Obituaries

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Johnny Mandel


John Alfred Mandel (November 23, 1925 – June 29, 2020)[1][2] was an American composer and arranger of popular songs, film music and jazz. The musicians he worked with include Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Anita O'Day, Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Diane Schuur and Shirley Horn.
Mandel composed, conducted and arranged the music for numerous movie sound tracks. His earliest credited contribution was to I Want to Live! in 1958, which was nominated for a Grammy.
Mandel's other compositions include "Suicide Is Painless"[3] (theme from the movie and TV series M*A*S*H), "Close Enough for Love", "Emily" and "A Time for Love" (nominated for an Academy Award). He wrote numerous film scores, including the score of The Sandpiper. The love theme for that film, "The Shadow of Your Smile", which he co-wrote with Paul Francis Webster, won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Original Song and the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1966.

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

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https://apnews.com/3f689015ae9bca5394eb2b471d946ce5

Hugh Downs, genial presence on TV news and game shows, dies
By DAVID BAUDER


Downs died of natural causes at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona, on Wednesday, said his great-niece, Molly Shaheen.

“The Guinness Book of World Records” recognized Downs as having logged more hours in front of the camera than any television personality until Regis Philbin passed him in 2004.

He worked on NBC’s “Today” and “Tonight” shows, the game show “Concentration,” co-hosted the ABC magazine show “20/20” with Barbara Walters and the PBS series “Over Easy” and “Live From Lincoln Center.”

https://apnews.com/3f689015ae9bca5394eb2b471d946ce5

[Eric the Green]

Carl Reiner and Alan Arkin perform the trailer for The Russians Are Coming, The Russians are Coming

[Tim Randal Walker]

The Russians are a nice bit of nostalgia.

I recall that I thought it hilarious when I first saw it many moons ago.

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Italian composer best known for film scores, Ennio Morricone:



Ennio Morricone, OMRI[1] (Italian: [ˈɛnnjo morriˈkoːne]; 10 November 1928 – 6 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and former trumpet player, writing in a wide range of musical styles. Morricone composed over 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as over 100 classical works. He started as a talented football player for A.S. Roma but quickly left the sport to follow his passion for music.[2] His score to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) is considered one of the most influential soundtracks in history[3] and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[4] His filmography includes over 70 award-winning films, including all Sergio Leone films (since A Fistful of Dollars), all Giuseppe Tornatore films (since Cinema Paradiso), The Battle of Algiers, Dario Argento's Animal Trilogy, 1900, Exorcist II, Days of Heaven, several major films in French cinema, in particular the comedy trilogy La Cage aux Folles I, II, III and Le Professionnel, as well as The Thing, The Mission, The Untouchables, Mission to Mars, Bugsy, Disclosure, In the Line of Fire, Bulworth, Ripley's Game and The Hateful Eight.[5]


After playing the trumpet in jazz bands in the 1940s, he became a studio arranger for RCA Victor and in 1955 started ghost writing for film and theatre. Throughout his career, he had composed music for artists such as Paul Anka, Mina, Milva, Zucchero and Andrea Bocelli. From 1960 to 1975, Morricone gained international fame for composing music for Westerns and—with an estimated 10 million copies sold—Once Upon a Time in the West is one of the best-selling scores worldwide.[6] From 1966 to 1980, he was a main member of Il Gruppo, one of the first experimental composers collectives, and in 1969 he co-founded Forum Music Village, a prestigious recording studio. From the 1970s, Morricone excelled in Hollywood, composing for prolific American directors such as Don Siegel, Mike Nichols, Brian De Palma, Barry Levinson, Oliver Stone, Warren Beatty, John Carpenter and Quentin Tarantino. In 1977, he composed the official theme for the 1978 FIFA World Cup. He continued to compose music for European productions, such as Marco Polo, La piovra, Nostromo, Fateless, Karol and En mai, fais ce qu'il te plait. Morricone's music has been reused in television series, including The Simpsons and The Sopranos, and in many films, including Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained. He also scored seven Westerns for Sergio Corbucci, Duccio Tessari's Ringo duology and Sergio Sollima's The Big Gundown and Face to Face. Morricone worked extensively for other film genres with directors such as Bernardo Bertolucci, Mauro Bolognini, Giuliano Montaldo, Roland Joffé, Roman Polanski and Henri Verneuil. His acclaimed soundtrack for The Mission (1986)[7] was certified gold in the United States. The album Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone stayed 105 weeks on the Billboard Top Classical Albums.[8]

