Queen of Disco Loses Battle with Cancer

Music legend Donna Summer, known by many as the Queen of Disco, has died.

The five-time Grammy Award winner died Thursday at the age of 63 in Florida. Those close to her say she had been battling lung cancer for some time but had tried to keep her illness private.

Summer rose to stardom in the 1970s with hits like “Hot Stuff” and “Bad Girls,” and “Last Dance,” which helped define the disco era.

She was born Donna Gaines 31 December 1948 in Boston, Massachusetts to a religious family and much of her early training came from singing in a church choir.

She moved to Europe in the late 1960s, where she was cast in a German production of the musical “Hair,” and even learned to speak fluent German.

Summer returned to the United States and enjoyed popular success, culminating in 1979 with the “Bad Girls” album.

She continued to have hits in the 1980s, including 1983's “She Works hard for the Money.”

Summer married singer and songwriter Bruce Sudano in 1980. The couple had two children.

President Barack Obama says he and first lady Michelle Obama are saddened at Summer's passing, calling her a legend with an unforgettable voice.

Final Exits, 8-14 November 2011

Folk singer Jackie Leven a.k.a. Sir Vincent Lone (formerly of Doll By Doll) performs in the Musician Tent at the Summer Sundae 2005. Photo by Gareth Owen.

Obituaries for 8-14 November 2011

8
* Jimmy Adamson, 82, British football player and coach.
* Hal Bruno, 83, American journalist (ABC News).
* Clay Green Cambern, 56, American TV editor (Lost, The Sopranos, Cold Case), cardiac arrest.
* Gene Cantamessa, 80, American Academy Award-winning sound engineer (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial).
* Oscar Rolando Cantuarias Pastor, 80, Peruvian Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Piura (1981–2006).
* Nosson Tzvi Finkel, 68, American Orthodox Jewish rabbi.
* Katherine Grant, 12th Countess of Dysart, 93, Scottish peeress.
* Heavy D, 44, Jamaican-born American rapper ("Now That We Found Love") and actor (The Cider House Rules, Life).
* Izabel Hoffmann, 17, Brazilian model, pulmonary embolism. [79] (Portuguese)
* Ricky Hui, 65, Hong Kong actor. (Chinese)
* Bil Keane, 89, American cartoonist (The Family Circus), heart failure.
* Valentin Kozmich Ivanov, 76, Russian football player and coach. (Russian)
* Ed Macauley, 83, American basketball player (St. Louis Hawks, Boston Celtics, Saint Louis Bombers).
* Jimmy Norman, 74, American rhythm and blues and jazz musician and songwriter.
* Herbert S. Okun, 80, American diplomat.
* Jacques Suprikyan, 71, Armenian footballer. (Russian)
* Lauri Sutela, 93, Finnish military officer, Chief of Defence (1974–1983). (Finnish)

9
* Abdoulkarim Abdrashitov, 30, Russian imam, Mufti of Mordovia (since 2011), car accident. (Russian)
* Shmuel Ben-Artzi, 96, Israeli writer, father in-law of Benjamin Netanyahu.
* Mary Ellen Cano, 32, American MMA fighter, shot.
* Bob Carney, 79, American basketball player (Minneapolis Lakers).
* Roger Christian, 75, American Olympic gold medal-winning (1960) ice hockey player.
* Renée Franke, 83, German pop singer. (German)
* Har Gobind Khorana, 89, Indian-born American biochemist, Nobel laureate (1968), natural causes.
* Benny McCoy, 96, American baseball player (Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Athletics).
* Ézio Leal Moraes Filho, 45, Brazilian football player. (Portuguese)
* Dani Wadada Nabudere, 79, Ugandan academic.
* Jean-Paul Randriamanana, 61, Malagasy Roman Catholic prelate, Auxiliary Bishop of Antananarivo (since 1999).
* Thomas Shanahan, 54, American politician, alderman of Springfield, Illinois.
* Wilbur South, 28, American MMA fighter, suicide by gunshot.
* Terry Willers, 76, Irish cartoonist.

