2014 Obits: Remembrance thread

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2014 Obits: Remembrance thread

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No notable obits to report in the first hours of 2014. Just getting this year's thread started for posts...
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James H. "Buck" Harless, entrepreneur/philanthropist, 94

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James H. "Buck" Harless, WV entrepreneur/philanthropist, 94

James H. "Buck" Harless, who made his fortune in the coal and timber industry in southern West Virginia and donated much of his wealth to institutions and projects in his home state, died Jan. 1, 2014. He was 94.

A native of Gilbert in Mingo County, Harless worked as a miner for several years at Red Jacket Coal Co. after graduating from Gilbert High School. In 1947 he gave up mining to become a part-owner and manager of a Gilbert saw-mill. He grew the Gilbert Lumber Company into multi-million-dollar conglomerate International Industries Inc., serving as its President and CEO.

He never forgot the community that was his home, investing millions of dollars back into the Mingo County area through philanthropic and community investments such as the Harless Center recreation complex in his hometown of Gilbert.

Harless served on many years on the Massey Energy Board of Directors. He was a member of the West Virginia Coal Hall of Fame and West Virginia Business Hall of Fame and was named the Charleston Gazette's West Virginian of the Year in 1983.

In addition to his philanthropic efforts, Harless was a major supporter of the state's universities. He served as a member of the West Virginia University System Board of Trustees, was past chair of Marshall University Board of Advisors, a member of the Marshall University Foundation Board and was a member and past chair of the West Virginia University Foundation Board.
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Phil Everly, singer/songwriter, 74

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Phil Everly, singer/songwriter (Everly Brothers), 74

Randy Lewis/LA Times - Phil Everly, who with his brother, Don, made up the most revered vocal duo of the rock-music era, their exquisite harmonies profoundly influencing the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Byrds and countless younger-generation rock, folk and country singers, died Friday (Jan. 3) in Burbank of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, his wife, Patti Everly, told The Times. He was 74.

Time.com/AP obit: http://entertainment.time.com/2014/01/0 ... ies-at-74/

Wikipedia - The Everly Brothers had 35 Billboard Top 100 singles, 26 in the top 40. They hold the record for the most Top 100 singles by any duo, and trail only Hall & Oates for the most Top 40 singles by a duo.

In the UK, the Everly Brothers had 30 chart singles, 29 in the top 40, 13 top 10 and 4 at No. 1 between 1957 and 1984. They have had 12 top 40 albums, between 1960 and 2009.

In 1986, the Everly Brothers were among the first 10 artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. During the ceremony, they were introduced by Neil Young, who observed that every musical group he belonged to had tried and failed to copy the Everly Brothers' harmonies. That year on July 5, the Everlys returned to their boyhood home of Shenandoah to a crowd of 8,500 for a concert, parade, street dedication, class reunion and other activities. Concert fees were donated to the Everly Family Scholarship Fund which gives scholarships to middle and high school students in Shenandoah every year.

In 1997 the brothers were awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition, they were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004. Their pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. The Everly Brothers have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Blvd. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked The Everly Brothers No. 33 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Times.They are also No. 43 on the list of UK Best selling singles artists of all time.

They were also songwriters, penning "Till I Kissed You" (Don), "Cathy's Clown" (Don and Phil), and "When Will I Be Loved" (Phil). "Cathy's Clown" and "When Will I Be Loved" later became hits for Reba McEntire and Linda Ronstadt, respectively; (for the latter, the Everly Brothers sang the chorus). Also, the Norwegian band a-ha covered "Crying In The Rain" in 1990 for their fourth album, East of The Sun, West of The Moon.
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Re: 2014 Obits: Remembrance thread

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Jay Traynor of Jay and the Americans
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born March 30, 1943
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died January 2, 2014 (aged 70)
Tampa, Florida, U.S.
Occupations Pop, Doo-wop
Instruments vocals
Years active 1960s–2014
Associated acts The Mystics
Jay and the Americans

John "Jay" Traynor (March 30, 1943 – January 2, 2014) was an American singer. He was the third lead vocalist of the Mystics, singing falsetto on "The White Cliffs of Dover" and lead on "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" and "Blue Star". Later, he started Jay and the Americans with Kenny Vance and Sandy Yaguda, and was the original lead singer. He sang lead on the Americans' first hit, "She Cried," which was followed up by the LP, She Cried. All recordings were produced by Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller, who produced numerous artists and wrote many hits for Elvis Presley, the Drifters, the Coasters, and many more.

