 |
Dennis Etchison (age 76) - Etchison was well-known in the horror biz as an author, screenwriter, and anthologist. Although he published few novels, he was a prolific writer of short stories . He novelized several of the Halloween franchise films under a pseudonym and was responsible for adapted dozens of "Twilight Zone" scripts for radio. Etchison died May 28, 2019. |
Rachel Held Evans (age 37) - raised in an evangelical Christian family and a graduate of an evangelical Christian college, Held Evans questioned the social aspects of her faith and its foundation on a literatl interpretation of the Bible, which she rejected. Rachel left the evangelical movement for the Episcopal church and wrote passionately on her support for the LGBTQ community, on the MeToo movement, and other progressive causes. Evans died of complications from an allergic reaction on
May 4, 2019.
| Georgie Anne Geyer (age 88) - Geyer graduated from Northwestern University with a journalism degree and began her career with now-defunct newspapers in the Chicago area. She became a foreign correspondent for UP before settling into a position as a conservative syndicated columnist focusing on foreign affairs. Geyer died May 15, 2019. |
 |
| Tony Horwitz (age 60) - A historian, reporter, and non-fiction author; Anthony Horwitz wrote for The New Yorker and The Wall Street Journal. He won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting in 1995 for a WSJ series about low-income workers. His books include Confederates in the Attic and Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War. Horwitz died while on a book tour May 27, 2019. |
 |
Warren Phillips (age 92) - Phillips started at The Wall Street Journal as a copyreader in 1947, and remained with the Journal and its parent company until retirement in 1997. Over the years, he held positions of writer, editor, and managing editor of the Journal; plus executive VP, executive editor, and director, CEO, and president of Dow Jones. Philips died May 10, 2019. |
| Herman Wouk (age 103) - Wouk was one of the best-known American authors of historical fiction of the 20th century, with works such as War and Remembrance and The Winds of War, but is probably best-known for his 1951 novel, The Caine Mutiny, a Pulitzer Prize-winning effort. He was the first-ever winner of the Library of Congress Lifetime Achievement Award for Fiction Writing, which he won in 2008. Wouk died peacefully on May 17, 2019. |
 |
Max Azria (age 70) - The Tunisian-born Azria was a fashion designer and businessman who founded the company BCBGMAXAZRIA. His company owned more than 20 fashion brands around the world including Jess, Hérve Léger, and the company that bore his name. Azria died
May 6, 2019, of lung cancer.
Austin Eubanks (age 37) - Eubanks survived the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 although he was shot in one hand and a knee and witnessed the murder of his best friend. He became addicted to the pain pills prescribed for his injuries, and took 12 years to become sober. After his recovery, he became a motivational speaker and counselor to addicted teens and young adults. Eubanks was found dead at his home on
May 18, 2019.
Patricia Bath (age 76) - Bath, an ophthalmologist, was the first African-American woman physician to receive a patent for a treatment. In 1988, she patented a device known as the Laserphaco probe, a laser treatment for cataracts. Bath went on to register four additional patents. She died
May 30, 2019.
Jim Fowler (age 87) - Trained as a zoologist, Fowler eschewed academia in favor of life in front of a television camera. One of the original presenters in the renowned television show "Wild Kingdom," Fowler took over as host when Marlin Perkins retired in 1985. He received four Emmy awards for his work on the show. Fowler died
May 8, 2019.
 |
Stanton Friedman (84) - Trained as a nuclear physicist, Friedman worked for more than a decade in the field. In 1970 he left his career to become a full-time "ufologist," In that career, Friedman was the first civilian to inspect the Roswell, New Mexico, site; which he proclaimed a crash site of an extraterrestrial craft. He wrote several books on the topic of UFOs and frequently debated skeptics. Friedman died May 13, 2019. |
Murray Gell-Mann (age 89) - Gell-Mann might well be the prototype for "Sheldon Cooper." He graduated from high school at 15 and had an M.I.T. PhD by age 25. He is credited with coining the name "quark" for a subatomic particle, a name he based on a line from
Finnegan's Wake. He won the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in the classification of subatomic particles. Gell-Mann passed away
May 24, 2019.
