Final Exits, 22-28 December 2011

 Jim "Motorhead" Sherwood, 69, American musician, The Mothers of Invention

Obituaries for 22-28 December 2011

22
* Richard Bessière, 88, French author. (French)
* Bettye Danoff, 88, American golfer, founding member of the LPGA.
* Bennie Ellender, 86, American college football coach (Arkansas State, Tulane), Alzheimer's disease.
* David Gold, 31, Canadian musician (Woods of Ypres), car accident.
* Michael von Grünau, 67, Canadian psychologist and neurophysiologist.
* Nina Mula, 80, Russian-born Albanian soprano.
* Vasant Ranjane, 74, Indian cricketer.
* Rogelio Sánchez González, 90, Mexican Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Colima (1972–1980).
* Marion Segal Freed, 77, American film producer, editor and screenwriter.
* Zithulele Sinqe, 48, South African long distance runner, car accident.
* Ernest A. Watkinson, 99, Canadian politician.

23
* Neil Davids, 56, English footballer.
* Cees van Dongen, 79, Dutch motorcycle road racer. (Dutch)
* Evelyn Handler, 78, American academic, President of the University of New Hampshire (1980–1983) and Brandeis University (1983–1991), traffic collision.
* Bill Klatt, 64, American ice hockey player (Minnesota Fighting Saints), leukemia.
* Aydın Menderes, 65, Turkish politician, son of Adnan Menderes.
* Norayr Musheghian, 76, Armenian wrestler, coach and public activist, Olympic gold medalist (1958). (Russian)
* Abdur Razzaq, 69, Bangladeshi politician.
* Bruce Ruxton, 85, Australian veterans' representative and advocate, President of the Victorian RSL (1979–2002).

24
* Armando Brambilla, 69, Italian Roman Catholic prelate, Auxiliary Bishop of Rome (since 1994).
* Sergio Buso, 61, Italian footballer and coach.
* José Andrés Corral Arredondo, 65, Mexican Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Parral (since 1992), heart attack. (Spanish)
* Lex Gigeroff, 49, Canadian writer, actor and producer (Lexx), heart attack.
* Johannes Heesters, 108, Dutch actor and singer, stroke.
* Zsuzsi Mary, 64, Hungarian pop singer, suicide. (Hungarian)
* Jody Rainwater, 92, American bluegrass musician and radio personality, heart disease.
* Lynn Samuels, 69, American radio personality (Sirius XM).
* Walter Söhne, 98, German agronomist. (German)
* Vitaly Tseshkovsky, 67, Russian chess Grandmaster. (Russian)

25
* Giorgio Bocca, 91, Italian essayist and journalist. (Italian)
* Ben Breedlove, 18, American Internet personality, cardiac arrest.
* Sue Carroll, 58, British journalist, pancreatic cancer.
* Argyris Chionis, 68, Greek poet, author and translator. (Greek)
* Adrienne Cooper, 65, American klezmer and Yiddish vocalist.
* Gideon Doron, 66, Israeli political scientist, leader of HaYisraelim. (Hebrew)
* Satyadev Dubey, 75, Indian actor, playwright and director.
* Thomas Finnegan, 86, Irish Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Killala (1987–2002).
* Seán French, 80, Irish politician, Lord Mayor of Cork (1976) and TD (1967–1982).
* Habib Galhia, 70, Tunisian boxer, Olympic bronze medalist (1964). (French)
* Andrew Geller, 87, American architect, kidney failure.
* Khalil Ibrahim, Sudanese Darfuri rebel leader.
* Hans-Heinrich Isenbart, 88, German sports commentator.
* John Christoffel Kannemeyer, 72, South African writer, authority on Afrikaans literature.
* Joop Koopman, 81, Dutch television host and quizmaster. (Dutch)
* Christophe Laigneau, 46, French footballer (Stade Lavallois). (French)
* Sir Moses Pitakaka, Solomon Islander politician, Governor-General (1994–1999).
* George Robb, 85, English footballer (Tottenham Hotspur), dementia.
* Ferenc Schmidt, 70, Hungarian politician. (Hungarian)
* Jim Sherwood, 69, American musician (The Mothers of Invention).
* Simms Taback, 79, American author, graphic artist and illustrator.

