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Obituaries - Printable Version

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RE: Obituaries - pbrower2a - 12-01-2023

Guillermo "WillieHernández Villanueva (November 14, 1954 – November 20, 2023) was a Puerto Rican baseball relief pitcher in Major League Baseball. He won both the American League Cy Young Award and the American League Most Valuable Player Award in 1984 after leading the Detroit Tigers to the World Series championship.


Hernández was born and raised in Aguada, Puerto Rico. He signed with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1973 and played in their minor-league system as a starting pitcher from 1974 to 1976. He was acquired by the Chicago Cubs in the 1976 Rule 5 Draft and played for the Cubs, principally as a relief pitcher, from 1977 to 1983. His performance improved markedly after adding a screwball and cut fastball to his pitching repertoire. He was traded to the Phillies in May 1983, helped lead them to the National League pennant, and appeared in three games in the 1983 World Series, giving up zero hits and zero runs in three games.

In March 1984, he was traded to the Detroit Tigers. As the Tigers' closer in 1984, he compiled a 9–3 win–loss record with 32 saves and a 1.92 earned run average (ERA). He helped lead the Tigers to the 1984 World Series championship and became only the third player in major-league history (following Sandy Koufax and Denny McLain) to win the Cy Young Award, MVP Award, and World Series title, all in the same season.

Hernández continued to pitch for the Tigers through the 1989 season. In 13 major-league seasons, he appeared in 744 games, 733 as a relief pitcher and 11 as a starter, and compiled a win–loss record of 70–63 with a 3.38 ERA, 788 strikeouts, and 147 saves. After his playing career ended, he returned to Puerto Rico, where he operated a construction business and later owned a cattle ranch.


more at Wikipedia


RE: Obituaries - pbrower2a - 12-01-2023

Marty Krofft, one of the Sid& Marty Krofft puppeteers/writers/TV creators.


RE: Obituaries - pbrower2a - 12-01-2023

Henry Alfred Kissinger (/ˈkɪsəndʒər/ KISS-ən-jər;[3] born Heinz Alfred Kissinger;[a] May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat, political scientist, geopolitical consultant, and politician who served as United States secretary of state and national security advisor in the presidential administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford between 1969 and 1977.[4]


Born in Germany, Kissinger came to the United States in 1938 as a Jewish refugee from Nazi persecution. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and after the war was educated at Harvard University, where he became a professor of government and earned an international reputation as an expert on nuclear weapons and foreign policy. He frequently served as a consultant to government agencies, think tanks, and Republican presidential campaigns before he was appointed Nixon's national security advisor.

Kissinger pioneered the policy of détente with the Soviet Union, orchestrated an opening of relations with China, engaged in what became known as shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East to end the Yom Kippur War, and negotiated the Paris Peace Accords, which ended American involvement in the Vietnam War. He has also been associated with controversial policies, such as the U.S. bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam WarOperation CondorU.S. involvement in the 1973 Chilean coup d'étata "green light" to Argentina's military junta for their Dirty War, and U.S. support for Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War despite a genocide being perpetrated by Pakistan.[5]

Kissinger's legacy is a polarizing subject in American politics. He has been widely considered by scholars to be an effective secretary of state[6] and a practitioner of a pragmatic approach to politics called Realpolitik, but has been condemned for his role in U.S. actions in Indochina (including its bombings of Cambodia and Laos) and Latin America (including backing for the Chilean coup d'état and the Dirty War in Argentina), as well as support for dictatorial regimes and turning a blind eye to war crimes committed by allies.[7][8][9]


much more at Wikipedia


RE: Obituaries - pbrower2a - 12-01-2023

Mildred Miller (December 16, 1924 – November 29, 2023) was an American classical mezzo-soprano who had a major career performing in operas, concerts, and recitals during the mid twentieth century. She was notably a principal artist at the Metropolitan Opera from 1951 through 1974. In 1978 she founded the Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, serving as the company's Artistic Director through 1999.

As a performer, Miller won particular acclaim for her singing of German Lieder and recorded with, among others, conductor Bruno Walter, with whom she won a Grand Prix du Disque for Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. On the opera stage she became known for her portrayal of pants roles (in particular the role of Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro), garnering the nickname "Legs Miller". She is a Gold Medal recipient from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and holds honorary degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, the New England Conservatory, Bowling Green State University, and Washington & Jefferson College.



More at Wikipedia.