Traynor left the Americans, releasing solo records, including "I Rise, I Fall" on the Coral label in 1964. His name on the label was denoted as "JAY ... formerly of Jay & the Americans".[1] Later in the '60s, he released "Up & Over", produced by Dennis Lambert for Don Costa Productions. The song became a big hit with the UK "Northern Soul" underground dance clubs. Traynor was replaced in the Americans by David Blatt, who agreed to perform under the stage name Jay Black. After working for Woodstock Ventures, the company that put on the "Woodstock" festival, Traynor then began a career working behind the scenes with many '70s acts (Mountain, West, Bruce & Laing, The Who, Ten Years After, Yes, and gospel singer Mylon LeFevre).

In 1977 Traynor moved to Albany, NY near his roots of Greenville, NY and worked at WNYT as a studio camera operator. He then performed with cover bands (George and "Friends"), jazz trios, and finally as the male singer with the Joey Thomas Big Band, where his love for Frank Sinatra's music began. The Big Band put out a few CDs with Traynor, including Live On WAMC & The Sinatra Show. In 2006, Traynor received a call from Jay Siegel, and he toured with Jay Siegel's Tokens for the remainder of his life.

Jay Traynor died January 2, 2014 of liver cancer at a hospital in Tampa, Florida.
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Actress Barbara Lawrence dies at age 83
Jan 3, 8:17 PM (ET)

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Actress Barbara Lawrence, who played Gertie Cummings in the 1955 movie "Oklahoma!", has died. She was 83.

Her daughter-in-law, Christy Nelson, said Friday that the actress died of kidney failure on Nov. 13.

Lawrence's career spanned the late 1940s through the early 1960s.

Her movies include "The Street with No Name,""A Letter To Three Wives," and the 1957 sci-fi cult classic "Kronos."

Her TV work included episodes of "Perry Mason" and "Bonanza."

Lawrence later became an author, publicist and real estate agent in Beverly Hills.

She has a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
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'Rudolph' voice actor Larry D. Mann dies at 91
Jan 6, 7:06 PM (ET)

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Larry D. Mann, who voiced Yukon Cornelius in the animated Christmas favorite "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," has died. He was 91.

His son, Richard Mann, says the actor died of age-related causes on Monday in Los Angeles.

Beginning in the 1950s, the Canadian-born Mann had small roles in movies, including "The Sting" and "In the Heat of the Night."

On TV, his appearances included "Gunsmoke,""Bewitched" and "Hill Street Blues."

He also did voice work for animated shows, including 1964's "Rudolph."

His son says Mann's last role before retirement was playing a talent agent in the 1991 TV show "Homefront."

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George Goodman, aka TV's "Adam Smith," dies at 83
Jan 3, 7:48 PM (ET)
By HILLEL ITALIE

NEW YORK (AP) - George Goodman, a journalist, business author and award-winning television host who under the pseudonym "Adam Smith" made economics accessible to millions of people, died Friday at age 83.

Goodman's son, Mark Goodman, said his father died at the University of Miami Hospital after a long battle with the bone marrow disorder myelofibrosis.

Starting in the 1950s, the elder Goodman had a long, diverse and accomplished career, whether as a founder of New York Magazine, as a best-selling business author or as the personable host of "Adam Smith's Money World."

Known as "Jerry" to his friends, he prided himself on making arcane debates among economists and business leaders understandable, often using an anecdotal or irreverent approach to explain a complicated issue. He has been credited with coining the mocking catchphrase, "Assume a can opener," as a parody of academic jargon.