26
* Houston Antwine, 72, American football player (Boston/New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles), AFL All-Star (1963–1968), heart failure.
* Pedro Armendáriz, Jr., 71, Mexican actor (Zorro series), cancer.
* Sarekoppa Bangarappa, 79, Indian politician, Chief Minister of Karnataka (1990–1992).
* Joe Bodolai, 63, American comedy writer (Saturday Night Live) and producer, suicide by poisoning.
* Sean Collins, 59, American surfer and surf forecaster (Surfline), heart attack.
* Fred Fono, 49, Solomon Islander politician, Deputy Prime Minister (2006) and MP for Central Kwara'ae (1997–2010).
* Barbara Lea, 82, American jazz singer and actress.
* Betty McQuade, 70, Scottish-born Australian singer.
* Sam Rivers, 88, American jazz musician and composer, pneumonia.
* James Rizzi, 61, American pop artist.

27
* Catê, 38, Brazilian footballer, car accident.
* Sir Clifford Darling, 89, Bahamian politician, Governor-General (1992–1995).
* Sir Michael Dummett, 86, British philosopher.
* Helen Frankenthaler, 83, American painter.
* Julia Sampson Hayward, 77, American tennis player, won Australian Open doubles and mixed doubles (1963).
* Rusty Hevelin, 89, American science fiction fanzine publisher.
* Mykola Koltsov, 75, Russian-born Ukrainian footballer and youth trainer. (Ukrainian)
* Ante Čedo Martinić, 51, Croatian actor (Ruža vjetrova), cancer. (Croatian)
* Thinley Norbu, 81, Tibetan Buddhist writer and teacher.
* Martino Scarafile, 84, Italian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Castellaneta (1985–2003).
* Dan Terry, 87, American jazz trumpeter and big band leader.
* Dennis Utter, 72, American politician, Nebraska State Senator (since 2009).
* Johnny Wilson, 82, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (Detroit Red Wings).

28
* Don Mueller, 84, American baseball player (New York Giants, Chicago White Sox), MLB All-Star (1954, 1955).
* Lucia Rikaki, 50, Greek stage, film and television director, cancer.
* Myron Roderick, 77, American Olympic wrestler (1956) and coach.
* Greg Spira, 44, American baseball researcher (SABR), writer and editor.
* Kaye Stevens, 79, American singer and actress, breast cancer and blood clots.
* Teruo Sugihara, 74, Japanese golfer, prostate cancer.

Prominent South Korean Democracy Activist Dies

South Korean news media report that a former leading South Korean democracy activist and prominent liberal politician, Kim Geun-tae, has died.

Reports say Kim died Friday from a brain disease at the age of 64.

Kim was known as a democracy activist during dictatorships of the 1970s and 1980s. He was repeatedly jailed and tortured for his opposition against the regimes in support of democracy and labor rights.

In 1987, while in prison, Kim received the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award and was designated a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.

In 1996, he was elected to the National Assembly and twice won reelection. He was also a former leader of the Uri Party, and a former Health and Welfare Minister.

Kim had battled Parkinson's disease for the past five years. South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports that he died of complications from pneumonia and kidney disease in a Seoul hospital.

It says he is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

Photo: Kim Keun-Tae, during South Korea's Protest Against Importing American Beef on 6 June 2008. Photo by Chong-Dae Park a.k.a. ChongDae.

Kim Jong Il Led North Korea With Cult of Personality

Kim Jong Il ruled North Korea for 17 years, continuing a government focused on the principle of self-reliance and a cult of personality founded by his father, Kim Il Sung.

There is not much reliable personal information about the enigmatic Mr. Kim. According to local legend, he was born on North Korea's Mount Paekdu under rainbows and the appearance of a new star in 1942. But his birth is believed to have actually taken place in Siberia in the Soviet Union in 1941.

Little is known about Mr. Kim's childhood. He graduated from Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung University in 1964.

In the 1970s, Mr. Kim was named to leadership positions in the ruling party, beginning two decades of grooming to replace his father as the country's leader.

He had a reputation for a lavish lifestyle that included a fondness for fine foods, cognac and women, which continued after he took power following his father's death in 1994.

Mr. Kim was also said to be a fan of the cinema. In addition to owning a large movie collection, he produced several films of his own. A South Korean director and actress said they were kidnapped and forced to make films for the man North Koreans called “Dear Leader.”

He was accused of playing a role in a 1983 bombing that killed 17 South Korean officials visiting Burma, as well as the 1987 bombing of a Korea Air flight that killed 115 people. Neither allegation has been proven.

Mr. Kim continued his revered father's governing principles, but lacked his charisma. Still, Mr. Kim cultivated his own force of personality exemplified by his bouffant hairdo, jumpsuits and large sunglasses.

He poured the impoverished and reclusive country's resources into the military, creating the world's fifth-largest force, while many North Koreans suffered from hunger.

His international relations were dominated by North Korea's push to develop nuclear arms. Former U.S. president George W. Bush called Mr. Kim a “tyrant” who starved his own people so he could build nuclear weapons.

