Obituaries

[gabrielle]

Just discovered this guy--he was brilliant!  And it looks like we missed noting his passing on this obit thread, I checked back, so...

Quote:Richard Grayson (March 25, 1941 – July 3, 2016) was an American composer and pianist.

Born in New York on March 25, 1941 (Anon. 2016a; Anon. 2016b). He received his PhD in composition from UCLA in 1969—only the third person to receive a UCLA music Ph.D., after Michael Zearott and Edward Applebaum (Wager 1989)—and in the same year joined the music faculty of Occidental College, where he taught until his retirement in 2001. His 32 years of annual keyboard improvisation concerts, in which he improvised based on audience requests, were a highlight of that college's concert season (Tranquada 2016).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Gr...(composer)

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Heather Menzies, actress.

Heather Menzies-Urich (December 3, 1949 – December 24, 2017)[1] was a Canadian-American model and actress, known for her roles as Louisa von Trapp in the 1965 film The Sound of Music[2] and Jessica 6 in the TV series Logan's Run.[3]
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[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Menzies]More here from Wikipedia.


[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Menzies#cite_note-3][/url]

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Rose Marie (Mazzetta), actress.


In the 1960–1961 season, Rose Marie co-starred with Shirley Bonne, Elaine Stritch, Jack Weston, Raymond Bailey, and Stubby Kaye in the CBS sitcom My Sister Eileen.[9] She played Bertha, a friend of the Sherwood sisters: Ruth, a magazine writer, played by Stritch, and Eileen, an aspiring actress, Bonne's role.

After five seasons (1961–1966) as Sally Rogers on The Dick Van Dyke Show, Rose Marie co-starred in two seasons (1969–1971) of CBS's The Doris Day Show as Doris Martin's friend and coworker, Myrna Gibbons. She also appeared in two episodes of the NBC series The Monkees in the mid-1960s. She later had a semi-regular seat in the upper center square on the original version of The Hollywood Squares, alongside her longtime friend and Dick Van Dyke co-star, Morey Amsterdam. She also appeared on both the 1986 and 1998 syndicated revivals.

Rose Marie performed on three 1966 and 1967 episodes of The Dean Martin Show variety series on NBC and also twice (1964 and 1968) on The Hollywood Palace on ABC.

In the mid-1970s, she portrayed, in recurring fashion, Hilda, who brought fresh doughnuts, made coffee for the team, and provided some comic relief on the police drama S.W.A.T..[8]
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In the early 1990s, she had a recurring role as Frank Fontana's mother on the CBS sitcom Murphy Brown. She appeared as Roy Biggins's domineering mother, Eleanor "Bluto" Biggins, in an episode of the television series Wings. Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam appeared together in an October 1993 episode of Herman's Head and guest-starred in a February 1996 episode of the NBC sitcom Caroline in the City, shortly before Amsterdam's death in October of that same year.

She appeared with the surviving Dick Van Dyke Show cast members in a 2004 reunion special. Rose Marie was especially close to actor Richard Deacon from that show and offered him the suits left behind when her husband died in 1964, as the two men were of similar height and build.




[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Marie]More on a high-profile TV actress from her time.

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Widow of the late Spanish dictator Francisco Franco:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Fra..._of_Franco

[Eric the Green]

Erica Garner, 27, died of an asthma and heart attack. Daughter of Eric Garner, whom NY police murdered and got away with it, led protests and became an activist.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/...death-dies

Erica Garner became a prominent figure calling for an end to police brutality, as her father's last words became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement. She began staging weekly "die-ins" on the sidewalk in front of a beauty supply store in Staten Island, the site where the New York City police officer put her father in the fatal chokehold.

A grand jury did not indict any officers in Eric Garner's death, sparking more protests across the country. The coroner's report lists his death as a homicide, but no officer has ever been charged in the case. In 2015, the city of New York settled with his family for $5.9 million.

In 2016, Erica Garner endorsed Bernie Sanders for president and was the focus of a video ad for the candidate. She told NPR's Rachel Martin that she supported the Vermont senator because of his record of standing with black people.

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Thomas Monson, Mormon cleric

Thomas Spencer Monson (August 21, 1927 – January 2, 2018) was an American religious leader, author, and the sixteenth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). As president, he was considered by adherents of the religion to be a "prophet, seer, and revelator." Monson's early career was as a manager at the Deseret News, a Utah newspaper owned by the LDS Church. He spent most of his life engaged in various church leadership positions and public service.

Monson was ordained an LDS apostle at age 36, served in the First Presidency under three church presidents and was the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from March 12, 1995, until he became President of the Church on February 3, 2008.[1] He succeeded Gordon B. Hinckley as church president.[2][3]
Monson received four honorary doctorate degrees, as well as the Boy Scouts of America's Silver Buffalo and the World Organization of the Scout Movement's Bronze Wolf—both awards are the highest awards in each organization. He was a member of the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America, the organization's governing body.[4]
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Monson was chairman of the Boards of Trustees/Education of the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Educational_System]Church Educational System, and Ronald Reagan appointed him to the U.S. President's Task Force for Private Sector Initiatives.


