Deaths of the Rich and Famous: April, 2019

Arts and Letters

Warren Adler (age 91) - A playwright, essayist, and novelist; Adler's most familiar work is probably his 1981 novel, The War of the Roses. That work was turned into a feature film starring Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas. Adler also wrote a series of police procedurals featuring homicide detective Fiona Fitzgerald. Adler died at his home on April 15, 2019.

Vonda N. McIntyre (age 70) - McIntyre won three Nebula Awards and a Hugo Award for her science fiction writingl including the 1978 novel Dreamsnake, which won both awards. In addition to her dozens of short stories and standalone novels, McIntyre published a number of Star Treck novelizations. McIntyre died of pancreatic cancer April 1, 2019.

Stanley Plumly (age 79) - Plumly was a well-regarded poet, with more than a dozen published colleections to his name. He was also a scholar of the English poet Keats and director of a creative writing workshop at Maryland College Park. Plumly died April 11, 2019.

Dan Robbins (age 93) - Robbins was working for a Detroit paint company when he read that Leonardo da Vinci trained his painting students by putting numbers in sketched outlines. If it was good enough for da Vinci, it was good enough for the masses: Robbins is credited with inventing paint-by-number. He died April 1, 2019.

Gene Wolfe (age 87) - A prolific fantasy and (to a lesser extent) science fiction writer, Wolfe was a two-time Nebula and four-time World Fantasy Award winner. Readers of Locus magazine placed him in the rarefied company of J. R. R. Tolkein and Ursula LeGuinn as a fantasy author. His best-known work is probably the tetralogy, The Book of the New Sun. Wolfe is also credited with inventing the machine that bakes Pringles. Wolfe passed away on April 14, 2019.

Business

Henry W. Bloch (age 96) - Henry Bloch was the "H" in H & R Block, the tax-preparing company he founded with his brother Richard in 1955. A Harvard-trained entrepreneur, Bloch gave back to his Kansas City hometown by endowing the business department of the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the local art museum. Bloch died April 23, 2019.

Miscellaneous

Joe Armstrong (age 68) - Armstrong, British by birth, studied physics in college before turning to computer programming; where he specialized in distributed systems. While working for Ericsson Labs, Armstrong was a member of the three-man team that developed the programming language Erlang. Armstrong died April 19, 2019.

Sydney Brenner (age 92) - Brenner, a South African biologist, was part of a three-man group that shared the 2002 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology. His work on unraveling the genetic code while at Cambridge University was the basis for the award. Brenner passed away April 5, 2019.

Richard E. Cole (age 103) - Dick Cole sat in the right-hand seat of  Jimmy Doolittle's B-25B bomber in a 1942 bombing raid on the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Honshu, the first such attack on Japanese home territory. Cole was a career Air Force officer and the last surviving member of Doolittle's raiders. He died April 9, 2019.

Owen Garriott (age 88) - After a brief stint in the U. S. Navy, Garriott became a professor at Stanford University. He was selected to be a scientist-astronaut in 1965 and flew two missions. His 1973 Skylab mission lasted a then-record 60 days, and his second was aboard Spacelab. His son, programmer and gamer Richard Garriott, was the first American "space tourist" in 2008. Garriott senior passed away April 15, 2019.

Paul Greengard (age 93) - A professor of neuroscience at Rockefeller University, Greengard shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with two fellow scientists. The subject of their research was the molecular and cellular function of neurons. Greengard was also on the science advisory board of the Cure Alzheimer's Fund. Greengard passed away April 13, 2019.

Lyra McKee (age 29) - A prominent journalist in Northern Ireland, McKee was killed by what is assumed to have been a stray bullet while covering a riot in Derry. Her death has been attributed to an attack by the "New IRA" on local police, near whose vehicle McKee was standing. McKee died in a local hospital on April 18, 2019.

Winston Shelton (age 96) - Although few Americans know his name, almost all are familiar with this prolific inventor's work. While at General Electric, he patented the modern washing machine. After leaving GE, Shelton concentrated on food processing, developing the frying system used by KFC, among other products. Shelton passed away April 15, 2019.