North Korea conducted a nuclear test in 2006, and in 2007 agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for aid. But the country is estimated to have enough nuclear material to produce several atomic bombs, and multi-party negotiations to convince North Korea to dismantle its nuclear program have stalled.

Mr. Kim's marital status was not clear, but he is said to have been married once, with at least a few other companions, and has at least three sons. His youngest son, Kim Jong Un, has been groomed as his successor.

His two-day funeral ceremony was held on December 28, at the end of a 10-day period of national mourning.

Final Exits, 15-21 December 2011

Clark Terry and Bob Brookmeyer at the Clearwater Jazz Festival in the 1980s. Photo by Laura Kolb @ Lochaven.

Obituaries for 15-21 December 2011

15
* Eduardo Barreto, 57, Uruguayan comic book artist.
* Graham Booth, 71, British politician, Member of the European Parliament for South West England (2002–2008).
* William Claver, 75, Filipino human rights lawyer, Congressman from Kalinga-Apayao (1987–1992).
* David Fordham, 62, Australian sports commentator, cancer.
* Walter Giller, 84, German actor. (German)
* Christopher Hitchens, 62, British writer (God Is Not Great) and commentator (Vanity Fair), esophageal cancer.
* Paula Hyman, 65, American professor of modern Jewish history (Yale University).
* Ricardo Ibarra, 61, Argentine Olympic rower. (Spanish)
* Guy Ignolin, 75, French professional cyclist. (French)
* Nur Khan, 88, Pakistani air marshal, Chief of Air Staff (1965–1969) and Governor of West Pakistan (1969–1970).
* James M. Quigley, 93, American politician, Representative from Pennsylvania (1955–1957; 1959–1961).
* Jason Richards, 35, New Zealand race car driver, cancer.
* Carmen Rupe, 75, New Zealand transsexual entertainer, kidney failure.
* Mario Tovar González, 78, Mexican Olympic wrestler, respiratory complications. (Spanish)

16
* Ulf Aas, 92, Norwegian illustrator. (Norwegian)
* Bob Brookmeyer, 81, American jazz valve trombonist, cardiopulmonary arrest.
* Robert Easton, 81, American actor and dialect coach.
* Dan Frazer, 90, American actor (Kojak, As The World Turns), cardiac arrest.
* Alice Glenn, 89, Irish politician, TD for Dublin Central (1981–1982; 1982–1987).
* Chubee Kagita, 54, Japanese politician, heart failure. (Japanese)
* Gadzhimurat Kamalov, 46, Russian journalist, shot.
* Henry Kitchener, 3rd Earl Kitchener, 92, British soldier and aristocrat.
* Mark Kopytman, 82, Ukrainian-born Israeli composer. (Hebrew)
* Bert Muhly, 88, American politician and academic, Mayor of Santa Cruz, California (1974–1975), heart failure.
* Patrick V. Murphy, 91, American police chief, New York City Police Commissioner (1970–1973), heart attack.
* Te Paekiomeka Joy Ruha, 80, New Zealand Māori leader.
* Slim Dunkin, 24, American rapper (1017 Brick Squad), shot.
* Keith W. Wilcox, 90, American architect and politician, member of LDS priesthood.

17
* John Bishop, 65, American soul and jazz guitarist, heart attack.
* Sérgio Britto, 88, Brazilian actor and television host, heart failure. (Spanish)
* Michael Gower Coleman, 72, South African Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Port Elizabeth (1986–2011).
* Eva Ekvall, 28, Venezuelan TV news anchor and model, Miss Venezuela 2000, breast cancer.
* Cesária Évora, 70, Cape Verdean singer, heart failure.
* Kim Jong-il, 69 or 70, North Korean Supreme Leader (since 1994), heart attack.
* Mario Mannucci, 79, Italian rally co-driver. (Polish)
* Harley Sewell, 80, American football player (Detroit Lions, Los Angeles Rams).
* Joãosinho Trinta, 78, Brazilian Carnival designer, septic shock. (Portuguese)

18
* Doe Avedon, 86, American actress (The High and the Mighty) and model, pneumonia.
* Henry E. Catto, Jr., 81, American public servant and diplomat, complications of leukemia.
* Lorenzo de Rodas, 81, Mexican actor (Bajo la misma piel), heart attack. (Spanish)
* Jeremy Doyle, 28, Australian wheelchair basketball player, bladder cancer.
* Václav Havel, 75, Czech playwright and politician, President of Czechoslovakia (1989–1992) and the Czech Republic (1993–2003).
* Warren Hellman, 77, American investor, founder of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festivals, complications from leukemia treatment.
* Salem Jubran, 71, Israeli Arab poet and journalist.
* Ralph MacDonald, 67, American percussionist and songwriter.
* Donald Neilson, 75, English serial killer.
* Don Sharp, 89, Australian-born British film director (Hammer horror).
* Ronald Wolfe, 89, British sitcom writer (The Rag Trade, On the Buses), complications from a fall.