More here from Wikipedia.

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Sue Taylor Grafton (April 24, 1940 – December 28, 2017) was an American author of detective novels. She is best known as the author of the "alphabet series" ("A" Is for Alibi, etc.) featuring private investigator Kinsey Millhone in the fictional city of Santa Teresa, California. The daughter of detective novelist C. W. Grafton, she said the strongest influence on her crime novels was author Ross Macdonald. Before her success with this series, she wrote screenplays for television movies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_Grafton

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Ulrich K. "Ricky" Wegener (22 August 1929 – 28 December 2017) was a German police officer and founding member of the counter-terrorist force GSG 9.

Wegener was born in Jüterbog, Brandenburg. He was conscripted into the Luftwaffe as a 15-year-old during the final days of World War II and spent a brief period as a prisoner in a US POW camp at the end of the war.[2] After 1945 Brandenburg, Wegener's home state, fell within the borders of Communist East Germany. In the early 1950s Wegener was arrested for the illegal distribution of dissident pamphlets within East Germany and was imprisoned for one year.[3] In 1952 Wegener moved to West Germany and participated in entrance examinations for the Officer Candidate School of the German Armed Forces.

Colonel Wegener was the Bundesgrenzschutz (Federal Border Protection) liaison officer for German Interior Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher at the time of the Munich Olympics. Wegener witnessed the botched attempt to rescue the Israeli hostages held by Palestinian terrorists at Munich in 1972 and was subsequently assigned to create an elite counter-terrorist unit by the West German government after the disaster.

Counter-terrorist units were still a relatively unheard of form of combating terrorism and the only truly established groups at the time were Britain's Special Air Service and Israel's Sayeret Matkal. To this end, Colonel Wegener trained with both groups, assimilating many of their methods into the doctrine he would establish for the GSG 9.[4] Wegener’s time with the SAS is well documented, but his training with the Sayeret (and alleged participation in the rescue of the Israeli hostages in the Operation Entebbe) is less publicized.[1]

Main article: Lufthansa Flight 181
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Wegener was the GSG 9 commander at the liberation of the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostage]hostages of the PFLP on the Boeing 737 Landshut, operated by Lufthansa as flight 181, in Mogadishu, Somalia, in the night from 17 to 18 October 1977. Wegener, at the head of one group, blew open the front door of the aircraft as the German commandos stormed the plane. Two terrorists were killed, one was fatally wounded and the fourth was captured alive. Having both planned and led the successful operation to liberate the hostages of the Lufthansa 181 hijacking Wegener was awarded the German Commander's Cross of the Federal Cross of Merit (Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz).[5]

After his retirement from GSG 9 Wegener worked as an advisor for the creation of counter-terrorism units of foreign countries, e.g. in Saudi Arabia.[2] Wegener was a member of the Security Committee.[6]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulrich_Wegener

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Jerry Van Dyke, comedian (and brother of the more famous Dick Van Dyke)

Jerry McCord Van Dyke (July 27, 1931 – January 5, 2018) was an American comedian and actor, as well as the younger brother of Dick Van Dyke.[1]

He made his television acting debut on The Dick Van Dyke Show with several guest appearances as Rob Petrie's brother, Stacey. Later in his career from 1989 to 1997, he portrayed Luther Van Dam on the ABC sitcom Coach.[1]


an Dyke pursued his stand-up comedy career while still in Danville High School, and was already a veteran of strip joints and nightclubs when he joined the United States Air Force Tops In Blue in 1954 and 1955.[4][5] During the mid-1950s, Van Dyke worked at WTHI-TV in Terre Haute, Indiana.[6] The Jerry Van Dyke Show, which included future CBS News Early Show news anchor Joseph Benti, Nancee South and Ben Falber, was popular fare.[5] In the service, he performed at military bases around the world, twice winning the All Air Force Talent Show.[6]

Following his first guest appearances on The Dick Van Dyke Show and two others on CBS's The Ed Sullivan Show, CBS made him a regular on The Judy Garland Show.[7] He was also given hosting chores on the 1963 game show Picture This.[5] In that same year, movie audiences saw him in supporting roles in the films McLintock!, Palm Springs Weekend and The Courtship of Eddie's Father.[6]