 |
George Kelling (age 88) - Trained in social welfare, Kelling served as a probation officer and child-care counselor before entering academia to teach in the criminology departments of such prestigious venues as Northeastern, Rutgers, and Harvard. In the early 1980s, Kelling, his wfe Caterine Coles, and fellow professor James Q. Wilson introduced the "broken windows" theory of policing, in which low-level crime is pursued as vigorously as serious crime. The theory is said to have revolutionized policing. Kelling died May 15, 2019. |
| Frank Lucas (age 88) - Lucas is said to have revolutionized the heroin trade in NYC when he went around the "wholesalers" and began buying his product directly from the producers in southern Asia. Lucas was nailed by the DEA at least twice before turning state's evidence to have his sentence reduced. In all, he spent about twelve years in prison. His career was dramatized in the 2007 film American Gangster, in which he was portrayed by Denzel Washington. Lucas died May 30, 2019. |
 |
| I. M. Pei (age 102) - The Chinese-born architect studied at U. Pennsylvania and M.I.T. before a long career dedicated to breaking out of the Beaux Arts style popular in the 1930s to 1950s. His "breakout" design was NCAR in Boulder, Colo., after which he worked extensively in museums and monuments, as well as Dallas City Hall and the Kennedy Library in Boston. Pei died May 15, 2019. |  |
| Tim Conway (age 85) - Perhaps best known as a bumbling ensign in the '60s television sitcom :McHale's Navy," Conway went on to frequently guest star on "The Carol Burnett Show" and star in film, as well as a couple of short-lived television projects, including one ("Turn-On") that was cancelled only days after its premier episode.. In later years, he voiced Barnacle Boy for the animated series "Spongebob Squarepants." Conway died May 14, 2019. |
 |
 |
Doris Day (age 97) - Daybroke into entertainment as a big band singer becoming a beloved film star in the late 1940s. After her last movie, With Six You Get Eggroll, Day discovered that her late husband and his business partner had squandered her life savings and left her in debt. After her last movie, she hosted a television variety show before leaving public life. Her last album, "My Heart," was recorded in 1967 but released 44 years later when she was 89. Day died May 13, 2019, of pneumonia. |
| Peggy Lipton (age 74) - Perhaps best-known for her role as the flower child in television's short-lived "Mod Squad," for which she won a Golden Globe and four Emmy nominations; Lipton's career spanned five decades as a model, actor, and musician. She was married to Quincy Jones, with whom she has two daughters (actors Kadida and Rashida Jones). Lipton returned to television in the '80s, including stints in "Twin Peaks" and the show's reboot in 2017. Lipton died of cancer on May 11, 2019. |
 |
Ashley Massaro (age 39) - A wrestler, model, and occasional actor; Massaro was probably best known for her appearances on the television show "Survivor" and her work with WWE. She also posed for the cover of and within the pages of
Playboy and made guest appearances on a handful of television shows and in music videos. Massaro died
May 16, 2019.
 |
Chris Reccardi (age 54) - Reccardi wore almost every hat in the cartoon game, including director, animator, storyboard artist, producer, and writer. He is probably best known for The Ren & Stimpy Show, and contributed to Powderpuff Girls and Tiny Toon Adventures. Reccardi also contributed to Spongebob Squarepants. He passed away May 2, 2019, after suffering a heart attack. |
 |
Alvin Sargent (age 92) - Sargent was an American screenwriter, known for two Oscar-winning scripts, Julia (1978) and Ordinary People (1981). In later years, Sargent contributed multiple scripts to the Spiderman franchise. He also wrote or co-wrote such scripts as What About Bob and The Sterile Cuckoo. Sargent passed away May 9, 2019. |
Peggy Stewart (age 95) - Stewart's IMDB listing includes well over 100 credits in television and movies. She broke into film in the 1930s, appearing in a long list of so-called B movies, especially westerns like
The Cisco Kid installments and
Tucson Raiders. In later years, she was often called on to play grandmothers, neighbors, and aging aunts in television shows ranging from "Seineld" to "The Office." Stewart died
May 29, 2019.
| J. R. Cobb (age 74) - James Barney Cobb was a member of the Classics IV in the '60s, co-writing their biggest hit, "Spooky." After a stint as a session guitarist, Cobb helped form the Atlanta Rhythm Section. With the latter group, Cobb has song-writing credits for several songs, including "Champagne Jam." He suffered a fatal heart attack on May 4, 2019. |
 |
 |
Roky Erickson (age 71) - Erickson was a founding member of the band 13th Floor Elevators and one of the first psychedelic rock performers. He had a checkered career interrupted by years of struggle with mental illness, but recovered sufficiently to release his music with bands like Rocky Erickson and the Aliens and The Black Angels. Erickson died May 31, 2019. |
 |
Leon Redbone (age 69) - Born Dickran Gobalian in Cyprus, Redbone moved to Canada in the 1960s, changed his name, and embarked on a forty-plus year career as musician and entertainer. Known equally for his sartorial style and his bass croak, Redbone specialized in songs from the vaudeville era and Tin Pan Alley. He released 12 studio and 5 live albums, beginning with 1975's On the Track. Redbone died May 30, 2019. |
 |
John Starling (age 79) - Trained as a physician (otolaryngologist), Starling was a founding member of "new grass" bluegrass group The Seldom Scene in the 1970s. After retiring from medical practice, Starling picked up his guitar again and reunited with former bandmates to form John Starling and Carolina Star in 2006. He received a Grammy award in 1993 for an album cut with Carl Jackson. Starling died of heart failure May 2, 2019. |
Thad Cochran (age 81) - Cochran was a 7-term senator from the U. S. state of Mississippi; he had previously served as a U. S. Congressman. Cochran was considered a rather moderate Republican, the first of that party elected from his home state since Reconstruction. He rose to lead the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. Cochran resigned due to health concerns in 2018, and died
May 30, 2019, of renal failure.