RE: Obituaries - pbrower2a - 12-01-2023

Double-Olympic gold medal cyclist

Sante Gaiardoni (29 June 1939 – 30 November 2023) was an Italian cyclist. He won two gold medals at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, in the 1000 m time trial and the 1000 m sprint.[1] Between 1958 and 1970 he won two gold, four silver and two bronze medals in sprint events at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships.[2]



More at Wikipedia


RE: Obituaries - pbrower2a - 12-01-2023

Sandra Day O'Connor (March 26, 1930 – December 1, 2023) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. O'Connor was the first woman to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court justice.[5] A moderate conservative, O'Connor was known for her precisely researched opinions.[6] Nominated by President Ronald Reagan, she was considered a swing vote for the Rehnquist Court and the first four months of the Roberts Court. Before O'Connor's tenure on the Court, she was a judge and an elected official in Arizona, serving as the first female majority leader of a state senate as the Republican leader in the Arizona Senate.[7] Upon her nomination to the Court, O'Connor was confirmed unanimously by the Senate.
On July 1, 2005, O'Connor announced her retirement, effective upon the confirmation of a successor.[8] Samuel Alito was nominated to take her seat in October 2005 and joined the Court on January 31, 2006.

O'Connor usually sided with the Court's conservative bloc but demonstrated an ability to side with the Court's liberal members. She often wrote concurring opinions that sought to limit the reach of the majority holding. Her majority opinions in landmark cases include Grutter v. Bollinger and Hamdi v. Rumsfeld. She wrote in part the per curiam majority opinion in Bush v. Gore and was one of three co-authors of the lead opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
During her term on the Court, O'Connor was regarded as among the most powerful women in the world.[9][10] After retiring, she succeeded Henry Kissinger as the Chancellor of the College of William & Mary.

On August 12, 2009, O'Connor was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.[11]

More at Wilipedia.


RE: Obituaries - pbrower2a - 01-26-2024

Others may be more significant in nearly two months since I added anyone here, but I notice the passing of two porn stars under questionable circumstances. I'm not naming them. My suggestion for anyone of modest talent who contemplates going into this line of work: do anything else -- even migrant farm labor, retail salesclerking, or domestic service. The money could be seductive, but it usually goes into self-destructive habits that make one a candidate for suicide, overdose, or personal violence.

Our plutocratic order rewards mediocrity badly, but still one can keep one's honor. One can at least live among people who endure the same exploitation, deprivation, and frustration and develop some solidarity among those who suffer for big landowners, shareholders, executives, and bureaucrats. Indeed, in as corrupt a society as ours is -- one that can elevate a swine like Donald Trump to nearly dictatorial power -- poverty can be a sign more of integrity than of failure. Power has all too often implied the capacity to inflict suffering...as if anyone needed to read Karl Marx to learn that. The highest profits come from either managing scarcity or from pushing wars and oppression, if not outright corruption by any standard.


RE: Obituaries - pbrower2a - 01-26-2024

Claude R. Engle III (March 30, 1938 – December 3, 2023) was an American electrical engineer and internationally known lighting consultant. He designed lighting schemes for many notable structures including the Bundestag and the Louvre.[1]


Engle attended Princeton University, attaining a BSEE in 1960 and was a registered professional engineer. Prior to entering private practice, he worked in New York City in the design of theatrical and television lighting.

Engle was chairman of the Capital Section of the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) and was a member of the faculty at Princeton University School of Architecture. He has been a judge of the IES National Lighting Competition and a member of the American Institute of Architects Jury for interior design for Houston, Texas and Los Angeles.

Engle died in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on December 3, 2023, at the age of 85.[2]



RE: Obituaries - pbrower2a - 01-26-2024

...He would rather be remembered for his achievements in chemistry than for his infamous son.


Lionel Herbert Dahmer (/ˈdɑːmər/; July 29, 1936 – December 5, 2023) was an American chemist known as the father of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.[2] In 1994, he wrote A Father's Story, a non-fictional account on his son Jeffrey's upbringing, subsequent progress to become a world-wide-known serial killer and its aftermath.[3] Lionel's figure has been controversial in the subsequent years since his son's crimes, as both he and his first wife were accused of neglecting Jeffrey during his childhood.


Lionel Herbert Dahmer was born in West Allis, Wisconsin, on July 29, 1936, to Herbert Walter Dahmer, a high-school math teacher and barber, whom Dahmer described as "a good father, as caring and concerned as any child would wish,[4] and Catherine Jemima Hughes, an elementary school history teacher.[2]

Dahmer received his primary education and secondary education at local Wisconsin schools and enjoyed a relatively good childhood.

