Legendary Brazilian Architect Niemeyer Dies At 104

World-renowned Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, who designed much of Brazil's modern capital, died Wednesday at the age of 104.

Niemeyer is most famous for his use of abstract forms and curves, abandoning traditional straight lines. He was among the first to explore the possibilities of reinforced concrete to convey his creative vision.

The Brazilian architect established himself during the middle of the 20th century as one of modernism's greatest visionaries.  He designed hundreds of objects around the world, including work on the United Nations headquarters in New York City.

On that and other early projects, Niemeyer teamed up with another pioneer of post-war buildings in concrete, the French-Swiss architect Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, better known by his pseudonym of Le Corbusier.

In 1956, Niemeyer was appointed chief architect for Brazil's futuristic capital, Brasilia, a new city in the heart of the Amazon jungle. That achievement brought him worldwide fame.

He won architecture's top award, the Pritzker Prize, in 1988.

Niemeyer would have turned 105 on December 15.

(Photo courtesy of Public Archive of the Distrito Federal.)

Final Exits, 8-14 September 2011

Old-time and Bluegrass musician Wade Mainer (Appalachian banjo picker/singer) in his later years. (Photo: National Endowment for the Arts)

Obituaries for 8-14 September 2011

8
* David Bitner, 62, American political leader, Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida (2011), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
* Mary Fickett, 83, American actress (All My Children), complications of Alzheimer's disease.
* Silvia Glogner, 70, Austrian-born German actress. (German)
* Jesse Jefferson, 62, American baseball player (Baltimore Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays), prostate cancer.
* Marcos Plonka, 71, Brazilian comedian and actor. (Portuguese)
* Sir Hilary Synnott, 66, British diplomat.
* Võ Chí Công, 99, Vietnamese politician, President (1987–1992).
* Emilianos Zacharopoulos, 96, Turkish-born Greek Orthodox hierarch, Metropolitan (since 1959). (French)

9
* Werner Geeser, 63, Swiss Olympic cross-country skier, cancer. (German)
* Laurie Hughes, 87, English football player (Liverpool).
* William Lesick, 88, Canadian politician, MP for Edmonton East (1984–1988).
* Herbert Lomas, 87, British poet.
* Ignace Matondo Kwa Nzambi, 79, Congolese Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Basankusu (1974–1998) and Molegbe (1998–2007).
* Khairy Shalaby, 73, Egyptian writer.

10
* David E. L. Choong, 82, Malaysian badminton player.
* Graham Collier, 74, British jazz bassist.
* Cecil Marshall, 71, Canadian cricketer.
* Sabino Augusto Montanaro, 89, Paraguayan politician, Minister of the Interior (1968–1989). (Spanish)
* Eric Prabhakar, 86, Indian Olympic athlete (1948).
* Cliff Robertson, 88, American actor (Charly, Spider-Man, PT 109), natural causes.

11
* Douglas Allen, Baron Croham, 93, British civil servant, Head of the Home Civil Service (1974–1977).
* Christian Bakkerud, 26, Danish racing driver, injuries sustained in a car accident.
* Cliff Brittle, 69, English sports administrator, Chairman of the Rugby Football Union (1996–1998).
* Arthur Evans, 68, American gay rights activist and author, aortic aneurysm.
* Ralph Gubbins, 79, English football player (Bolton Wanderers, Hull City, Tranmere Rovers).
* Yuri Kuzmenkov, 70, Russian actor (Big School-Break), heart attack. (Russian)
* Isabell Masters, 98, American politician, third-party candidate for President of the United States (1984, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004).
* Yuli Ofer, 87, Romanian-born Israeli businessman and entrepreneur.
* Tanekichi Onishi, 111, Japanese supercentenarian.
* Walter Righter, 87, American clergyman, bishop in the Episcopal Church, after long illness.
* Andy Whitfield, 39, Welsh-born Australian actor (Spartacus: Blood and Sand), non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

12
* Bill Cash, 92, American Negro league baseball player.
* Frits Castricum, 64, Dutch politician, Member of the House of Representatives (1977–1994) and the Senate (1999–2003). (Dutch)
* Alexander Galimov, 26, Russian ice hockey player, injuries sustained in the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash.
* Wade Mainer, 104, American bluegrass musician, heart failure.
* Don Wayne, 78, American songwriter ("Country Bumpkin", "Saginaw, Michigan").

13
* Walter Bonatti, 81, Italian mountain climber. (German)
* John Calley, 81, American movie studio executive.
* Wilma Lee Cooper, 90, American country music singer, natural causes.
* Sam DeLuca, 75, American football player and broadcaster (New York Jets), pancreatic cancer.
* Paul Gallant, 67, Canadian entrepreneur, inventor of Puzz-3D, cancer.
* Jack E. Garner, 84, American actor (The Rockford Files, My Fellow Americans), brother of James Garner.
* Richard Hamilton, 89, British artist.
* David Jull, 66, Australian politician, Member of the House of Representatives (1975–1983, 1984–2007).
* DJ Mehdi, 34, French musician.
* Harlan Erwin Mitchell, 87, American politician, U.S. Representative from Georgia (1958–1961).
* Carl Oglesby, 76, American activist, lung cancer.
* Gautam Rajadhyaksha, 62, Indian photographer.

