David Binder (age 88) - Binder was a Harvard graduate and Fulbright Scholar who rose through the ranks of newspapers from small-town Illinois to
The New York Times, where he spent more than 40 years as a specialist in eastern Europe and the U.S. North Woods. He wrote several books about German politics, and occasionally appeared on CNN and C-SPAN. Binder died of kidney failure on
June 30, 2019.
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Keith Birdsong (age 59) - The Muscogee Creek-Cherokee artist was perhaps best known for his realism-style illustrations on the covers of Star Trek novels. That was not his only client, however, for among Birdsong's oeuvre is a set of six U S Postal stamps depicting the 1960s and another celbrating Native American Dance. Birdsong died June 4, 2019, of a brain injury suffered in a 2018 traffic accident. |
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Judith Krantz (age 91) - Krantz was an American romance novelist, best-known for such novels as Scruples and Princess Daisy. Krantz penned ten novels over her career, several of which were turned into television movies and miniseries by her husband, producer Steve Krantz. Her last book was her autobiography, published in 2000. Krantz died June 22, 2019. |
Gloria Vanderbilt (age 95) - Vanderbilt was an actress, artist, and author; but she is probably best-known as a socialite and heiress to the Vanderbilt fortune. In between her four marriages, one o which was to conductor Leopold Stokowski, Vanderbilt also designed clothing (including a line of fashion blue jeans). She is the mother of CNN News Anchor Anderson Cooper, from her fourth and final marriage. Vanderbilt died of stomach cancer on
June 17, 2019.
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Gary Burrell (age 81) - Burrell and a friend, Min Kao, collaborated to start Garmin Ltd. in the 1980s in hopes of using the then-crippled global positioning system (GPS) to assist in marine and aviation navigation. With the removal of the signal obfuscation, Garmin became a leader in the field of consumer GPS devices; an industry that earned Burrell more than a billion dollars. He died June 12, 2019. |
Tony Rodham (age 64) - Rodham's varied careers included stints as a "repo" man, a corrections officer, and a private detective. In 1992, he began working on the presidential campaign of his brother-in-law Bill Clinton, and afterwards remained on the fringes of Democratic Party politics. He was, at one time, married to the daughter of California Senator Barbara Boxer. Critics claimed he often used his political connections to personal gain (duh: can you say "Jared"?). Rodham died
June 7, 2019.
Leah Chase (age 96) - Sometimes known as The Queen of Creole Cooking, Chase married her husband Edgar "Dooky" Chase in 1946 and began cooking in the family restaurant. By 2006, she had collected a long list of cooking awards for the restaurant she named after her husband, not just for the food but for the collections of African-American art and the part the restaurant played in the Civil Rights Movement. Chase died
June 1, 2019.
Robert Friend (age 99) - Friend was believed to be the oldest surviving member of the original Tuskegee Airmen, an African-American unit of the Army Air Corps during World War II. Friend remained in the Air Force and retired as a Lt. Colonel. He passed away
June 21, 2019.
Stanley Tigerman (age 88) - The famously outspoken Tigerman was a renowned architect who helped change the skyline of Chicago and taught architecture at UICC. His best-known American work is the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie, Illlinois. Tigerman passed away
June 3, 2019.
