2014 Obits: Remembrance thread

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Re: 2014 Obits: Remembrance thread

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Ultimate Warrior dead at 54, days after WWE Hall of Fame induction
Updated at 05:20 AM today

April 9, 2014 (WLS) -- The WWE says one of its superstars, who just days ago was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, has died.

The Ultimate Warrior, 54, began his WWE career in 1987 and quickly went on to become one of the biggest stars in WWE history. Ultimate Warrior became WWE Champion at WrestleMania VI, defeating Hulk Hogan in an epic encounter.

"We are grateful that just days ago, Warrior had the opportunity to take his rightful place in the WWE Hall of Fame and was also able to appear at WrestleMania 30 and Monday Night Raw to address his legions of fans," a WWE statement said.

The WWE offered its sincere condolences to Warrior's family, friends and fans. The Ultimate Warrior is survived by his wife Dana and his two daughters, the WWE said.

The Ultimate Warrior was known for his neon mask and energetic ring entrances, when he would run full speed down the entrance ramp and run circles around the ring before shaking the ropes "like a man possessed," the WWE said.

At SummerSlam in 1988, the powerful competitor famously defeated The Honky Tonk Man for the Intercontinental Championship in 30 seconds, the WWE said. In the early '90s, the intense superstar then entered into a rivalry with "Macho Man" Randy Savage, culminating in a legendary Retirement Match at WrestleMania VII, which Ultimate Warrior won. In the months that followed, he battled superstars like Undertaker, Papa Shango and Sid, but disappeared from the ring suddenly, the WWE said.

The WWE said throughout the '90s, Ultimate Warrior made sporadic returns to the WWE, including a smashing of a young Triple H at WrestleMania XII, and finally popped up in World Championship Wrestling for a rematch with Hogan at Halloween Havoc in 1998. This contest would be his last major ring appearance, bringing an anticlimactic end to the career of one of sports-entertainment's most unique competitors, the WWE said.

He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Sunday.
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Re: 2014 Obits: Remembrance thread

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Tony-Winning Deaf Actress Phyllis Frelich Dies
News By Broadway.com Staff April 11, 2014 - 9:17AM

Tony winner Phyllis Frelich has died. According to Silentgrapevine.com, the deaf actress, who was born to deaf parents and was the oldest of 9 deaf children, was 70 years old.

Frelich won the 1980 Best Actress Tony for her work in the Tony-winning Children of a Lesser God. Her screen credits include CSI, ER, Diagnosis Murder, Love is Never Silent, Bridge to Silence and Sweet Nothing in My Ear.
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Garcia Marquez, Nobel laureate, dies at 87
Apr 17, 5:12 PM (ET)
By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO and FRANK BAJAK

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez crafted intoxicating fiction from the fatalism, fantasy, cruelty and heroics of the world that set his mind churning as a child growing up on Colombia's Caribbean coast.

One of the most revered and influential writers of his generation, he brought Latin America's charm and maddening contradictions to life in the minds of millions and became the best-known practitioner of "magical realism," a blending of fantastic elements into portrayals of daily life that made the extraordinary seem almost routine.

In his works, clouds of yellow butterflies precede a forbidden lover's arrival. A heroic liberator of nations dies alone, destitute and far from home. "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings," as one of his short stories is called, is spotted in a muddy courtyard.

Garcia Marquez's own epic story ended Thursday, at age 87, with his death at his home in southern Mexico City, according to two people close to the family who spoke on condition of anonymity out of respect for the family's privacy.

Full story at Iwon/AP News.
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Re: 2014 Obits: Remembrance thread

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Former WOWK TV chief engineer dies

PAUL ADAM BOCK, 81, of Milton, husband of Natalie Bock, died April 18 in Midland Meadows Senior Living, Ona. He was a retired Electronic Engineer at N.I. Tech. Arrangements are incomplete at Henson & Kitchen Mortuary, Barboursville.
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Country music singer Kevin Sharp dies at age 43
Apr 20, 7:28 PM (ET)

FAIR OAKS, Calif. (AP) - Kevin Sharp, a country music singer who recorded multiple chart-topping songs and survived a well-publicized battle with cancer, has died. He was 43.