In 1963, Van Dyke was cast on an episode of the CBS anthology series GE True, hosted by Jack Webb.[8] When The Judy Garland Show was unsuccessfully revamped, Van Dyke left the program.[9] He turned down the offer to play Gilligan on Gilligan's Island, a role which went instead to Bob Denver.[8] He rejected as well an offer to replace Don Knotts as Sheriff Andy Taylor's deputy on The Andy Griffith Show.[8] Van Dyke finally accepted the lead role of attorney David Crabtree in the short-lived sitcom, My Mother the Car (1965), the misadventures of a man whose deceased mother Gladys (voiced by Ann Sothern) is reincarnated as a restored antique car.[5] Although the series was a commercial failure, Van Dyke continued to work steadily in supporting television and film roles through the rest of the decade.[5] He starred in another short-lived situation comedy, Accidental Family (1967), as widowed comedian Jerry Webster who buys a farm to raise his son while he is not away on professional tours.[7]
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He also was featured in the film Love and Kisses (1965) and as Andy Griffith's co-star in Angel in My Pocket (1969).[8]
During the 1970s, Van Dyke returned to stand-up comedy. He spent much of the decade touring Playboy Clubs around the country and headlining venues in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada, Summerfest in Milwaukee, and in Atlantic City, New Jersey.[2] He returned to television for guest appearances on Love, American Style and Fantasy Island.[8] In 1973, he portrayed Wes Callison, News Writer, on the season four episode, "Son of 'But Seriously, Folks'" on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.[10] He also had roles in The Amazing Cosmic Awareness of Duffy Moon (1976) and 13 Queens Boulevard (1979).[10]

In 1988, he made a guest appearance on [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Baio]Scott Baio's sitcom Charles in Charge as Jamie Powell's health teacher, Mr. Merkin.[10] In 1989, Van Dyke began portraying Luther Van Dam, a beloved, yet befuddled assistant coach on the long-running series Coach.[9] For this role, he received four consecutive Emmy Award nominations (1990 through 1993) for "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series".[9]

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Thomas J. Bopp (October 15, 1949 – January 6, 2018) was an American astronomer best known as the co-discoverer of comet Hale–Bopp (with Alan Hale) in 1995.[1] At the time of the comet discovery he was a manager at a construction materials factory and an amateur astronomer. On the night of July 22, Bopp was observing the sky with friends in the Arizona desert when he made the discovery. It was the first comet he had observed and he was using a borrowed, home-built telescope.[2][3] Hale and Bopp both discovered the comet by chance at approximately the same time.



n 1980 Bopp moved to Phoenix, Arizona to work in the parts department of a construction company and continued to attend astronomy clubs in the local area. He joined the North Phoenix Alternative Astronomical Society, an unofficial group of enthusiasts founded by Kevin Gill who met up to observe in the Arizona desert.[9] At this time Bopp was making use of a telescope belonging to close friend Jim Stevens, a 17.5-inch reflecting telescope.[10] On the night of July 22, 1995, eight members of the club met at an undisclosed spot near Vekol Ranch, ninety miles south of Phoenix[9][11] and as usual Stevens and Bopp were sharing time looking through Stevens's telescope. Stevens had set up his newest home-built telescope[3] and decided to look for globular clusters.[12] Stevens lined up Messier 70 (M70) in the constellation Sagittarius and called Bopp over to look. At around 11 p.m. Bopp looked into the telescope and said, "What's this other object?"[9] Stevens replied, "You might have something there, Tom."[2] On the same night, professional astronomer and experienced comet observer Alan Hale had spotted the same thing at his home in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, while he was killing time waiting for Comet d'Arrest to appear.[11] Bopp, on the other hand, had never seen a comet before.[2][13] Bopp and his friends checked star charts and watched the object for an hour to determine whether it was moving. Bopp and another member of the group, Bertie Sanden, made drawings of its position in relation to other nearby dim stars[12] and, on discovering the movement, Bopp attempted to contact the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams at the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the organization that records all astronomical sightings and names them, to officially log his findings. Discovering his cell phone had no coverage in the desert he drove towards home, stopping at a public payphone before realizing he didn't have the phone number.[9] At home again, Bopp finally reported the sighting by telegram to the IAU.[10] Bopp had taken the institute's name literally and sent a telegram via Western Union. Hale had already sent three emails with the comet's coordinates.[2]
Bopp later acknowledged the chance discovery,
“
I never seriously thought I would find anything like that. The chances of me discovering a bright comet, something that occurs once every 20 years or so, were astronomically small.[3]
”
The following morning at 8:25am the office of Brian Marsden, director of the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, called him back to confirm the sighting was indeed a comet.[3] The comet was given the formal name Comet 1995 O1, and three days later its full title C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp),[10][14] designating the first comet found during the second half-month of July 1995.[15] Hale's name precedes Bopp's because his was the first report to arrive.[16] It is uncertain who was the first to discover it, as they both spotted it at around the same time.[13] The following day Hale phoned Bopp to introduce himself with the words, "I think that we have something in common." When they met at a conference two months later, Bopp admitted to the press that Hale "turned out to be a nice guy."[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bopp

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Another astronaut from the lunar-exploration era.

John Watts Young (September 24, 1930 – January 5, 2018) was an American astronaut, naval officer and aviator, test pilot, and aeronautical engineer. He became the ninth person to walk on the Moon as Commander of the Apollo 16 mission in 1972. Young enjoyed the longest career of any astronaut, becoming the first person to fly six space missions (with seven launches, counting his lunar liftoff) over the course of 42 years of active NASA service.[1] He was the only person to have piloted, and been commander of, four different classes of spacecraft: Gemini, the Apollo Command/Service Module, the Apollo Lunar Module, and the Space Shuttle.[2]

In 1965, Young flew on the first manned Gemini mission, and commanded another Gemini mission the next year. In 1969 during Apollo 10, he became the first person to fly solo around the Moon.[3] He drove the Lunar Roving Vehicle on the Moon's surface during Apollo 16, and is one of only three people to have flown to the Moon twice.[4] He also commanded two Space Shuttle flights, including its first launch in 1981, and served as Chief of the Astronaut Office from 1974 to 1987. Young retired from NASA in 2004. He died on January 5, 2018.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Young_(astronaut)

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Of course it is Franz Schubert who was the star.... but cataloging one of the greatest and most prolific composers is important in itself.