| Alexander Kuznetsov (age 59) - The Russian-born Kuznetzov had a long career in both American American film and television, playing Russian villains and occasionally heroes. His US TV appearances include "NYPD Bluem" "Crossing Jordanm" and "24"; and he appeared in many Russian movies. He appeared opposite Dolph Lundgren in Agent Red. Kuznetsov died of cancer June 6, 2019. |
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William F. Brown (age 91) - Brown was a Tony-winning playwright, probably best-known for his adaptation of The Wizard of Oz into the musical, The Wiz. Brown also wrote the plays The Girl in the Freudian Slip (based on his book of the same name) and How to Steal an Election. He also wrote for television. Brown died June 23, 2019. |
| Beth Chapman (age 51) - The onetime nightclub singer married Duane Chapman in 2006, eventually joining him in his bounty-hunting business. She joined her husband in reality television shows about their hunts, most notably "Dog the Bounty Hunter." Chapman died of cancer on June 26, 2019. |
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| Billy Drago (age 73) - Born William Burroughs, Drago was a long-time character actor on television and in film, often cast as a villain. He appeared in such movies as The Untouchables, Pale Rider, and Delta Force 2. Drago had a recurring role as a demon in the television series Charmed." He is the father of actor Darren Burroughs. He died June 24, 2019, after a stroke. |
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Robert Earle (age 93) - Earle took over hosting the television quiz show "The College Bowl" when Allen Ludden moved to Password. He hosted that show from 1962 until 1970, when NBC decided o cancel the show because of student activism. After the show's cancellation, Earle returned to teaching journalism at New York's Ithaca College. Earle died
June 5, 2019.
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William Whitliff (age 79) - Whitliff was a Texas-born screenwriter who penned the scripts for such movies as Perfect Storm and Barbarosa, the latter of which was one of his two partnerships with Willie Nelson. Whitliff also wrote television scripts, including the television miniseries Lonesome Dove," for which he won a Screenwriters Guild Award. Whitliff passed away June 9, 2019, after a heart attack. |
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Max Wright (age 75) - Wright's forty-year career included dozens of small parts in film and guest appearances on television, but he will be best remembered for a four-season stint as the "father" of an alien puppet on the television series "ALF." He also had recurring roles in "Dudley" and "Buffalo Bill." Wright died June 26, 2019. |
| Franco Zeffirelli (age 96) - Zeffirelli's wide-ranging career include directing operas, television and movies; as well as a seven-year stint as a senator in the Italian Parliament. He may be best known for his adaptations of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew, plus such films as Jesus of Nazareth and Endless Love. He was made a Knight of the British Empire in 2004. Zeffirelli died June 15, 2019. |
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| Jeff Austin (age 45) - Austin was a mandolin player most closely associated with the Yonder Mountain String Band, and one of the better-known artists of the "progressive bluegrass" genre. He also recorded an album of bluegrass versions of Grateful Dead songs as a member of a group with the tongue-in-cheek name Grateful Grass. Austin died June 25, 2019. |
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Dave Bartholomew (age 100) - Bartholomew was a band leader and songwriter who also produced records from his New Orleans studio. He was instrumental in the careers of many early R-n-R musicians, especially fellow New Orleanian Fats Domino. Bartholomew shared songwriting credits for such hits as "I'm Walkin'" and "Ain't that a Shame." He died of heart failure June 23, 2019. |
| Bushwick Bill (age 52) - Born Richard Stephen Shaw, Bill was a Jamaican-American rapper and hip-hop artist; a long-time member of Texas hip-hop group the Geto Boys. He started his career in 1986 as a dancer with the group before becoming one of the three front men. Bill was born with dwarfism, topping out at a reported height of 3'-8" according to his bio. He died of pancreatic cancer on June 9, 2019. |
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| Jerry Carrigan (age 75) - Carrigan was a rock-'n'-roll and country-western drummer, one of the founding members of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. His work as a session drummer in the Alabama studio and in Nashville resulted in a long list of hit recordings for artists rangine from Dolly Parton to Elvis Presley. Carrigan died June 22, 2019. |
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Dr. John (age 77) - Born Malcolm "Mack" Rebennac, Dr. John was a fixture in the New Orleans music scene for more than 50 years. He started as a session musician, but evolved into a classic Mardi Gras party act. the Doctor won six Grammy awards, including one for his 1992 album "Goin' Back to New Orleans," and was induced into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. He died of a heart attack on June 6, 2019. |
| Gary Duncan (age 72) - Duncan, born Gary Grubb, was a rock-and-roll guitar player best known for his years with the San Francisco-based band Quicksilver Messenger Service. Along with fellow member of The Brogues Gary Elmore and guitar player John Cippollina, Duncan was a founding member of the group. After the band's breakup in the late '70s, Duncan performed as Gary Duncan's Quicksilver before resurrecting the Messenger Service in 2006. He died June 29, 2019. |
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Elliot Roberts (age 76) Roberts (born Elliot Rabinowitz) was renowned as a rock-'n'-roll manager and record executive. Over a long career, he managed such acts as Neil Young and Tom Petty, and is credited with discovering Young and Joni Mitchell. Roberts died
June 21, 2019.