His sister Mary Huston said Sharp died at his mother's Fair Oaks, Calif., home, at 10:49 p.m. Saturday of complications from past stomach surgeries and digestive issues.

"He had a strong heart, that's what kept him alive, (but) I'm so happy for him, that there's no more suffering," Huston said through tears and exhaustion. She had cared for her brother since his return home to Northern California last Friday after 10 weeks in the hospital.

Sharp gained fame with the release of "Nobody Knows," a single on his 1996 debut album, "Measure of a Man." He released two other albums, "Love Is" in 1998 and "Make A Wish" in 2005.

Born in 1970 in Redding, Calif., Sharp was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, as a high school senior. He overcame it after two years of chemotherapy and radiation.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation granted Sharp's wish to meet Grammy Award-winning music producer David Foster, who gave him tips to help jump-start his career.

Sharp also became a motivational speaker, a spokesman for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and wrote "Tragedy's Gift," a 2004 book about fighting cancer.

For the last several years, Sharp had struggled from past stomach surgery and residual issues from his aggressive cancer treatment.

"His dream came true through music, and he touched thousands of lives, and he helped heal the soul of people dealing with cancer," Huston said.

Sharp is survived by five brothers, two sisters and his mother.
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Earl Morrall, QB, dead at 89

Earl Morrall is widely viewed as the most successful backup quarterback in NFL history. (AP)

Earl Morrall, who helped quarterback the NFL's only undefeated team and won three Super Bowls in a 21-year career in which he was mostly famous for being a backup, has died at 79.

The death of the longtime signal caller, who was known for his crew cut and heroics off the bench was reported by naplesnews.com, in Morrall's hometown of Naples, Fla. Morrall played from 1956-76, and was perhaps best known for his time with the Miami Dolphins. In 1972, when starting quarterback Bob Griese was injured, Morrall took over and kept the team undefeated. Griese returned in the AFC Championship Game and went on to win the Super Bowl, but it was Morrall who won AFC Player of the Year honors.

After his playing days ended, Morrall remained in South Florida, even serving as mayor of Davie.
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Bob Hoskins dies aged 71

Actor Bob Hoskins, best known for roles in Mona Lisa, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Long Good Friday, has died of pneumonia at the age of 71.

His agent confirmed to the BBC that he died on Tuesday (April 29) in hospital, surrounded by family. The British actor had announced he was retiring from acting in 2012 after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Hoskins was nominated for an Oscar in 1987 for his leading role in Neil Jordan’s Mona Lisa, for which he won Best Actor at the BAFTAs and the Cannes Film Festival.

He had previously received BAFTA nominations for his roles in Dennis Potter’s Pennies From Heaven (1978), classic gangster drama The Long Good Friday (1980) and his supporting performance opposite Michael Caine and Richard Gere in The Honorary Consul (1983).

Hoskins also attracted awards attention from the Golden Globes, with nominations for his role in live action-animation hybrid Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and Stephen Frears’ Mr Henderson Presents (2005).

With more than 100 credits across film and television, his final two roles in 2012 spoke to a career that straddled big budget features and smaller, independent fare: action adventure Snow White and the Huntsmen and British comedy Outside Bet.

“We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Bob,” the actor’s wife Linda and children Alex, Sarah, Rosa and Jack said in a statement.

“Bob died peacefully at hospital last night surrounded by family, following a bout of pneumonia. We ask that you respect our privacy during this time and thank you for your messages of love and support.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Al Feldstein, who headed Mad magazine, dies
Apr 30, 3:17 PM (ET)

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Al Feldstein, whose 28 years at the helm of Mad transformed the satirical magazine into a pop culture institution, has died. He was 88.