Walther Dürr (27 April 1932 – 6 January 2018) was a German musicologist. He is especially known for his research of the work of Franz Schubert. From 1965 to 1997 Dürr was editor of the Neue Schubert-Ausgabe, with particular responsibility for the 14 volumes of lieder.[1][2]

Born in Berlin, Dürr studied from 1951 musicology and German and Romance studies in Berlin and Tübingen. He gained a PhD in 1956. Further studies and teaching lead him to Bologna and back to Tübingen. He also taught at the universities of Stuttgart, Freiburg, and Bern.
Besides his musicology work, Dürr worked as music critic, editor of numerous magazines, and as a translator of opera librettos.
Dürr died in Tübingen, age 85 years.[3]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walther_D%C3%BCrr

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Klansman who orchestrated Mississippi Burning killings dies in prison

Edgar Ray Killen — the Klansman who orchestrated one of the nation’s most notorious mass killings, the slayings of three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964 — has died.

In 2005, a jury convicted Killen on three counts of manslaughter in the June 21, 1964, deaths of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner and sentenced him to 60 years in prison.

In 2014, each of the families of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner received the President Medal of Freedom.

Schwerner's widow, Rita Bender, said, "It is tragic for the country that in all these years Preacher Killen could not bring himself to acknowledge his orchestration of these senseless murders. Perhaps even more troubling is that the racism which fueled the violence of many murders all those years ago presently remains a part of our nation’s discourse, and is encouraged at the highest levels of government."

Chaney’s daughter, Angela Lewis, said she is praying for the Killen family and that she knows of the pain of death because of what she experienced with her mother.

“I pray to God that Edgar Ray repented and that he had peace with God,” she said. “My ultimate desire is when I get to heaven and meet my dad for the first time, I pray that my dad and I could embrace Edgar Ray.”

In the years after his conviction, Killen remained defiant in interviews with The Guardian, the Associated Press and the Greenwood Commonwealth, insisting he would be exonerated and freed from prison.

David Goodman said that "the history of this country has a shadow over it because this case and many others like it have never been resolved to bring justice to these families and especially black citizens who were murdered and killed because of white supremacy and racism. That’s what Edgar Ray Killen’s life was about in an important way, and we’re still dealing today with white nationalism."

More here from the Jackson (Mississippi) Clarion-Ledger

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Sportscaster Keith Jackson

Keith Max Jackson (October 18, 1928 – January 12, 2018)[2] was an American sportscaster, known for his career with ABC Sports (1966–2006), his intelligent yet folksy coverage of college football (1952–2006), and his distinctive voice,[3] with its deep cadence and operatic tone considered "like Edward R. Murrow reporting on World War II, the voice of ultimate authority in college football."[4]
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Notable broadcasts


1950s

• September 20, 1958: Earliest surviving film of a Keith Jackson broadcast (college football game between Washington State College (later University and Stanford University ).[35]
  

1970s

• September 21, 1970: First Monday Night Football game Browns beat the Jets[36][37]
  
• 1971 Daytona 500: Richard Petty won his 3rd Daytona 500.[38]
  
• September 25, 1971: Carlos Monzón of Argentina stops Emile Griffith of the Virgin Islands in the 14th round to retain the Middleweight Championship of the World[39]
  
• 1972 NBA Finals: Los Angeles Lakers won the title.[40]
  
• 1972 Summer Olympics: U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz wins seven gold medals [36]
  
• May 25, 1974: Rodrigo Valdez of Colombia knocks out Bennie Briscoe of Philadelphia in the 7th round to become the new Middleweight Champion of the World[41]
  
• November 30, 1974: #6 USC vs. #5 Notre Dame – The "Earthquake Game"[42]
  
• 1975 Indianapolis 500: Bobby Unser won the race that was shortened by rain.[38]
  
• 1976 Summer Olympics[43]
  
• 1976 American League Championship Series: New York Yankees vs. Kansas City Royals (including Chris Chambliss' series-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 5 off of Mark Littell)[37]
  
• October 22, 1977: #5 USC vs. #11 Notre Dame – The "Green Jersey Game"[37]
  
• 1977 World Series: New York Yankees vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (including Reggie Jackson's 3 homers on 3 pitches).[44]
  
• October 2, 1978: AL East Playoff – New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox (Bucky Dent's HR). [36]
  
• December 29, 1978: Gator Bowl – Ohio State vs. Clemson (Woody Hayes' infamous last game)[45]
  
• January 1, 1979: Sugar Bowl – #2 Alabama vs. #1 Penn State[37]
  

1980s

• January 1, 1981: Sugar Bowl: #1 Georgia vs. #4 Notre Dame.[46]
  
• 1980 Winter Olympics: U.S. speed skater Eric Heiden wins five gold medals. [36]
  
• November 28, 1981: Iron Bowl Alabama 28 vs. Auburn 17 – Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant wins his 315th collegiate game as a head coach, surpassing Amos Alonzo Stagg as college football's winningest coach. [47]
  
• October 17, 1981: Arkansas Razorbacks routed the #1 Texas Longhorns 42-11.
  
