Renowned Architect Zaha Hadid Dies in Miami

by Amanda Scott

One of Britain's most innovative architects, Zaha Hadid, has died at age 65.

Hadid's firm says she died Thursday at a hospital in Miami, Florida, where she was being treated for bronchitis.

​​In 2004, Hadid became the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize, the most prestigious award for architecture.

The American philanthropist Thomas Pritzker, presenting the award, said Hadid's work "organizes land, space, structure and person so that each is inseparable from the other, and each calls to the other."

Born in Iraq, Hadid studied mathematics at the American University in Beirut. She completed her architectural studies in Britain, where she continued to live and work.

She designed projects around the world including the glass, granite and steel Guangzhou Opera House in China, the London Aquatics Center, built for the 2012 Olympics, and the Sheikh Zayed bridge in Abu Dhabi, a curved design meant to "evoke the undulating sand dunes of the desert."

At the time of her death, Hadid was working on stadiums for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and a new Iraqi parliament building in Baghdad.

Earlier this year, the Royal Institute of British Architects awarded Hadid its Gold Medal, honoring her as "a formidable and globally influential force in architecture."

"Part of architecture’s job is to make people feel good," Hadid said in her remarks to the RIBA, "in the spaces where we live, go to school or where we work - so we must be committed to raising standards."

(Photo: Zaha Hadid in 2011, from the Knight Foundation)

Singer Natalie Cole Dead at 65

Grammy award-winning singer Natalie Cole, the daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, is dead at the age of 65.

Cole died Thursday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles from "ongoing health issues,” according to a family statement. The statement said Cole "fought a fierce, courageous battle, dying how she lived — with dignity, strength and honor."

In quoting her most identifiable song, the family also said, "Our beloved mother and sister will be greatly missed and remain UNFORGETTABLE in our hearts forever," putting the name of the song in capital letters.

Celebrity gossip website TMZ said Cole died from congestive heart failure, but that it had been told the underlying medical issues were complications from a kidney transplant and hepatitis C. Cole had struggled with drug and alcohol problems in the past and underwent a kidney transplant in 2009.

'Unforgettable' career

Natalie Cole began her career as an R&B singer and had hits that included the Grammy-winning song, "This Will Be."

Cole's career, however, reached superstar status when she recorded the 1991 album, Unforgettable...With Love, which paid tribute to her father, who died in 1965. The album included reworked versions of some of his best-known songs. The title song, "Unforgettable," featured Natalie Cole's voice spliced with her father's. Engineers used technology that was considered cutting edge at the time to make it appear as if father and daughter were singing a duet.

The song was a hit for Nat King Cole in 1951. The song and the album garnered several Grammy awards for Natalie Cole. In addition to R&B, Natalie Cole delved into pop and jazz music. Other hits included "Our Love" and the reworked "Pink Cadillac," a song originally by Bruce Springsteen.

Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson was among those paying tribute to Natalie Cole.

In a tweet, he described her as a "sister beloved ... of substance and sound. May her soul rest in peace."

Final Exits, 15-21 April 2011

Elisabeth Sladen, standing outside Forbidden Planet in London, 2003. (Photo: Danacea)

Obituaries for 15-21 April 2011

15
* Vittorio Arrigoni, 36, Italian activist, hanged. (body discovered on this date)
* Babu Baral, 47, Pakistani comedian, cancer.
* Reno Bertoia, 76, Italian-born Canadian baseball player (Detroit Tigers), lymphoma.
* Hélio Gueiros, 85, Brazilian politician, Governor of Pará (1987–1991), renal disease. (Portuguese)
* Vincenzo La Scola, 53, Italian tenor, heart attack.
* Khan Mohammad Mujahid, Afghan police chief of Kandahar, suicide bomb.
* Bobo Osborne, 75, American baseball player (Detroit Tigers).
* Nicholas Selby, 85, British actor.
* Beryl Shipley, 84, American basketball coach (University of Louisiana at Lafayette, San Diego Conquistadors).
* Melih Yalman, 64, Turkish journalist, lung cancer. (Turkish)

16
* Gerry Alexander, 82, Jamaican cricketer.
* Bijan, 67, Iranian-born American fashion designer, stroke.
* Allan Blakeney, 85, Canadian politician, Premier of Saskatchewan (1971–1982), complications from liver cancer.
* Chinesinho, 76, Brazilian footballer, Alzheimer's disease. (Portuguese)
* Bill Kinnamon, 91, American Major League Baseball umpire.
* Serge LeClerc, 61, Canadian pardoned criminal and politician, MLA for Saskatoon Northwest (2007–2010), complications from colon and bowel cancer.
* Alfonso Martínez, 74, Spanish Olympic basketball player. (Spanish)
* William A. Rusher, 87, American columnist, publisher of National Review (1957–1988).
* Dan Monroe Russell, Jr., 98, American federal judge, natural causes.
* Sol Saks, 100, American screenwriter, creator of Bewitched.
* Bhawani Singh, 79, Indian noble, titular Maharaja of Jaipur (since 1970).
* Hermod Skånland, 85, Norwegian Central Bank governor (1985–1993). (Norwegian)
* Harold Volkmer, 80, American politician, U.S. Representative from Missouri (1977–1997), pneumonia.

