Disc jockey, voice actor, and much much more -- via TV Line. AKA Gary Altman. One of the original "goofball" DJs of the 1960s, Owens was also the voice of Space Ghost, wrote and performed thousands of commercials and humorous bits, and created comedy albums, wrote books, and on and on. He could play it straight, but more often his profoundly resonant baritone was in the deadpan service of merriment and hijinks. Thanks, Gary!
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, February 13, 2015
Kevin Delany
Journalist who saved 101 Vietnamese people from death at the Fall of Saigon -- via the Washington Post.
Thursday, February 12, 2015
David Carr
Journalist and writer -- via the New York Times. A great writer on media, who also penned an honest and riveting memoir, "The Night of the Gun," not least about his addictions. A damned shame. He was too young.
Marie Jose de la Barre d'Erquelinnes, Lady Villiers
Heroine of the Resistance, and social worker -- via the Telegraph. Awarded the Croix de Guerre, her life calls out for a film of it, don't you think? She fought the Nazis and won. Later in life, she calmly disposed of a letter bomb that came to her home. Her memoir is titled, "Granny Was a Spy."
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Marvin David Levy
Composer -- via the New York Classical Review. Best known for his operatic version of "Mourning Becomes Electra," the 1998 revision of which is beginning to enter the repertoire.
Melanie Tem
Writer of horror and fantasy; playwright, and poet -- via locusmag.com. AKA Melanie Kubachko.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Ed Sabol
Filmmaker; founder of NFL films -- via the Washington Post. A champion swimmer, he was selected for the 1936 Olympic team but refused to participate due to them taking place in Hitler's Germany. After stints as an actor and a salesman, he picked up a 16mm camera and convinced the NFL to let him chronicle its activities. The hyperbolic, slow-motion sagas he crafted out of the footage are now regarded as innovative and iconic.
Monday, February 9, 2015
Deathcetera: The week in mortality and mourning
DEATH
Is he dead or just
meditating? – via TIME magazine
The
hard part about hiring a mortician? Weeding out the necrophiliacs – from Lizette
Borelli at Medical Daily
Dying
– the checklist – from Thorin Klosowski at Lifehacker (from 2013)
‘Death
with Dignity’ bill debated, defeated in Colorado House – via Megan Verlee
at Colorado Public Radio
At
the end of life, people seek the company of those in their birth culture –
via Lulu Miller at NPR
Trying to reduce iatrogenic
(doctor-caused) deaths – via the BBC
Life
after death? The fable of the twin fetuses – via WND Fatih
MOURNING
Closure:
man kills crocodile that ate his wife – from Sean Levinson in Elite Daily
‘My
Dad the Pornographer’-- by Chris Offut in the New York Times
A
review of ‘Mourning Lincoln’ and ‘Lincoln’s Body’ – by Jill LePore at the
New York Times
Ways
to protect your digital info after death – Kimberly Palmer at U.S. News
& World Report
Your
last photo before death maybe a selfie – via Sophia Sleigh at the Daly
Mirror
FUNERALS
Interview
with alternative mortician Caitlin Doughty – from intheframe
Woman
shows up at funeral to honor modest man who saved her life – via Janet
Boyle at the Sunday Post
‘Inspection
Backlog, Complaints Trouble Funeral Homes’ – from AP via CBS Minnesota
Ohio
has problems with hydrolysis – via Alan Johnson at the Columbus Dispatch
Lincoln
funeral rail car recreated for 150th anniversary of his death –
via Frank Mathie at ABC News Chicago
Indicted
undertakers still working on the sly – via Mireya Villareal at CBS Dallas-Ft.
Worth
Bumps
in the road for those who opt for prepaid funeral plans – via Nancy Hicks
at the Lincoln Journal Star
OBITS
‘Obituary
surfing’ – hackers steal from the recently deceased – via Michelle Boudin
at WCNC
Woman
writes her own somewhat humorous obit – via Adam Rifkin at Elite Daily
Kenji Ekuan
Industrial designer -- via the Times of India. Best known for his cretion of the iconic Kikkoman soy sauce bottle and the bullet train. He started out as a monk, taking the place of his father at the Hiroshima temple after his father died of radiation poisoning in the wake of the atomic bomb attack. He stated that he was originally inspired to design after "hearing the voices" of the decimated and abandoned streetcars, bicycles, and other machinery that littered the Hiroshima area, all wishing that they had been used more before their destruction.
Anne Moody
Writer best known for her memoir "Coming of Age in Mississippi" -- via the Jackson, MS Clarion-Ledger. AKA Essie Mae Moody.
Joe B. Mauldin
Bassist, songwriter, and recording engineer; best known for his work as one of Buddy Holly's Chirpin' Crickets -- via the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
Rene Lavand
Magician -- via eleco.com.ar. AKA Hector Rene Lavandera. His accomplishments are all the more impressive when you take into account the fact that he lost his right hand at the age of 9.
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Dean Smith
Basketball coach -- via ESPN. A brilliant coach with integrity, he mentored some of the greatest players in history at North Carolina, including Jordan, Worthy, Stackhouse, and McAdoo, and coaches such as Karl, Moe, and Larry Brown (all Nuggets leaders later). He taught his players how to act with dignity, intelligence, and mutual respect. And he cared about his players' lives and character than about what he could get out of them on the court. He graduated about 96% of his players, an amazing statistic. A good, classy guy.
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