Morricone's best-known compositions include "The Ecstasy of Gold", "Se Telefonando", "Man with a Harmonica", "Here's to You", the UK No. 2 single "Chi Mai", "Gabriel's Oboe" and "E Più Ti Penso". In 1971, he received a "Targa d'Oro" for worldwide sales of 22 million,[9] and by 2016 Morricone had sold over 70 million records worldwide.[10] In 2007, he received the Academy Honorary Award "for his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music." He has been nominated for a further six Oscars. In 2016, Morricone received his first competitive Academy Award for his score to Quentin Tarantino's film The Hateful Eight, at the time becoming the oldest person ever to win a competitive Oscar. His other achievements include three Grammy Awards, three Golden Globes, six BAFTAs, ten David di Donatello, eleven Nastro d'Argento, two European Film Awards, the Golden Lion Honorary Award and the Polar Music Prize in 2010. Morricone has influenced many artists from film scoring to other styles and genres, including Hans Zimmer,[11] Danger Mouse,[12] Dire Straits,[13] Muse,[14] Metallica,[15] and Radiohead.[16]

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

[beechnut79]

Charlie Daniels, classic country rock artists whose best known song “The Devil Went Down to Georgia “ topped both the country and pop charts in 1979. He was 83. Quintessential redneck artist who did much to promote that culture. Other hits included “Uneasy Rider” and “Long-Haired Country Boy”.

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Jazz double-bassist Cleveland Eaton:


Cleveland Josephus Eaton II (August 31, 1939 – July 5, 2020) was an American jazz double bassist, producer, arranger, composer, publisher, and head of his own record company in Fairfield, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham. His most famous accomplishments were playing with the Ramsey Lewis Trio and the Count Basie Orchestra. His 1975 recording Plenty Good Eaton is considered a classic in the funk music genre.[1] He has been inducted into both the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.[2][3][4][5]

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Eaton at a rehearsal before performing at the 2008 [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taste_of_4th_Avenue_Jazz_Festival]Taste of 4th Avenue Jazz Festival in Birmingham, Alabama

Eaton began studying music at the age of five, and by the time he was fifteen, he had mastered the piano, trumpet, and saxophone. He began playing bass when a teacher allowed him to take one home, spending nearly every waking hour learning the instrument. This led him to become what many called one of the most versatile and best jazz bassists in the business.[5][6] Eaton came from a music-loving family, including an elder sister who studied at both Fisk University and the Juilliard School of Music in New York. He was a student of John T. "Fess" Whatley, one of the most influential and well-known educators in American jazz music during the 1920s and 1930s. who also mentored Sun Ra and Erskine Hawkins.[7][8] Eaton played in a jazz group in college at Tennessee A & I State University, where he earned his bachelor's degree in music. He lent his talents to over 100 albums, and composed about three times as many songs.[6][2] After spending years on the road as a musician and arranger with a list of artists who form a virtual Who's Who of jazz, Eaton returned to Birmingham, Alabama, to join UAB's music department in 1996.[9]