• January 1, 1983: Sugar Bowl – #1 Georgia vs. #2 Penn State.[48]
  
• 1984 Summer Olympics: The USA basketball team, led by Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing, wins gold.[13]
  
• October 27, 1984: West Virginia 17 vs. #19 Penn State 14.
  
• 1986 National League Championship Series: New York Mets vs. Houston Astros (included the 16-inning Game 6).[44]
  
• November 30, 1985: Iron Bowl Alabama 25 vs Auburn 23 – "The Kick"[37]
  
• May 17, 1987: NASCAR The Winston won by Dale Earnhardt ("The Pass in the Grass")[38]
  
• December 5, 1987: NCAA Basketball, #5 Indiana vs. #2 Kentucky, Bank One/Big Four Classic (with Dick Vitale).
  
• November 26, 1988: #1 Notre Dame vs. #2 USC.
  
• February 19, 1989: NCAA Basketball, Indiana Hoosiers vs. Michigan Wolverines. Jay Edwards' last-second shot to beat Michigan (with Dick Vitale).
  
• September 16, 1989: #1 Notre Dame vs. #2 Michigan.
  

1990s

• May 27, 1990: Monaco Grand Prix won by Ayrton Senna (Last auto race broadcast with Jackie Stewart)[38]
  
• November 16, 1991: #2 Miami vs. #1 Florida State (a.k.a. "Wide Right I"). [36]
  
• November 23, 1991: #4 Michigan vs. #18 Ohio State [36][37]
  
• January 1, 1992: Rose Bowl – #2 Washington vs. #3 Michigan (Washington won a split national championship)
  
• January 1, 1993: Sugar Bowl – #2 Alabama vs. #1 Miami for the national championship [47]
  
• September 24, 1994: Colorado at Michigan, The Miracle at Michigan [36]
  
• January 2, 1997: Sugar Bowl – #1 Florida State vs. #3 Florida for the national championship
  
• January 1, 1998: Rose Bowl – Michigan 21, Washington State 16 (With this game Michigan won a share of the 1997 national championship)
  
• January 4, 1999: Fiesta Bowl – #1 Tennessee 23, #2 Florida State 16 in the first BCS National Championship Game[49]
  

2000s

• January 4, 2002: Rose Bowl – Miami (FL) vs. Nebraska in 2002 BCS National Championship Game
  
• January 3, 2003: Fiesta Bowl – Miami (FL) vs. Ohio State in 2003 BCS National Championship Game [36]
  
• November 22, 2003: Ohio State at Michigan (100th meeting)
  
• October 8, 2005: Oklahoma vs. Texas (100th meeting)[50]
  
• January 4, 2006: Rose Bowl – Texas vs. USC in 2006 BCS National Championship Game [36]
  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Jackson


from ESPN/ABC Sports

It was 1952 when Keith Jackson broadcast, on radio, his first college football game -- Stanford at Washington State. Stanford won 14-13 when the Cougar holder fumbled the snap for the extra point. And 48 seasons later, Keith Jackson is still having fun at the college football stadium and still sees Walter Mitty on occasional Saturdays. When ABC Sports acquired the broadcast rights for NCAA football in 1966, Jackson was a member of the announcing corps; and going into the first season of the new century he is still a member of the ABC corps, though his work is primarily the Pac-10 Conference. Keith says, "Travel was the devil that convinced" him that "ONE TIME ZONE equaled longevity." He is not convinced 72 years has anything to do with it. At the close of 1999, Keith Jackson was awarded the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame Gold Medal, its highest honor; and named to the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame, the first broadcaster accorded these distinguished honors. Another first for Jackson was the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award from the American Football Coaches Association; and he was named National Sportscaster of the Year five successive times by the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association. He is in the NSSA Hall of Fame, The National Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame and the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Jackson's career highlights include 10 Winter and Summer Olympics, in which he covered the two greatest gold medal winners in the history of the Olympic Games. In 1972, Mark Spitz won seven gold medals in swimming and in 1980, Eric Heiden won five individual gold medals in speedskating. He has worked eleven World Series and League Championship Series in baseball; NBA basketball in the '60s and '70s; auto racing, including NASCAR, USAC, and Formula One, including seven Grand Prix of Monaco races. Jackson has covered many different kinds of events for "ABC's Wide World of Sports," with travels to 31 different countries. In 1958, while at KOMO Radio and Television in Seattle, he did the first live sports broadcast from the Soviet Union to the United States. Jackson spent 10 years at ABC affiliate KOMO in Seattle in news, sports and production. He moved from KOMO to ABC Radio West as sports director in 1964 and continued freelance work with ABC Sports before becoming full-time in 1966. He also worked as a radio news correspondent during those years. In 1965, he worked a baseball telecast with Jackie Robinson in the afternoon and covered the Watts riots that same night in Los Angeles. Jackson was born and raised on a farm near the Georgia-Alabama state line. He served four years in the U.S. Marines, including time in China. He attended Washington State College with the intent to study police and political science, but graduated with a degree in broadcast journalism, learning his trade in the same studios that produced Edward R. Murrow, among others in the broadcast industry. Keith and his wife of 48 years, Turi Ann, reside in Sherman Oaks, California. They have three children -- Melanie Ann, Lindsey and Christopher. They also have two grandchildren, Ian McKenzie and Holly Elizabeth. 

