John Glenn, First US Astronaut to Orbit the Earth, Dies at 95

John Glenn, the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the earth, has died at age 95, officials said Thursday.

Glenn had been admitted more than a week ago to Ohio State University's James Cancer Hospital, according to the John Glenn College of Public Affairs.

He was the last surviving member of a group known as "the Mercury Seven" -- seven military test pilots selected in 1959 to become America's first astronauts.

After serving as a military pilot in World War II and the Korean conflict, Glenn was a test pilot on U.S. Navy and Marine Corps jet fighters and won a place in the first class of U.S. astronauts assembled by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, in 1958.

Glenn became the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth, flying a ship called the Friendship 7 around the world in a nearly 5-hour flight on February 20, 1962.

Much later, he became the oldest man to fly in space in 1998, as a crew member on the U.S. space shuttle Discovery.

Glenn also had political aspirations, running as a Democrat for a U.S. Senate seat for Ohio in 1964. He was unsuccessful, but won a seat 10 years later, defending attacks on his military record in comments that came to be known as the "Gold Star Mothers" speech.

During the Democratic primary race for the Senate in 1974, opponent Howard Metzenbaum accused Glenn, a career military man, of never holding a real job. Glenn retorted, "You go with me to any Gold Star mother (a mother whose child has died in active U.S. military service) and you look her in the eye and tell her that her son did not hold a job."

The speech is credited with giving Glenn the edge over his competitor in the primary, and he went on to win the Senate seat. He remained a member of the U.S. Senate until 1999, and was the oldest living former member of the Senate until his death.

Glenn made his final trip into space in 1998, while still a senator, after persuading NASA to send him on a space shuttle flight. He was 77 at the time and became the oldest man ever to fly in space. His participation in the 9-day mission was criticized by some as folly, but supporters said it provided valuable data on the effects of space flight on an elderly person, as well as providing data that could be compared with Glenn's space flights from three decades earlier.

After leaving the Senate, Glenn helped to found a public service school at The Ohio State University, which later became the John Glenn College of Public Affairs.

Catapulted into the spotlight by the 1962 space flight, Glenn went on to win numerous accolades, including honorary degrees at a number of universities, the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service, a U.S. Senate public service award, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Canadian Who Sheltered Americans During Iran Hostage Crisis Dies

John Sheardown, a former Canadian diplomat who sheltered fugitive American Embassy staffers in his Tehran home during the Iran hostage crisis more than three decades ago, has died. He was 88 years old.

Sheardown had been treated for Alzheimer's disease and other ailments before his death December 30 in Ottawa.

The rescue of the Americans has become known as the “Canadian caper” and is depicted in Ben Affleck's Oscar-contender film Argo. However, Sheardown is not portrayed in the film.

Affleck has said Sheardown's role in the hostage crisis was omitted in the film due to time constraints and plot developments.

Sheardown and his wife, Zena, housed four of the six fugitive diplomats in their 20-room home in Tehran. The other two Americans were taken in by Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor. The group had escaped from the U.S. Embassy compound when Iranian radicals seized the embassy on November 4, 1979, in retaliation for U.S. support for the deposed shah, who was ousted early in the year. The hostage-takers held 52 other Americans for 444 days.

Sheardown received a telephone call from one of the escaped Americans about a week after the embassy takeover, asking for help and Sheardown agreed.

His wife said “it was just not in John's nature to refuse help to anyone.”

In a story posted in October on the Slate magazine website, one of the rescued American diplomats, Mark Lijek, said without Sheardown's “enthusiastic welcome we might have tried to survive on our own a few more days. We would have failed.”

Sheardown was made a Member of the Order of Canada for his role in the rescue.

Ghanaian President John Atta Mills Dies at 68

Ghanaian President John Atta Mills, who died Tuesday, oversaw a generally peaceful and prosperous time for his country during his one term in office.

Mr. Mills became the country's third democratically-elected president in 2009 after defeating ruling party candidate Nana Akufo-Addo in a run-off election.

In July 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama visited Ghana and proclaimed the country a model for other African countries.

Eighteen months later, Mr. Mills turned the valves at a ceremony marking Ghana's new status as an oil-producing nation. The oil fueled economic growth of more than 16 percent in 2011, though analysts warned that oil production could have harmful effects, as it has in other African countries.

Mr. Mills was born July 21, 1944 in Ekumfi Otuam in Ghana's Central Region.

Before his political career, he was an accomplished scholar receiving both a bachelors and law degree from the University of Ghana, a doctorate from the University of London, and the prestigious Fulbright scholarship to Stanford University in the United States.