Eaton played on notable recording sessions with John Klemmer, Ike Cole, Bunky Green, The Dells, Bobby Rush, Minnie Riperton, Jerry Butler and Rotary Connection, George Benson, Henry Mancini, Frank Sinatra, Joe Williams, Billy Eckstine, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald. Eaton was dubbed "the Count's Bassist" during his seventeen-year stint and over ten recordings with the Count Basie Orchestra. He has also performed with Nancy Wilson, Peggy Lee, Mimi Hines, Sammy Davis Jr., Julie London, Bobby Troup, Brook Benton, Lou Rawls, Nipsey Russell, Morgana King, Gloria Lynne, Herbie Hancock, Magic City Jazz Orchestra, The Platters, Temptations, and The Miracles. In 1974, he began performing and touring with his group Cleve Eaton and Co. In 2004 his group became Cleve Eaton and the Alabama All Stars.[2]

Eaton died on July 5, 2020, in Birmingham, Alabama. He was 80, and had been hospitalized during the last four months of his life.[10]

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

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France has its own Greatest Generation, itself fading.



Liliane Klein-Lieber (2 June 1924 – 8 July 2020) was a French resistance member.


She became in 1931 a member of the Eclaireuses et Eclaireurs israélites de France (EIF), a movement which would become her second family.[1]
During the Second World War, she was a social assistant [fr] in the Grenoble region and was a member of the French resistance. She found hideouts and provided false papers. During this period, she used the name Lyne Leclerc.[2][3][4][5] She received the "Lion de Bronze" (translated: Bronze Lion) in 2006 for her commitment to the service of this movement.[6]
Klein-Lieber died on 8 July 2020, aged 96.[1]

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Chinese-American virologist



Flossie Wong-Staal (August 27, 1947 – July 8, 2020), née Wong Yee Ching (Chinese: 黄以静; pinyin: Huáng Yǐjìng), was a Chinese-American virologist and molecular biologist. She was the first scientist to clone HIV and determine the function of its genes, which was a major step in proving that HIV is the cause of AIDS. From 1990 to 2002, she held the Florence Riford Chair in AIDS Research at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). She was co-founder and, after retiring from UCSD, she became the Chief Scientific Officer of Immusol, which was renamed iTherX Pharmaceuticals in 2007 when it transitioned to a drug development company focused on hepatitis C, and continued as Chief Scientific Officer


Her postdoctoral work continued until 1973, when she moved to Bethesda, Maryland to work for Robert Gallo at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). At the institute, Wong-Staal began her research into retroviruses.[5] In 1983, Wong-Staal, Gallo and her team of NCI scientists identified HIV as the cause of AIDS, simultaneously with Luc Montagnier. Two years later, Wong-Staal became the first researcher to clone HIV. She also completed genetic mapping of the virus which made it possible to develop HIV tests.[6] This led to the first genetic map of the virus, which aided in the development of blood tests for HIV.[7]

Research

In 1990, Wong-Staal recruited from NCI to the University of California, San Diego where she would start the Center for AIDS Research. Wong-Staal continued her research into HIV and AIDS at UCSD. Wong-Staal's research focused on gene therapy, using a ribozyme "molecular knife" to repress HIV in stem cells. The protocol she developed was the second to be funded by the United States government. In 1990 a team of researchers led by Wong-Staal studied the effects that the Tat protein within the viral strain HIV-1 would have on the growth of cells found within Kaposi’s sarcoma lesions commonly found in AIDS patients.[8]

The team of researchers performed tests on a variety of cells that carried the tat protein and observed the rate of cell proliferation in cells infected by HIV-1 and the control, a culture of healthy human endothelial cells.[9] Wong-Staal used a type of cellular analysis known as radioimmunoprecipitation in order to detect the presence of KS lesions in cells with varying amounts of the tat protein. The results of these tests showed that the amount of tat protein within a cell infected by HIV-1 is directly correlated to the amount of KS lesions a patient may have. These findings were essential in developing new treatments for HIV/AIDS patients who suffer from these dangerous lesions.[10]

Achievements
In 1994 she was named as chairman of UCSD's newly created Center for AIDS Research.[7] In that same year, Wong-Staal was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academies.[11]

In 2002, Wong-Staal retired from UCSD and accepted the title of Professor Emerita. She then joined Immusol, a biopharmaceutical company that she co-founded while she was at UCSD, as Chief Scientific Officer. Recognizing the need for improved drugs for hepatitis C (HCV), she transitioned Immusol to an HCV therapeutics focus and renamed it iTherX Pharmaceuticals.