The Franzen-Davis Funeral Home and Crematory says Feldstein died Tuesday at his home in Livingston, Mont. No cause of death was released.

Feldstein and publisher William M. Gaines assembled a pool of artists and writers who turned out such enduring features as "Spy vs. Spy," "The Lighter Side of..." and "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions." Feldstein retired from Mad magazine at the end of 1984.

The funeral home says Feldstein began working in comics while still a student at the High School of Music and Art in New York.

His survivors include his wife, Michelle, a stepdaughter, her husband, and two grandsons.

Apr 30, 3:17 PM (ET)

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Al Feldstein, whose 28 years at the helm of Mad transformed the satirical magazine into a pop culture institution, has died. He was 88.

The Franzen-Davis Funeral Home and Crematory says Feldstein died Tuesday at his home in Livingston, Mont. No cause of death was released.

Feldstein and publisher William M. Gaines assembled a pool of artists and writers who turned out such enduring features as "Spy vs. Spy," "The Lighter Side of..." and "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions." Feldstein retired from Mad magazine at the end of 1984.

The funeral home says Feldstein began working in comics while still a student at the High School of Music and Art in New York.

His survivors include his wife, Michelle, a stepdaughter, her husband, and two grandsons.
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Former state Supreme Court chief justice and Republican congressional candidate Elliot “Spike” Maynard has died, multiple sources told the Daily Mail - See more at: http://www.charlestondailymail.com/arti ... Xe1tN.dpuf
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Re: 2014 Obits: Remembrance thread

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Actor Efrem Zimbalist Jr. has died at the age of 95.......

http://www.noise11.com/news/efrem-zimba ... 5-20140503
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AUTHOR MAYA ANGELOU DIES AT 86 IN NORTH CAROLINA
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/ ... 8-10-09-16


NEW YORK (AP) -- Maya Angelou was gratified, but not surprised by her extraordinary fortune.

"I'm not modest," she told The Associated Press in 2013. "I have no modesty. Modesty is a learned behavior. But I do pray for humility, because humility comes from the inside out."

Her story awed millions. The young single mother who worked at strip clubs to earn a living later danced and sang on stages around the world. A black woman born poor wrote and recited the most popular presidential inaugural poem in history. A childhood victim of rape, shamed into silence, eventually told her story through one of the most widely read memoirs of the past few decades.

Angelou, a Renaissance woman and cultural pioneer, died Wednesday morning at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, her son, Guy B. Johnson, said in a statement. The 86-year-old had been a professor of American studies at Wake Forest University since 1982
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Lewis Katz, entrepreneur/media mogul, 72

BEDFORD, Mass (AP) - Philadelphia Inquirer co-owner Lewis Katz was among seven people killed in a fiery plane crash Saturday evening (May 31) in Massachusetts, the newspaper's editor said Sunday. Bill Marimow confirmed Katz's death to Philly.com, saying he learned the news from close associates.

Katz, 72, made his fortune investing in the Kinney Parking empire and the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network in New York. He once owned the NBA's New Jersey Nets and the NHL's New Jersey Devils and is a major donor to Temple University, his alma mater.

The Gulfstream IV crashed as it was leaving Hanscom Field, 20 miles northwest of Boston, about 9:40 p.m. Saturday for Atlantic City International Airport in New Jersey, said Matthew Brelis, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates the air field.

"There were no survivors," Brelis said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the people on board and their loved ones."

Katz was one of two business moguls who bought out their partners last week with an $88 million bid for The Inquirer, which also operates the Philadelphia Daily News and the news website Philly.com.

The winners vowed to fund in-depth journalism to return the Inquirer to its former glory and to retain its editor, Marimow.

"It's going to be a lot of hard work. We're not kidding ourselves. It's going to be an enormous undertaking," Katz said then, noting that advertising and circulation revenues had fallen for years. "Hopefully, (the Inquirer) will get fatter."

Officials did not speculate on what they think caused the crash. They said the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate and determine what happened.

