Arts and Letters
| Rudolfo Anaya (age 82) - Best known for his Chicano coming-of-age novel Bless Me, Ultima, Anaya was a native new Mexican who stayed in Albuquerque to teach at the University of New Mexico. Besides Ultima, which has been published in both Spanish (Benediceme, Ultima) and English, Anaya also wrote a series of mysteries about Latino private eye Sonny Baca. Anaya died June 28, 2020, after a long illness. |  |
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Bruce Jay Friedman (age 90) - Friedman wrote novels, plays, and screenplays; with a special emphasis on dark humor in a deadpan voice. He was most active in the early mid-century, including the screenplays for The Heartbreak Kid and Stir Crazy. He also published several novels and short-story collections, as well as non-fiction. Friedman died June 3, 2020. |
Milton Glaser (age 91) - Glaser was best known as a graphic designer who designed the logos for many well-known entities, including DC Comics, Stony Brook University, and a psychedelic Bob Dylan album cover. His best-known work is undoubtedly the logo I ♥ NY, which he designed in the 1970s. Glaser also teamed up with a friend to found New York magazine, and created his own font, Glaser Stencil. He died on his 91st birthday, June 26, 2020.
David Perlman (age 101) - Perlman was a long-time journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle, who took over the newspaper's science reporting in 1957. He remained with the Chronicle throughout his career, becoming science editor emeritus at the age of 98. The American Geological Union created an award in his honor in 2000, and he received awards from multiple societies and the USGS. Perlman died June 19, 2020.
| Charles Webb (age 81) - Webb was a novelist with some nine titles to his name. His second most famous might have been The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker, but few who survived the sixties will forget his most famous work, The Graduate. Despite the success of his novel and the film based on it, Webb lived a blue-collar life working low-wage jobs. He died June 16, 2020. |  |
Business
Miscellaneous
Thomas Edward Blanton, Jr. (age 82) - In 2001, Blanton was convicted of murder in the 1963 bombing of a black church in Birmingham, Alabama. He and another man were the two remaining suspects out of four in the case, all members of the local Kyu Klux Klan chapter, and were both sentenced to four consecutive life sentences. Blanton died in prison on June 26, 2020.
Sergei Kruschev (age 84) - The son of Soveit Premier Kikita Kruschev, Sergei was an engineer and sometime college professor. A naturalized American citizen, he taught at the Naval War College. Kruschev died of a gunshot wound, apparently self-inflicted, on June 19, 2020.
Emidio Soltsyk (age 44) - "Mimi" Soltsyk was a California socialist - the real thing, not a Bernie Sanders Social Democrat - who ran for U. S. President on the Socialist ticket in 2016, receiving less than 3,000 votes nationwide. . He also ran for state assemblyman in California in 2016. Soltsyk died of liver cancer June 28, 2020.
Antonio Veciana (age 91) - The Cuban-born Veciana was an accountant in his native country when he was recruited by the CIA in a plot to kill newly-installed president Fidel Castro after the Bay of Pigs invasion failed. Veciana fled Havana in 1961, settling in Miami where he founded a fiercely anti-Castro group, Alpha 66. He died June 18, 2020, in Miami.
Jack Whittaker (age 72) - At the time a construction worker, Jack Whittaker won almost $$315 million in a 2002 PowerBall lottery game. His good luck, however, did not guarantee happiness. Whittaker's life was... troubled, including association with drug overdoses, lawsuits, a DUI, and the death of his granddaughter. Whittaker died June 27, 2020.
Movies, Television, and Stage
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Mary Pat Gleason (age 70) - Gleason's list of film and television credits runs into the hundreds of entries. She was active from the 1980s until 2019, including a three-year stint on "The Guiding Light" in the early 1980s. She also won a writing Emmy Award for the same soap. Although never a featured actor, she made guest appearances on dozens of television shows from "NYPD Blue" to "Mom." She died of cancer on June 2, 2020. |
Dan Hicks (age 68) - Primarily known for his appearances in horror films, Hicks spent thirty years in Hollywood. He broke into the biz in 1987's Evil Dead II and speared in thirty-plus other films up to 2019's The Blood Hunter. Hicks revealed that he had stage 4 cancer on June 5, 2020, and died on June 30, 2020.