[url=http://static.espn.go.com/abcsports/bcs/columns/jackson_keith/bio.html]from ESPN

Between Dick Enberg and Keith Jackson, the angels must have decided that they needed some sportscasters.

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Another 'first black woman'

Frankie Muse Freeman (born Marie Frankie Muse; November 24, 1916 – January 12, 2018)[1] was an American civil rights attorney, and the first woman to be appointed to the United States Commission on Civil Rights (1964-79), a federal fact-finding body that investigates complaints alleging discrimination. Freeman was instrumental in creating the Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights founded in 1982. She was a practicing attorney in State and Federal courts for nearly sixty years.

In 2007, Freeman was inducted in the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, Atlanta, Georgia, for her leadership role in the Civil Rights Movement.[2]
On February 5, 2015, President Barack Obama appointed Freeman to serve as a Member of the Commission on Presidential Scholars.[3]


The daughter of William Brown Muse and Maude Beatrice Smith Muse, Frankie came from a college-educated family. She was born and grew up in Danville, Virginia, where she attended Westmoreland School and learned to play the piano. At age sixteen, Muse enrolled in her mother's alma mater, Hampton Institute, which she attended between 1933 and 1936. In 1944, she was admitted to Howard University Law School and received a law degree in 1947. While a student at Howard Law, Freeman became a member of Epsilon Sigma Iota sorority, the first American legal sorority for women of color.[citation needed]

In 1948, after writing to several law firms and not hearing back from them, Muse decided to establish her own private practice. She began her practice with pro bono, divorce and criminal cases. After two years, Freeman began her work in civil rights when she became legal counsel to the NAACP legal team that filed suit against the St. Louis Board of Education in 1949. In 1954, Freeman was the lead attorney for the landmark NAACP case Davis et al. v. the St. Louis Housing Authority, which ended legal racial discrimination in public housing with the city. Settling in St. Louis, Freeman worked as staff attorney for the St. Louis Land Clearance and Housing Authorities from 1956-70, first as associate general counsel and later as general counsel of the St. Louis Housing Authority.[citation needed]

In March 1964, she was nominated by President Lyndon Johnson as a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. On September 15, 1964, the Senate approved Freeman's nomination and she was officially appointed as the first black woman on the civil rights commission. Freeman was subsequently reappointed by presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, and held the position until July 1979.[citation needed]

She was appointed as Inspector General for the Community Services Administration during Jimmy Carter's presidential administration in 1979. A year later, the Republican Ronald Reagan was elected president and demanded the resignation of Democratic inspectors general appointed by previous presidents.[citation needed]

Freeman returned to St. Louis, where she practiced law. In 1982, Freeman joined 15 other former high federal officials who formed a bipartisan Citizens Commission on Civil Rights, a group committed to ending racial discrimination and devising remedies that would counteract its harmful effects.[4]
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At age 90, she was still practicing law with Montgomery Hollie & Associates, L.L.C. in St. Louis, a three-attorney firm. She had numerous volunteer activities, such as adult Sunday school classes at Washington Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church. She was on the board of the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Affairs_Councils_of_America]World Affairs Councils of America, St. Louis, with the mission to promote understanding, engagement, relationships, and leadership in world affairs.[citation needed]
In 2003, she published her memoir, A Song of Faith and Hope. She was the 14th National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. She turned 100 in November 2016.[5]

• Freeman received honorary doctorate degrees from several institutions to include Hampton University, University of Missouri–St. Louis, Saint Louis University,[7] Washington University in St. Louis and Howard University.[8]
  
• 1990: Inducted into the National Bar Association's Hall of Fame.
  
• 2011: Received the Spingarn Medal of the NAACP.
  
• 2014: Received the Spirit of Excellence Award from the American Bar Association Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession.[9][10]
  

Sister Freeman had the honor of having a statue erected in downtown St. Louis in Kiener Plaza, at 500 Chestnut Street, with an unveiling date of November 21, 2017. The honor was presented by the NAACP and had many patrons to include Washington Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church where Sister Freeman was an active member.[citation needed]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankie_Muse_Freeman

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Very old actress, largely forgotten now because she retired from screen acting in her late 30s in the early 1960s.  Important in her time enough to get high billing:

Bennie Jean Porter (December 8, 1922 – January 13, 2018) was an American film and television actress. She was notable for her roles in The Youngest Profession (1943), Bathing Beauty (1944), Abbott and Costello in Hollywood (1945), Till the End of Time (1946), Cry Danger (1951), and in The Left Hand of God (1956).