17
* Nasser Al-Kharafi, 67, Kuwaiti businessman (M. A. Kharafi & Sons), heart attack.
* Carlo Capponi, 58, Italian janitor and reality contestant, heart attack. (Italian)
* Joel Colton, 92, American historian, heart failure.
* Osamu Dezaki, 67, Japanese animator (Space Adventure Cobra, Tomorrow's Joe), lung cancer. (Japanese)
* Eric Gross, 84, Austrian-born Australian composer.
* Eddie Leadbeater, 83, British cricketer, after short illness.
* Blair Milan, 29, Australian actor and television presenter, acute myeloid leukaemia.
* Nikos Papazoglou, 63, Greek singer-songwriter, cancer.
* AJ Perez, 18, Filipino actor, traffic accident.
* Mary Robbins, 78, American musician, mother of Tim Robbins, heart arrhythmia.
* Raúl Sánchez Díaz Martell, 96, Mexican politician, Governor of Baja California (1965–1971).
* Michael Sarrazin, 70, Canadian actor (They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, The Flim-Flam Man, For Pete's Sake), cancer.
* Dennis E. Stowell, 66, American politician, member of the Utah State Senate (2007–2011), cancer.
* Lynne Topping, 61, American actress (The Young and the Restless).
* Robert Vickrey, 84, American artist.
* Victor Ward, 87, Canadian pilot, survivor of the 1956 Springhill Mine disaster, after long illness.

18
* Olubayo Adefemi, 25, Nigerian footballer, car accident.
* Sadiq Ali, 58, Indian politician.
* Juan Pedro Domecq, 69, Spanish breeder of fighting bulls, car accident.
* Pietro Ferrero Jr., 47, Italian businessman (Ferrero SpA), bicycle accident.
* Kjell Håkonsen, 75, Norwegian harness racer and trainer. (Norwegian)
* Joe Pavia, 72, Filipino journalist, lung cancer.
* Mason Rudolph, 76, American golfer.
* Giovanni Saldarini, 86, Italian cardinal, Archbishop of Turin (1989–1999), natural causes. (Italian)
* William Donald Schaefer, 89, American politician, Governor of Maryland (1987–1995), pneumonia.
* Ivica Vidović, 72, Croatian actor, after long illness. (Croatian)

19
* Roy Burris, 79, American drummer (Merle Haggard), heart complications.
* Lynn Chandnois, 86, American football player (Pittsburgh Steelers).
* Norm Masters, 77, American football player (Green Bay Packers), cancer.
* Serge Nubret, 72, French bodybuilder and actor (Pumping Iron).
* Elisabeth Sladen, 65, British actress (Doctor Who, The Sarah Jane Adventures), cancer.
* Grete Waitz, 57, Norwegian Olympic silver medal-winning (1984) marathon runner, cancer.

20
* Allan Brown, 84, Scottish football player and manager (Blackpool, Scotland).
* Tim Hetherington, 40, British photojournalist and filmmaker (Restrepo), mortar attack in 2011 Libyan civil war.
* Chris Hondros, 41, American photojournalist, mortar attack in 2011 Libyan civil war.
* Osvaldo Miranda, 95, Argentine actor (Cita en las estrellas).
* Madelyn Pugh, 90, American screenwriter (I Love Lucy, Here's Lucy, The Mothers-in-Law).
* Tul Bahadur Pun, 88, Nepali World War II veteran, recipient of the Victoria Cross, cardiac complications.
* Franky Sahilatua, 57, Indonesian musician, complications from spinal cancer. (Indonesian)
* Gerard Smith, 36, American musician (TV on the Radio), lung cancer.
* Kerry Smith, New Zealand actress and broadcaster, melanoma.
* Antonio Tauriello, 80, Argentine composer. (Spanish)

21
* Beverly Barton, American romance author.
* Tine Bryld, 71, Danish social worker, writer, radio host and letters editor. (Danish)
* Helen J. Frye, 80, American federal judge, after long illness.
* Jess Stonestreet Jackson, Jr., 81, American wine entrepreneur, founder of Kendall-Jackson, cancer.
* Max Mathews, 84, American engineer and computer music composer, complications from pneumonia.
* Yoshiko Tanaka, 55, Japanese actress (Godzilla vs. Biollante) and singer (Candies), breast cancer. (Japanese)
* Gaylen Young, 59, American newscaster, car accident.