Mr. Mills served as Ghana's vice president during the administration of Jerry Rawlings from 1997 to 2000.

He had been nominated by the ruling party to run for president again in an election expected later this year.

The president leaves behind a wife and a son.

John Levy



 Died 20 January 2012. John Levy, 99, American jazz double-bassist and manager. He died in Altadena, California.

Photography by William P. Gottlieb: John Levy (bass), Jimmy Jones (piano), and (possibly) Al Casey (guitar). Pied Pipers, NYC, September 1947.

Final Exits, 15-21 November 2011

John Neville

Obituaries for 15-21 November 2011

15
* Lev Borisov, 77, Russian actor, stroke. (Russian)
* Oba Chandler, 65, American murderer, lethal injection.
* Antonio Eceiza, 76, Spanish film director and screenwriter. (Spanish)
* Dulcie Gray, 95, English actress (Howards' Way) and novelist, bronchial pneumonia.
* Thomas Worrall Kent, 89, Canadian journalist and public servant, cardiac arrest.
* Moogy Klingman, 61, American rock keyboardist (Utopia) and songwriter, cancer.
* Karl Slover, 93, Slovak-born American actor (The Wizard of Oz).

16
* Ruslan Akhtakhanov, 58, Chechen poet and academic, shot.
* Jacobus Duivenvoorde, 83, Dutch-born Indonesian Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Merauke (1972–2004).
* Djamel Keddou, 59, Algerian football player and manager (USM Alger). (French)
* Armando Morales, 84, Nicaraguan painter. (Spanish)
* René A. Morel, 79, French-born American violin luthier.
* James Fraser Mustard, 84, Canadian doctor and early childhood educator, cancer.
* Eddy Palchak, 71, Canadian ice hockey trainer and equipment manager.
* Elfie Pertramer, 86, German actress. (German)
* Irwin Schneiderman, 88, American lawyer and philanthropist.
* Maureen Swanson, 78, British actress.

17
* Olin Branstetter, 82, American politician, Oklahoma State Senator (1987–1991), plane crash.
* Kurt Budke, 50, American women's basketball coach (Oklahoma State University), plane crash.
* José de Aquino Pereira, 91, Brazilian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of São José do Rio Preto (1968–1997).
* Jack Elinson, 89, American television writer (Hogan's Heroes, The Real McCoys, The Facts of Life).
* Gary Garcia, 63, American musician (Buckner & Garcia).
* Enric Garriga i Trullols, 85, Spanish Catalan independentist and defender of Occitan Nation. (Catalan)
* Richard Kuh, 90, American lawyer.
* Ng Chiau-tong, 79, Taiwanese activist, chairman of the World United Formosans for Independence (1995–2011), surgical complications.
* Jorgen Petersen, 67, Danish handball player, brain tumour. (Danish)
* Pham Van Loc, 92, Vietnamese Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Kontum (1975–1995).
* Peter Reading, 65, English poet.

18
* Erik Gjems-Onstad, 89, Norwegian politician and resistance member. (Norwegian)
* Nisio Gomes, 59, Brazilian indigenous leader, shot.
* Mark Hall, 74, British animator, television producer (Danger Mouse, Count Duckula) and film producer (The Wind in the Willows), cancer.
* Walt Hazzard, 69, American basketball player (Los Angeles Lakers, Atlanta Hawks).
* Yuri Karyakin, 81, Russian literary critic and historian. (Russian)
* David Langdon, 97, British cartoonist.
* Jones Mwewa, 38, Zambian footballer.
* Joshua Ndere, 30, Kenyan boxer, road accident.
* Gregory Papalexis, 86, American businessman (Marathon Enterprises, Inc.).
* Daniel Sada, 58, Mexican author and poet, kidney disease.

19
* Ömer Lütfi Akad, 95, Turkish film director.
* David Bolstad, 42, New Zealand champion woodchopper.
* Francis Cabot, 86, American gardener and horticulturist.
* Basil D'Oliveira, 80, South African-born English cricketer.
* Gordon S. Clinton, 91, American politician, 43rd Mayor of Seattle.
* Sonny Dixon, 87, American baseball player (Washington Senators, Philadelphia Athletics).
* Russell Garcia, 95, American-born New Zealand composer.
* Sanford Garelik, 93, American politician, President of the New York City Council (1970–1973).
* Ladi Geisler, 83, Czech musician. (German)
* Michael Hastings, 73, English playwright.
* Ira Michael Heyman, 81, American lawyer and administrator, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution (1994–2000).
* Don Hickman, 74, American newscaster (WICS).
* Jack Keeney, 89, American federal prosecutor.
* John Neville, 86, British-born Canadian actor (The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The X-Files), Alzheimer's disease.
* Ronald E. Poelman, 83, American leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, age-related causes.
* Neoklis Sarris, 71, Greek professor and politician, cancer. (Greek)
* John Smale, 84, American businessman, CEO of Procter & Gamble.
* Ruth Stone, 96, American poet.
* Roy West, 70, Australian football player, lung cancer.