19
* George Athor, 49, South Sudanese rebel leader, shot.
* Luciano Magistrelli, 73, Italian Olympic footballer, heart attack. (Italian)
* Héctor Núñez, 75, Uruguayan footballer, after long illness. (Spanish)
* Horst-Eberhard Richter, 88, German psychoanalyst and social philosopher. (German)
* Ron Smith, 70, American radio host (WBAL), pancreatic cancer.

20
* Robert Ader, 79, American psychologist, co-founder of psychoneuroimmunology.
* Hana Andronikova, 44, Czech writer and playwright, cancer.
* Hugh Carless, 86, British diplomat and explorer.
* Clem DeRosa, 86, American jazz drummer, arranger, bandleader and music educator, director of the International Association for Jazz Education.
* Vasilis Dioskouridis, 70, Greek intellectual. (Greek)
* Jack Goldman, 90, American physicist, chief scientist at Xerox Corporation.
* Iván Heyn, 34, Argentine economist and politician.
* Khalifa Kambi, 56, Gambian politician, Deputy Minister of Agriculture (since 2010).
* Yoshimitsu Morita, 61, Japanese film director (The Family Game), liver failure.
* Tushar Ranganath, 37, Indian film director (Gulama), heart attack.
* John Rex, 86, South African-born British sociologist. (death reported on this date)
* Leopold Unger, 89, Polish journalist. (Polish)
* Kenchappa Varadaraj, 89, Indian Olympic footballer.
* Václav Zítek, 79, Czech opera singer.

21
* Francis Braganza, 89, Indian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Baroda (1987–1997).
* John Chamberlain, 84, American sculptor.
* P. K. Iyengar, 80, Indian nuclear scientist.
* Olavi Rokka, 86, Finnish Olympic modern pentathlete, bronze medalist (1952). (Finnish)
* Yevhen Rudakov, 69, Russian Olympic bronze medal-winning (1972) football goalkeeper. (Ukrainian)
* Robert Simons, 89, English cricketer (Hertfordshire).
* Roberto Szidon, 70, Brazilian classical pianist, heart attack. (Portuguese)
* Umanosuke Ueda, 71, Japanese professional wrestler and actor, respiratory failure. (Japanese)
* Jean-Pierre Urkia, 93, French-born Laotian Roman Catholic prelate, Vicar Apostolic of Paksé (1967–1975).

North Korea's Kim Jong Il Dead at 69

North Korea's long-time leader Kim Jong Il has died.

The official Korean Central News Agency reported Monday the 69-year-old reclusive leader died Saturday of a heart attack while on a train for one of his “field guidance” tours. The agency attributed his death to “physical and mental over-work.”

KCNA said his funeral will be held on December 28 in Pyongyang. A period of national mourning was declared from December 17 to 29.

Kim Jong Il came to power after his father, North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung, died in 1994. Reliable biographical information about Mr. Kim is scarce. He rarely appeared in public and his voice was seldom broadcast.

He may be best remembered for defying the international community and boosting North Korea's nuclear program, while millions of North Koreans were starving.

Late last year, Mr. Kim promoted his youngest son Kim Jong Un to the rank of four-star general, in what was seen as a bid to extend the world's only communist family dynasty to a third generation.

The KCNA on Monday urged people to follow Kim Jong Un, who is believed to be around 28 years old.

North Koreans expressed shock at the news of Mr. Kim's death, with many people crying openly in the streets.

Workers at an electric wire factory were seen in tears as they watched the announcement on state television.

Factory worker Jo Jae Sok said he could not believe the news. “Leader Kim Jong Il is always with us. I saw him on TV every day. We have worked hard for the modernization of the factory under difficult conditions, eagerly waiting for him to come to our factory again. I can't believe the news about his passing away.”

Another factory worker, Kim Ok Song said she had been waiting for Mr. Kim to visit the factory she worked in. “It is unbelievable that leader Kim Jong Il whom I have followed like my own father passed away. I don't know how to describe my grief. I have been looking forward to seeing him in my factory. I will change sorrow into strength and courage and remain faithful respected Comrade Kim Jong Un.”

Vaclav Havel Dies at Age 75

Former Czech President Vaclav Havel, the dissident playwright who led the peaceful revolution that toppled communism in the former Czechoslovakia, has died. He was 75.