"I have always believed that if you dramatize a story, you can make it comprehensible while at the same time maintaining a relatively high level of sophistication," he once said.

"Adam Smith's Money World" was a multiple Emmy winner that aired on PBS stations from 1984-1996, with guests including Warren Buffett and then-Federal Reserve Board chairman Paul Volcker. He was also an executive editor at Esquire, a member of The New York Times editorial board and a commentator for NBC television. In recent years, he sponsored a lecture series through the Harvard Club of New York Foundation.

Before his success in the business world, Goodman had written novels and worked in Hollywood as a screenwriter. He helped adapt his own book, "The Wheeler Dealers," into a 1963 movie of the same name starring Lee Remick and James Garner.

Smith was editing the monthly journal The Institutional Investor when his first nonfiction book, "The Money Game," was published in 1968. Among the year's top sellers, and read for decades after, "The Money Game" offered a colorful take on the financial markets that added a human element to the laws of finance and seemed as influenced by Damon Runyon as by any economic theorist. One popular character was an oversized investment guru known as "Scarsdale Fats."

Full story at Iwon / AP News.
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Actress Carmen Zapata dies after long career
Jan 7, 5:11 PM (ET)
By SUE MANNING

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Emmy-nominated actress Carmen Zapata, who started a foundation to promote Hispanic writers because jobs were so scarce, has died of heart problems, colleagues say. She was 86.

Zapata died Sunday at her Van Nuys-area home, said Luis Vela, marketing manager for the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts in Los Angeles.

Zapata started her career in 1945 in the Broadway musical "Oklahoma" and went on to perform in "Bells Are Ringing,""Guys and Dolls" and many plays.

"She was an inspiration for me," Vela said. "She taught me that art is the key to resolving differences in the community."

He said Zapata was once asked how she wanted to be remembered - as an artist, producer or founder. "'I prefer people remember us as educators,'" Vela recalled her saying.

Her movie credits included "Sister Act,""Gang Boys" and "Carola." She also appeared in dozens of television series, including nine seasons on the PBS bilingual children's show, "Villa Alegre."

Zapata had continuing TV roles in "The Man and the City" and "The New Dick Van Dyke Show." She sang in several other musicals, including "Bloomer Girl.""No Strings,""Show Boat,""Stop the World, I Want to Get Off" and "Funny Girl."

Born in New York City of Mexican-Argentinian descent, Zapata joined forces with Cuban-born actress, playwright and director Margarita Galban to found the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts in 1973.

The organization produces four plays a year that are presented at its 99-seat theater. Productions alternate in English and Spanish, with some shows taken on the road by production companies.

Zapata collected Emmy nominations for best supporting actress in a segment of "Medical Center" and for "Carola" on "Hollywood TV Theatre."

Vela said he last saw Zapata on Christmas Eve.

"Everyone who worked with her felt she had created something really important and was making our community a better place." he said. "She was emphatic that what we were doing at the foundation was more important than personal recognition."

She was not working on any one project when she died, Vela said, but was supervising and approving projects being presented to her.

Funeral and service arrangements were being finalized.
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Ariel Sharon, former Israeli PM, dies at 85
Jan 11, 8:35 AM (ET)
By JOSEF FEDERMAN

JERUSALEM (AP) - Ariel Sharon, the hard-charging Israeli general and prime minister who was admired and hated for his battlefield exploits and ambitions to reshape the Middle East, died Saturday, eight years after a stroke left him in a coma from which he never awoke. He was 85.

As one of Israel's most famous soldiers, Sharon was known for bold tactics and an occasional refusal to obey orders. As a politician he became known as "the bulldozer," a man contemptuous of his critics while also capable of getting things done.

He led his country into a divisive war in Lebanon in 1982 and was branded as indirectly responsible for the massacre of hundreds of Palestinians at the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps outside Beirut when his troops allowed allied Lebanese militias into the camps. Yet ultimately he transformed himself into a prime minister and statesman.