Dahmer enrolled in the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1954 and obtained his BS in chemistry in 1959. Dahmer married later that year, on August 22,[5] to a 23-year-old teletype instructor called Joyce Annette Flint (1936–2000). In A Father's Story, Dahmer related that, from the very beginning, their marriage struggled due to Joyce's poor mental health and irascible and tempestuous behavior and his own inability to fully keep up with it. Shortly after Joyce got pregnant, she began to suffer seizure episodes, apparently from their neighbor's kitchen's foul odors, which caused them to move out to Dahmer's parents' home, shortly before their firstborn's delivery in early 1960, to receive attention from his parents. During the latter months of the pregnancy, Joyce suffered from increased mental breakdowns and seizures, which, according to her doctor "were rooted in Joyce's mental, rather than physical state" and which aggravated her already severe prescription barbiturates and morphine addiction, to the point of taking as "many as twenty-six pills a day" and being constantly sedated to ease her pain. Decades after, he reflected about the long-lasting and eventual terminal effect in his marriage:

In any event, we never really came to terms with the conflicts of that first year. Because of that, I think that this first troubled experience laid the foundation for a longer, and even more troubled, marriage. In some sense, our relationship never recovered from the damage done to it at this early stage, never really improved.[6]

During the early years of Jeffrey's life, Dahmer's academic responsibilities and, later on, long work shifts prevented him from spending enough time with his wife and children. Shortly after Jeffrey's birth, Dahmer received a Master of Science degree from Marquette University in 1962.[7] Later, he enrolled at Iowa State University, where he earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in October 1966.[8] He described himself as average, even considered himself a mediocre student:

I was never a great student. What others got quickly, took me much longer. I was a plodder, a plugger, a hard worker. For me, anything less than an all-out effort would mean failure. Others had flashes of creative brilliance, of sudden illumination, but I had only the power of my own will.


In 2020, Dahmer appeared in Jeffrey Dahmer: Mind of a Monster.[9] In 2022, Dahmer considered suing Netflix over the series Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.[10][11][12][13][14]

Dahmer lived in Seville, Ohio, in his later years.[2] His second wife, Shari, died in January 2023, and he died from a heart attack eleven months later, at a hospice in Medina, Ohio, on December 5, at the age of 87.[2][15][16]


RE: Obituaries - pbrower2a - 01-27-2024

Norman Lear, creator of some controversial but necessary TV series:


Norman Milton Lear (July 27, 1922 – December 5, 2023) was an American screenwriter and producer who produced, wrote, created, or developed over 100 shows.[1] Lear created and produced numerous popular 1970s sitcoms, including All in the Family (1971–1979), Maude (1972–1978), Sanford and Son (1972–1977), One Day at a Time (1975–1984), The Jeffersons (1975–1985), and Good Times (1974–1979). His shows introduced political and social themes to the sitcom format.[2]
Lear received many awards, including six Primetime Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 1999, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2017, and the Golden Globe Carol Burnett Award in 2021. He was a member of the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
Lear was known for his political activism and funding of liberal and progressive causes and politicians. In 1980, he founded the advocacy organization People for the American Way to counter the influence of the Christian right in politics, and in the early 2000s, he mounted a tour with a copy of the Declaration of Independence.


More at Wikipedia.


RE: Obituaries - pbrower2a - 01-27-2024

Günther "GuyStern (January 14, 1922 – December 7, 2023) was a German-American decorated member of the secret Ritchie Boys World War II military intelligence interrogation team. As the only person from his Jewish family to flee Nazi Germany, he came to the United States and later served in the US Army conducting frontline interrogations.[2]
After World War II, he graduated from Columbia University and became a scholar, primarily of German and comparative literature. He worked at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

Günther Stern was born on January 14, 1922, the son of Julius Stern and Hedwig Stern (née Silberberg). He and his family, including a younger brother, Werner, and a younger sister, Eleonore, resided in Hildesheim, Germany. His father owned his own business, working as a salesman of clothing materials. Stern had a love for literature and music at a young age and enjoyed going to the theatre and opera with his parents on the weekends.[3]


