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Obituaries ~ 2021
Julie wrote: "Felix Silla1937-2021
Actor
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/4/1...
https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-ne...-..."
He had so many stories, from starting out in the circus, to so many classic television shows either doing stunts or playing a character,” Vent said.
Even though his face was covered, Silla — who stood less than 4 feet tall — became famous for sporting a floor-length hairpiece, sunglasses and a bowler hat as Cousin Itt on the 1960s ABC show “The Addams Family.”
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Interesting bio, Thanks for sharing, Julie.
Walter 'Fritz' Mondale, former vice president under Jimmy Carter, dead at 93https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/19/politi...
He seemed to be one of the "average" good guys we used to see in politics. His wife Joan was a pleasure to listen to when she spoke about art, too.RIP Mondale
Michael Collins, Apollo 11 astronaut, dies at 90
Collins himself never stepped foot on the moon, but his accomplishments were part of one of the most famous space missions in history.
Astronaut Michael Collins, a member of the Apollo 11 mission that landed on the moon, has died at 90.
As Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planted humanity's first bootprints on the moon, Collins stayed behind to pilot the command module, circling roughly 60 miles above the lunar surface. As such, Collins himself never stepped foot on the moon, though his accomplishments together with Armstrong and Aldrin contributed to what remains one of the most famous space missions in history.
- Full story
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space...
Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journey by Michael Collins
Wayne Peterson, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Composer, Dies at 93His Pulitzer, in 1992, came amid controversy not of his making: A three-member jury had recommended a different work.
Wayne Peterson, a prolific composer whose fraught winning of the Pulitzer Prize in 1992 stirred debate about whether experts or average listeners were the best judges of music, died on April 7 in San Francisco. He was 93.
His son Grant confirmed the death, in a hospital, which he said came just seven weeks after that of Mr. Peterson’s companion of decades, Ruth Knier.
Mr. Peterson won the Pulitzer for his composition “The Face of the Night, the Heart of the Dark,” but only after the 19-member Pulitzer committee rejected the advice of the three-member music jury, which initially recommended that Ralph Shapey’s “Concerto Fantastique” receive the prize.
The jury was made up of composers, who had the ability to study the scores of works under consideration, whereas the committee members, mostly journalists, had no particular expertise in music. The dust-up began when the jury submitted only one piece, Mr. Shapey’s, in its recommendation to the committee, rather than three candidates, as was traditional.
-- Full story
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/28/ar...
Ole Anthony, Scourge of Televangelists, Dies at 82After working as a well-paid Republican operative, he gave up a lavish lifestyle to live in poverty as a self-proclaimed Jeremiah, calling out fraud in the name of God.
Ole Anthony, a former Air Force intelligence specialist and Texas political operative who found Jesus in 1972, built a following among the down-and-out of east Dallas, and then used that movement to take down a rogue’s gallery of unscrupulous televangelists and faith healers, died on April 16 at a house in Dallas that he shared with several members of his organization, the Trinity Foundation. He was 82.
-- Full story
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/27/us...
Three very interesting stories about three vastly different men. I hadn't heard of the second two but appreciate learning about their special moments.RIP Collins
RIP Peterson
RIP Anthony
NEW YORK — Jason Matthews, an award-winning spy novelist who drew upon his long career in espionage and his admiration for John le Carre among others in crafting his popular “Red Sparrow” thrillers, has died at age 69.Matthews died Wednesday from Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD), a rare, untreatable neurodegenerative disease, according to his publisher, Scribner.
Full story at link
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entert...
Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews
What a sad ending to an interesting life.RIP Matthews
Olympia Dukakis, Oscar-winning 'Moonstruck' actress, has died(CNN)Olympia Dukakis, an Oscar-winning actress for her role in "Moonstruck," died Saturday in New York City. She was 89 years old.
"After many months of failing health she is finally at peace and with her Louis," her brother Apollo Dukakis posted on Facebook. Her agent, Allison Levy, also confirmed her death to CNN.
Full story
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/01/entert...
Reading her biography, i was surprised to learn that she'd been acting most of her life. Frankly, i didn't even notice her until Moonstruck. Lucky are those who saw her onstage, i believe. She really helped regional theaters!RIP Dukakis
She was wonderful in movies.RIP Olympia Dukakis
Charles Grodin, 'Midnight Run' and 'The Heartbreak Kid' star, dead at 86
(CNN)Charles Grodin, a versatile comedic actor best known for his roles in movies like "Midnight Run" and "The Heartbreak Kid," died Tuesday at his home in Connecticut, after battling cancer, according to his son.
