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, April 20, 2015
Deathcetera: the week in death, mourning and such
UNICEF's singing Grim Reaper. |
DEATH
UNICEF campaign enlists singing Grim Reaper – via John Young at Design Taxi
Man makes
mission of fighting fear of death – via Jonathan Fisher at Business
Insider
Tax Day (and
Election Day and Super Bowl Sunday) can kill you – via Karen
Kaplan at the L.A. Times
Lincoln’s tomb
is in terrible shape
– via Kerry Lester at AP
The causes of
musicians’ deaths, by genre – via Ana Swanson at the Washington Post
Learning how to
talk to one’s children about death – from Zsophia McMullin
Parent brought
to mourning hall, despite being not quite dead – via Focus
Taiwan
MOURNING
Social media
helps gather minyans for the Jewish dead – via Jodi Rudoren at the New York
Times
Visiting a house
of mourning
– via Elana Mizrahi at The Jewish Woman
FUNERALS
‘Pre-mortem’
funeral for mother with Alzheimer’s – via Johnny Dodd in People
Baby Boom set to
hit funeral industry
– via Steve Doughty in the Daily Mail
Oh, dear – bad
Yelp reviews of funeral homes – via Anna Merlan at Jezebel
Widow hires
strippers for husband’s funeral – via Kara O’Neill at The Mirror
Funeral home
branches out into venue for concerts, bingo – via Linda Murphy in the Herald
News
3 ways to plan
for your funeral expenses – via Maryalene LaPonsie in the U.S. News &
World Report
Robert Rietti
Actor and voice actor; "the man of a thousand voices" -- via the Hollywood Reporter. AKA Lucio Rieti, Robert Rietty. One of the great dubbing artists, he voiced Le Chiffre in "Thunderball," many screen appearances for Jack Hawkins, and more than 90 characters in "Waterloo."
Mike Mincieli
Singer, founder and original first tenor of the Capris -- via Peter Lemongello, Jr.'s Swingin' Soiree. AKA Mike Minceli. The group's big hit -- "There's a Moon Out Tonight."
James "Little Jimmy" Mastrangelo
Actor and entertainer -- via the New York Daily News. Best known for his yearly Uncle Sam appearance at Coney Island, Mastrangelo was one of the Oompa Loompas in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."
Sol Abrams
Huckster; promoter of the iconic Palisades Amusement Park -- via northjersey.com. An amazing promoter. Hey, he got an elephant to water-ski down the Hudson. So there!
George Cooper
Actor and artist -- via legacy.com. Best known for his role as Mitchell in the 1947 noir "Crossfire."
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
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