After witnessing the start of anti-Semitic policies under the Nazis, Stern's parents hatched a plan to send him to the United States to stay with his Uncle Benno and Aunt Ethel. His aunt and uncle had to ensure they had the finances to support him and that the affidavit would clear, meaning he would not become a public charge to the government. They did so by borrowing money from friends and returning it all after the record statements came through. To prepare for his trip, Stern's parents took him out of high school and hired an English tutor for him. With the help of an American-Jewish agency and a well-meaning consular official in Hamburg, Stern left Germany on November 5, 1937, and headed to St. Louis.[4]
Stern graduated from Soldan High School in 1939.[5] He worked as a busboy and dishwasher at two hotels in St. Louis. He became active in his school community, joining the newspaper team and landing interviews with figures like Benny Goodman and Thomas Mann.[6] In 1940, he attended Saint Louis University and studied Romance languages.[7]


In 1942, Stern volunteered for naval intelligence but was initially rejected because he was not born in the United States. He wanted to join the war effort in hopes of defeating the Nazis and reuniting with his family. He was later drafted in 1943, beginning weeks of basic training and legally changing his name from Günther to Guy in case of capture by enemies. In 1944, he was sent to Camp Ritchie in Maryland, becoming a member of the Ritchie Boys, a special military intelligence unit composed of German, Austrian, and Czech refugees and immigrants to the United States, mostly Jewish immigrants. There he studied enemy intelligence and different uniforms, memorized battle orders and aerial maps, and mostly learned how to conduct interrogations.[2]
The four most useful interrogation tactics he learned were the power of knowledge, bribery, common interests, and invoking fear, all to be done without violating the Geneva Conventions on Warfare. They were taught to separate any emotional and private aspects they may come across during interrogations. After months of training, Stern and the other Ritchie Boys returned to Europe on D-Day, where he became a member of a six-man IPW (Interrogators of Prisoners of War) Team 41. After several successful interrogations, Stern was promoted to head of his team and prepared various reports based on answers from prisoners for his commanders. These ranged from the German railroad system to German preparations for chemical warfare.[2][8]
Stern became close with another German-born interrogator, Fred Howard, and they formed new tactics to use like the good cop, bad cop routine to scare prisoners of war and defectors. One of their most important interrogations included learning about the execution of two fellow Ritchie Boys of another team, leading to the capture and trial of their murderer.[4]
Stern earned the Bronze Star Medal for the intelligence he gathered during the war.[9]


Once the war was over, Stern visited Hildesheim again where he learned that his family's home had been taken by the Nazi government in 1938 and they had been moved to a "Jew House". After talking to locals still in the area he learned they had ended up at the Warsaw Ghetto and had perished there.[10][11]
Stern moved back to New York City and went back to his studies, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Romance languages in 1948 from Hofstra University, and then a Master of Arts in 1950 and Doctor of Philosophy in 1954 from Columbia University.[12][13] After teaching at Columbia, he received an assistant professorship at Denison University in Ohio. He taught at the Seminarienhaus in Zürich in 1954 which was then owned by Ohio's Heidelberg University.[14] He was later professor and head of the department for German language and literature at the University of Cincinnati in the 1960s.[15] He was later head of the German and Slavic studies department at the University of Maryland, then until his retirement served as a distinguished professor of German literature and cultural history at Wayne State University and was vice president of student affairs and provost from 1978 to 1980.[16][17] He was a visiting scholar at the German universities of Freiburg im Breisgau and Frankfurt am Main.[18]
Stern was the director of the Harry and Wanda Zekelman International Institute of the Righteous at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills (near Detroit). He was one of the founders of the Lessing Society (University of Cincinnati, 1966), acting as its president from 1975 until 1977.[12][19] As author and editor, he published several books and compilations on German literary history.[18]
Stern received several awards throughout his life, among them the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1987) and the Goethe Medal (1989). In 1988, he received an honorary doctorate from Hofstra University. He was named a Knight of the Legion of Honor for freeing France during the war and was recognized as an honorary citizen of Hildesheim. A plaque has been placed in front of the area that was once his home as a tribute to his family.[4][12] He also received an honorary doctorate from Hildesheim University.[12]


Stern married a teacher named Judith S. Owens. She died in 2003. He remarried, to German author Susanna Piontek.[20][21][22] He also had a son, who predeceased him.[22]
Stern was one of the last surviving Ritchie Boys. He turned 100 on January 14, 2022,[23] and died on December 7, 2023, aged 101, in Detroit.[24][25] He was interred at Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly, Michigan.[26]


RE: Obituaries - pbrower2a - 01-27-2024

Charles Patrick Ryan O'Neal (April 20, 1941 – December 8, 2023) was an American actor. Born in Los Angeles, he trained as an amateur boxer before beginning a career in acting in 1960.
In 1964, he landed the role of Rodney Harrington on the ABC nighttime soap opera Peyton Place.[1] It was an instant hit and boosted O'Neal's career. He later found success in films, most notably in the romantic drama Love Story (1970), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor[1] and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama;[2] Peter Bogdanovich's What's Up, Doc? (1972); Paper Moon (1973), which earned him a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyStanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon (1975), in which he portrayed the titular character; Richard Attenborough's A Bridge Too Far (1977); and Walter Hill's The Driver (1978).
From 2005 to 2017, he had a recurring role in the Fox television series Bones as Max, the father of the show's eponymous protagonist.



