as "The King", who worked in SF, Cleveland, and NYC; Franklin was known for his rough treatment of callers, whom he would sometimes abruptly dismiss with audio of a flushing toilet; died in SF Nov. 23, 2004
Bob King - (81) Former coach at University of New Mexico who was known as the "Architect of Lobo Basketball," who coached for ten seasons at NM and none of them were losing seasons-finishing with a record of 175-89 and included two Western Athletic Conference titles (1964, '68), and who in two years coaching at Indiana State was Larry Bird's first college basketball coach, died after a fall on December 10 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Al Kircher - (93) Football coach at Washington State U for four seasons in the '50s; in four seasons he was 13-25-2; after resigning as coach, ran a lodge with his family (1954-75); retired to Las Vegas in 1978 and moved to Salem OR in 2004; served in WWII and was wounded during the Normandy invasion; won a Silver Star and two Bronze Stars; died in Salem Nov. 1, 2004
Arthur Lydiard - (87) Distance-runner and coach who is credited with bringing jogging to being a worldwide craze, who developed the theory that running medium- and long-distances was better achieved by stamina-or running longer amounts more frequently, who coached two Olympic champions- Peter Snell and Sir Murray Halberg, died after collapsing in his motel room in Houston, Texas after suffering an apparent heart attack on December 11.
Bobby Mattick - (89) One of the original employees of the Toronto Blue Jays who worked his way up from scouting supervisor to team manager (1990-1991) and who was credited with building some of the talent on the 1985 American League East championship team, and whose baseball career spanned nearly eight decades, died of a stroke in Toronto on December 16.
Lorenzo J. Ponza, Jr. ("Larry") - (86) Tinkerer who developed and perfected the modern pitching machine; his 1952 invention, the "Power Pitcher", became the prototype for pitching machines that he and others built; his 1974 machine, "The Hummer", became a batting practice staple for players from Little League to the Major League because it could be set to replicate fast balls, ground balls, and pop-up flies; sold his company in the early '90s; died in Santa Cruz, Calif. Dec. 15, 2004.
Ray Rude - (88) Entrepreneur who went from farmer to multi-millionaire benefactor after developing the Duraflex diving board; donated $1 million to the Mountrail County Medical Center in Stanley, ND, his hometown, allowing it to build a new facility; in 1948, developed an aluminum diving board from a discarded airplane wing panel; it led to his Nevada-based Duraflex diving company, which has made thousands of the diving boards used in the Olympics since 1960; Rude returned to his hometown from Nevada in 2002; died in Stanley Dec. 16, 2004
Ed Sudol - (84) Umpire who was behind the plate when Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home run record of 714 home runs in 1974, who was also behind the plate for the perfect game thrown by Jim Bunning in 1964 and worked three World Series-1965, 1971 and 1977, died in Daytona Beach, Florida on December 10.
