Final Exits, 22-28 July 2011

Frank Foster (left) and Dan Morgenstern in 2008. (Photo: nea.gov)

Obituaries for 22-28 July 2011

22
* Tom Aldredge, 83, American actor (The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire), lymphoma.
* Linda Christian, 87, Mexican-born American actress, first Bond girl (1954 television adaptation of Casino Royale).
* Tore Eikeland, 21, Norwegian politician, killed in 2011 Norway attacks. (Norwegian)
* Dmitri Furman, 68, Russian historian and philosopher, after long illness. (Russian)
* Charles Manatt, 75, American lawyer, banker and political figure, complications of a stroke.
* Malcolm Muir, 96, American jurist.
* Ifti Nasim, 64, Pakistani-born American poet and radio host, heart attack.
* Tex Nelson, 74, American baseball player (Baltimore Orioles).
* Wolfram Thiem, 55, German Olympic rower. (German)
* Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan, 79, New Zealand politician, longest-serving female member of the House of Representatives (1967–1996).
* Brian Vallee, 70, Canadian journalist and documentary filmmaker, cancer.
* Cees de Wolf, 65, Dutch footballer (Ajax Amsterdam). (Dutch)

23
* David Aiken, 93, American operatic baritone and opera director.
* Toyoo Ashida, 67, Japanese animator (Fist of the North Star, The World of Narue, Gulliver Boy, F-Zero: GP Legend) (Japanese)
* Mathilde Aussant, 113, French supercentenarian, oldest person in France.
* Terence Boston, Baron Boston of Faversham, 81, British politician, MP for Faversham (1964–1970).
* John Chervokas, 74, American advertising writer.
* Robert Ettinger, 92, American cryonicist, respiratory failure.
* Ina van Faassen, 82, Dutch actress. (Dutch)
* Jack Fitzpatrick, 88, American entrepreneur, co-founder of Country Curtains, Massachusetts State Senator (1973–1980).
* Milton Gwirtzman, 78, American speech writer, advisor to the Kennedy family, metastatic melanoma.
* Johnny Hoes, 94, Dutch singer, composer and producer. (Dutch)
* Fran Landesman, 83, American lyricist and poet.
* Butch Lewis, 65, American boxing promoter, heart attack.
* Conrad Meyer, 89, British prelate, Bishop of Dorchester (1979–1988)
* Bill Morrissey, 59, American singer-songwriter.
* Nguyen Cao Ky, 80, Vietnamese air force chief and political leader, Prime Minister of South Vietnam (1965–1967).
* Richard Pike, 61, British chemist.
* George Ramos, 63, American reporter, editor and columnist (Los Angeles Times).
* Daryoush Rezaei, 35, Iranian nuclear scientist, shot.
* John Shalikashvili, 75, Polish-born American army general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1993–1997), stroke.
* Elmer B. Staats, 97, American public servant, Comptroller General of the United States (1966–1981).
* Amy Winehouse, 27, British singer-songwriter ("Rehab").

24
* Kaveinga Fa'anunu, 48, Tongan politician, MP for Tongatapu 9 (since 2010), head and neck cancer.
* Tresa Hughes, 81, American actress (Another World, Don Juan DeMarco, Fame).
* Gilbert Luján, 70, American painter, prostate cancer.
* Paul Marchand, 74, Canadian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Timmins (since 1999).
* Josip Bobi Marotti, 89, Croatian actor. (Croatian)
* Christopher Mayer, 57, American actor (The Dukes of Hazzard, Santa Barbara, Liar Liar).
* Virgilio Noè, 89, Italian Roman Catholic cardinal, Archpriest of the Basilica of Saint Peter (1991–2002).
* Mike Palm, 86, American baseball player (Boston Red Sox).
* Dan Peek, 60, American singer-songwriter (America).
* David Servan-Schreiber, 50, French physician, neuroscientist and author, cancer.
* G. D. Spradlin, 90, American actor (North Dallas Forty, The Godfather Part II).
* Skip Thomas, 61, American football player (Oakland Raiders), apparent heart attack.
* Jane White, 88, American actress (Beloved, Klute, Once Upon a Mattress).

25
* Michael Cacoyannis, 89, Cypriot filmmaker (Zorba the Greek).
* Bakır Çağlar, 69–70, Turkish jurist, lawyer and constitutional law professor, bleeding stomach. (Turkish)
* V. S. Krishna Iyer, 89, Indian activist and politician, after long illness.
* Jeret Peterson, 29, American free style skier, 2010 Winter Olympics silver medalist, suicide by gunshot.
* Ravichandran, 71, Malaysian-born Indian actor, lung infection.
* Mike Reaves, 52, American rock musician (Full Devil Jacket), prostate cancer.
* Irma Schmidt, 112, American supercentenarian, Connecticut's oldest resident.