A spokeswoman said Mr. Havel died in his sleep early Sunday at his weekend house in the northern Czech Republic with his wife and a nun at his side. A former chain smoker, he had a history of chronic respiratory problems that physicians traced back to his Cold War years in communist prisons.

Mr. Havel was his country's first democratically-elected president after the 1989 non-violent “Velvet Revolution” that ended four decades of communist repression. On taking office, he oversaw Czechoslovakia's transition to a free-market economy and democracy, as well as its peaceful 1993 breakup into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

U.S. President Barack Obama, in a statement Sunday, praised Mr. Havel's “moral leadership,” saying he “lived with a spirit of hope.” He said the Czech leader's peaceful resistance “shook the foundations of an empire” and “exposed the emptiness of a repressive (communist) ideology.”

In Prague, where black flag flew over Prague Castle, the presidential seat, Czech citizens lighted candles at the monument to the Velvet Revolution.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed Mr. Havel as “a great European” who fought for freedom on the continent, while British Prime Minister David Cameron said all of Europe owes the former president a “profound debt” for bringing freedom and democracy to the continent.

Former Polish President Lech Walesa, who spurred the fall of communism in his homeland, said Vaclav Havel's voice will “be greatly missed” in Europe, “above all now when it is experiencing a great crisis.”

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, in a message posted on Twitter, called the Czech icon “a voice for freedom” and “one of the greatest Europeans of our age.”

Mr. Havel left office in 2003, just months before the Czech Republic and Slovakia joined the European Union. He was credited with laying the groundwork that brought the Czech Republic into the 27-nation bloc, and was president when the republic joined NATO in 1999. But he said his proudest presidential moment was the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact – the Moscow-led military alliance that lasted until 1991.

Mr. Havel first rose to prominence after the 1968 Soviet-led invasion that crushed the “Prague Spring” reforms of Alexander Dubcek and other liberally-minded communists in the former Czechoslovakia. His plays were then banned by hardliners installed by Moscow who sought to crush any traces of those reforms.

However, he continued to write a series of underground essays widely seen as some of the most damning critiques of what communism did to society and the individual in post-World War Two Europe.

Photo by Henryk Prykiel: Václav Havel, 1991.

Cape Verde's 'Barefoot Diva' Dies

Cesária Évora, the Cape Verdean singer known as the “Barefoot Diva” because she performed without shoes, has died at the age of 70.

The singer, who won international acclaim with her sultry voice and melancholy ballads of lost love, died Saturday in a hospital on her native island of Sao Vicente.

Évora retired in September because of health problems. She underwent open heart surgery last year.

Évora was the best-known performer of “morna,'' Cape Verde's national music.

Her 1995 album, Cesaria, was released in more than a dozen countries and brought the entertainer her first Grammy award nomination. She won a Grammy in the World Music category several years ago for her album, Voz D'Amor.

Photo by Bremond: Cesária Évora in concert, 14 November 2009, at the Rockhal of Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.

Provocative British-Born Author Christopher Hitchens Dead at 62

Provocative British-born American writer and intellectual Christopher Hitchens has died at the age of 62 following a long battle with cancer.

Vanity Fair magazine, where Hitchens worked as a columnist, said the sharp-witted commentator died late Thursday of pneumonia, a complication of the esophageal cancer he was diagnosed with in 2010.

Though Hitchens developed a high-profile in 2007 with his controversial international bestseller, “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything,” he spent the majority of his career as a war-time journalist, literary critic and prominent political commentator.

Hitchens did not fit into any easily definable political mold. After spending years as a correspondent for the left-leaning magazine The Nation, he went on to become a strong supporter of former Republican President George W. Bush and the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Hitchens was born to a nominally Christian family, but discovered later in life that his mother had deliberately hidden her Jewish heritage.

His combative disdain for organized religion and love for debates made him one of the world's most well-respected and most reviled religious skeptics.

A heavy smoker with a love for Scotch whisky, Hitchens was forced to postpone a national book tour after being diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus in June 2010.

Upon his death, Vanity Fair described him as an “incomparable critic masterful rhetorician, fiery wit, and fearless bon vivant.”

Photo: Christopher Hitchens, 2007 by José Ramírez a.k.a. ensceptico.

Final Exits, 8-14 December 2011

Susan Gordon, as seen in The Five Pennies, 1959.