Porter was notable for her marriage with Edward Dmytryk, who was one of the Hollywood Ten, the most prominent blacklisted group in the film industry during the McCarthy-era.[1]



Porter was born in Cisco, Texas.[2] Porter was named the "Most Beautiful Baby" in Eastland County when she was 1.[1] At age 10, she had her own half-hour radio show on the WRR station in Fort Worth and landed a summer vaudeville job headlining with Ted Lewis and his band.[1]
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At the age of 12, Porter arrived at Hollywood and was discovered while taking dancing lessons at the Fanchon and Marco dancing school.[3] Porter was discovered by director Allan Dwan, who gave her an uncredited role in his musical Song and Dance Man (1936), starring Claire Trevor.[4]



Porter in the trailer for Twice Blessed (1945)

Beginning with a bit parts in movies such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938) and One Million B.C. (1940), she eventually established herself as an actress for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941.[5][6]

While never a big star, she was active throughout the 1940s, appearing in almost 30 motion pictures alongside MGM stars like Esther Williams, Mickey Rooney and the comedy duo Abbott & Costello.[1] In the 1950s, Porter appeared mainly in television series such as The Red Skelton Show, Sea Hunt, and 77 Sunset Strip.[3] She retired from acting in 1961.[1] MGM had loaned out Porter to RKO so she could step in for Till the End of Time.[3]

She was married to film director and writer Edward Dmytryk, who was one of the Hollywood Ten, the most prominent blacklisted group in the film industry during the McCarthy-era.[1] The two married May 12, 1948, in Ellicott City, Maryland.[7] They had three children.[8] Porter and Dmytyrk had fled to England in the late 1940s after he was blacklisted as one of the Hollywood Ten for refusing to answer charges that he was a communist.[1] They returned to the U.S. in 1951, and he served six months in prison for contempt of Congress.[3]

Porter wrote several books, including the unpublished The Cost of Living, about her and her husband; Chicago Jazz and Then Some, about their L.A. neighbor, jazz pianist [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jess_Stacy]Jess Stacy; and, with Dmytryk, On Screen Acting.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Porter

[gabrielle]

Dolores O'Riordan (6 September 1971 – 15 January 2018), musician, singer-songwriter, lead singer of the Cranberries, a popular Irish folk pop rock band of the 90s.

She died "suddenly" of "unexplained" causes.  The Cranberries were on a reunion tour in 2017, which was called off due to O'Riordan's ongoing back problems.

Dolores O’Riordan, Lead Singer of the Cranberries, Dies at 46

[gabrielle]

Another good one:

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Jo Jo White, Hall of Fame NBA player

Joseph Henry White (November 16, 1946 – January 16, 2018) was an American professional basketball player. As an amateur, he played basketball at the University of Kansas and represented the U.S. men's basketball team during the 1968 Summer Olympics. As a professional, he is best known for his ten-year stint with the Boston Celtics of the NBA, where he led the team towards two NBA championships and set a franchise record of 488 consecutive games played.[1] White was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.



After the Olympics, White was drafted in 1969 in the first round (9th pick overall)[19] by the NBA's Boston Celtics, who at that time had just won their 11th championship in 13 years.[20] There was some reluctance during the time of the draft as White had a mandatory two-year military commitment.[21] Then Boston general manager, Red Auerbach, was able to shorten White's commitment and allow him to participate in the 1969–70 NBA season. He later stated that his short stint helped him prepare for his first Celtics training camp,

Quote:"I was a Marine, so I had been through all the physical and mental challenges that comes with military training. Plus I was in excellent condition because of my military obligation, so I feel that this gave me an added advantage."[22]

White was also drafted by the Dallas Cowboys.[13]
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However, before White even reported to training camp, the Celtics' center and player-coach Bill Russell announced his retirement and cut ties to the organization.[23] Also, the team's long-time shooting guard Sam Jones would end his career, requiring White to replace those duties. With the sudden departure of Russell and Jones, White would endure a rebuilding season where the franchise experienced their first losing season (34–48)[24] since 1950[25] (the year before Red Auerbach was hired[26]). White made the All-NBA rookie team during the 1970 season.