That same year, Discover named Wong-Staal one of the fifty most extraordinary women scientists.[3] Wong-Staal remains as a Research Professor of Medicine at UCSD.[12]

In 2007, The Daily Telegraph heralded Dr. Wong-Staal as #32 of the "Top 100 Living Geniuses."[13]

For her contributions to science, the Institute for Scientific Information named Wong-Staal the top woman scientist of the 1980s.[2] In 2019, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.[14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flossie_Wong-Staal

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Detroit billionaire Matty Maroun

Quote:He owned the Ambassador Bridge, one of the busiest border crossings  between the United States (Detroit) and Canada (Windsor).

Manuel "Matty" Moroun, a Detroit native of Lebanese descent who took his father’s small cartage business and built it into a billion-dollar trucking and real estate empire that included the Ambassador Bridge and, at one time, Michigan Central Station, died Sunday at age 93, according to a note from his son Matthew, which the Free Press obtained.

Detroit’s most controversial businessman for a couple of generations, Moroun’s relentless efforts to defend his monopoly as owner of the only bridge crossing between Detroit and Windsor led to endless litigation in the U.S. and Canada.

His aggressive stewardship of his bridge monopoly led Forbes magazine in 2004 to dub him “The Troll Under the Bridge.” But Forbes also lists Moroun among the richest Americans, most recently estimating his fortune at $1.7 billion, good enough for 1,415th place on the list.

https://www.freep.com/story/money/busine...chromepush

Comment: I had no idea that this country was so rich in billionaires!

[David Horn]

(07-13-2020, 05:38 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: Comment: I had no idea that this country was so rich in billionaires!

Welcome to the end of the Gilded Age, 2.0. At least we should hope it's the end.

[pbrower2a]

Kelly Kamalelehua Smith (October 13, 1962 – July 12, 2020), better known by her stage name Kelly Preston, was an American actress and model. She appeared in more than sixty television and film productions, including Mischief (1985), Twins (1988), Jerry Maguire (1996) and For Love of the Game (1999). She was married to John Travolta, with whom she collaborated on comedy film The Experts (1989), science fiction film Battlefield Earth (2000), and the biographical film Gotti (2018). She also starred in the films SpaceCamp (1986), The Cat in the Hat (2003), What a Girl Wants (2003), Broken Bridges (2006) and Old Dogs (2009).

While living in Australia, Preston was discovered at 16 by a fashion photographer who helped her get work in commercials and other small parts.[8] He arranged her first film audition for the role of Emmeline in The Blue Lagoon (1980), which she lost to the younger Brooke Shields.[14] At that time she changed her last name to Preston.[15]

Her first prominent film roles came in 1985—first as Marilyn McCauley in romantic comedy teen flick Mischief; then as the beautiful but shallow Deborah Ann Fimple in another teen romantic comedy, Secret Admirer. Her other roles included SpaceCamp (1986), Twins[16] (1988) with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito, Avery Bishop in Jerry Maguire (1996) with Tom Cruise, Jane Aubrey in For Love of the Game with Kevin Costner and Kate Newell, and in Holy Man (1998) with Eddie Murphy and Jeff Goldblum. In 1997, she starred in Nothing to Lose, which co-starred Tim Robbins and Martin Lawrence, although Lawrence and Preston did not receive screen credit. She also starred in the movie Jack Frost (1998).
Preston played the girlfriend of her husband John Travolta's character Terl in the film Battlefield Earth (2000),[17] and received "Worst Supporting Actress" at the 21st Golden Raspberry Awards for her role in the film.[18] She appeared as the protagonist's flying, superhero mother in the film Sky High (2005).[19]