14
* Harishchandra Birajdar, 61, Indian Olympic wrestler (1972).
* Choi Dong-Won, 53, South Korean baseball player (Lotte Giants, Samsung Lions), colon cancer.
* Julia Constenla, 83, Argentine journalist and writer. (Spanish)
* Desmond FitzGerald, 29th Knight of Glin, 74, Irish nobleman.
* David Francey, 87, Scottish broadcaster.
* Jorge Lavat, 78, Mexican actor. (Spanish)
* Buddy Tinsley, 87, Canadian football player (Winnipeg Blue Bombers).
* Malcolm Wallop, 78, American politician, United States Senator from Wyoming (1977–1995).

Final Exits, 22-28 May 2011

Huguette Clark (right) c. 1917 (age approx. 11) with her sister Andrée (left) and her father William A. Clark (center). Clark and daughters visit Columbia Gardens, which he built in Butte. (Photo: Montana Historical Society)

Obituaries for 22-28 May 2011

22
* Joseph Brooks, 73, American Grammy-winning songwriter ("You Light Up My Life"), suicide by asphyxiation.
* Chidananda Dasgupta, 89, Indian film critic.
* Matej Ferjan, 34, Slovenian motorcycle speedway rider.
* Bob Gould, 74, Australian activist and bookseller.
* Ralph Hunt, 83, Australian politician, MP for Gwydir (1969–1989).
* Suzanne Mizzi, 43, British glamour model and interior designer, cancer.
* Pilu Momtaz, 52, Bangladeshi pop singer.
* Ronald Naar, 56, Dutch mountaineer.
* Breon O'Casey, 83, British artist.
* Walter Soboleff, 102, American Tlingit scholar and religious leader, bone and prostate cancer.
* Joe Steffy, 85, American college football player (Army), 1947 Outland Trophy winner.

23
* Sam Faust, 26, Australian rugby league player, leukemia.
* Peter H. B. Frelinghuysen, Jr., 95, American politician, U.S. Representative from New Jersey (1953–1975).
* Nasser Hejazi, 61, Iranian football player and manager, cancer.
* Abdias do Nascimento, 97, Brazilian activist and politician. (Portuguese)
* Joseph Nguyên Tich Duc, 73, Vietnamese Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Ban Me Thuot (2000–2006).
* Karel Otčenášek, 91, Czech Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Hradec Králové (1989–1998).
* Janez Petač, 62, Slovenian hockey player and Olympian, cancer. (Slovenian)
* Alejandro Roces, 86, Filipino writer and government official, Secretary of Education (1961–1965).
* Roberto Sosa, 81, Honduran poet, heart attack. [51] (Spanish)
* Xavier Tondó, 32, Spanish cyclist, crushed by car.

24
* Huguette M. Clark, 104, American heiress, daughter of William A. Clark.
* José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva , Brazilian Amazon environmentalist and conservationist, shot.
* Arthur Goldreich, 82, South African-born Israeli political activist.
* Mark Haines, 65, American television anchor (CNBC).
* Fănuş Neagu, 79, Romanian writer, prostate cancer. (Romanian)
* Barry Potomski, 38, Canadian ice hockey player.
* Sir Blair Stewart-Wilson, 81, British courtier.
* Paul Winslow, 82, South African cricketer.
* Stephen K. Yamashiro, 69, American politician, Mayor of Hawaii County (1992–2000), pneumonia.
* Hakim Ali Zardari, 81, Pakistani politician, father of Asif Ali Zardari, after long illness.

25
* Nina Leopold Bradley, 93, American conservationist.
* Leonora Carrington, 94, British-born Mexican painter and novelist.
* Luigi Diligenza, 90, Italian Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Capua (1978–1997).
* Joe Feuerherd, 48, American editor-in-chief and publisher of National Catholic Reporter, cancer.
* Edwin Honig, 91, American poet and translator, Alzheimer's disease.
* Terry Jenner, 66, Australian Test cricketer and coach.
* Marek Nawara, 55, Polish politician, possible heart attack. (Polish)
* Miroslav Opsenica, 29, Serbian footballer, car accident. (Polish)
* Paul Splittorff, 64, American baseball player and broadcaster (Kansas City Royals), complications from melanoma.
* Yannis Varveris, 56, Greek poet, critic and translator, cardiac arrest. (Greek)
* Paul J. Wiedorfer, 90, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient.
* Edward Żentara, 55, Polish actor, suicide. (Polish)

26
* Arisen Ahubudu, 91, Sri Lankan scholar, author and playwright.
* Flick Colby, 65, American dancer and choreographer (Pan's People), bronchial pneumonia.
* George Heron, 92, American tribal leader, President of the Seneca Nation of New York (1958–1960; 1962–1964).
* Jim Murphy, 63, Australian wine merchant, heart attack following cancer surgery.
* Tyler Simpson, 25, Australian soccer player.

27
* Janet Brown, 87, British actress and impersonator, after short illness.
* Jeff Conaway, 60, American actor (Grease, Taxi, Babylon 5).
* Margo Dydek, 37, Polish basketball player (Starzz, Silver Stars, Sun, Sparks) and coach, heart attack.
* Amanda Franklin, 25, American aviator and wing walker, injuries from airplane crash.
* Gil Scott-Heron, 62, American poet, musician and author.

28
* Mohammed Daud Daud, 42, Afghan general, police commander for northern Afghanistan, bombing.
* Dame Barbara Mills, 70, British barrister, Director of Public Prosecutions (1992–1998), stroke.
* Shah Jahan Noori, Afghan general, police chief for Takhar Province, bombing.
* Alys Robi, 88, Canadian jazz singer.