David Bergland (age 83) - Bergland twice served as the national chairman of the Libertarian Party, and ran unsuccessfuly for U. S. President on the Libertarian ticket in 1984. He also ran, as a Libertarian, for local and statewide offices in California on several occasions. Bergland died
June 3, 2019.
Ellen Bree Burns (age 95) - Burns was the first woman to serve on the Federal bench in Connecticut, having been nominated by President Jimmy Carter in 1978. She rose to the position of chief judge of the circuit before her retirement in 2015, having presided over the trials of mobsters, Hells Angels, and local dealers. Burns died
June 3, 2019.
Martin Feldstein (age 79) - Economist Martin Feldstein was a famous deficit hawk, sharing his views on the national economy from a professorship at Harvard University. He was also a former chair of the National Bureau of Economic Research and, for two years (1982-1984), the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors to the Reagan administration. Feldstein died
June 11, 2019.
Mohammed Morsi (age 67) - Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was elected president of Egypt after the Arab Spring uprising, lasting slightly over a year before being deposed, When he died, Morsi was on trial for multiple alleged crimes after an earlier conviction was overturned. He had just finished testifying in his trial when he collapsed. He died soon after of what was reported to be a heart attack; on
June 17, 2019.
| Tony Barone (age 72) - Barone played varsity basketball at Duke before coaching Creighton and Texas A&M. After more than 20 years as a college coach, Barone took an assistant coaching job with the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies in 2002, assuming the head coaching job in the 2006-7 season. Barone passed away June 25, 2019. |
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Pat Bowlen (age 75) - Bowlen was one of a group who bought the Denver Broncos in 1984 and he served as CEO of the team until retiring in 2014 due to advancing Alzheimer's disease. DUring his tenure, the team made seven SuperBowl appearances and had an NFL-best 21 winning seasons. He died only months before he was to be officially inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame, on June 13, 2019. |
Kelly Coleman (age 80) After setting the all-time points record for a Kentucky high-school basketball player, Kelly Coleman went on to play at Kentucky Weslayan. He was drafted by the Knicks in 1960 but never played in the NBA. He played two seasons in the American Basketball League before joining the Harlem Globetrotters for one season in 1963. Coleman died
June 16, 2019.
Carlin Dunne (age 36) - Dunne was a motorcycle racer and stuntman. While competing in the 2019 Pikes Peak Hill Climb in Colorado, Dunne crashed seconds from the finish line and was killed. He died on
June 30, 2019.
Gabrielle Grunewald (age 32) - Grunewald, born Gabrielle Anderson, was a professional track star who competed in middle-distance running events. She missed the 2012 U.S. Olympic team, finishing 4th in the tryouts for the mile. Grunewald was first treated for cancer in 2009, and competed despite several rounds of chemotherapy and invasive surgeries. She succumbed to cancer on
June 11, 2019.
Frank Lucchesi (age 92) - an itinerant outfielder with an extensive minor-league career, Lucchesi finally made it to the big leagues in 1970 as a manager for the Philadelphia Phillies. He managed three different teams (Phillies, Rangers, Cubs) during the next twenty years, interspersed with stints as a Rangers coach. In all, Lucchesi compiled a 316-399 record. He died
June 8, 2019.
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