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Preston in 2005

In 2004, Preston was in the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maroon_5]Maroon 5 music video "She Will Be Loved", which featured a love triangle and romantic scenes between Preston and Maroon 5 front man Adam Levine. Preston appeared in the crime thriller Death Sentence (2007), in which she played Helen Hume, the wife of Kevin Bacon's character Nick. In 2008, she was cast in a television pilot called Suburban Shootout,[20] and had a short term recurring role in Medium.[20]
Preston starred in the Lifetime television film The Tenth Circle (2008), directed by Peter Markle. It was shot in Nova Scotia and featured Ron Eldard, Britt Robertson, Michael Riley, Jamie Johnston and Geordie Brown.[21]
Preston was a spokeswoman for Neutrogena, appearing in its print and television ads.[22]
Preston's final red carpet appearance came at the New York City premiere of her husband's television miniseries "Gotti," in 2018.[23]


More at Wikipedia

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Naya Marie Rivera (January 12, 1987 – July 8, 2020) was an American actress, singer, and model. She began her career as a child actress and model, appearing in national television commercials before landing the role of Hillary Winston on the short-lived CBS sitcom The Royal Family at the age of four (1991–1992). For the part she received a nomination for a Young Artist Award. After a series of recurring television roles and guest spots as a teenager, Rivera received her breakthrough role as Santana Lopez on the Fox television series Glee (2009–2015). For the role, she received nominations for numerous awards and critical acclaim.

Rivera was signed to Columbia Records as a solo musical artist in 2011 and—despite never releasing a studio album—released a single, "Sorry", featuring rapper Big Sean, in 2013. On film, Rivera made her debut as Vera in the horror film At the Devil's Door (2014) before playing a supporting role in the comedy film Mad Families (2017). Her personal life garnered significant press and media attention throughout her career. In 2016, she published a memoir titled Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing Up.

On July 8, 2020, Rivera was declared a missing person after her four-year-old son, Josey, was found alone in Rivera's rented boat at Lake Piru, near Santa Clarita, California. Her body was recovered from the lake on the morning of July 13 following a five-day search.

More at Wikipedia

[beechnut79]

(07-14-2020, 12:47 PM)David Horn Wrote:

(07-13-2020, 05:38 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: Comment: I had no idea that this country was so rich in billionaires!

Welcome to the end of the Gilded Age, 2.0.  At least we should hope it's the end.

Guess this does deserve its own funeral.

[pbrower2a]

First federal execution in seventeen years. White supremacist creep.

Daniel Lewis Lee (January 13, 1973[1] – July 14, 2020)[2] was an American white supremacist and convicted murderer who was sentenced to death and executed for the 1996 murders of William Frederick Mueller, Nancy Ann Mueller, and their daughter Sarah Elizabeth Powell. Lee and his accomplice, Chevie Kehoe, murdered the family at their home in Arkansas, on January 11, 1996.

Lee was scheduled to be executed on July 13, 2020, but on that date, a U.S. district judge blocked the execution, citing unresolved legal issues.[3] In the early hours of July 14, the Supreme Court ruled that the execution could proceed. It was scheduled for 4:00 AM that day.[4] After another short delay, he was executed at 8:07 AM.[5] He was the first person the federal government executed in 17 years.

When Kehoe was sentenced to life imprisonment, local prosecutors planned to pursue a similar sentence of life imprisonment for accomplice Daniel Lewis Lee, but were directed by the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. to argue for a death sentence.[16] U.S. Attorney Paula Casey requested U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno withdraw jeopardy of capital punishment but was told by Deputy U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to continue seeking a death sentence. Lee received a death sentence for three counts of murder in aid of racketeering. The mother of Nancy Mueller, Earlene Branch Peterson, pleaded for clemency on behalf of Lee. She stated, “I can’t see how executing Daniel Lee will honor my daughter in any way. In fact, it’s kinda like it dirties her name. Because she wouldn’t want it and I don’t want it.”[17]


