Tag Archives: obituary

CNN reports: Madeleine Albright, the first woman US secretary of state, who helped steer Western foreign policy in the aftermath of the Cold War, has died. She was 84 years old. Her death was confirmed in an email to staff of the Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm founded by Albright. From the State Department: Albright is the first …

The Guardian reports: A gay rights activist from Kharkiv, Elya Shchemur was killed during the Russian bombardment of the city centre, her colleagues at Kharkiv Pride said on Thursday. She was killed at the local territorial defence office where she volunteered, they said. “Elya was an activist and a patriot: she participated in all possible actions and democratic events of …

Variety reports: William Hurt, an acclaimed actor best known for his Oscar-winning performance in 1985’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and his work in “The Big Chill” and “Body Heat,” died Sunday of natural causes. He was 71 years old. Hurt was nominated for four Oscars over the course of his long career, scoring two best actor nominations for “Broadcast …

Fox News reports: Bob Beckel, a Democratic strategist and former co-host of “The Five,” has died at age 73. Beckel first joined Fox News in 2000 as a contributor providing political analysis and rejoined the network in 2011 as one of the original hosts of “The Five.” Beckel had spoken publicly about his years-long battle with substance abuse, which he …

St. Paul’s ABC News affiliate reports: U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn, R-Minn. 1st District, has died. Hagedorn’s wife and former GOP chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan confirmed the news with 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS Friday morning. He was 59. Hagedorn was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer in 2019 and began receiving care at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. He announced he had a kidney …

France 24 reports: French researcher Luc Montagnier, who has died at 89, shared the Nobel medicine prize for his vital early discoveries on AIDS, but was later dismissed by the scientific community for his increasingly outlandish theories, notably on Covid-19. Montagnier and Francoise Barre-Sinoussi shared the Nobel in 2008 for their work at the Pasteur Institute in Paris in isolating …

CBS News reports: Actor and comedian Bob Saget died from head trauma, his family said Wednesday. Saget was 65 when he died last month. In a statement to Entertainment Tonight, the “Full House” star’s family said he “accidentally hit the back of his head on something, thought nothing of it and went to sleep.” Neither drugs nor alcohol were involved. …

The Bismarck Tribune reports: North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, who spent more than 40 years in elected office, died unexpectedly Friday, just a month after announcing plans to retire at the end of the year. His spokeswoman, Liz Brocker, confirmed his death Friday night. Stenehjem had been taken to the hospital Friday morning after being found unresponsive in his …

People reports: Manfred Thierry Mugler, the celebrity-favorite fashion designer behind his eponymous line, has died. He was 73. The French designer’s team announced Mugler’s passing Sunday, sharing a black square to his personal Instagram profile with the tragic news, which was written in both English and French. “We are devastated to announce the passing of Mr Manfred Thierry Mugler on …

The New York Times reports: Meat Loaf, the larger-than-life rocker whose 1977 album “Bat Out of Hell” was one of the best-selling albums of all time, died on Thursday. He was 74. His death was confirmed by his manager, Michael Greene. A statement on the musician’s Facebook page said his wife was by his side and his friends had been …

USA Today reports: André Leon Talley, the visionary former creative director of Vogue magazine, died Tuesday. He was 73. Talley’s Instagram account also issued confirmation early Wednesday, noting that over five decades the “international icon was a close confidant of Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld, Paloma Picasso and he had a penchant for discovering, nurturing and celebrating young designers.” Talley …

Rolling Stone reports: Ronnie Spector, the leader of the girl group the Ronettes and the voice behind immortal classics like “Be My Baby” and “Walking in the Rain,” died Wednesday after a brief battle with cancer. She was 78. Spector sang with the Ronettes from their formation in 1959 through their dissolution in 1967, though there were several reunions over …

The New York Times reports: Robert A. Durst, the former heir to a vast Manhattan real estate empire who was convicted of one murder and suspected in two others over four decades, died early Monday of cardiac arrest at a hospital in Stockton, Calif., according to his lawyer. Mr. Durst, 78, was serving a life sentence at the California Health …

Yahoo Entertainment reports: Bob Saget, who played Full House dad Danny Tanner, has died. He was 65. “We are devastated to confirm that our beloved Bob passed away today,” the Saget family said in a statement obtained by Yahoo Entertainment on Sunday. At just after 4 p.m. on Sunday, Orange County, Fla., Sheriff’s Department deputies were called to the Ritz-Carlton …

Vanity Fair reports: “As I see myself, I’m just the average Joe Blow Negro,” Sidney Poitier told The New York Times in 1959. “But as the cats say in my area, I’m out there wailing for us all.” That tension, between trying to be an ordinary man and having to serve as a racial exemplar, defined the life of Poitier, …

The Washington Post reports: Harry M. Reid, a Nevada Democrat who rose from a hardscrabble mining town to become one of the longest-serving Senate majority leaders in history and a political force during the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, died Dec. 29 at his home in Henderson, Nev. He was 82. The death was confirmed by David …

NBC Sports reports: John Madden, a legendary figure known to one generation as a Hall of Fame coach, another generation as the sport’s greatest announcer, and yet another generation for the video game that bears his name, has died at the age of 85. The NFL announced Madden’s passing today. Madden’s influence on the sport of football is impossible to …

The New York Times reports: Joan Didion, whose mordant dispatches on California culture and the chaos of the 1960s established her as a leading exponent of the New Journalism, and whose novels “Play It as It Lays” and “The Book of Common Prayer” proclaimed the arrival of a tough, terse, distinctive voice in American fiction, died on Thursday at her …

The Guardian reports: Some obituary notices open with the grand achievements of a life well-lived, or the tender details of a person’s passing with loved ones at their side. The death in El Paso, Texas, of Renay Mandel Corren, however, was marked in somewhat more unorthodox fashion. “The bawdy, fertile, redheaded matriarch of a sprawling Jewish-Mexican-Redneck American family has kicked …

Variety reports: Anne Rice, influential author of “Interview with the Vampire,” died on Saturday due to complications resulting from a stroke. She was 80. The author’s son Christopher revealed the news on Facebook and said that she would be interred in the family mausoleum at Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans in a private ceremony. Born in New Orleans in 1941, …