Charles Van Doren (age 93) - Van Doren became famous as a contestant on the television quiz show "Twenty-One," winning a total of $129,000 dollars in a streak that lasted over three months in 1956-7. In 1959, however, Van Doren testified before Congress that he had been supplied the questions in advance. In later life, he was an editor for the Encyclopedia Britannica. Van Doren died on April 9, 2019.

Movies, Television, and Stage

Bibi Andersson (age 83) - Andersson had a five-decade career in film, beginning as a teenager in 1951. She appeared both in her native Sweden and in English-language films. American viewers may remember her for roles in Scenes from a Marriage and I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. Although she did not receive any Oscars, Andersson does have a planet named for her. Andersson died April 14, 2019, of complications from a stroke suffered in 2010.

Seymour Cassel (age 84) - Cassel's acting career lasted more than 40 years, includeing an Academy Award nomination for his work in the John Cassavetes film Faces. Cassel appeared in dozens of films ranging from Convoy to Minnie and Moscovitz, as well as "Batman" and "Tracey Takes On..." on the small screen. Cassel passed away from Alzheimer's Disease on April 7, 2019.

Georgia Engel (age 70) - Known for her bright blonde hair and equally bright smile, Georgia Engel may well be remembered for her role as the quintessential dumb blonde, Georgette (Franklin) Baxter on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." She had two Emmy nominations for that role, and another three for guest appearances as Ray's mother-in-law on "Everybody Loves Raymond." Engel also appeared in several films and was a voice actor in many others. Engel died April 12, 2019.

Steve Golin (age 64) - Golin was a television and film producer and founder or co-founder of two production companies. His first company, Propaganda Films, specialized in music videos and indie films, and launched the careers of such directors as Michael bay and Spike Jonze. After leavinv PF, he founded Anonymous Content, at which Golin produced "Mr Robot" and "True Detectives" plus movies such as Babel and Spotlight. He won an Adademy award for Spotlight. Golin died April 21, 2019.

Ken Kercheval (age 83) - Best known as Cliff Barnes, J. R. Ewing's fiercest enemy on the telvision show "Dallas" (1978-1991), Ken Kercheval was a film actor (The Seven-Ups and F.I.S.T.) before taking the role that would apparently define him as an actor. He reprised his role in "Dallas reunion shows in 1996 and 2012. Kercheval, a native of a small northern Indiana town, died of pneumonia on April 21, 2019.

Barry Malkin (age 80) - Malkin had a four-decade career as a Hollywood film editor, most notably teaming with director Francis Ford Coppola on many of the films in the Godfather series. He and his team were twice nominated for the Academy Award for editing; for The Godfather: Part II and The Cotton Club. Malkin passed away on April 4, 2019.

Peter Mayhew (age 74) - The British-born actor parlayed his height (a maximum of 7'3") into character roles, especially that of Chewbacca in the Star Wars universe. He reprised the character in every episode until he retired in 2015 after Star Wars: The Force Awakens as well as occasional television appearances. Mayhew died at his Texas home April 30, 2019, of a heart attack.

Mark Medoff (age 79) - Medoff was an actor, director, professor, and playwright; best known for writing such plays as Children of a Lesser God and When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? The former received a Tony and the film adaptation was nominated for an Academy Award; the latter received an Obie. Medoff passed away April 23, 2019.

John Singleton (age 51) - Singleton's career took off at age 24 when he became the first African-American to be nominated for a Best Director Oscar; for the film Boyz 'n the Hood. He is still the youngest such nominee. In later years, Singleton also directed 2 Fast 2 Furious and a remake of Shaft. Singleton died of complications from a stroke in April 29, 2019.

David Winters (age 80) - Winters was an actor and dancer who appeared in the stage production of West Side Story, and later in the film adaptation. He had few appearances on television before shifting his focus to choreography, where he made his name. He choreographed the 1976 version of A Star Is Born as well as dozens of television specials and other movies. Winters died April 23, 2019.

