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.
Friday, June 19, 2015
Jack Rollins
Comedy manager and film producer -- via the New York Times. AKA Jacob Rabinowitz. Key to the careers of talent such as Woody Allen, Harry Belafonte, Nichols and May, Letterman, and Robin Williams.
Julie Kirkham
Film producer -- via the Hollywood Reporter. An important developer of screenwriters, including Zallian, Shelton, Jordan Roberts, and W. Blake Herron.
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Hugo Blanco
Musician and composer -- via El Tiempo. Noted for his "Moliendo Cafe," which morphed into the popular soccer chant "Dale Cavese."
Graham Lord
Journalist, novelist, editor, and biographer -- via the Telegraph. Also invented the short-lived but brilliant Sunday Express Book of the Year competition, an "anti-Booker" that rewarded READABLE novels.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Monday, June 15, 2015
Weekly Reader: World news on death, mourning and more
OBIT
WEEKLY READER
DEATH
Video: Caitlin Doughty on the real 'Body Worlds' story -- via the Order of the Good Death
5
of the famous who feared being buried alive – via Bess Lovejoy in Mental
Floss
You
can take a test to find out if you will die in 5 years – via Sarah Knapton
at the Telegraph
Would
you like to take it? No? – via Fay Schopen in the Guardian
The
Meaning of Life Project – via Kim Evenson at Legacy
‘Too poor to
die’
– via Dawn Foster in the Guardian
A guide to
marrying the dead
– via Ella Morton at Atlas Obscura
The latest thing
for the medical world: synthetic cadavers – via HuffPost Science
Seven children’s
books that may aid them to understand death – via Maria Popova in Brain
Pickings
Does
the fear of death motivate everything we do? – via Marc Parry at the
Chronicle of Higher Education
How
to make sure your end-of-life directives are followed – Jessica Nutik
Zitter in the New York Times
New doc on dying appears –
via Rita Heidtman at TIME
5
end-of-life films – via Karen Wyatt at the Huffington Post
An
update on the phenomenon of death cafes – via Clear Barret at the Financial
Times
Weird
ways to die in Tudor England – via Helen Thompson at the Smithsonian
Museum of
Death opens branch in New Orleans – via Deepak Sani at WGNO
Conversations
on Death program comes to Colorado – via Whitney Bryan at Hometown Weekly
News
Sometimes
they come back: Rue McClanahan’s retweeted, again – via Amanda Schupak at
CBS News
Films
on dying – via John Patterson at the Guardian
A
restaurant where you dine with the dead – via Han Zhang at Munchies
10
people whose hearts were buried separately from them – via Bess Lovejoy at
Mental Floss
The
science of human decomposition – via Mo Costandi in the Guardian
A tough read:
preparing children who die for burial – via Alejandra Diaz Mattoni
Photographer
makes portraits of those about to die – via Dying Matters
What
happened to the mummy of the man who said he was John Wilkes Booth? – via Christopher
Klein in History in the Headlines
MOURNING
Mourning – a
cultural survey
– via Frannie Silverman in Modern Loss
Facebook
exec ends 30-day Jewish mourning phase – via the Chicago Tribune
Facebook
exec’s essay on grief – via Cathy Brown at Matador Network
‘My two dads’ – grieving someone
before their death – via Ryan Murdock in Modern Loss
Losing
a mother early in life – via Fay Schopen in the Guardian
A
friend helps a friend through his wife’s final illness and death – via Matthew
Teague in Esquire
‘Finding
Order, Out of Sequence’ – via Alizah Salario in the New York Times
‘How
to let go when a loved one is dying’ – via Bonnie Lawrence at PBS
How
to talk to the bereaved – via Kate Whiting in BT
How
to communicate with a grieving coworker – via Laura Shin in Forbes
15
beautiful cemeteries – via Erin Check in BuzzFeed
New
service to aid with burial, mourning info – via the Jerusalem Post
Roadside
markers – proper memorials or safety hazards? – via Ryan Robinson at
Lancaster Online
Cartoon:
A forgotten mausoleum is restored – via Andy Warner on Tumblr
One
family’s mountain pilgrimage in mourning – via Clare Ansberry in the Wall
Street Journal
Concert
aims to reconcile Jewish, Arab grief – via Elhanan Miller in the Times of
Israel
Disney’s
obsession with death – via Sean Braswell at USA Today
Oops
– BBC accidently tweets Queen Elizabeth death notice – via John vibes at
Antimedia
FUNERALS
Morticians volunteer in wake
of Chinese sinking tragedy – via Si Huan at the China Daily
New frontiers in
funerals: Would you like the deceased to make a holographic farewell? – via Lindsey
Bablan at WINK
A good idea,
actually: “comfort dogs” at a funeral home – via Richard Liebson at Lohud
Increased
affluence in Asia makes funeral expos boom – via Jonathan Kaiman at the
L.A. Times
‘Inside a Texas biker
funeral’
– via Aleem Maqbool at the BBC
Our toxic burial
practices
– via Reynard Loki at Alternet
Young people
taking up mortuary trade – via Efia Akese and Dzifa Kegey at the Graphic
(Ghana)
Try
an organic burial pod – via Bored Panda
You get what you
pay for – discount mortician indicted – via Trudie Mason at CJAD
OBITS
Pretty nifty
obituary tribute from a journalist grandson – via Peter Nikeas in the
Chicago Tribune
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Nek Chand
Outsider artist -- via the BBC. Creator of the sculpture gardens of Chandigarh. With no training, and from few resources, he created a world of beauty.
Monica Lewis
Actress and singer -- via Variety. AKA May Bloom. An emergency replacement for an eloping Peggy Lee for a Benny Goodman broadcast in 1943, Lewis had a string of post-war hits, and appeared frequently on radio and in film and television. Her most notorious success was as the first voice of Chiquita Banana. A much more pervasive and influential vocal presence culturally than one might think!
Frank Zachary
Editor and art director -- via the New York Times. He made magazines you hung on to -- the highest compliment for an editor!
Jim Ed Brown
Hall of Fame country music singer -- via the Hollywood Reporter. A regular at the Grand Ole Opry for half a century, his first hit was with his sisters as The Browns -- the classic "The Three Bells."
Jagendra Singh
Journalist -- via the Independent. Burned to death by police at the behest of a local official he criticized publicly. PLEASE be aware -- the video is unflinchingly graphic. I normally don't post such things.
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