Obituaries for 8-14 December 2011

8
* Gilbert Adair, 66, Scottish author, film critic and journalist, brain haemorrhage.
* Robert Brown, 61, American politician, Georgia State Senator (1991–2011), suicide by gunshot. (body discovered on this date)
* Lewis Bush, 42, American football player (San Diego Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs), apparent heart attack.
* Sir Zelman Cowen, 92, Australian constitutional lawyer and academic, 19th Governor-General of Australia (1977–1982).
* Vinko Cuzzi, 72, Croatian footballer. (Croatian)
* Ladislas de Hoyos, 72, French journalist and news anchor (TF1). (French).
* Nancy Hoyt, 56, American reality show contestant (The Amazing Race), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
* Gene Huff, 82, American politician, member of the Kentucky House of Representatives (1967–1971) and State Senator (1971–1994), lung disease.
* Giorgio Mariani, 65, Italian footballer. (Italian)
* Minoru Miki, 81, Japanese composer. (Japanese)
* Andrew Pataki, 84, American Eastern Catholic hierarch, Bishop of Parma for Ruthenian (1984–1995) and Passaic for Ruthenian (1995–2007).
* Joe Restic, 85, American NCAA and CFL football coach (Harvard Crimson, Hamilton Tiger-Cats).
* Nakdimon Rogel, 86, Israeli journalist and broadcaster, author of the Nakdi Report.
* Roman Simakov, 27, Russian boxer, injuries sustained during a fight.
* Dick Sims, 60, American keyboardist (Eric Clapton, Bob Seger).
* Dan Spears, 62, American musician (Willie Nelson and Family), exposure.
* Alan Styles, 75, British roadie (Pink Floyd), subject of the song "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast".

9
* Alf R. Bjercke, 90, Norwegian business magnate. (Norwegian)
* Davida Karol, 94, Israeli actress. (Hebrew)
* Len Phillips, 89, British footballer.
* Stanislaw Podemski, 82, Polish journalist . (Polish)
* Richard J. Rabbitt, 76, American politician, Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives (1973–1977), heart failure.
* Roy Tattersall, 89, British Test cricketer.
* Myra Taylor, 94, American jazz singer.

10
* Cary D. Allred, 64, American politician, member of the North Carolina Senate (1980–1984) and North Carolina House of Representatives (1994–2009).
* Jean Baucus, 94, American author, historian and arts patron, mother of Max Baucus.
* Hamilton Bobby, 44, Indian footballer.
* John Gower, 70, American politician, member of the Wisconsin State Assembly (1973–1979).
* Shinichi Ichikawa, 70, Japanese scriptwriter. (Japanese)
* Vida Jerman, 72, Croatian actress, lung cancer. (Croatian)
* Albert Overhauser, 86, American physicist.
* Panagiotis Sideris, 33, Greek handball player, heart attack. (Greek)
* Karryl Smith, American rapper (The Conscious Daughters).
* Sotia Tsotou, 69, Greek lyricist, cancer. (Greek)

11
* Ahmed Bahgat, 79, Egyptian writer and journalist.
* Rodolfo Bottino, 52, Brazilian actor, pulmonary embolism. (Portuguese)
* Trevor Christian, 69, Australian boxer, first Indigenous Australian to referee world title bout.
* Phillip Cottrell, 43, Scottish journalist (BBC Scotland, Radio New Zealand), assaulted.
* John Patrick Foley, 76, American Roman Catholic Cardinal and Grand Master Emeritus of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, leukemia and anemia.
* Mihnea Gheorghiu, 92, Romanian writer and filmmaker, natural causes. (Romanian)
* Susan Gordon, 62, American child actress (The Five Pennies, My Three Sons, The Twilight Zone), cancer.
* J. Lynn Helms, 86, American Marine Corps officer, Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (1981–1984), cardiopulmonary failure and pneumonia.
* Hans Heinz Holz, 84, German Marxist philosopher. (German)
* Harold Hopkins, 67, Australian actor (Don's Party, Gallipoli, Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities), mesothelioma.
* Ke Yan, 82, Chinese poet and writer.
* Ahmed İhsan Kırımlı, 91, Turkish doctor, politician, poet and philanthropist. (Turkish)
* Leonida Lari, 62, Moldovan-born Romanian writer and politician, member of the Supreme Soviet (1989–1991) and Romanian Parliament (1992–2008), breast cancer.
* Mario Miranda, 85, Indian cartoonist.

12
* John Atterberry, 40, American music industry executive (Death Row Records), shot.
* Sunday Bada, 42, Nigerian Olympic athlete.
* Predrag Ćeramilac, 67, Serbian actor, suicide. (Croatian)
* John Gardner, 94, British classical music composer.
* Alberto de Mendoza, 88, Argentine actor.
* Mălina Olinescu, 37, Romanian singer (Eurovision Song Contest 1998), suicide. (Romanian)
* Robert Peliza, 91, Gibraltarian politician, Chief Minister (1969–1972).
* Bert Schneider, 78, American film and television producer (Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Monkees), natural causes.
* Will Townsend, 33, American video game producer, car crash.