Music

Earl Thomas Conley (age 77) - Conley, a country-western artist, may be known most recently for his writing, but in the 1980s and '90s he hit the country charts with 30 singles including 18 number one hits. His popularity waned as the genre became more "progressive," and 2010 he had become better known for his writing. Among his hits are "Holding Her and Loving You" and the 2002 Blake Shelton hit, "All Over Me." Conley passed away on April 10. 2019.

Phil McCormack (age 58) - McCormack was the lead singer for the southern-fried rock band Molly Hatchet, joining a version of the band in the 1990s that was resurrected by founding member Bobby Ingram and Danny Joe Brown. McCormack was still performing with the band when he passed away April 26, 2019.

Paul Raymond (age 73) - Raymond is best known as the keyboardist and guitar player for the bands Savoy Brown, Waysted, and UFO. His long career among English jazz and rock bands included several interactions with former and future members of Fleetwood Mac. Raymond died of a heart attack on April 13, 2019.

Les Reed (age 83) - The British-born Reed had a long career as a musician in Europe, playing keyboards in a wide variety of bands. He is better known, however, as a pop composer, having penned such tunes as "A Kind of Hush" (Herman's Hermits) and "It's Not Unusual" and "Delilah" for Tom Jones. Reed's discography includes hits in almost every decade since the '50s from all manner of artists. He passed away April 15, 2019.

Joe Terry (age 78) - Born Joseph Terranova, "Joe Terry" was a founding member of Philly doo-wop group Danny and the Juniors. He sang baritone in the group and on their first big hit, 1957's "At the Hop," and "Rock and Roll is Here to Stay." He is the second founding member of the group to pass away in 2019, after Danny White's death in March. Terranova died April 15, 2019.

Politics

Negasso Gadida Solon (age 75) - Negasso Gadida Solon was the president of Ethiopia from 1995 to 2001, Before his election as president, he headed the committee that drew up the Ethiopian constitution, a document that many believe was not properly ratified. Gadida died April 27, 2019.

Alan García Perez (age 69) - García Perez was twice the president of Peru, from 1985-90 and 2006-11; and was also leader of Peru's Aprista (the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance). García Perez was under investigation for money-laundering and, when police arrived to arrest him, shot himself. He died soon after, on April 17, 2019.

Fritz Hollings (age 97) - Ernest "Fritz" Hollings served a term as the governor of South Ca Partyrolina (1959-63) before representing the state in the United States Senate from 1966-2005, and also ran for the Democratic nomination for President in 1984. Hollings is perhaps most famous for his attempts to reintroduce the draft and impose mandatory government service. He died April 6, 2019.

Richard Lugar (age 87) - A native of Indianapolis, Lugar began his politiacl career ont he local school board before serving two terms as the city's mayor. After leaving that office, he ran for the U. S. Senate, where he served Indiana from 1977-2013, distinguishing himself as an expert on foreign policy. He was "primaried' in the 2012 election, and left office embittered by the partisanship of modern politics. Lugar passed away on April 28, 2019.

Manuel Lujan (age 90) - A ten-term Republican congressman from New Mexico, Manuel Lujan, Jr., was named by George H. W. Bush to be his Secretary of the Interior in 1989. He presided over the department until the election of Bill Clinton. Lujan was seen as more moderate than his predecessors, hard-line conservatives James Watt and Donald Hodel. Lujan passed away April 25, 2019.

Sports

Reggie Cobb (age 50) - Cobb was a star running back at University of Tennessee before being cut from the team for drug use. After rehab, he signed with the Tampa Bay Bucs, where he spent four seasons. He then played one season with the Packers before being drafted by Jacksonville in the expansion draft, playing one game for the Jaguars. He finished his career with the Jets in 1996; having amassed 3,743 yards rushing and 949 yards receiving in his career. Cobb had a heart attack and died April 20, 2019.

Roger Emrich (age 62) - Emrich spent four decades as a radio newsman and sportscaster in Texas, most recently in the Dallas area where he was the PA announcer for Dallas Cowboys games. The Texas Radio Hall of Fame member was a newscaster for Dallas station KRLD. Emrich suffered a heart attack on April 24, and died on April 27, 2019.

