Interesting, overlooked, and significant obituaries from around the world, as they happen, emphasizing the positive achievements of those who have died. Member, Society of Professional Obituary Writers.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Val Patterson
Electrical engineer -- via Yahoo News and Legacy.com. Perhaps the best self-penned obituary I have yet read; it includes several opportunely timed confessions as well.
Rosemary Furtak
Award-winning librarian who focused on art and artists' books -- via the Star-Tribune. The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis now houses an internationally-recognized collection of these works, thanks to her!
Monday, July 16, 2012
Jon Lord
Organist, keyboardist, composer; founder and long-time leader of hard rock pioneers Deep Purple -- via the New York Times.
Bob Babbitt aka Robert Kreinar
Bassist with the legendary Funk Brothers, the studio band at Motown Records -- via the Detroit News. The master of the funky bottom, rivaled in his time only by Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone. A genius.
He played on more than 200 top 40 hits. Think about alllllllllllll the brilliant songs he played the bass line on -- "Ball of Confusion," "Scorpio," "Oh How Happy," "Cool Jerk," "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours," "War," "Mercy Mercy Me," "Midnight Train to Georgia" -- and his ultimate creation, the masterpiece "Just My Imagination." Cannot praise him too highly. He got it.
He played on more than 200 top 40 hits. Think about alllllllllllll the brilliant songs he played the bass line on -- "Ball of Confusion," "Scorpio," "Oh How Happy," "Cool Jerk," "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours," "War," "Mercy Mercy Me," "Midnight Train to Georgia" -- and his ultimate creation, the masterpiece "Just My Imagination." Cannot praise him too highly. He got it.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Dolphy aka Golay aka Rodolfo Vera Quizon, Sr.
Philippines' King of Comedy; performer on stage, and in film, TV, and radio -- via the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Zhou Ruchang
Literary scholar -- via the Telegraph. His overwhelming focus was the 17th-century novel by Cao Xueqin, "The Dream of the Red Chamber."
George Stoney
Filmmaker, teacher and innovator -- via the New York Times. A "dean of documentary filmmakers," his "All My Babies" is on the National Film Registry. He taught film at NYU for 40 years; and he founded public-access television. Pretty amazing.
Richard D. Zanuck
Film producer -- via the New York Times. Thanks to and despite his famous film producer father Darryl F. Zanuck, Richard became one of the era's most successful and interesting film producers himself. He worked on, among many others, "Jaws," "Driving Miss Daisy," "Cocoon," "The Sting," "The Sound of Music" . . .
Calvin Marsh
Baritone -- via the New York Times. Another Margalit Fox classic obit -- she writes so wonderfully. The use of "forsaking" in the first sentence is a textbook example of le mot juste.
Celeste Holm
Actress on stage, on film and TV -- via CNN. She was the first Ado Annie in "Oklahoma!"; she won an Oscar for her work in "Gentlemen's Agreement," and did notable work in films such as "All About Eve" and TV roles such as the Fairy Godmother in the second broadcast of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella."
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Maria Cueto
Activist and lay minister who was hounded by the FBI -- via the Episcopal Digital Network.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Isuzu Yamada
Actress on stage and in films -- via the Japan Times. A leendary performer who made films with Ozu, Mizoguchi, Nakuse and Kurosawa, and many others. Among her best-remembered films: "Osaka Elegy," "Tokyo Twilight," "Throne of Blood" (she played Lady Washizu, the Lady Macbeth character, above), "Yojimbo" and "The Lower Depths." Her range and subtlety were unmatched.
Paul Bargas
Minor-league pitcher -- via CBS Sports. Very sad -- he passed away at the age of 24 from brain cancer.
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