10
* Peter J. Biondi, 69, American politician, member of the New Jersey General Assembly (since 1998), cancer.
* David Boyd, 87, Australian artist.
* Manuel Carbonell, 93, Cuban-born American sculptor.
* Ana Grepo, 36, Croatian model, carbon monoxide asphyxiation. (Croatian)
* Barbara Grier, 78, American publisher (Naiad Press) and writer, cancer.
* Ivan Martin Jirous, 67, Czech poet and dissident.
* Alan Keen, 73, British politician, MP for Feltham and Heston (since 1992), cancer.
* Killer Karl Kox, 80, American professional wrestler.
* Petar Kralj, 70, Serbian actor. (Serbian)
* Andy Tielman, 75, Dutch Indorock musician.
* Adrián Yospe, 41, Argentine actor, cancer. (Spanish)

11
* William Aramony, 84, American charity executive.
* Francisco Blake Mora, 45, Mexican politician, Secretary of the Interior (since 2010), helicopter crash.
* Domenico Tarcisio Cortese, 80, Italian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Mileto-Nicotera-Tropea (1979–2007).
* Lynn Deerfield, 61, American actress (Guiding Light).
* John Francis Donoghue, 83, American Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Atlanta (1993–2004), after short illness.
* Emory Folmar, 81, American politician, Mayor of Montgomery, Alabama (1977–1999), after long illness.
* Michael Garrick, 78, English jazz pianist and composer.
* Fridtjof Frank Gundersen, 77, Norwegian jurist and politician. (Norwegian)
* Choiseul Henriquez, 51, Haitian politician.
* Charlie Lea, 54, French-born American baseball player (Montreal Expos).
* Bernd Methe, 47, German handball referee, traffic accident.
* Reiner Methe, 47, German handball referee, traffic accident.
* David Myers, 73, American politician, Oklahoma State Senator (since 2002), pneumonia.
* Nick Strincevich, 96, American baseball player (Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Braves).

12
* Gavin Bornholdt, 63, New Zealand Olympic sailor.
* Doyle Bramhall, 62, American blues musician, heart failure.
* Alun Evans, 69, Welsh football administrator, General Secretary of the Football Association of Wales (1982–1995), after long illness.
* Zbigniew Jaworowski, 84, Polish physicist.
* Evelyn Lauder, 75, Austrian-born American philanthropist (The Breast Cancer Research Foundation), creator of pink ribbon symbol, complications from ovarian cancer.
* Julius C. Michaelson, 89, American politician, Rhode Island Attorney General (1975–1979) and State Senator (1962–1974).
* Hasan Moghaddam, Iranian general, commander in the Revolutionary Guard, explosion.
* Peter Roebuck, 55, British-Australian cricketer and columnist, suicide by defenestration.
* Jim Sullivan, 43, Canadian curler, world junior champion (1988).

13
* Bobsam Elejiko, 30, Nigerian footballer, traumatic aortic rupture. (Dutch)
* Guido Falaschi, 22, Argentine racing driver, racing accident.
* Esperanza Pérez Labrador, 89, Cuban-born Argentine human rights activist (Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo). (Spanish)
* Jamie Pierre, 38, American professional skier, avalanche.
* Artemio Lomboy Rillera, 69, Philippine Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Bangued (1993–2005) and San Fernando de La Union (since 2005).
* Diego Rivas, Mexican singer, shot.
* Solly Tyibilika, 32, South African rugby player, shot.

14
* Franz Josef Degenhardt, 79, German poet, satirist, novelist and folk singer. (German)
* Richard Douthwaite, 69, British economist and ecologist.
* Alf Fields, 92, English footballer (Arsenal F.C.).
* Maurice-Adolphe Gaidon, 83, French Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Cahors (1987–2004).
* Brikt Jensen, 83, Norwegian literary critic and publisher. (Norwegian)
* Laura Kennedy, American musician (Bush Tetras), liver disease.
* Jackie Leven, 61, Scottish musician, lung cancer.
* Cargill MacMillan, Jr., 84, American billionaire (Cargill family), natural causes.
* Ilya Zhitomirskiy, 22, Russian-born American Internet entrepreneur, co-founder of Diaspora social network site, apparent suicide.

Famed British Peace Activist Brian Haw Dead at 62

Brian Haw on 24 February 2007 (Photo: David Hunt)

Famed British Peace Activist Brian Haw Dead at 62
Sunday, 19 June 2011

Brian Haw, a peace activist who for years held a nearly non-stop vigil in a tent across from Britain's parliament, has died, his family announced Sunday.

Almost everyone who worked in or visited the London landmark had seen him. A former carpenter and member of the Merchant Navy, Haw set up his tent near opposite the Houses of Parliament in 2001 to protest British and U.S. sanctions against Iraq.

His protests became more vocal and elaborate when the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were launched — accusing Western leaders of mass murder and draping his tent with posters and pictures.

British courts rejected efforts to evict Haw and he often tussled with passersby who argued with him.

But many others, including some members of Parliament, praised Haw for what they say was his commitment to peace and refusal to keep silent.

Haw was being treated for lung cancer in Germany when he died Saturday. He was 62 years old.