In December 1999, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued a writ of mandamus quashing Lee's subpoenas of Reno and Holder regarding the sentencing decision.[18] In March 2000, District Judge Garnett Thomas Eisele granted Lee's motion for a new penalty phase trial if the Attorney General herself decided not to withdraw the death penalty.[19] In December 2001, that judgment was reversed by the Eighth Circuit, which reinstated Lee's death sentence.[20] In July 2004, the Eighth Circuit affirmed Lee's conviction and death sentence on the merits.[21]


In April 2013, the Eighth Circuit affirmed the denial of Lee's habeas corpus petition challenging the constitutionality of his conviction.[22] In July 2015, the Eighth Circuit affirmed the denial of Lee's subsequent habeas motion challenging the constitutionality of his prior habeas motion.[23] Lee was scheduled to be executed on December 9, 2019, and would have been the first inmate to be executed by the federal government since the execution of Louis Jones, Jr. in 2003.[24] On November 20, 2019, U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan issued a preliminary injunction preventing the resumption of federal executions. Lee and the other three plaintiffs in the case argued that the use of pentobarbital may violate the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994.[25]

On December 5, 2019, an Indiana federal court stayed Lee's execution,[26] but the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit vacated the Indiana federal court's stay of execution on December 6, 2019.[27][28] Later that same day, the Supreme Court of the United States denied a stay of Chutkan's injunction against all federal executions while the U.S. Court of Appeals reviews Chutkan's decision.[29][30]

In April 2020, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated District Judge Chutkan's injunction in a per curiam decision.[31] Circuit Judges Gregory G. Katsas and Neomi Rao both wrote concurring opinions concluding that Lee may be executed, but for different reasons.[32] Circuit Judge David S. Tatel dissented, arguing that the statute explicitly requires the federal government to follow state execution protocols.[32] On June 29, 2020, the Supreme Court denied Lee's petition for a writ of certiorari, with Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor dissenting.[32]


The execution date was set for July 13, 2020, the first of several federal executions scheduled after the D.C. Circuit's ruling. The victims' families asked for a rescheduling of the date, saying they were unable to travel to witness the execution due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Seventh Circuit ruled that while allowing the victims' families to attend such events is standard practice, there are no rights or legal basis for their attendance, and denied a change in date. The victims' families sent an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court.[33] Before the Supreme Court could rule, Judge Chutkan ordered a halt to all federal executions on the basis that the process was "very likely to cause extreme pain and needless suffering".[34] The Department of Justice appealed to both the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and the Supreme Court. The D.C. Circuit Court did not intervene. In the early morning of July 14, 2020, the Supreme Court lifted the hold that Judge Chutkan previously implemented in a 5–4 decision. This action allowed the Department of Justice to proceed with the execution; Lee's lawyers said that the execution could not go forward after midnight under federal regulations.[35]


Lee was executed later that morning. When asked for a final statement, he denied committing the crime, stating, "I didn't do it. I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, but I'm not a murderer. You're killing an innocent man,"[2] and that he and Kehoe had been in a different part of the country when the crime occurred.[12] Lee was pronounced dead at 8:07 AM after receiving a single-dose lethal injection of pentobarbital.[2]


Lee was the first person to be executed by the United States federal government since the execution of Louis Jones, Jr. in 2003.[5] Overall, his execution was the fourth federal execution since legislation permitting the resumption of the practice was passed in 1988.[36]

[pbrower2a]

Designer of the Datsun 240Z:

Yoshihiko Matsuo (1933/1934 – July 2020) was a Japanese car designer.[1] He was head of de designing team of the original Nissan 240Z in the 1960s, and was sold in Japan under the name "Fairlady". The well known design of the 240Z was well received and lasted relatively long in modified form. As Chief of Design he was also part of the design team of the Nissan Z-car. He was not pleased with the design of the Nissan 350Z in 1998, and compared it to the Bluebird and Leopard.[2][3]

The death of Matsuo was announced in July 2020 at the Japanese Nostalgic Cars website, aged 86.[1]

[pbrower2a]

A fitting tribute on the late John Lewis, who just passed into a glorious world in which all issues of social equity are already resolved once and for all.