More at Wikipedia.


RE: Obituaries - pbrower2a - 01-27-2024

Herbert Hiken Kohl (February 7, 1935 – December 27, 2023) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and Democratic politician from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served 24 years as a United States senator from Wisconsin, from 1989 to 2013, and earlier served as chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

Alongside his brother and father, he was a founder of the Kohl's department stores chain, of which he went on to become president and chief executive officer. He purchased the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association in 1985 to prevent the team from relocating out of Milwaukee. He is also the namesake of the Kohl Center arena on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus.

Much more at Wikipedia



RE: Obituaries - pbrower2a - 01-27-2024

Hermann Rudolph Konrad Baumann[1] (1 August 1934 – 29 December 2023) was a German horn player who was a pioneer of the natural horn in the revival of both Baroque and Classical period music. He was a principal hornist of leading orchestras, and made an international career as a soloist. He made recordings such as Mozart's Horn Concertos on a natural horn with Nikolaus Harnoncourt* and the first recording of Ligeti's 1982 Horn Trio, which he had premiered. Baumann was professor of horn at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen from 1969 for around 30 years.
Biography[edit]
[Image: 220px-Hermann_Baumann_Trossingen_1980-19...161940.jpg]Baumann in 1980
Baumann started his musical career as a singer and jazz drummer. He switched to horn at the age of 17.[1][2] He studied with Fritz Huth at the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg and then played principal horn in orchestras for 12 years,[2] including the Dortmunder Philharmoniker and the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra,[1] where he served from 1961 to 1967.[3]
His career as a soloist started in 1964 when he won first prize in the ARD International Music Competition in Munich.[2] He was a pioneer of the revival of performance on the natural horn, both the Baroque or the Classical period.[2] In 1999, the Historic Brass Society honored him with the Christopher Monk Award for his lifelong contribution to music on historic instruments.[1][2]
Baumann commissioned new compositions from Jean-Luc DarbellayBernhard Krol [de] and Hans-Georg Pflüger [de].[1] He played the world premiere of Ligeti's Horn Trio[1][4] to the composer's approval. He composed works himself, such as Elegia for Handhorn solo.[1]
Baumann taught at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen from 1969[3] for 30 years[1][2] and at horn conventions around the world.[1] His tone was described as expressive and singing, with good and secure intonation.[1][3] The quality of human singing was partly achieved by a specific vibrato, adequate in lyrical passages.[5] He advised his students to sing a theme first before playing it on the horn.[4]

More at Wikipedia

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Baumann_(musician)][/url]*I thoroughly love that recording -- pbrower2a



RE: Obituaries - pbrower2a - 01-27-2024

Antone Kimball Romney (August 15, 1925 – December 29, 2023) was an American social sciences professor and one of the founders of cognitive anthropology.[citation needed] He spent most of his career at the University of California, Irvine.[1]
Romney was born in Rexburg, Idaho on August 15, 1925. He received his B.A. from Brigham Young University (1947) in sociology, his M.A. from Brigham Young University (1948) also in sociology, his Ph.D. from Harvard University (1956) in Social Anthropology, Social Relations Department. 1955‑56 Assistant Professor, at the University of Chicago. 1957‑60 Assistant Professor, Stanford University. 1960‑66 Associate Professor, Stanford University. 1960‑65 Director, Anthropological Research, Stanford University. 1966‑68 Professor, Harvard University. 1969‑71 Dean, School of Social Sciences, University of California, Irvine. 1969-1995 Professor, University of California, Irvine. 1995- Research Professor, University of California, Irvine. 1956‑57 Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford. 1994 - Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 1995- Member, National Academy of Sciences.[2]
Romney married Afton Romaine Barber on June 30, 1945, in Denver, Colorado. Romaine died in Irvine, California on December 27, 2022, at the age of 97.[3] Romney died on December 29, 2023 at the age of 98.[4]