13
* Juan Calderón, 75, Mexican journalist and announcer. (Spanish)
* Kabir Chowdhury, 88, Bangladeshi writer.
* Russell Hoban, 86, American writer.
* Park Tae Joon, 84, South Korean businessman, honorary chairman of POSCO, lung disease.
* Klaus-Dieter Sieloff, 69, German footballer. (German)
* Erica Wilson, 83, Scottish embroidery designer.

14
* Luigi Carpaneda, 86, Italian Olympic fencer. (Italian)
* Boris Chertok, 99, Polish-born Soviet and Russian rocket designer. (Russian)
* Karl-Heinrich von Groddeck, 75, German Olympic rower. (German)
* Thomas C. Kelly, 80, American Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Louisville (1981–2007).
* Mark Francis Schmitt, 88, American Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Marquette (1978–1992).
* Joe Simon, 98, American comic book writer (Captain America, Fighting American, Prez).
* Billie Jo Spears, 74, American country music singer ("Blanket on the Ground"), cancer.
* George Whitman, 98, American bookstore proprietor, complications of a stroke.

Final Exits, 1-7 December 2011

Harry Morgan (as Colonel Potter) in the TV show M*A*S*H, 1975. (Photo: CBS Television)

Obituaries for 1-7 December 2011

1
* Arthur Beetson, 66, Australian rugby league footballer, first Indigenous Australian to captain a national team in any sport, heart attack.
* Andrei Blaier, 78, Romanian film director and scenarist, after long illness. (Romanian)
* Ted Lapka, 91, American football player (Washington Redskins).
* François Lesage, 82, French embroidery designer.
* Bill McKinney, 80, American actor (Deliverance, The Outlaw Josey Wales), esophageal cancer.
* Louis Silverstein, 92, American artist and graphic designer.
* Bev Smith, 70, British actor and newsreader, heart attack.
* Alan Sues, 85, American comic (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In).
* Mamoru Uchiyama, 62, Japanese manga artist (The Ultraman).
* Hippolyte van den Bosch, 85, Belgian football player. (Dutch)
* Christa Wolf, 82, German writer.
* Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, 65, American psychoanalyst, biographer of Hannah Arendt, pulmonary embolism.

2
* Robert Lawrence Balzer, 99, American wine journalist.
* Leo Friedman, 92, American photographer.
* Laurent Fuahea, 84, Tongan-born Wallisian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Wallis et Futuna (1974–2005).
* Len Gendle, 90s, British football administrator (Tamworth F.C.).
* Chiyono Hasegawa, 115, Japanese supercentenarian, nation's oldest person.
* Pavle Jurina, 57, Croatian handball player and coach. (Croatian)
* Branimir Koštan, 32, Croatian disc jockey, cancer. (Croatian)
* Christopher Logue, 85, English poet.
* Artur Quaresma, 94, Portuguese footballer. (Portuguese)
* Patrick Sheridan, 89, American Roman Catholic prelate, Auxiliary Bishop of New York (1990–2001).
* Dugald Stermer, 74, American illustrator and art director (Ramparts), cardiac and respiratory failure.
* Bill Tapia, 103, American ukulelist.
* Howard Tate, 72, American soul singer.
* Al Vega, 90, American jazz pianist.

3
* Juan Carlos Adrianza, 28, Venezuelan actor and entertainer, road accident. (Spanish)
* Jalal Alamgir, 40, Bangladeshi academic, drowning.
* Dev Anand, 88, Indian actor (Ziddi), cardiac arrest.
* Louky Bersianik, 81, Canadian novelist. (French)
* Philip "Fatis" Burrell, 57, Jamaican record producer, stroke.
* Sabri Godo, 82, Albanian politician, writer and scriptwriter, founder and president of the Republican Party of Albania, lung cancer. (Albanian)
* Diana Gould, 85, British political critic.
* Sam Loxton, 90, Australian cricketer (The Invincibles), Australian rules footballer and politician, Victorian MLA for Prahran (1955–1979).
* Julia Marichal, 67, Mexican actress. (body found on this date)
* Larry Rickles, 41, American Emmy-award winning producer (Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project), pneumonia.
* Rob Schroeder, 85, American racing driver.