Sharon's son Gilad announced the death on Saturday afternoon. Sharon's health had taken a downturn over the past week and a half as a number of bodily organs, including his kidneys, stopped functioning, and doctors on Thursday pronounced his condition "grave."

Full story at AP / Iwon News.
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The Professor has died.

NEW YORK (AP) - The actor who played "The Professor" on "Gilligan's Island," Russell Johnson, has died.

His agent, Mike Eisenstadt, says Johnson died Thursday morning at his home in Washington State of natural causes. He was 89.

Johnson was a busy but little-known character actor when he was cast in the slapstick 1960s comedy about seven people marooned on an uncharted Pacific island.

His character, high school science teacher Roy Hinkley, built generators and other gadgets out of scraps of junk found on the island. Johnson later joked that the one thing The Professor never figured out how to do was to fix the leaky boat so the group could get back to civilization.

During its three-season run on CBS, critics lambasted the show. But after its 1967 cancellation, it found generations of new fans in reruns and reunion movies.
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Re: 2014 Obits: Remembrance thread

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Dave Madden passed away on Thursday morning.
The 82-year-old Hollywood veteran died in Fruit Cove, Florida, of congestive heart and kidney failure, reports TMZ.
While on a host of shows over the years, Dave was best known for his role of Reuben Kincaid in The Partridge Family.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar ... ed-82.html
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'Wizard of Oz' Munchkin Ruth Robinson Duccini dies
Jan 16, 11:20 PM (ET)

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Ruth Robinson Duccini, the last of the original female Munchkins from the 1939 movie "The Wizard of Oz," has died. She was 95.

With her death, only one actor who played one of the original 124 Munchkins in the movie remains alive.

Duccini died of natural causes in Solari Hospice Care Center in Las Vegas on Thursday.

Her death was confirmed by Stephen Cox, author of "The Munchkins of Oz." He says he learned of it from Duccini's son.

Duccini, born in Rush City, Minn., traveled to California with a troupe little people, and was cast in the MGM fantasy movie starring Judy Garland. Duccini was 4 feet tall.

Cox provided a recent statement made by Duccini about her time on the movie set.

"It was long hours and heavy costumes. We didn't have much time for ourselves. It was all new to me then, and I loved being a part of what is now a classic," she said.

Duccini met her husband while working at MGM, and the two had a son and daughter.

She worked as a "Rosie the Riveter" in Santa Monica, Calif., during World War II, using her short stature to squeeze into hard-to-reach parts of planes. She also appeared in the spoof "Under the Rainbow" starring Chevy Chase and Carrie Fisher.

In her later years, Duccini appeared at festivals and screenings celebrating "The Wizard of Oz."

The only surviving original Munchkin is Jerry Maren, 93, of Los Angeles, who portrayed a member of the Lollipop Guild.
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Remembering Original Series Guest Star Sarah Marshall, 1933-2014
By StarTrek.com Staff - January 21, 2014

StarTrek.com is saddened to report the passing of Sarah Marshall, the British actress who guest starred as Dr. Janet Wallace, an ex-love of Captain Kirk’s, in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “The Deadly Years.” Marshall passed away on January 18 in Los Angeles at the age of 80, following a lengthy battle with cancer. Marshall’s many other film, TV and stage credits included The Twilight Zone, The Long, Hot Summer, Goodbye, Charlie (for which she received a Tony Award nomination), Applause, Miss Winslow and Son, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, F Troop, The Fugitive, Get Smart, Three’s Company, Cheers, Dangerous Minds and Dave.

Marshall was married for more than 50 years to actor Karl Held, who played Lindstrom in the TOS episode “The Return of the Archons.” According to the Hollywood Reporter, Marshall is survived by Held, as well as by her son Timothy, daughter-in-law Trixie Flynn, grandchildren Seamus, Sarah, Timothy and Eliza and half-sister Ann. StarTrek.com extends our condolences to Marshall’s family, friends and family.
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Caje, from "Combat", dead at 89.