26
* Joe Arroyo, 55, Colombian singer.
* Jacques Fatton, 85, French-born Swiss footballer. (German)
* Frank Foster, 82, American jazz saxophonist and composer, complications from kidney failure.
* Bobby Franklin, 54, American politician, apparent heart attack.
* Richard Harris, 63, American football player (Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks) and coach (Winnipeg Blue Bombers), heart attack.
* Sakyo Komatsu, 80, Japanese science fiction writer, pneumonia.
* Georges Kwaïter, 83, Syrian-born Lebanese Melkite Catholic hierarch, Archbishop of Saïdā (1987–2006).
* Elmer Lower, 98, American broadcast executive, president of ABC News (1963–1974).
* Silvio Narizzano, 84, Canadian-born British film and television director.
* Margaret Olley, 88, Australian painter.
* Yolanda Ordaz de la Cruz, Mexican journalist, cut throat. (body found on this date)
* Josephine C. Reyes, 82, Filipino educator, President of Far Eastern University (1985–1989).
* Howard Stein, 84, American financier, complications of a stroke.
* Tim Smooth, 39, American rapper, cancer.

27
* Wilfred Arsenault, 57, Canadian politician, cancer.
* Rudolf Baláž, 70, Slovak Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Banská Bystrica (since 1990).
* Richard Chavez, 81, American activist and labor organizer, brother of Cesar Chavez, complications from surgery.
* Ghulam Haider Hamidi, 65, Afghan politician, Mayor of Kandahar (since 2007), bombing.
* Rei Harakami, 40, Japanese musician, cerebrovascular disease. (Japanese)
* Hideki Irabu, 42, Japanese baseball player (Chiba Lotte Marines, New York Yankees, Montreal Expos), hanged. (body discovered on this date)
* Jerome Liebling, 87, American photographer, filmmaker and academic (Hampshire College).
* Polly Platt, 72, American film producer (Say Anything...), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
* Bejaratana Rajasuda, 85, Thai royal, only daughter of King Vajiravudh of Thailand.
* Eduard Rozovsky, 84, Russian cinematographer (Amphibian Man, White Sun of the Desert), car accident. (Russian)
* Pietro Sambi, 73, Italian-born Vatican Roman Catholic titular archbishop, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States (since 2005), respiratory failure.
* Francis John Spence, 85, Canadian Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Kingston (1982–2002).
* John Stott, 90, British Anglican clergyman.

28
* Elazar Abuhatzeira, 70, Moroccan-born Israeli rabbi, stabbed.
* Frank Bender, 70, American forensic artist, pleural mesothelioma.
* Bernd Clüver, 63, German singer, complications from a fall. (German)
* Howard W. Creecy, Jr., 57, American preacher and civil rights leader, President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, heart attack.
* Ahmed Omed Khpulwak, 25, British journalist, explosion.
* David Legrant, 87, American acting teacher and actor.
* Agapito Lozada, 72, Filipino Olympic swimmer.
* John Marburger, 70, American physicist and presidential adviser, non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
* Fortino Cortés Sandoval, 39, Mexican politician, Mayor of Florencia de Benito Juárez, shot. (Spanish) (body found on this date)
* Judy Sowinski, 70, American roller derby player. (death reported on this date)
* Jack Thompson, 82, British politician, MP for Wansbeck (1983–1997). (death reported on this date)
* John Milton Yinger, 95, American sociologist.
* Abdul Fatah Younis, 67, Libyan rebel leader and government official, former Interior Minister, shot.

Cuban-born Writer Eliseo Alberto Dies in Mexico

Cuban-born writer and journalist Eliseo Alberto, living in exile in Mexico, has died at the age of 59.

Alberto, nicknamed Lichi, died Sunday at a hospital in Mexico City after receiving a kidney transplant on July 18.

He was celebrated as one of the best contemporary Spanish-language poetry and prose writers. He also wrote television scripts and taught at film schools in Mexico and elsewhere.

Alberto said his books explored Christian themes such as regret, forgiveness and punishment.

In 1998, he received the Premio Alfaguara de Novela, an international Spanish-language literary award, for his novel “Caracol Beach.”

Alberto was born in 1951 in Arroyo Naranjo, Cuba and was the son of Cuban poet and intellectual Eliseo Diego.

In his autobiographical work “Informe contra mi mismo” he described how the Cuban security authorities asked him to report on his father's activities.

