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.
Monday, December 29, 2014
Chip Young
Session guitarist and music producer -- via the Nashville Scene. AKA Jerry Stembridge. A real genius at crafting sweet licks, he can be heard on numerous hits such as Dolly Parton's "Jolene," Elvis's "Guitar Man," and Billy Swan's "I Can Help."
DEATHCETERA: A week's worth of world news on mortality
TOP
STORIES
Police turn
backs on NYC mayor as he delivers eulogy for slain police officer – via Michael
J. Gyrnbaum in the New York Times
Recreating
famous deaths – through the sense of smell – from rt.com
DEATH
Two New York
City police officers randomly slain by gunman; police departments across nation
join in mourning
– via Sunnie Huang and the CBC
“Can we talk
about death?”
– from Joanna Weiss in the Boston Globe
MOURNING
Rites of
mourning detailed for slain officers – via Al Bake and J. David Goodman at
the New York Times.
Chaos and grief
continue in case of 43 missing students in Mexico – via Sandra
Larriva at Forbes
Mourning Moms a
support for bereaved parents – from Rowena Coetsee at Contra Costa
Times
FUNERALS
Funeral process
is a “waiting game”
– from Imari Williams at Homicide Watch
Want to preserve
your DNA? Funeral home will do that for a fee – from JD Malone at the Columbus
Dispatch
END-OF-LIFE
ISSUES
An interview
with Ellen Goodman, founder of The Conversation Project, which treats
end-of-life issues
– via Here and Now at NPR
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Giorgio "George" Ardisson
Actor -- via westernsallitaliana.blogspot.com. A regular in sword-and-sandal, adventure, Western, horror, and spy films.
David Ryall
Actor on stage, screen, and TV -- via the Telegraph. A highly recognizable face, Ryall usually played unsympathetic if nor downright villainous characters, most notably Elphias Doge in the Harry Potter films, Sextus Parker in "The Pallisers," Billy Buzzle in "Bless Me, Father," and the fussy Mr. Hall in "The Singing Detective." I got to meet him during the run of the production of Peter Hall's "Tantalus" in Denver; a very sweet guy!
Buddy DeFranco
Jazz clarinetist -- via the New York Times. AKA Boniface Ferdinand Leonardo DeFranco. He started in swing but became the first true bebop clarinetist.
Rosella Towne
Actress -- via Dial M for Movies. She died on August 29 but her death was not revealed publicly until last week. Kudos again to Eve Golden for pointing this out four days ago!
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
John Fry
Music producer; founder of Ardent Records; mentor to cult power-pop pioneers Big Star -- via Consequence of Sound. About 20 percent of Stax's output was recorded at Ardent. A key architect of how American music sounded
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Joseph Sargent
Emmy-winning director of TV and film ("The Taking of Pelham One Two Three"); performer -- via Variety. AKA Giusseppe Daneiele Sorgente. An outstanding talent -- here's a partial list of his work: series such as "Gunsmoke," "Lassie," "Star Trek," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", and "The Invaders"; TV movies such as "Tribes," "The Night That Panicked America," "Amber Waves," and "Something the Lord Made"; on film, the original "Pelham" and the unique science-fiction film "Colossus: The Forbin Project." Like the rest of us, he made a few clinkers -- "Terrible Joe Moran" and "Jaws: The Revenge" being the worst. Hey, his batting average is quite high!
Brandon Stoddard
TV producer, head of programming, and executive -- via Variety. He got a ton of good TV made as an ABC executive, including "Roots," "Rich Man, Poor Man," "Masada," "The Winds of War," "QBVII," "The Day After," and "Friendly Fire." Sure, he cranked out some epic trash as "The Thorn Birds." His batting average was pretty good! It was a time when ABC fielded shows such as "Moonlighting," "Twin Peaks," "My So-Called Life," and "Max Headroom."
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