Pierre Jalbert (January 9, 1925 – January 22, 2014) was a Canadian skier, actor, and motion picture film and sound editor.
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Ex-Marlboro man dies from smoking-related disease
Jan 26, 11:47 PM (ET)
By DAISY NGUYEN

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Eric Lawson, who portrayed the rugged Marlboro man in cigarette ads during the late 1970s, has died. He was 72.

Lawson died Jan. 10 at his home in San Luis Obispo of respiratory failure due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, his wife, Susan Lawson said Sunday.

Lawson was an actor with bit parts on such TV shows as "Baretta" and "The Streets of San Francisco" when he was hired to appear in print Marlboro ads from 1978 to 1981. His other credits include "Charlie's Angels,""Dynasty" and "Baywatch." His wife said injuries sustained on the set of a Western film ended his career in 1997.

A smoker since age 14, Lawson later appeared in an anti-smoking commercial that parodied the Marlboro man and an "Entertainment Tonight" segment to discuss the negative effects of smoking. Susan said her husband was proud of the interview, even though he was smoking at the time and continued the habit until he was diagnosed with COPD.

"He knew the cigarettes had a hold on him," she said. "He knew, yet he still couldn't stop."

A few actors and models who pitched Marlboro brand cigarettes have died of smoking-related diseases. They include David Millar, who died of emphysema in 1987, and David McLean, who died of lung cancer in 1995.

Lawson was also survived by six children, 18 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
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Folk singer, activist Pete Seeger dies in NY
Jan 28, 6:23 AM (ET)
By MICHAEL HILL and CHRIS TALBOTT

NEW YORK (AP) -

The banjo-picking troubadour who sang for migrant workers, college students and star-struck presidents in a career that introduced generations of Americans to their folk music heritage died Monday at the age of 94. Seeger's grandson, Kitama Cahill-Jackson, said his grandfather died peacefully in his sleep around 9:30 p.m. at New York Presbyterian Hospital, where he had been for six days. Family members were with him.

"He was chopping wood 10 days ago," Cahill-Jackson recalled.

With his lanky frame, use-worn banjo and full white beard, Seeger was an iconic figure in folk music who outlived his peers. He performed with the great minstrel Woody Guthrie in his younger days and wrote or co-wrote "If I Had a Hammer,""Turn, Turn, Turn,""Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine." He lent his voice against Hitler and nuclear power. A cheerful warrior, he typically delivered his broadsides with an affable air and his fingers poised over the strings of his banjo.

Full story at Iwon / AP News.
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Oscar-winning actor Maximilian Schell dies at 83
Feb 1, 12:38 PM (ET)


VIENNA (AP) - Austrian-born actor Maximilian Schell, a fugitive from Adolf Hitler who became a Hollywood favorite and won an Oscar for his role as a defense attorney in "Judgment at Nuremberg," has died. He was 83.

Schell's agent, Patricia Baumbauer, said Saturday he died overnight at a hospital in the Austrian city of Innsbruck following a "sudden illness."

It was only his second Hollywood role, as defense attorney Hans Rolfe in Stanley Kramer's classic "Judgment at Nuremberg," that earned him wide international acclaim. Schell's impassioned but unsuccessful defense of four Nazi judges on trial for sentencing innocent victims to death won him the 1961 Academy Award for best actor. Schell had first played Rolfe in a 1959 episode of the television program "Playhouse 90."

Despite being type-cast for numerous Nazi-era films, Schell's acting performances in the mid-1970s also won him renewed popular acclaim, earning him a best actor Oscar nomination for "The Man in the Glass Booth" and a supporting actor nomination for his performance alongside Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave and Jason Robards in "Julia."

Austrian Cabinet minister Josef Ostermayer described Schell as one of "the greatest actors in the German-speaking world," the Austria Press Agency reported.

The son of Swiss playwright Hermann Ferdinand Schell and Austrian stage actress Noe von Nordberg, Schell was born in Vienna on Dec. 8, 1930 and raised in Switzerland after his family fled Germany's annexation of his homeland.