20
* Fabio Betancur Tirado, 73, Colombian Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Manizales (1996–2010).
* Lasse Brandeby, 66, Swedish journalist, actor and television personality.
* Shelagh Delaney, 71, English playwright (A Taste of Honey) and screenwriter (Dance with a Stranger), cancer.
* Angie Dowds, 42, British fitness instructor and television personality (The Biggest Loser), suicide.
* Theodore J. Forstmann, 71, American financier (IMG, Topps, Gulfstream) and philanthropist, brain cancer.
* Alex Ibru, 66, Nigerian newspaper publisher and politician, Minister of Internal Affairs (1993–1995).
* Mario Martiradonna, 73, Italian footballer. (Italian)
* David Messas, 77, French rabbi.
* Viktor Modzolevsky, 68, Russian fencer, road accident. (Russian)
* Larry Munson, 89, American play-by-play radio announcer (Georgia Bulldogs), pneumonia.
* Javier Pradera, 77, Spanish anti-Franco activist, publisher, political analyst and journalist, founder of El País.
* Karl Aage Præst, 89, Danish football player. (Danish)
* Adriano Reys, 78, Brazilian actor, cancer. (Portuguese)
* Talaat Sadat, 64, Egyptian politician.
* Sergio Scaglietti, 91, Italian automotive designer.

21
* Syd Cain, 93, British film production designer.
* Albert D. Cohen, 97, Canadian businessman.
* Arie van Deursen, 80, Dutch historian. (Dutch)
* George Gallup, Jr., 81, American pollster, liver cancer.
* Greg Halman, 24, Dutch baseball player (Seattle Mariners), stabbed.
* Eli Hurvitz, 79, Israeli industrialist.
* John Peter Jukes, 88, English Roman Catholic prelate, Auxiliary Bishop of Southwark (1979–1998).
* Anne McCaffrey, 85, American science fiction writer (Dragonriders of Pern series), stroke.
* Hal Patterson, 79, American player of Canadian football (Montreal Alouettes, Hamilton Tiger-Cats).
* Paul Yandell, 76, American country music guitarist.

Former US Joint Chiefs Chairman Shalikashvili Dies

General Shalikashvili greets President Bill Clinton. (Photo: U.S. Army)

Former US Joint Chiefs Chairman Shalikashvili Dies
Saturday, 23 July 2011

Retired U.S. General John Shalikashvili, the first foreign-born chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, has died at age 75.

There were no immediate reports on the cause of Shalikashvili's death. He suffered a stroke in 2004.

General Shalikashvili served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs from 1993 to 1997 under then-President Bill Clinton. He made decisions on U.S. military involvement in Bosnia, Haiti and other troubled spots in the world.

Shalikashvili was born in Poland in 1936 and came to the U.S. as a teenager. He rose through the ranks in the Army and succeeded former General Colin Powell as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest-ranking U.S. military officer, in 1993.

Following word of Shalikashvili's death Saturday, U.S. President Barack Obama said the general's “extraordinary life represented the promise of America.” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called him an “extraordinary patriot who faithfully defended his country for four decades, rising to the pinnacle of the military profession.” The current chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, said during Shalikashvili's tenure as chairman of the Joint Chiefs, he “skillfully shepherded” the U.S. military through the early years of the post-Cold War era.

General Shalikashvili spent his later years living near Fort Lewis in the western U.S. state of Washington.

Top British Sitcom Writer John Sullivan Dies

Top British Sitcom Writer John Sullivan Dies
Saturday, 23 April 2011

British comedy writer John Sullivan, the creator of the much loved Only Fools and Horses television sitcom, has died. He was 64 years old.

British media say Sullivan died Saturday at a hospital in Surrey, south of London, battling viral pneumonia. He leaves behind wife Sharon, three children and two grandchildren.

Sullivan also wrote classics of the 1970s and 1980s including Citizen Smith and Just Good Friends, but it was his work on Only Fools and Horses that made him a much loved writer in television circles.

Actor David Jason, who played Del Boy in the sitcom, said, “Britain has lost the greatest comedy writer, but he also leaves us a great legacy — the gift of laughter.”

BBC Director General Mark Thompson said, “John Sullivan had a unique gift for turning everyday life and characters into unforgettable comedy.”