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Marilyn Beck, TV & Hollywood media columnist, 85

NY Daily News - Marilyn Beck, whose Hollywood and TV columns ran in the Daily News from the late 1970s until 2010, died Saturday (May 31) at her home in Oceanside, Calif., according to her longtime writing partner, Stacy Jenel Smith. She was 85.

Beck, whose career spanned the star system to the digital age, died after a three-year battle with lung cancer.

She was one of the last of the old-school, high-powered Hollywood-based newspaper columnists with some 500 papers, domestic and international, running her five days a week. That was in addition to her NBC “Marilyn Beck’s Hollywood Outtakes” specials, her long-running stints on television’s syndicated “PM Magazine” and E! Channel “Gossip Show,” her reports on L.A. radio station KFI, and her books.

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Hoss Ellington, NASCAR driver/team owner, 79

Fayetteville (NC) Observer -Former NASCAR driver and team owner Hoss Ellington, 79, died at his Wilmington home Saturday morning after a long battle with liver cancer.

Ellington made 21 NASCAR Cup starts in the 1968-70 seasons. Ellington fielded Cup cars for 20 years, and his drivers won five times. Donnie Allison put Ellington's cars in Victory Lane at the 1976 World 600 at Charlotte, and Allison also scored wins at Talladega, Rockingham and Atlanta. Ellington's final victory as a team owner came at Darlington in 1980 with David Pearson.

Ellington's other drivers included A.J. Foyt, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Isaac, Buddy Baker, Benny Parsons, Kyle Petty, Sterling Marlin, Davey Allison and Dale Jarrett.

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Dave Herman, NY radio legend (WNEW), 78

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Dave Herman, 78, a pioneering FM radio personality who spent decades as a morning DJ at New York City's WNEW, died Thursday (May 29) while awaiting trial on charges in a child-sex sting.

Herman, who launched his prolific on-air career at Philadelphia's WMMR-FM (93.3) in the 1960s, died at University Hospital in Newark, attorney Marc Agnifilo said. Mr. Herman was rushed to the hospital late Wednesday from the county jail after complaining of chest pains, Agnifilo said. No official cause of death was announced.

Mr. Herman had been living in St. Croix, where he was arrested at the airport in October on a charge he tried to transport a 7-year-old girl to the U.S. Virgin Islands for sex. Herman allegedly had been awaiting the arrival of a 36-year-old single mother of a young daughter; authorities contended that he thought he had been communicating with her online and by telephone about arranging an illegal sexual encounter with the child.

Mr. Herman had pleaded not guilty to the federal charge, but was denied bail. Agnifilo had suggested that Mr. Herman was duped by an undercover police officer. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey said officials were moving to dismiss the charges, as is standard practice upon the death of a defendant.

Agnifilo said he hoped the case would not overshadow Mr. Herman's legacy.

"Some would say he lived his last months under a legal cloud, and that's true, but we should remember him for the decades he gave the gift of music to people," Agnifilo said.

Mr. Herman was a rock disc jockey in the late 1960s and '70s, when he began experimenting with free-form rock music programming, something that was novel at the time on FM radio, according to Paul Heine, a senior editor at Inside Radio, an industry trade publication.

After working at WMMR, where he launched a late-night show called The Marconi Experiment, he spent decades as a morning DJ at New York City's WNEW, where he remained until 1998, Heine said.
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Re: 2014 Obits: Remembrance thread

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Brady Bunch / Ann B Davis has died. she was 88.
The Emmy-winning actress fell in her bathroom and hit her head early Saturday morning, sources told TMZ.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... z33QycFUam
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Donald William Zimmer (January 17, 1931-June 4, 2014), was a former infielder, manager, and coach in Major League Baseball (MLB), most recently serving as a senior advisor to the Tampa Bay Rays baseball organization. Zimmer had been involved in professional baseball since 1949.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/11034 ... er-dies-83
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Just learned about this from Glen Matlock...