The Celtics got back on track by drafting Dave Cowens, trading for Paul Silas, retaining veteran John Havlicek, and hiring coach Tommy Heinsohn. With White leading the attack from the point guard position, the team returned to its winning ways in 1971. He was an All-Star for seven straight years from 1971 through 1977, finishing in the top ten in the league in assists from 1973–1977. In 1972, he participated in the now-defunct NBA One-on-One 16-man tournament where he reached the championship (which occurred during halftime of Game 5 of the Finals) and faced 6'11" Detroit Piston Bob Lanier, who used his eight-inch height advantage to win the $15,000 prize.[27]
In 1974, White and the Celtics reached the 1974 NBA Finals. They would face the Milwaukee Bucks who were returning with their championship-winning core from the 1971 NBA Finals, including future Hall of Fame members Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson. With the Bucks starting point guard, Lucius Allen, injured at the onset of the playoffs, White would lead a small, quick line-up (featuring undersized, All-Star Cowens at Center) towards the first Celtics championship in the Post-Russell era.[28] The following season, White led the Celtics in minutes in a season where they would finish 1st in NBA Atlantic Division with a 60–22 record but lost the Eastern Conference Finals.[29]
In 1976, White was part of a dominant Celtics squad which featured 5 veterans averaging double-digit scoring.[30] During the playoffs, White led the Celtics to the NBA championship and was a starring player in what is often referred to as "the greatest game ever played"[31][32][33][34] in NBA history. In the triple overtime win against the Phoenix Suns in game 5 of those finals, White was the game's high scorer with 33 points, had a game high 9 assists, leading the Celtics to a 128–126 win. Logging 60 minutes of play time, only the Suns' Garfield Heard (61) played more minutes. White was named the most valuable player of the 1976 NBA Finals.[35]

White went on to become one of professional basketball's first "iron men", playing in all 82 games for five consecutive seasons during the 1970s and setting a franchise record of 488 consecutive games played. White suffered an injury during the 1977–78 season.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Jo_White#cite_note-36][36] With the end of the streak, White and the aging Celtics became a less effective squad and followed their championship with an exit from playoff semifinals in 1977 and then two losing seasons.[citation needed]

Unable to retain his all-star form following the injury, White was traded by the Celtics to the Golden State Warriors in the middle of the 1978–79 NBA season. Boston Globe writer Bob Ryan described the tension leading to the White's trade from Boston [37]

Quote:"...being a Celtic, and, specifically, being a part of the Celtic mystique, meant a lot to Jo Jo White. In fact, being a part of the Celtics family and being able to come in and exchange quips with Red Auerbach and being able to identify oneself as a "Celtic" probably meant more to Jo Jo White than to any Celtic in the modern (i.e. post-Russell) era. Circumstances dictated that he leave, but leaving Boston was far from painless."

White would retire in 1981 with the Kansas City Kings. He returned to the Jayhawks as an assistant coach from 1982–83. In 1987 at the age of 41, White attempted a professional comeback as a player-assistant coach with the Topeka Sizzlers of the Continental Basketball Association.[38]

http://generational-theory.com/forum/new...rocessed=1

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He made the predecessor of the Internet (then the ARPANET) international by creating its first node outside the USA (in Norway):

Pål Spilling (October 24, 1934 – January 16, 2018[1]) was a Norwegian Internet pioneer and professor at the University of Oslo and the UNIK Graduate Center at Kjeller in Norway.

He obtained his cand.real. degree in physics from the University of Oslo in 1963. In January 1964 he started on a PhD program at Utrecht University in The Netherlands, and finished his degree in summer 1968 in experimental low-energy neutron physics. Subsequently he joined the nuclear physics group at Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands. In January 1972 Spilling joined the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (NDRE) at Kjeller in Norway, and in 1974 started working on computer networks under the leadership of Yngvar Lundh at NDRE in collaboration with the DARPA-funded research program on packet switching and Internet technology in USA.
The first ARPANET node outside USA was established at Kjeller, Norway in June 1973 for the NDRE researchers, and by the end of July 1973, an ARPANET node was also set up in the U.K. at the University College London. Spilling visited Professor Peter Kirstein's research group at UCL in 1974 and worked with Vint Cerf, then junior assistant professor at Stanford University, on the then proposed Transmission Control Protocol conducting the first TCP tests between different implementations.

During the next few years Spilling also participated in the development of the Internet Protocol and other early computer network protocols. He was visiting scientist at SRI International at Stanford University in 1979/80, where he worked on the Packet Radio program. Spilling left NDRE in August 1982 to join the former Research Department of the Norwegian Telecommunications Administration (NTA-RD), also at Kjeller. The NDRE ARPANET node followed Spilling to NTA-RD, and became a dooropener to packet switching and real time international communications for Norwegian research and academic communities. At NTA-RD Spilling also worked on communications security and the combination of Internet technology and fiber-optic transmission networks.[2]

In 1993 Spilling became professor at Department of informatics, University of Oslo and UNIK, the University Graduate Center at Kjeller. Pål Spilling was internationally recognised for his role in the development of the Internet. His name is engraved in a bronze plaque roll of honour of Internet pioneers at Stanford University.

In 1988, ARPANET saw its first widespread infection by self-replicating code: Morris, a worm that could install multiple copies of itself on the same computer, causing infected systems to grind to a halt. As the Morris worm began to spread in the United States, Spilling's American colleagues called to warn him. Faced with a threat to his nation's entire network of computers, he acted quickly and disconnected Norway from the rest of the Internet, which at the time could be done by unplugging a single cable.[3][4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A5l_Spilling