Private Funeral Tuesday for Amy Winehouse

Flowers, photos and other tributes outside the home of Amy Winehouse in Camden, London, on the evening of her death on 23 July 2011. (Photo: Etrevino)

Private Funeral Tuesday for Amy Winehouse
Tuesday, 26 July 2011

The family of Amy Winehouse is set to hold a private funeral Tuesday for the British singer, who was found dead Saturday inside her home.

A family spokesman said Winehouse will be buried in a private ceremony for family and close friends.

London police said Monday an autopsy failed to determine how the 27-year-old died. They are calling her death unexplained, but say it is not suspicious.

Forensic experts will now carry out toxicology tests, whose results could take several weeks.

Winehouse's parents stepped outside the singer's London home Monday to thank gathered mourners and fans for their support.

The singer led a tumultuous life, struggling with drugs, alcohol and abusive relationships even while critics and fans hailed her as a masterful blues and jazz artist. She gained worldwide success with her Grammy award-winning second album Back to Black.

But Winehouse also struggled to keep her career on track. She cancelled her European tour last month after an audience in Serbia booed her off the stage when she appeared to be disorientated and incoherent.

Final Exits, 15-21 July 2011

Alex Steinweiss, 1947. (Photo: William P. Gottlieb/United States Library of Congress Music Division)

Obituaries for 15-21 July 2011

15
* Helen Beverly, 94, American actress, natural causes.
* Frankie Daye, 77, American child actress, lung cancer.
* Ed Flesh, 79, American art director, inventor of the Wheel of Fortune wheel, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
* Cornell MacNeil, 88, American operatic baritone.
* Norbert Olberz, 86, German-born American businessman, founder of the Sport Chalet retail chain, natural causes.
* John S. Toll, 87, American physicist and educational administrator, heart failure.
* Googie Withers, 94, English actress.

16
* Milo Anstadt, 91, Dutch journalist and writer. (Dutch)
* Bertalan Bicskei, 66, Hungarian footballer and coach. (Hungarian)
* Forrest Blue, 65, American football player (San Francisco 49ers, Baltimore Colts).
* Geraint Bowen, 95, Welsh poet. (Welsh)
* John Crook, 80, British ethologist.
* Rouhollah Dadashi, 30, Iranian powerlifter and bodybuilder, stabbed. (Persian)
* Ante Garmaz, 83, Croatian-born Argentine fashion designer and model, after long illness. (Spanish)
* Lloyd Gerber, 87, American cowboy poet, abdominal aortic aneurysm.
* Albin Małysiak, 94, Polish Roman Catholic prelate, auxiliary bishop of Krakow (1970–1993). (Polish)
* Dame Katerina Mataira, 79, New Zealand educator and Maori language proponent, co-founder of Kura Kaupapa Māori.
* Cesare Mazzolari, 74, Italian-born South Sudanese Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Rumbek (since 1998).
* Joe McNamee, 84, American basketball player (Rochester Royals, Baltimore Bullets).
* Kazimierz Neumann, 77, Polish Olympic rower. (Polish)

17
* Juan Arza, 88, Spanish footballer and coach. (Spanish)
* Dionysios Bairaktaris, 84, Greek Orthodox hierarch, Metropolitan of Chios, Psara and Inousses (since 1979). (Greek)
* Juan María Bordaberry, 83, Uruguayan politician and dictator, President (1972–1976), after a long illness.
* Jan Mohammed Khan, Afghan presidential adviser, shot.
* Jim Kincaid, 76, American news correspondent (ABC News), anchorman (WVEC) and essayist, heart attack.
* John Kraaijkamp, Sr., 86, Dutch actor and comedian. (Dutch)
* Takaji Mori, 67, Japanese Olympic bronze medal-winning (1968) footballer, renal pelvic cancer.
* Joe Morris, Sr., 85, American Navajo World War II code talker.
* David Ngoombujarra, 44, Australian actor.
* Ştefan Sameş, 59, Romanian footballer (Steaua Bucureşti), cancer. (Romanian)
* Alex Steinweiss, 94, American graphic designer, inventor of the album cover.
* Taiji, 45, Japanese musician and singer-songwriter (X Japan), suicide by hanging.
* Joe Lee Wilson, 75, American jazz singer.