Leee Black Childers Passed Away April 6, 2014

Leee Black Childers (July 24, 1945 – April 6, 2014) was an American photographer, writer and rock music manager, who "recorded the legacy of a theatrical cross over between rock music and gay culture".

He was born Lee Black Childers in Jefferson County, Kentucky and started to spell his name with three rather than two "e"s as a child. He grew up in Kentucky and attended Kentucky Southern College near
Louisville before moving to San Francisco, and, in 1968, to New York City.

He started taking photographs of drag queens, and was encouraged by Andy Warhol to work as a photographer, gaining a reputation for his portraits of the artists, musicians and others who passed through the Factory in New York.
In the early 1970s, he managed Warhol's stage production, Pork, at the Roundhouse in London and was also the tour coordinator for Mott The Hoople during their "All The Young Dudes" tour of America. He was assistant to Warhol at the Factory between 1982-84, and took photographs of visiting celebrities, counter-cultural figures and musicians, particularly of punk rock and New Wave music stars, such as Debbie Harry, Wayne County and The Sex Pistols. He worked as a tour manager for David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Johnny Thunders and others.

In 2012 he published "Drag Queens, Rent Boys, Pick Pockets, Junkies, Rockstars and Punks", a collection of some of his photographs and their background which was the subject of an exhibition in London in 2011 and Los Angeles in March 2014.

Childers died in Los Angeles, California on April 6, 2014 at the age of 68 from undisclosed causes.
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Screen, stage legend Ruby Dee dies at 91
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/12/showbiz/obit-ruby-dee/
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Charles Henry Noll, who lifted the Steelers from the depths of the National Football League and coached them to four-time Super Bowl champions by adhering to simple, long-held principles, died Friday in his home in Sewickley.
Noll, who had been under a doctor's care for an undisclosed illness, was 82.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11080 ... ll-dies-82
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Tony Gwynn, who banged out 3,141 hits during a Hall of Fame career spanning 20 seasons with the San Diego Padres, has died of cancer at age 54, it was announced Monday.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/11091 ... adres-died
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Late on this one:
Casey Kasem, Longtime American Top 40 Host, Voiceover Actor, Dead At 82

http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archi ... t-voiceove
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Johnny Mann, songwriter/conductor/arranger, 85

LA Times/David Colker - Grammy-winning conductor and arranger Johnny Mann, whose singing group was a staple of recordings and TV shows in the 1950s and '60s, died Wednesday (June 18) at his home in Anderson, S.C. He was 85.

The Johnny Mann Singers were awarded a Grammy in 1968 for their cover version of the hit song "Up, Up and Away" and in 1962 for the album "Great Band With Great Voices," which featured standards including a curiously upbeat "Ol' Man River." The pivotal point in his career probably came on a 1956 TV variety show, "The NBC Comedy Hour." He was the choral director for the program, which aired for only five months. From the show's vocalists he formed the Johnny Mann Singers, who went on to record about 40 albums and do live performances.

Mann was the vocal director on episodes of "The Danny Kaye Show," which ran on CBS in the mid-1960s. He was also the music director of "The Joey Bishop Show" in the late 1960s. He got his own series, the syndicated "Stand Up and Cheer" featuring the Johnny Mann Singers, which ran from 1971 to 1974. As the titled suggested, it was upbeat and included patriotic segments during the era of protests against the Vietnam War. "I got my TV series on the air because I was fed up with the protesters burning the flag," Mann said in a 2011 interview with the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

His group also recorded jingles for oldies radio stations. The jingle still played through the day on LA's CBS-owned oldies station KRTH-FM "K-EARTH 101" is by the Johnny Mann Singers.

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Don Light, Nashville-based musician/producer/manager, 77

CMT.com - Don Light, a talent booker and manager who was instrumental in the success of Jimmy Buffett, the Oak Ridge Boys, Steve Wariner, Keith Whitley, Marty Stuart, Dailey & Vincent and other gospel, country and bluegrass acts, died Tuesday (June 17) after a long illness. He was 77.