Quote:America is a constant work in progress. What gives each new generation purpose is to take up the unfinished work of the last and carry it further — to speak out for what’s right, to challenge an unjust status quo, and to imagine a better world.

John Lewis — one of the original Freedom Riders, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the youngest speaker at the March on Washington, leader of the march from Selma to Montgomery, Member of Congress representing the people of Georgia for 33 years — not only assumed that responsibility, he made it his life’s work. He loved this country so much that he risked his life and his blood so that it might live up to its promise. And through the decades, he not only gave all of himself to the cause of freedom and justice, but inspired generations that followed to try to live up to his example.

Considering his enormous impact on the history of this country, what always struck those who met John was his gentleness and humility. Born into modest means in the heart of the Jim Crow South, he understood that he was just one of a long line of heroes in the struggle for racial justice. Early on, he embraced the principles of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience as the means to bring about real change in this country, understanding that such tactics had the power not only to change laws, but to change hearts and minds as well.

In so many ways, John’s life was exceptional. But he never believed that what he did was more than any citizen of this country might do. He believed that in all of us, there exists the capacity for great courage, a longing to do what’s right, a willingness to love all people, and to extend to them their God-given rights to dignity and respect. And it’s because he saw the best in all of us that he will continue, even in his passing, to serve as a beacon in that long journey towards a more perfect union.

I first met John when I was in law school, and I told him then that he was one of my heroes. Years later, when I was elected a U.S. Senator, I told him that I stood on his shoulders. When I was elected President of the United States, I hugged him on the inauguration stand before I was sworn in and told him I was only there because of the sacrifices he made. And through all those years, he never stopped providing wisdom and encouragement to me and Michelle and our family. We will miss him dearly.

It’s fitting that the last time John and I shared a public forum was at a virtual town hall with a gathering of young activists who were helping to lead this summer’s demonstrations in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Afterwards, I spoke to him privately, and he could not have been prouder of their efforts — of a new generation standing up for freedom and equality, a new generation intent on voting and protecting the right to vote, a new generation running for political office. I told him that all those young people — of every race, from every background and gender and sexual orientation — they were his children. They had learned from his example, even if they didn’t know it. They had understood through him what American citizenship requires, even if they had heard of his courage only through history books.

Not many of us get to live to see our own legacy play out in such a meaningful, remarkable way. John Lewis did. And thanks to him, we now all have our marching orders — to keep believing in the possibility of remaking this country we love until it lives up to its full promise.

[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8)]WRITTEN BY[/color]

[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8)]Barack Obama
Follow[/color]

[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8)]Dad, husband, President, citizen.[/color]

[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8)]https://medium.com/@BarackObama/my-state...86761cd964[/color]

[pbrower2a]

Tony Taylor, baseball star:


Antonio Nemesio Sánchez Taylor (December 19, 1935 – July 16, 2020)[1] was a Cuban baseball second baseman who played nineteen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, and Detroit Tigers from 1958 until 1976. He batted and threw right-handed and also played third base and first base.

Taylor was signed as an amateur free agent by the New York Giants in 1954 and played for three of their minor league affiliates until 1957, when the Chicago Cubs drafted him in that year's Rule 5 draft and promoted him to the major leagues. After spending two seasons with the organization, he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1960, the same year he was selected twice as an All-Star. He was subsequently dealt in mid-1971 to the Detroit Tigers, who released him after two seasons. He returned to the Phillies and played his last game on September 29, 1976.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Taylor_(baseball)

[Eric the Green]

This was not the right time for two civil rights icons to die in one day. C. T. Vivian is not as well-known as some of the others, but he was always in the fray working for justice.
C.T. Vivian (July 30, 1924 – July 17, 2020)

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/17...ies-367844

ATLANTA — The Rev. C.T. Vivian, an early and key adviser to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who organized pivotal campaigns in the civil rights movement and spent decades advocating for justice and equality, died Friday at the age of 95.