He was 86.
Grodin's son, Nicholas, confirmed news of his father's passing in an email to CNN.
Grodin had a number of stage credits before being cast in director Mike Nichols' "Catch-22" in 1970 (after unsuccessfully auditioning for "The Graduate"), then landed his big break by starring in "Heartbreak Kid," as a newlywed who falls in love with another woman, played by Cybill Shepherd, on his honeymoon.
Grodin worked steadily thereafter, co-starring opposite Warren Beatty in "Heaven Can Wait" and portraying an on-the-run accountant with Robert De Niro in "Midnight Run."
"Chuck was as good a person as he was an actor," De Niro said in a statement issued through his publicist. "'Midnight Run' was a great project to work on, and Chuck made it an even better one. He will be missed. I am very very sad to hear of his passing."
Other memorable roles include "Dave," in which he appeared as the accountant of a man masquerading as the president of the United States, who is asked to help analyze the federal budget; and the "Beethoven" movies, broad comedies in which he played the set-upon dad to a scene-stealing Saint Bernard.
Full article
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/18/entert...
============================
Here is another nice article about him.
Charles Grodin (1935-2021)
The cranky mensch I knew cared more about the wrongly imprisoned than Hollywood
Jonathan Alter
https://oldgoats.substack.com/p/charl...
Alter wrote a good article about the actor. We always enjoyed seeing Grodin's performances. When he was wry--oh, heaven! He'll be missed.RIP Grodin
madrano wrote: "Alter wrote a good article about the actor. We always enjoyed seeing Grodin's performances. When he was wry--oh, heaven! He'll be missed.RIP Grodin"
I am a big fan of Alter's book The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope - Jonathan Alter
I have his His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life book on my TBR list.
Grodin was so funny. I'm glad we can still see his movies.RIP Charles Grodin.
Alias, thanks for that note about Alter. I couldn't recall how i knew his name. It was from you, it appears.Barbara, i am glad for his movie work, too. For some reason, though, my image this week has been of him being cantankerous on Letterman once. Dave knew what was going on but i was perplexed. Now i've learned he did this often. Curious.
madrano wrote: "Alias, thanks for that note about Alter. I couldn't recall how i knew his name. It was from you, it appears."
No doubt. When I read The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope by Jonathan Alter in April of 2008 I went on and on about how great it was. :) I probably also mentioned it a few times in our Presidents challenge thread.
You might also know him as a guest on MSNBC.
Yes, i've seen him on MSNBC. It took me a few minutes, though, to figure out how i knew his name. Sadly typical, for me.
madrano wrote: "Yes, i've seen him on MSNBC. It took me a few minutes, though, to figure out how i knew his name. Sadly typical, for me."Join the club, sister. I've become the queen of post-it notes because of my memory or lack thereof.
Ruth Freitag, Librarian to the Stars, Dies at 96An expert on astronomy, she spent nearly a half-century at the Library of Congress and helped Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan with research.
Ruth Freitag in 1985 with the crowning achievement of her long tenure at the Library of Congress: an illustrated, annotated bibliography on Halley’s comet.Credit...Library of Congress
Isaac Asimov was enthralled with her and wrote her a limerick. Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan wrote in their introduction to “Comet” (1985) that “one of the most pleasant experiences in writing this book” was meeting her. Numerous other science writers acknowledged their debts to her in forewords to their books.
Ruth Freitag, a reference librarian at the Library of Congress for nearly a half-century, was unknown to the general public. But she was, in more ways than one, a librarian to the stars.
Known for her encyclopedic knowledge of resources in science and technology, Ms. Freitag (pronounced FRY-tog) was sought out by the leading interpreters of the galaxy. She developed a particular expertise in astronomy early in her career.
Her learnedness became so comprehensive that she opened up new worlds to Mr. Asimov, the pre-eminent popular science writer of his day, and Mr. Sagan, the astronomer who introduced millions of television viewers to the wonders of the universe.
“She was absolutely the go-to person for getting manuscript material and books,” David DeVorkin, the recently retired curator of astronomy at the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian Institution, said in a phone interview.