Lord Toby Jug (age 53) - Born Brian Borthwick, the British politician legally changed his name to "Toby Gug" (after a pottery piece). A musician of sorts, Jug was a candidate for Parliament and member of the "shadow cabinet" for the Monster Raving Loony Party. After being expelled from that party, Jug founded the Eccentric Party, standing for office multiple times, regularly receiving double-digit vote counts. Jug died
May 2, 2019.
 |
Bill Buckner (age 69) - Buckner's career covered 22 years in the major leagues, including stints with the Dodgers, Cubs, Red Sox, Angels, and Royals. He led the NL in hitting in 1980 and was an All-Star in 1981. He finished his career with more than 2700 hits, 174 home runs, and a lifetime .289 batting average; but will always be remembered for an error in game 6 of the 1986 world Series that allowed the Mets to win the game, preventing a Red Sox win. Buckner died May 27, 2019. |
Bert Cooper (age 53) - Cooper was a heavyweight boxer out of Philadelphia who trained under Joe Frazier. He fought 63 bouts in his career, with a 38-25 record. He challenged three times for the world title, losing to Evander Holyfield (1991) and Michael Moorer (1992). Cooper succumbed to pancreatic cancer
May 10, 2019.
Gunther Cunningham (age 72) - Born to a German mother and an American soldier, Gunther Cunningham emigrated to the USA at age 10. He quickly adopted American-style football, playing at the college level before becoming a coach. He peaked as the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs in 1999-2000, but held assistant positions with seven NFL teams and several colleges. Cunningham died of cancer
May 11, 2019.
 |
Leonard "Red" Kelly (age 91) - Kelly joined the Detroit Red Wings in 1947 and played 13 seasons as a defenseman before being traded to the Toronto maple Leafs in 1960 and moving to Center. He played on 8 All-Star teams and was also on eight championship winners (four each with the Wings and the Leafs). He was a member of the Canadian Parliament from 1962-65, and also coached for ten years with the Kings, Penguins, and Maple Leafs. Kelly's number 4 was retired by both the Leafs and the Wings, and he is in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Kelly died May 2, 2019. |
| MacArthur Lane (age 77) - Lane was a workhorse NFL running back for eleven seasons (1968-1978), with the Kansas City Chiefs, St. Louis Cardinals, and Green Bay Packers. His 1206 rushing attempts netted almost 5,000 yards and a 1970 Pro Bowl appearance. He accounted for 37 touchdowns in his career. Lane died May 4, 2019. |
 |
Nicky Lauda (age 70) - A championship Formula I racer, the Austrian-born Lauda was also an entrepreneur and businessman who founded three different airlines. He drove for Ferrari early in his career before switching to Brabham. After a brief retirement in the early 1980s, Lauda returned to F1 racing with McLaren; garnering his third world championship with that sponsor. Lauda died of kidney failure
May 20, 2019.
 |
David Montgomery (age 72) - Montgomery began with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1971, working in ticket sales and operating the scoreboard for night games. he became head of sales and marketing in the '70s and later the organizations business manager. In 1981, he was a minority member of a group that bought the team, eventually becoming the first native Philadelphian to lead the team. Montgomery died May 8, 2019, of cancer. |
| Bart Starr (age 85) - Starr was the Hall of Fame quarterback who led the Green Bay Packers to glory from 1959 to 1971, winning the Super Bowls I and II and being named MVP of both. During his tenure, the Packers won the NFL five times (prior to the Super Bowl era), he was MVP in 1966, and made four Pro Bowl appearances. After retiring, Starr also served as quarterbacks coach and head coach of the Packers, finishing with a 52-76-3 record. Starr died May 26, 2019. |  |
| Bob Zeman (age 87) - Zeman played defensive back for the Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers and the Denver Broncos in the early 1960s, appearing in the AFL All-Star game in 1962. After retiting die to a knee injury, Zeman coached defensive backs and linebackers for four different teams, including Super Bowl wins with the Raiders and 49ers. Zeman's death was announced May 8, 2019. |
 |
No comments:
Post a Comment