Schell followed in the footsteps of his older sister Maria and brother Carl, making his stage debut in 1952. He then appeared in a number of German films before relocating to Hollywood in 1958.

By then, Maria Schell was already an international film star, winning the best actress award at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival for her performance in "The Last Bridge."

Maximilian made his Hollywood debut in Edward Dmytryk's "The Young Lions," a World War II drama starring Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and Dean Martin.

Schell later worked as a producer, starting with an adaptation of Franz Kafka's "The Castle," and as a director.

Full story at Iwon / AP News.
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Philip Seymour Hoffman found dead in NYC apartment
Feb 2, 3:24 PM (ET)
By TOM HAYS and JAKE COYLE

NEW YORK (AP) - Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won the Oscar for best actor in 2006 for his portrayal of writer Truman Capote in "Capote" and created a gallery of other vivid characters, many of them slovenly and slightly dissipated comic figures, was found dead Sunday in his Greenwich Village apartment with what law enforcement officials said was a syringe in his arm. He was 46.

The two officials told The Associated Press that glassine envelopes containing what was believed to be heroin were also found with Hoffman. Those items are being tested.

The law enforcement officials, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak about evidence found at the scene, said the cause of death was believed to be a drug overdose.

Hoffman - no matinee-idol figure with his tubby, lumpy build and limp blond hair - made his career mostly as a character actor, and was one of the most prolific in the business.

The stage-trained actor's rumpled naturalism made him one of the most admired performers of his generation. He was nominated for Academy Awards four times in all.

Hoffman spoke candidly over the years about past struggles with drug addiction. After 23 years sober, he admitted in interviews last year to falling off the wagon and developing a heroin problem that led to a stint at a rehabilitation facility.

The law enforcement officials said Hoffman's body was discovered in a bathroom by a friend who made the 911 call and his assistant.

Full story at Iwon / AP News.
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Actor Richard Bull has died. He was best known for hi portrayal of Nels Olson the storekeeper on Little House On The Prairie, and the father of the mean girl Nellie Olson.
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Former 2nd Lady Joan Mondale Dies at Age 83
ST. PAUL, Minn.
February 4, 2014 (AP)
By BRIAN BAKST Associated Press

Joan Mondale, who burnished a reputation as "Joan of Art" for her passionate advocacy for the arts while her husband was vice president and a U.S. ambassador, died Monday. She was 83.

Walter Mondale, sons Ted and William and other family members were by her side when she died, the family said in a statement released by their church. The family had announced Sunday that she had gone into hospice care, but declined to discuss her illness.

"Joan was greatly loved by many. We will miss her dearly," the former vice president said in a written statement.

An arts lover and an avid potter, Joan Mondale was given a grand platform to promote the arts when Walter, then a Democratic senator, was elected Jimmy Carter's vice president in 1976.

Carter named her honorary chairwoman of the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities, and in that role she frequently traveled to museums, theaters and artist studios on the administration's behalf. She lobbied Congress and states to boost public arts programs and funding.

She also showcased the work of prominent artists in the vice presidential residence, including photographer Ansel Adams, sculptor David Smith and painter Georgia O'Keeffe.

Full story at ABC News.
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Baseball legend Ralph Kiner has passed away at age 91
Posted on February 6, 2014 by Mike Fitzgerald
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Ralph Kiner, Hall-of-Fame slugger with the Pittsburgh Pirates in the ’40s and ’50s who became a New York institution in his second, equally-distinguished broadcasting career with the Mets for over 40 years, died Thursday, He was 91.

It is hard to imagine anyone having lived a more dream life than Kiner, who grew up in Alhambra, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles, fulfilled his childhood ambition of being a major league baseball player, won a record seven straight National League home run titles to get himself elected to the Hall of Fame and, along the way, was golfing pals with Hollywood legends Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope and Jack Benny, dated movie stars Janet Leigh and Elizabeth Taylor, and, finally, became one of the most beloved New York sports figures as Mets broadcaster from their 1962 inception until 2006 when he finally had his workload reduced to cameo TV appearances.
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