Ms. Freitag died at 96 on Oct. 3 at a nursing home in Falls Church, Va., where she had been living for 11 years. Her death went largely unreported at the time, announced only in a short obituary by the Charles E. Snyder funeral home in Lancaster, Pa., where Ms. Freitag was born and raised and where she was buried, with military honors. Her friends at the Library of Congress were unaware of her death.
Constance Carter, a longtime colleague, visited Ms. Freitag last year just before the Covid-19 pandemic shut down nursing homes, then lost touch. She finally looked her up on Google this spring and came across the obituary.
Full article
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/21/bo...
What knowledge Freitag held! Thanks for sharing this obit with us, Alias. I've not heard of her but readers of many authors have read stuff she researched. Wonderful!RIP Freitag
Alias Reader wrote: "Join the club, sister. I've become the queen of post-it notes because of my memory or lack thereof...."Speaking of which, Spencer Silver, who developed the "sticky" for those ubiquitous notes died last week. He was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1941. Majoring in chemistry at Arizona State University, Silver earned a B.S. in 1962, then earned a doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1966, before taking a position as a Senior Chemist in 3M's Central Research Labs.
He started working in 1968 on trying to create a strong adhesive that could be used for aircraft construction. However, he failed in that objective and ended up developing a "low-tack" adhesive made of tiny acrylic spheres that would stick only where they were tangent to a given surface, rather than flat up against it. The adhesive's grip was strong enough to hold papers together, but weak enough to allow the papers to be pulled apart again without being torn. It could also be used again and again.It took Art Fry, a 3M chemical engineer to come up with a use for it in the '70s. The rest is history.
Silver retired from 3M in '96. He pursued his hobby of painting abstract works. In '94 he received a heart transplant. For more info--
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/14/us/pos...
RIP Silver
madrano wrote:Speaking of which, Spencer Silver, who developed the "sticky" for those ubiquitous notes died last week..."Thanks for sharing this, deb. I wasn't aware of his passing. :(
RIP Ruth Freitag (Sagan's book 'Contact' is a favorite of mine.)
RIP Spencer Silver
I appreciate the sticky notes
Barbara, i have yet to read Contact. Now knowing Freitag was helping Carl Sagan (& Ann Druyan, will make it even better. :-)
madrano wrote: "Alias Reader wrote: "Join the club, sister. I've become the queen of post-it notes because of my memory or lack thereof...."Speaking of which, Spencer Silver, who developed the "sticky" for those..."
How interesting!
Isn't it? I am just intrigued by the notion that Fry remembered the concoction & used it later. Brilliant. And we all benefit,
Jerome Kagan, Who Tied Temperament to Biology, Dies at 92M/b>A Harvard psychologist, he originally attributed personality traits to nurturing only. Then he concluded, We’re largely born this way.
Prof. Jerome Kagan, a Harvard psychologist whose research into temperament found that shy infants often grow up to be anxious and fearful adults because of their biological nature as well as the way they were nurtured, died on May 10 in Chapel Hill, N.C. He was 92.
Janet Kagan, his daughter, said he had been visiting her for several months in North Carolina, where he had planned to relocate from his home in Belmont, Mass., outside Boston.
Prof. Daniel Gilbert, another Harvard psychologist and author, described Professor Kagan in an email as “one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century.”
“His research was not only original and groundbreaking,” he added, “but also prescient, foreshadowing the coming merger of psychology and biology in its attempt to link behavior to the brain.”
Professor Kagan argued in more than two dozen books, including the widely praised “The Nature of the Child” (1984), that some children were genetically wired to worry and that they proved to be more resilient than expected as they passed from one stage of maturity to another. He also contended that the specifics of parenting were often not as crucial to a child’s future as parents think, although the child’s natural predisposition to be shy or exuberant could be altered by experience.
His conclusions that some children may be born predisposed to a particular temperament may have come as some relief to the many parents of baby boomers who had rigidly followed the nurturing advice of Dr. Benjamin Spock but nonetheless raised a generation of rebellious teenagers in the 1960s.
--- Full article
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/21/sc...
📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚
Galen's Prophecy: Temperament In Human Nature
The Human Spark: The Science of Human Development
On Being Human: Why Mind Matters
The Temperamental Thread: How Genes, Culture, Time and Luck make Us Who We Are
The Nature of the Child
Jerome Kagan
Important discoveries. RIP Jerome Kagan.