4
* Ambika Charan Choudhury, 81, Indian writer.
* Marion Dougherty, 88, American casting director (Lethal Weapon, Full Metal Jacket).
* Patricia C. Dunn, 58, American businesswoman, Chairman of Hewlett-Packard (2005–2006), ovarian cancer.
* Andrew Ali Aga Khan Embiricos, 25, American HIV activist, grandson of Rita Hayworth and Prince Aly Khan, suicide. (body found on this date)
* Adam Hanuszkiewicz, 87, Polish actor and theatre director. (Polish)
* Matti Yrjänä Joensuu, 63, Finnish crime fiction writer. (Finnish)
* Besim Kabashi, 35, Kosovar-born German kickboxer. (German)
* Alamein Kopu, 68, New Zealand politician, MP (1996–1999).
* James S. Malosky, 82, American football coach (Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs), respiratory failure.
* Solange Pierre, 48, Dominican Republic human rights advocate, winner of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award (2006), heart attack.
* RJ Rosales, 37, Filipino-born Australian singer and actor.
* Sócrates, 57, Brazilian footballer, septic shock.
* Hubert Sumlin, 80, American blues guitarist, heart failure.
* Andrey Tverdokhlebov, 70, Soviet dissident. (Russian)

5
* Bruno Bianchi, 56, French cartoonist and animator (Inspector Gadget, Heathcliff and The Catillac Cats).
* Dan Biggers, 80, American actor (In the Heat of the Night, Glory).
* Michel Descombey, 81, French choreographer. (Spanish)
* Paul M. Doty, 91, American scientist.
* Tetsuzo Fuyushiba, 75, Japanese politician, Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (2006–2008), acute pneumonia. (Japanese)
* Peter Gethin, 71, British Formula One driver (1970–1974).
* Jorge Maria Hourton Poisson, 85, French-born Chilean Roman Catholic prelate, Auxiliary Bishop of Temuco (1992–2001).
* Gennady Logofet, 69, Russian footballer. (Russian)
* Joe Lonnett, 84, American baseball player and coach.
* Pusuke, 26, Japanese dog, world's oldest known living dog at time of death, natural causes.
* Darrell K. Sweet, 77, American artist.
* Violetta Villas, 73, Belgian-born Polish singer.

6
* Paul Blair, 69, American magazine editor and tour guide.
* Brent Darby, 30, American basketball player (Ohio State University), blood clots.
* Dobie Gray, 71, American singer ("The 'In' Crowd", "Drift Away").
* Barbara Orbison, 61, German-born American record producer and music publisher, widow of Roy Orbison, pancreatic cancer.
* Paul Ramírez, 25, Venezuelan footballer, stroke. (Spanish)
* Lawrie Tierney, 52, Scottish footballer.

7
* Oscar Angeletti, 64, Argentine racing driver. (Spanish)
* Josip Barković, 94, Croatian writer. (Croatian)
* Pearse Cahill, 95, Irish aviation pioneer.
* Peter Croker, 89, English footballer.
* Don Duong, 54, Vietnamese-born American actor (We Were Soldiers), complications following post-stroke surgery.
* Nuno Viriato Tavares de Melo Egídio, 89, Portuguese general, Governor of Macau (1979–1981).
* Harry Morgan, 96, American actor (M*A*S*H, Dragnet).
* Gilberto Pinto, 82, Venezuelan playwright. (Spanish)
* Jerry Robinson, 89, American comic book artist (Batman) and reputed creator of The Joker.
* Fred Thompson, 19, American football player (Oregon State University).

Final Exits, 29-30 November 2011

Leka Zogu, Crown Prince of Albania

Obituaries for 29-30 November 2011

29
* Lev Bruni, 61, Russian journalist. (Russian)
* Annetto Despasquale, 73, Maltese Roman Catholic prelate, Titular Bishop of Aradi, Auxiliary Bishop of Malta (since 1998).
* Donatus Djagom, 92, Indonesian Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Ende (1968–1996).
* Ramadan Khater, 48, Egyptian storyteller, actor and comedian.
* Guillermo O'Donnell, 75, Argentine political scientist. (Spanish)
* Mamoni Raisom Goswami, 69, Indian writer and academic, multiple organ failure.
* Alexandru Tocilescu, 65, Romanian film and theatre director, cardiac arrest. (Romanian)

30
* Shingo Araki, 72, Japanese animation artist and character designer. (French)
* J. Blackfoot, 65, American soul singer.
* Leka, Crown Prince of Albania, 72, Albanian royal and politician, pretender to the Albanian throne (since 1961).
* Kuldeep Manak, 62, Indian Punjabi language singer, pneumonia.
* Chester McGlockton, 42, American football player (Oakland Raiders), apparent heart attack.
* Zdeněk Miler, 90, Czech animator and illustrator, creator of The Mole.
* Carl Robie, 66, American swimmer, Olympic champion.
* Partap Sharma, 71, Indian playwright.
* Bill Waller, 85, American politician, Governor of Mississippi (1972–1976).