Vivian began staging sit-ins against segregation in Peoria, Illinois, in the 1940s — a dozen years before lunch-counter protests by college students made national news. He met King soon after the budding civil rights leader’s leadership of the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott, and helped translate ideas into action by organizing the Freedom Rides that eventually forced federal intervention across the South.

Vivian boldly challenged a segregationist sheriff while trying to register Black voters in Selma, Alabama, where hundreds, then thousands, later marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

“You can turn your back now and you can keep your club in your hand, but you cannot beat down justice. And we will register to vote because as citizens of these United States we have the right to do it," Vivian declared, wagging his index finger at Sheriff Jim Clark as the cameras rolled. The sheriff then punched him, and news coverage of the assault helped turned a local registration drive into a national phenomenon.

Former diplomat and congressman Andrew Young, another close King confidant, said Vivian was always “one of the people who had the most insight, wisdom, integrity and dedication.”

President Barack Obama honored Vivian with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013, saying that “time and again, Reverend Vivian was among the first to be in the action: in 1947, joining a sit-in to integrate an Illinois restaurant; one of the first Freedom Riders; in Selma, on the courthouse steps to register blacks to vote, for which he was beaten, bloodied and jailed.”

Obama continued: “Rosa Parks said of him, ‘Even after things had supposedly been taken care of and we had our rights, he was still out there, inspiring the next generation, including me,’ helping kids go to college with a program that would become Upward Bound." He praised Vivian, then 89, for being “still in the action, pushing us closer to our founding ideals.”

[Eric the Green]

This is a difficult time. Three of my favorite sixties icons died recently.

Carl Reiner starred in one of my favorite sixties movies, The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming in 1966. I saw it that Summer and it helped spur my awakening. It stayed with me for years. My Dad loved him for his work. He was co-creator with Sid Caesar and Mel Brooks of the legendary Your Show of Shows, and later of the Dick Van Dyke Show. His son was the voice of the creator of All in the Family, my favorite TV show.
http://generational-theory.com/forum/thr...l#pid54597
http://generational-theory.com/forum/thr...l#pid54678

John Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) spoke at the March on Washington, was a freedom rider, SNCC president from 1963-1966, and got beaten for leading a march for voting rights at the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma in 1965. The result of that event was the Voting Rights Act introduced soon afterward by LBJ. I look upon that march as one of the events that started a movement that continues today. It's kind of unreal that he now is just gone. In some way, these 3 spirits are still with us. Like his mentor Dr. King, he passionately supported every good cause including peace, gun control and the environment as well as civil rights and voting rights. He treated everyone with love. His friend Rep. Clyburn said the bridge should be renamed after him, and a new bill to restore voting rights will be introduced bearing his name as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lewis...ts_leader)

And #3 today, Emitt Rhodes (February 25, 1950 – July 19, 2020). With the Merry Go Round he created a song in 1966 which I loved in the sixties and for which I made one of my first youtube videos, and by far my most popular. Emitt had a successful solo career of 3 albums, but he worked mostly alone and could not make enough albums to satisfy his record company, which took away his earnings. Upset and disillusioned, he stopped making songs for release until about the time I made the video. On his third solo album back in the old days, he worked with producer Curt Boettcher, also the producer earlier of two even greater and bigger favorite songs of mine by Lee Mallory in 1966.

I got to meet and know Lee, who died in 2005, but not Emitt. I did connect with folks who knew him and quoted him after I made the video in 2009, and I heard about his new plans. I was glad to see him come out again. I didn't hear the results, but I'm glad from reading about him now that he fulfilled them. I knew from the discussions in 2009 that he was in poor health. I'm glad he made it this far. Here is the video I made of his sixties hit with the Merry-Go-Round, "Live"





Here's a good article by wikipedia with good references:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emitt_Rhodes
https://pitchfork.com/news/emitt-rhodes-dead-at-70/






Lee Mallory (1945-2005)
http://philosopherswheel.com/melee.htm