While i haven't read Kagan's work, this topic was hotly debated when we were raising our children. I know it is also being discussed today as a way of figuring out the best way to raise children. Parents need all the help they can get, but the children need more! :-)RIP Kagan
Kentaro Miura, Creator of Epic Manga ‘Berserk,’ Dies at 54For more than 30 years he reached tens of millions of readers worldwide with a fantastical tale of vulnerable characters in an apocalyptic world.
Kentaro Miura, who reached a worldwide readership for more than 30 years with his Japanese manga series, “Berserk,” which set the standard for artistic originality and narrative boldness in the fantasy media industry — in card games, comics, video games and animated series — died on May 6. He was 54.
Kate Jay, a spokeswoman for Dark Horse Comics, Mr. Miura’s English-language publisher, said the cause was acute aortic dissection, a tear in the aorta branching off from the heart. She did not say where he died.
According to Dark Horse Comics, “Berserk” has sold about 50 million books worldwide and about 3 million in the United States. It originated in a Japanese magazine in 1989 and soon became a book series, in multivolume hardcover editions and single-volume paperbacks small enough to fit into a coat pocket.
Since appearing in book form in the U.S. in 2003, “Berserk” has provided sophisticated fare to a generation of Americans who grew up devoted to other Japanese fantasy franchises, like the video game series Pokémon and the anime TV show “Dragon Ball Z.”
*** Full article
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/25/ar...
Eric Carle died Sunday at age 91. He was known for his children's books, especially The Very Hungry Caterpillar.PBS article on Eric Carle's death
Dru83 wrote: "Eric Carle died Sunday at age 91. He was known for his children's books, especially The Very Hungry Caterpillar.PBS article on Eric Carle's death"
Thank you for posting this, Dru. My niece is a reading teacher with two small children of her own. I sent her the PBS link you shared.
Thank you, Dru, for telling us about this. Somehow it slipped past me.I don't know about his other books but Caterpillar addressed the wordiness my daughter needed, as well as the action my son needed. There weren't many books like that when they were young (early '80s), so i was quite pleased by this one.
Interesting history about his family returning to Germany when Nazi's were prevalent. I wonder how many families did that.
RIP Carle
RIP Eric Carle My kids loved the books.
RIP Kentaro Miura
B.J. Thomas, ‘Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head’ Singer, Dead at 78
Grammy-winning singer had hits in pop, country, and gospel with songs like “I Just Can’t Help Believing” and “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song”
B.J. Thomas, the vocalist who mixed the stylish sophistication of a pop crooner and the down-home soul of a country singer on songs like the 1969 smash “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” died Saturday in his Arlington, Texas home after a battle with lung cancer. He was 78. A rep for Thomas confirmed the singer’s death.
Thomas’ multi-genre success included major hits on the adult contemporary and Christian music charts, the latter of which would earn him five Grammy Awards and two Gospel Music Association Dove awards. But the singer is arguably best remembered for the breezy pop classic “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” one of the most successful singles of all time and a 2014 inductee into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the 1969 Paul Newman/Robert Redford Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Thomas’ rendition would log four weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 and win the Oscar for Best Original Song.
Despite the song’s success, Thomas’ crossover appeal wasn’t fully reached until 1975 with the release of Larry Butler and Chips Momans’ “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song,” which hit Number One on the pop chart before duplicating the feat on Billboard’s country survey.
*** Full article
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/mu...
B. J. Thomas - Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head (with Lyrics)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VyA2...
Gavin MacLeod, 'Love Boat' and 'Mary Tyler Moore Show' actor, dies at 90; reportsVeteran actor Gavin MacLeod, known for his role as Murray Slaughter in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" has died. He was 90.
MacLeod died early Saturday, his nephew, Mark See, told Variety. MacLeod’s health had been poor recently but no cause of death was given, the trade publication reported. TMZ first reported his death after getting confirmation from his ex-wife Joan Devore.
*** Full article
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/g...
Two talented men in their fields.RIP Thomas
RIP MacLeod (née See)
RIP B.J. ThomasWonderful song.
RIP Gavin MacLeod
I like both TV shows he was featured in.
'Chicka Chicka Boom Boom' Illustrator Lois Ehlert Dies At 86
Lois Ehlert, whose cut-and-paste shapes and vibrant hues in books including "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" put her among the most popular illustrators of books for preschoolers of the late 20th century, has died. She was 86.
Publisher Simon & Schuster said that Ehlert died of natural causes on Tuesday in Milwaukee.
