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.
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Jonathan Crombie
Actor -- via the New York Times. Best remembered for his role as Gilbert Blythe in the "Anne of Green Gables" television series.
Kent Lindsey
Musician, actor, and producer; long-time kids's how host "Safari Sam" -- via the Florida Times-Union.
Friday, April 17, 2015
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Herb Trimpe
Comics illustrator and writer -- via the Hollywood Reporter. One of the greats, he was the first to draw Wolverine, was the defining artist of the Incredible Hulk, and co-created the Phantom Eagle. (A personal favorite -- I grabbed the first issue off the stands in September 1968. I was not disappointed.)
Charles H. "Chuck" Sagle
Trumpeter, bandleader, and arranger -- via legacy.com. Oh my gosh! He created some of the classics of Space Age pop -- see this link from Space Age Pop. In his own name and as Carl Stevens, he gave the world the likes of "Ping Pong Percussion," "Splendor in the Brass," "Music for Baton Twirlers" and, most ominously, "African Sounds." Every soundtrack from every ice-cold grocery store or the inside of your Ford Galaxie 500 is here. Part of the Great Assimilating Wave of Caucasian-ness that crested in the mid-'60s. These monuments to squareness are breathtaking. I feel as though I just found Tut's tomb!
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Alana Baranick
Award-winning obituarist, journalist, and writer -- via the Cleveland Plain Dealer. An exceptional artist, her book "Life on the Death Beat: A Handbook for Obituary Writers" started me on the path to Obit Patrol. Her idea was that obituaries were fascinating and instructive inspired me to find a way to bring them, and many of lesser-known worthies they celebrate, to light. A quote from her adorns the website and reminds me every day that "By writing or reading obituaries, we can discover ways to make our time on earth more worthwhile, more productive, more meaningful to others." I feel quite lucky that I was able to express my gratitude to her while she was alive. Life is short; Alana Baranick made the most of it. Good job, m dear.
Al Bunetta
Grammy-winning producer, artist manager, publisher, and founder of Oh Boy Records -- via the Tennessean.
Deathcetera: the week in death and mourning
DEATH
“10
Scientific Explanations for Near-Death Experiences” – via Listverse
What’s
it like to work on Death Row? – from Kim Bellware in the Huffington Post
Yom
Hashoah a chance to remember not only the Holocaust, but the lives of Jews in
Europe before – by Edward Serrota in Haaretz
Do
Belgian doctors “hasten death” in the terminally ill without request? –
from Thomas D. Williams in Breitbart
The changing
causes of death
– from Nick Triggle at the BBC
Mysterious
death brings Hazmat crew to scene – via KPHO
Research
uncovers story behind lone civilian death at Appomattox – from Steve
Szkotak at AP
What do you do
with a dead astronaut? – by Daniel Oberhaus in Slate
Death a big
moneymaker for Legacy.com – via Melanie Payne at the News-Press (FL)
Scientists
torture rats to gain insight on brain’s role in death – via Susan
Scutti at Medical Daily
Taxidermy
classes at the Morbid anatomy Museum – by Stuart Miller at the New York Times
MOURNING
Slideshow:
Mourning the Garissa massacre – from Reuters
Mourning
Gunter Grass – via Deutsche Welle
Balloonists
salute slain bride – via Yahoo News
Coverage
of FDR’s death, 70 years ago – from Roger DuPuis in the Wilkes-Barre Times
Leader
More
memories of FDR’s death – from Kelly Hopper in the Dayton Daily News
His
year of traditional Jewish mourning closes – from Howard Barbanel in the
Huffington Post
“How
the world mourned Lincoln” – by Matt Ford in the Atlantic
FUNERALS
Coverage
of Lincoln’s funeral odyssey, 150 years ago – from Alma Gaul at the
Quad-City Times
Welcome
to my funeral! – by Stu Bykofsky at philly.com
Very different
kinds of press coverage for police victim Walter Scott’s funeral – by Angela
Bronner Helm at News One
Funerals for the
two victims of NYC gas blast – via Robert Stolarik in the New York
Times
Funeral
director challenged emotionally by wave of killings – via Kinfay Moroti
Funeral homes
expand into catering, reception offerings – from Hanna Raskin in The Post
and Courier
Local funeral
homes squawk as big company muscles in – via Patti Mengers in the Mainline
Media News
‘Grave Matters’
teaches evolution of funeral industry – by Eric Hrin in the Daily Review
Keith McCormack
Singer, guitarist, and songwriter -- via myplainview.com. He had a hit with the String-A-Longs ("Wheels") and unfortunately co-wrote "Sugar Shack."
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Percy Sledge
Singer -- via the TimesDaily (AL). Best known for his classic interpretation of "When a Man Loves a Woman."
Mario Wallenda
High-wire artist -- via the Herald-Tribune (FL). Paralyzed since the infamous 1962 circus accident that decimated the famous family of acrobats.
Monday, April 13, 2015
Rudy Nappi
Illustrator -- via theredpillroom.blogspot.com. A supreme painter of sleazy cover art for exploitation and romance pulp novels (and hey, even some Jean-Paul Sarte -- see above), he also did many of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew covers as well!
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