Robbert de Greef (age 27) - de Greef was a up and coming Dutch cyclist, riding on the team Alecto. While competing in  the Oomlop van de Braaken race on April 2, 2019, de Greef suffered a heart attack. He was placed in a medically-induced coma, but succumbed on April 25, 2019.

Forrest Gregg (age 85) - Gregg was an NFL offensive lineman for sixteen seasons, fifteen with the Packers including three Superbowls. At one point he held the record for consecutive games played at 188. He played in nine Pro Bowls and was all-NFL eight times. After retiring, he coached in college and at the professional level in both the NFL and CFL. Gregg died of complications of Parkinson's disease April 12, 2019.

John Havlicek (age 79) - Havlicek's career as a basketball superstar began in college, where he played with Jerry Lucas and Bobby Knight on the 1960 Ohio State team that won the NCAA title. After graduation, he was drafted by the Boston Celtics, where he spent his entire 16-year career. Havlicek finished with 13 NBA All-Star picks, 8 championships, and an NBA finals MVP. His number 5 was retired by Ohio State and 17 was retired by the Celtics. He is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame. Havlicek succumbed to Parkinson's Disease on April 25, 2019.

John MacLeod (age 81) - MacLeod began coachaing basketball at the college level in 1967 at Oklahoma before jumping to the NBA in 1973. He was head coach of the Phoenix Suns from 1973-1987, coaching the NBA All-Stars in 1981. He also coached the Dallas Mavericks and New York Knicks before returning to college coaching in 1991. He's a member of both the Arizona and Indiana basketball Halls of Fame. MacLeod died April 14, 2019.

Gino Marchetti (age 93) - Marchetti, a defensive end, was the second round pick of the NFL's Dallas Texans in 1953. He played one season in Dallas before embarking a career with the Baltimore Colts that ended in 1966. Marchetti was selected to the Pro Bowl eleven times and made the NFL's 75th Anniversary all-time team. His number 89 was retired by the Indianapolis Colts and he is in the Baltimore Ravens Ring of Fame. Marchetti died of pneumonia April 29, 2019.

Johnny Neumann (age 69) - Neumann, at the time an Ole Miss sophomore, was the first college player to claim hardship to leave the NCAA early. He played five seasons in the ABA with five different teams, followed by two seasons in the NBA with the Lakers and Pacers. He finished his career with more than 6,000 points and more than 1200 rebounds and assists. Neumann passed away April 23, 2019, from cancer.

Don Perry (age 89) - After two decades as a player and player coach of the New Haven Blades hockey team, Perry retired to coach at the professional level in the former International Hockey League. He became the head coach of the Los Angeles Kings in 1982, leading them in two and one half seasons including the team's "miracle on Manchester" playoff game (1982). He finished with a 52-85-11 record as a head coach. Perry died April 15, 2019.

Pete Peterson (age 89) - Harding "Pete" Peterson had a brief career in major league baseball, playing in 65 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1950s. After a career-ending injury in 1959, Peterson moved to the dugout as a minor-league manager and the front office as director of the Pirates' farm system and nine years as general manager. He also spent one year as GM of the Yankees. Peterson passed away April 16, 2019.

Scott Sanderson (age 62) - Sanderson was a pitcher in the major leagues with an 18-year career, playing for seven different teams in both the AL and NL. He was a regular starter for most of his career, finishing with an overall record of 163-143 and more than 1,600 Ks. He was an All-Star in 1991, while with the Yankees. After retiring, he became an agent and occasional broadcaster. Sanderson succumbed to cancer on April 11, 2019.

Marilynn Smith (age 89) - Smith was one of thirteen women who, in 1950, founded the LPGA.  Smith turned professional in 1949 and over the following three decades, she won 23 tournaments including 21 LPGA events. She was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2006. Smith passed away April 9, 2019.

Meyer Skoog (age 92) - Meyer "Whitey" Skoog was played guard for the old Minneapolis Lakers before their move to Los Angeles. In a six-year NBA career, the Lakers 1951 first-round draft pick scored over 2000 points and hauled in more than 1000 rebounds before becoming a college golf coach. Skoog passed away April 4, 2019.

Deaths in March, 2109  ---  Deaths in May, 2019