18
* Salvador Bernárdez, 58, Honduran football player, heart attack. (Spanish)
* Sid Cooper, 94, American musician.
* Albert Driedger, 75, Canadian politician, stroke.
* Bernard Gavzer, 90, American writer and Emmy Award-winning television producer, neck cancer.
* Ernesto Goldar, 71, Argentine writer, heart attack. (Spanish)
* Sean Hoare, 47, British showbiz journalist (News of the World), whistleblower in a phone hacking scandal. (body found on this date)
* Magnus Malan, 81, South African politician, Minister of Defence (1980–1991), natural causes.
* Lillian Mobley, 81, American activist, helped establish the Martin Luther King, Jr. Multi-Service Ambulatory Care Center.
* Giulio Rinaldi, 76, Italian Olympic boxer.
* Bob Stenehjem, 59, American politician, member of the North Dakota Senate (since 1993), majority leader (since 2001), car accident.
* James Wong, 89, Malaysian politician, first Deputy Chief Minister of Sarawak, heart attack.
* Ludvik Zajc, 68, Slovenian Olympic ski jumper. (Norwegian)

19
* Boris Biancheri, 80, Italian writer and diplomat. (Italian)
* William Leonard D’Mello, 80, Indian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Karwar (1976–2007).
* Remo Gaspari, 90, Italian politician and minister, stroke. (Italian)
* Yoshio Harada, 71, Japanese actor, pneumonia. (Japanese)
* Henrique Johannpötter, 78, German-born Brazilian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Bacabal (1989–1997).
* Pierre Jonquères d'Oriola, 91, French Olympic gold (1952, 1964) and silver (1964, 1968) medal-winning equestrian.
* Jacques Jouanneau , 84, French actor. (French)
* Brendan Kehoe, 40, Irish software developer and author, acute myeloid leukemia.
* Karen Khachaturian, 90, Russian composer. (Russian)
* Roy Meehan, 79, New Zealand Olympic wrestler.
* James T. Molloy, 75, American government officer, last Doorkeeper of the House of Representatives (1974–1993), complications of diabetes.
* Sir Julian Oswald, 77, British admiral.
* Arsenie Papacioc, 97, Romanian Orthodox Archimandrite, cardiac arrest.
* Serhiy Podhornyi, 57, Ukrainian actor (Only Old Men Are Going to Battle). (Russian)
* Cec Thompson, 85, British rugby league player.

20
* Lucian Freud, 88, German-born British painter.
* Isaia Italeli, 40s, Tuvaluan Cabinet minister. (body found on this date)
* Myra Kraft, 68, American philanthropist, wife of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, cancer.
* Gloria Sawai, 78, Canadian author.
* Vadim Tedeyev, 65, Russian ballet dancer and teacher, People's Artist. (Russian)

21
* Ashleigh Connor, 21, Australian soccer player, car accident.
* Pedro Claro Meurice Estiu, 79, Cuban Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba (1970–2007).
* Elliot Handler, 95, American businessman, co-founder of Mattel and namer of the Barbie doll, heart failure.
* Allison Harte, 58, American disc jockey (WLAV-FM), drowned.
* Carl Kraushaar, 84, American college basketball player (UCLA).
* Slavomir Miklovš, 77, Croatian Greek Catholic hierarch, Bishop of Križevci (1983–2009).
* Bruce Sundlun, 91, American politician, Governor of Rhode Island (1991–1995).
* Kazimierz Świątek, 96, Belarusian Roman Catholic cardinal, Archbishop of Minsk-Mohilev (1991–2006).
* Elwy Yost, 86, Canadian television host and writer.

Zorba Director Cacoyannis Dies at 89

World renown Greek film director Michael Cacoyannis, whose 1964 movie Zorba the Greek became an instant classic, has died at age 89.

He had been suffering from heart and breathing problems.

The Cypriot-born Cacoyannis began his career in London working for the the British Broadcasting Corporation, where he developed an interest in theater and film.

He made his directing debut with 1954's Windfall in Athens and followed it two years later with the award-winning Stella, starring Melina Mercouri.

Cacoyannis became an international name with 1964's Zorba the Greek — a critical and popular success starring Anthony Quinn as a lusty and exuberant Greek coal miner who befriends a cynical and unhappy English writer.

Zorba earned Cacoyannis an Academy Award nomination as Best Director.

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.

Former South Vietnam Leader Nguen Cao Ky Dies

Saturday, 23 July 2011

Nguyen Cao Ky, the former leader of South Vietnam, has died. He was 81 years old.

His family said Ky died Saturday at a hospital in Malaysia where he was being treated for respiratory complications.

Ky served as commander of the air force and as prime minister of U.S. backed South Vietnam during the Vietnam War in the mid-1960s.

He also served as vice president under General Nguyen Van Thieu. When Thieu's government in Saigon fell to North Vietnamese troops in 1975, Ky fled the country piloting a helicopter to a U.S. Navy ship.

He and his family eventually settled in the United States.

In 2004, Ky made headlines when he visited Vietnam, dropping his staunchly anti-communist rhetoric.

Ky is survived by six children and 14 grandchildren. A date for his funeral has not been announced.

(Photo: Nguyen Cao Ky, 20 March 1967)