In 1989's "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom," Ehlert created the hyper-simple brown-and-green coconut tree and the multicolored capital letters who try to gather at the top of it, threatening to bring it tumbling to the ground as the text repeats, "Chicka chicka boom boom! Will there be enough room?"
The book sold more than 12 million copies, according to Simon & Schuster.
She worked primarily by cutting out shapes and pasting them into collages, much like the preschoolers who were her primary audience.
In 1990, she was given a Caldecott Honor as the author and illustrator of "Color Zoo," which uses basic triangles, rectangles, squares and circles to create images of animals in oversaturated oranges, purples and greens. Its only words are the names of the shapes and creatures themselves.
Ehlert was born in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin and graduated from Milwaukee's Layton School of Art. She worked in graphic design before she began illustrating children's books in her 50s, starting with 1987's "Growing Vegetable Soup."
https://www.npr.org/2021/05/26/100074...
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Eating the Alphabet
Lois Ehlert’s Growing Garden Gift Set
Planting a Rainbow
Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf
Color Zoo
Thanks for posting Lois Ehlert's obit, Alias. I started my career in education as a substitute teacher mainly in elementary schools and then was a para in an elementary school for a year and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom was a favorite of many young students I met.Also, thanks for the obit on B.J. Thomas. It's funny how many times I've heard some of his songs but never knew who he was.
Dru83 wrote: "Thanks for posting Lois Ehlert's obit, Alias. I started my career in education as a substitute teacher mainly in elementary schools and then was a para in an elementary school for a year and Chicka..."Chicka Chicka Boom Boom was a favorite of my kids and we had a copy of the book. It has been passed on to other family members now that my kids are adults!
I'm sorry to say i didn't know Ehlert or her best known book. I'm making a point of finding a copy, as i enjoy kids lit.I find it interesting that Ehlert and Carle both worked with by cutting out shapes and pasting them into collages for their books. It's a pleasant way to present a story, as well as allowing young readers to see what is available with those papers. Wonderful for kids. Sad they both died within days of each other.
RIP Ehlert
Very fun book for the kids. RIP Lois Ehlert
Famed trial lawyer F. Lee Bailey, whose clients included O.J. Simpson, dies at 87
(CNN)F. Lee Bailey, the prominent defense attorney who represented many high-profile clients, including O.J. Simpson, died Thursday at age 87. His death was confirmed to CNN by Jennifer Sisson, a manager at Bailey's consulting firm.
Sisson described Bailey as "a great man."
Bailey was part of the so-called "dream team" of famous local and national lawyers, including civil rights attorney Johnnie Cochran, defense attorney Alan Dershowitz, and DNA expert Barry Scheck, defending Simpson at his 1995 murder trial. Simpson was acquitted of killing Nicole Brown Simpson, his former wife, and waiter Ronald Goldman in 1994.
-- Full article
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/03/us/f-l...
Arthur Staats Dies at 97; Called ‘Time Out’ for Unruly Kids
A behavioral psychologist, he advised that it was more productive to briefly isolate a misbehaving child than to spank or yell at him. Thus a household phrase was born.
Literary references to grounding unruly children reverberate from at least the early 19th century, when the father in the 1835 novel “Home,” by Catharine Sedgwick, sternly orders his son Wallace to “go to your own room” after scalding a cat.
Such banishments were later epitomized by the Swedish artist Carl Larsson’s 1894 watercolor “The Naughty Corner,” a picture of a glum little boy relegated to a chair in the living room.
In the late 1950s, not long after his daughter, Jennifer, was born, Arthur W. Staats turned what had been a more or less random parental punishment into a staple of behavioral psychology and a household phrase. He called it a “time out.”
Exhaustive experiments conducted by Dr. Staats (rhymes with “spots”) and his collaborators found that removing a child from the scene of improper behavior, and whatever had provoked it, ingrained an emotional connection with self control and was preferable to punishment. As a bonus, it gave frustrated parents a short break.
Full article
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/03/he...
Bailey had a storied career. His client list included some well known murder cases and his results were mixed but he knew how to sell cases to the public.RIP Bailey
I wasn't aware of Staats but certainly used the time out with my children. Frankly (perhaps i should be embarrassed to admit this), some of their most precious moments were when they were in "the corner". Yes, i took photos. And i must say i felt it was effective, giving both my children and me a moment to compose ourselves.
RIP Staats
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RIP Felix Silla