Like many other prominent figures in Nashville's cross-pollinated music industry, Light held a variety of jobs before settling into his final professional role, that of talent manager.

At the outset of his career, he played drums in the Grand Ole Opry band and then moved on to act as general manager of Billboard magazine's Nashville bureau.

He left Billboard in 1965 to found Don Light Talent. It was the first agency devoted exclusively to booking Southern gospel music acts, among them the Oak Ridge Boys, the Happy Goodman Family, the Chuck Wagon Gang, Jimmie Davis, the Florida Boys and the Lewis Family.

He spotted Buffett's talents when the young singer-songwriter was still trying to make a name for himself in Nashville. Buffett later credited Light with understanding and encouraging his music well before it made its way into the larger world.

Light's work with gospel acts led him to co-found the Gospel Music Association, the trade organization that dispenses the Dove awards. He also served on the GMA board of directors, as well as those of the Country Music Association and the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (now called the Recording Academy).

He managed the award-winning bluegrass duo, Dailey & Vincent, virtually from their inception through their breakthrough as touring and recording artists.

Lester Flatt, Delbert McClinton, Mark Collie, the Rex Nelon Singers, the Singing Rambos and the Cathedral Quartet were also Light's clients at various stages of their careers.

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Gerry Goffin, songwriter/lyricist, 75

CNN.com - Gerry Goffin, a hit songwriter and former husband of Carole King, died early Thursday (June 19). The lyricist died at home of natural causes, according to a statement from his publicity agency. He was 75.

Goffin's repertoire of hits ran across decades, from the early 1960s through the late 1990s, and includes some of the most familiar songs of modern times. Born in Brooklyn, Goffin met King when they were students at Queens College, according to a biography on the Songwriters Hall of Fame website. They married in 1959.

Together with King, he wrote such classics as "The Loco-Motion," "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" and "Up on the Roof." King described Goffin as her first love.

"He had a profound impact on my life and the rest of the world. Gerry was a good man and a dynamic force, whose words and creative influence will resonate for generations to come," she said in a statement. "His words expressed what so many people were feeling but didn't know how to say. If you want to join his loved ones in honoring him, look at the names of the songwriters under the titles of songs."

Their big break came soon after with "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," which was recorded by The Shirelles. Luminaries like The Beatles and Whitney Houston also performed his songs.

Among Goffin's other hits are: "Saving All My Love For You" with Michael Masser, "Who Put The Bomp" with Barry Mann and "I've Got To Use My Imagination" with Barry Goldberg.

He is survived by his wife, Michele Goffin, five children and six grandchildren.

--------------------------------------------

Anthony Goldschmidt, Hollywood graphic designer/movie poster artist, 71

Deadline.com - Anthony Goldschmidt, the iconic founder of Intralink Graphic Design, passed away June 17 surrounded by family and friends. He was 71.

Goldschmidt was a most accomplished designer of movie posters, and a favorite of directors from Ron Howard to Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan. Most recently, Oscar producers Brian Grazer and Michael Rosenberg selected him for the honor of designing the official poster for the 84th Academy Awards.

Over the course of his long career, he worked on the campaigns and designed some of the most memorable posters of the last 50 years. Those films include Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, The Color Purple, Cocoon, E.T., Blade Runner, The Lost Boys, Empire of the Sun, Rain Man, A Few Good Men, Thelma and Louise, Chaplin, The Shawshank Redemption, The Crow, Apollo 13, Twister, Psycho, The Green Mile, The Perfect Storm, A.I., Cinderella Man, The Aviator, The DaVinci Code, Angels and Demons, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

The Yale grad began on Madison Avenue as art director of J. Walter Thompson, New York, NY, before joining Warner Bros as a production assistant and beginning his long Hollywood career. Among the accolades bestowed on him during the course of his career, Goldschmidt won nine Clio Awards, 10 Art Directors Club of Los Angeles Awards, 26 Golden Trailer Awards, and 6 Graphic Design Gold Awards. He was actively involved with supporting the S.A.F.E campaign, the World Wildlife Fund, and Oceana.