| Sir Ian Holm (age 88) - Holm was a Tony-winning (1967, The Homecoming) British actor who also made numerous film appearances. He was a BAFTA winner and an Oscar nominee for his role in Chariots of Fire. More recently, be played the role of "older" Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Holm died June 19, 2020, of complications of Parkinson's Disease. |  |
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Carl Reiner (age 98) - Reiner was a fixture in television and movies from the '50s up to his last years. He is known for his many comedy roles, including Dick van Dyke's boss, Alan Brady, on his eponymous show. He made hundreds of other appearances in television and films. His late wife, Estelle, had a cameo appearance in When Harry Met Sally, directed by their son, Rob, in which she delivered the iconic line, "I'll have what she's having." Reiner died June 29, 2020. |
Music
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Hux Brown (75) - Lynford "Hux" Brown was a Jamaican rocksteady and reggae guitarist with a long discography over his 50-year-career. In the US, he is known for his work with Paul Simon and Jimmy Cliff, and for a three-and-a-half decade stint with Toots and the Maytalls. Brown died suddenly on June 18, 2020. |
| Dame Vera Lynn (age 103) - Lynn's renditions of "The White Cliffs of Dover" and "We'll Meet Again" and her tireless performances for the troops have long been credited with helping the British endure World War II; an accomplishment for which she received the OBE. She was acclaimed as a national treasure, and performed up until her death. She passed away 18 June, 2020. |  |
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Johnny Mandel (age 94) - Mandel was a Oscar- and Grammy-winning composer and arranger who wrote music for television and movies. He is best-known for songs such as "The Shadow of Your Smile" (from The Sandpiper), "Emily" (from The Americanization of Emily), and "Suicide Is Painless" (theme song of both the movie and television series, M*A*S*H). He also arranged the Grammy-winning version of "Unforgettable" that reunited Nat King and Natalie Cole. Mandel died June 29, 2020. |
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Bonnie Pointer (age 69) - Bonnie and her three sisters (June, Anita, and Ruth), collectively known as The Pointer Sisters, were a hot Soul/R&B act in the 1970s, charting such hits as "Yes We Can Can." The group collected three Grammy Awards in the '70s and '80s, two of them after Bonnie left in 1977. As a solo act, Pointer met moderate success. She died of cardiac arrest on June 8, 2020. |
Politics
Jean Kennedy Smith (age 92) - Smith, youngest sister of President John F. Kennedy, was a humanitarian and philanthropist. She founded Very Special Arts, an international non-profit supporting the differently abled. In 1993, President Clinton appointed her U. S. Ambassador to Ireland, where she was instrumental in the peace process in Northern Ireland. President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011. Smith died June 17, 2020.
Sports
Joe Arenas (age 94) - Arenas was a halfback and kick returner for the 49ers in the 1950s, also filling in as a defensive back. He amassed a startling 3800 kick return yards; averaging more then 27 yards per return, still ninth best in NFL history. He was one of the first LatinX players in the NFL. Arenas died June 30, 2020.
"Killer" Brooks(age 72) - Tim Brooks was an American wrestler who competed... appeared under the nickname "Killer." He began his career in the Midwest before nationalization of the sport in the 1980s, ultimately working in such circuits as the WWE, WWF, WWG, WWH, WWI... you know what we mean. Much of his career was spent in the NWA, which we thought was a rap group. Whatever. Brooks died of cancer on June 30, 2020.
Joe Bugel (age 80) - Although he did not play organized football after high school, Bugel became one of the most respected assistant coaches in professional football. He started with a small college in 1964 before becoming a Big Ten coach and moving into the pros in 1975 with the Lions. OVer the next 35 years, Bugel was an assistant with six different pro teams and the head coach of the Cardinals and Raiders in the '90s, His Redskins offenses won two Super Bowls. Bugel died June 28, 2020.
| Reche Caldwell (age 41) - The Florida native played six seasons as an NFL wide receiver, four tiwht he Chargers and one each with the Redskins and Patriots. He finished with 152 receptions and 1851 yards for eleven TDs. Caldwell died as a result of a gunshot wound in his native Tampa on June 6, 2020, allegedly during an attempted robbery. |  |
Adrian Devine (age 68) - Devine was a right-handed pitcher for the Braves and Rangers in the 1970s, compiling a 26-22 record. Oriinally a starting pitcher, he became a middle reliever, also recording 31 career saves. Devine, who recovered twice from tongue cancer, died after a long battle with the disease on June 27, 2020.
Eddie Kasko (age 88) - Kasko was a slap-hitting infielder with a strong glove who toiled for several MLB teams (Red Sox, Colt .45s-Astros, Reds, and Cardinals) in the '50s and '60. He was an All-Star while playing with the Reds in 1961, and retired with a lifetime .264 batting average and 261 RBIs. He managed the Red Sox from 1970-73, compiling a 345-295 W-L record, and is in the Sox Hall of Fame. Kasko died June 24, 2020.
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Jim Kiick (age 73) - Kiick was a stalwart running back alongside Larry Csonka for the Miami Dolphins from 1968 to 1974 and later with the Broncs and Redskins, racking up 3700-plus rushing yards and more than 2300 receiving yards. He was a two-time AFL All-Star and a member of the Dolphins undefeated team in 1972-3. Kiick succumbed to Alzheimer's Disease on June 20, 2020. |
| Ken Riley (age 72) - Riley spend fifteen seasons in the NFL as a cornerback, all with the Cincinnati Bengals. He was a three-time All-Pro, racking up 65 picks over the years. In the final game of the 1976 season, he collected three interceptions, including two of Joe Namath. After retiring as a player, he coached at the college level for Florida A&M. Riley died June 7, 2020. |  |
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Paul Rochester (age 81) - "Rocky" Rochester spent ten seasons in professional football, the entirety of the existence of the old AFL. The defensive tackle/end played four seasons (1960-63) for the Texans/Chiefs and the remainder of his career (1964-69) with the Jets. He was an All-Stat in 1961 and won a Super Bowl with the Jets in 1968. Rochester died June 9, 2020. |
Kurt Thomas (age 64) - Thomas was the first ever American man to win gymnastics gold in the world championships, a feat he accomplished three times in the 1970s. He had a short, undistinguished career as an actor and also worked as a gymnastics commentator for television. He died June 5, 2020, as the result of a stroke two weeks earlier.
| Wes Unseld (age 74) - Unseld was only the second NBA player to be named league MVP in his rookie year, joining Wilt Chamberlain. He spent all fourteen of his seasons with the Bullets, collecting 5 All-Star berths, a playoffs MVP, Rookie of the Year, and a retired number. He finished with more than 10,000 points and almost 14,000 rebounds; and is a member of both the NBA and College basketball Halls of Fame. He also coached the Bullets for seven seasons. Unseld passed away as a result of pneumonia on June 2, 2020. |  |