--------------------------------------------

Stephanie Kwolek, chemist/inventor of Kevlar, 90

ABCNews.com/AP - Police Lt. David Spicer took four .45-caliber slugs to the chest and arms at point-blank range and lived to tell about it. Like thousands of other police officers and soldiers shot in the line of duty, he owes his life to a woman in Delaware by the name of Stephanie Kwolek.

Kwolek, who died Wednesday at 90, was a DuPont Co. chemist who in 1965 invented Kevlar, the lightweight, stronger-than-steel fiber used in bulletproof vests and other body armor around the world.

A pioneer as a woman in a heavily male field, Kwolek made the breakthrough while working on specialty fibers at a DuPont laboratory in Wilmington. At the time, DuPont was looking for strong, lightweight fibers that could replace steel in automobile tires and improve fuel economy.

"I knew that I had made a discovery," Kwolek said in an interview several years ago that was included in the Chemical Heritage Foundation's "Women in Chemistry" series. "I didn't shout 'Eureka,' but I was very excited, as was the whole laboratory excited, and management was excited because we were looking for something new, something different, and this was it."

Spicer was wearing a Kevlar vest when he was shot by a drug suspect in 2001. Two rounds shattered his left arm, ripping open an artery. A third was deflected by his badge. The last one hit his nametag, bending it into a horseshoe shape, before burrowing into his vest, leaving a 10-inch tear.

"If that round would have entered my body, I wouldn't be talking to you right now," the Dover police officer said.

While recovering from his wounds, Spicer spoke briefly by telephone with Kwolek and thanked her.

"She was a tremendous woman," he said.

In a statement, DuPont CEO and Chairwoman Ellen Kullman described Kwolek, who retired in 1986, as "a creative and determined chemist and a true pioneer for women in science."

Kwolek is the only female employee of DuPont to be awarded the company's Lavoisier Medal for outstanding technical achievement. She was recognized as a "persistent experimentalist and role model."

"She leaves a wonderful legacy of thousands of lives saved and countless injuries prevented by products made possible by her discovery," Kullman said.

During the "Women in Chemistry" interview, Kwolek recounted the development of Kevlar. She said she found a solvent that was able to dissolve long-chain polymers into a solution that was much thinner and more watery than other polymer solutions. She persuaded a skeptical colleague to put the solution into a spinneret, which turns liquid polymers into fibers.

"We spun it and it spun beautifully," she recalled. "It was very strong and very stiff, unlike anything we had made before."

The exceptionally tough fibers she produced were several times stronger by weight than steel. So strong, according to friend and former colleague Rita Vasta, that DuPont had to get new equipment to test the tensile strength.

"DuPont was big in Nylon, Dacron," Vasta explained. "This was way stronger than any of those types of fibers."

Spicer and more than 3,100 other police officers are members of a "Survivors Club" formed by DuPont and the International Association of Chiefs of Police to promote the wearing of body armor.

While Kevlar has become synonymous with protective vests and helmets, it has become a component material in products ranging from airplanes and armored military vehicles to cellphones and sailboats.

"Rest in peace, Stephanie Kwolek. Thank you for inventing Kevlar and saving Soldiers' lives," the U.S. Army tweeted Friday evening.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said in a statement that Kwolek had made the world safer.

Vasta said Kwolek had been ill about a week, although she didn't know the cause of death. Vasta said a Catholic funeral Mass is scheduled June 28.
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Re: 2014 Obits: Remembrance thread

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RIP Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez

Tony- and Emmy-winning actor Eli Wallach, a major proponent of “the Method” style of acting best known for his starring role in Elia Kazan’s film “Baby Doll” and for his role as villain Tuco in iconic spaghetti Western “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” died on Tuesday, according to the New York Times. He was 98.
"Everyone Should be aware that you're just a screen grab away from infamy."
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