Famed Italian Writer Eco Dies at 84

Italian author Umberto Eco has died at age 84, ending a writing career that spanned decades and covered topics both profound and mundane.

Eco died of cancer at his home in Milan Friday. He was, as the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera said, one of Italy's most celebrated intellectuals.

His novels, while challenging, had popular appeal.

His most famous work, the best-selling historical novel The Name of the Rose, was made into a movie starring Sean Connery in 1986. The novel published in 1980 has been translated into 43 languages and sold millions of copies.

Professional academics

Eco was a professional academic, having studied philosophy and later specializing in semiotics, the study of signs and symbols.

His second novel, Foucault's Pendulum, was a thriller so complicated that it was packaged with an annotated guide to help readers follow the plot.

Eco's road to literary fame was long and filled with unlikely detours.

As a teenager in northern Italy, he wrote comic books and fantasy novels. He worked as a journalist for Italian television starting in the 1950s, and later wrote children's books and columns for Italian newspapers.

In the past decade, Eco published essay collections on current events and, last year, a novel about Italian political scandal called Numero Zero.

Final Exits of 2013

Pakistani Religious Scholar Dies
http://post-humous.blogspot.com/2013/01/pakistani-religious-scholar-dies.html

'Dear Abby' Advice Columnist Dies at 94
http://post-humous.blogspot.com/2013/01/dear-abby-advice-columnist-dies-at-94.html

Legendary White House Reporter Helen Thomas Dead at 92
http://post-humous.blogspot.com/2013/07/legendary-white-house-reporter-helen.html

World's Oldest Man Dies
http://post-humous.blogspot.com/2013/09/worlds-oldest-man-dies.html

Vietnam Mourns General
http://post-humous.blogspot.com/2013/10/vietnam-mourns-general.html

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novelist Oscar Hijuelos Dies at 62
http://post-humous.blogspot.com/2013/10/pulitzer-prize-winning-novelist-oscar.html

Music: Final Exits of 2013
http://post-humous.blogspot.com/2014/01/music-final-exits-of-2013.html

Politics: Final Exits of 2013
http://post-humous.blogspot.com/2014/01/politics-final-exits-of-2013.html

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novelist Oscar Hijuelos Dies at 62

Pulitzer Prize-winning Cuban-American novelist Oscar Hijuelos, best known as the author of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, has died.

His wife said Hijuelos collapsed while playing tennis in New York. He was 62.

The New York-born Hijuelos captured the Cuban immigrant experience in The Mambo Kings -- the story of two Cuban brothers who move to the United States and form a band.

They gain short-lived celebrity after appearing on the real-life television comedy I Love Lucy, starring Cuban-born entertainer Desi Arnaz.

The 1989 novel won Hijuelos a Pulitzer Prize for fiction and was turned into a popular movie.

Hijuelos wrote several other novels and also his 2011 memoirs, Thoughts Without Cigarettes.

Novelist Gore Vidal Dies at 86

American writer Gore Vidal, whose intellectual novels, essays and plays sharply examined politics and culture, has died at his Los Angeles home. He was 86.

His literary career began with a novel he wrote while enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II.

But it was his third book, “The City and the Pillar,” published in 1948, that marked his early career. The story about two male lovers was met with a backlash, leading Vidal to abandon novels and shift to writing for the theater and television. He penned the Tony-nominated play “The Best Man,” which later became a movie.

After a failed attempt to run for Congress in 1960, Vidal returned to writing books, producing a series of acclaimed historical novels that many critics considered his best work. These include best selling novels “Lincoln” and “Myra Breckenridge.”

His commentary included discussion of America's decline, and included a controversial defense of anti-government terrorist Timothy McVeigh and the assertion that former president George W. Bush had advance knowledge of the September 11 attacks.

Vidal was known for high-profile clashes with writers and pundits, including Ernest Hemingway, Truman Capote and William Buckley, Jr.

His grandfather was a United States Senator, and in 1982 Vidal lost his own bid for a Senate seat.

(Photo by David Shankbone.)

Final Exits, 15-21 March 2011

Dorothy Young, 1930. Actress, stage assistant to Harry Houdini, novelist. (Photo: Jameseastonp)

Obituaries for 15-21 March 2011

15
* Leonid Agranovich, 95, Russian film director and screenwriter. (Russian)
* Vittorio Ghidella, 80, Italian automobile designer and businessman, CEO of Fiat. (Italian)
* Musa Juma, 42, Kenyan musician, pneumonia.
* Yakov Kreizberg, 51, Russian-born Austrian-American conductor.
* Jean Liedloff, 84, American writer.
* Peter Loader, 81, British cricketer.
* Marty Marion, 94, American baseball player and manager, National League MVP (1944).
* Nate Dogg, 41, American musician, heart failure.
* Fred Sanford, 91, American baseball player.
* Smiley Culture, 48, British reggae singer and DJ, apparent suicide by stabbing.
* William J. Stuntz, 52, American legal scholar.

16
* Josefina Aldecoa, 85, Spanish writer. (Spanish)
* Sándor Arnóth, 51, Hungarian politician, car accident. (Hungarian)
* Carel Boshoff, 83, South African religious and cultural activist, cancer.
* Betty Lowman Carey, 96, American rower.
* Tom Dunbar, 51, American baseball player (Texas Rangers).
* Armen Halburian, 77, American drummer and percussionist, cancer.
* Ivan Hel, 73, Ukrainian politician and dissident, member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group.
* Khandaker Delwar Hossain, 78, Bangladeshi politician.
* Sion Milosky, 35, American surfer, drowned.
* Thomas Nkuissi, 82, Cameroonian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Nkongsamba (1978–1992).
* Lloyd Oliver, 88, American veteran, World War II code talker.
* Giorgos Perros, 67, Greek painter, heart failure. (Greek)
* James Pritchett, 88, American actor (The Doctors).
* James C. Tyree, 53, American businessman, chairman and CEO of the Chicago Sun-Times, cancer.
* Murray Warmath, 98, American college football coach (Minnesota Golden Gophers), natural causes.
* Dick Wirthlin, 80, American political strategist and religious leader, renal failure.

17
* Banny deBrum, 54, Marshallese diplomat, Ambassador to the United States (1996–2008, 2009–2011) and Canada (1999–2011).
* Fabián el Gitano, 39, Mexican professional wrestler, blunt trauma.
* Michael Gough, 94, British actor (Sleepy Hollow, Batman), after short illness.
* Ferlin Husky, 85, American country music singer, heart failure.
* Don Kennard, 81, American politician, Texas State Senator (1963–1973).
* Marina Malafeeva, 32, Russian record producer, car crash. (Russian)
* Murdoch Mitchison, 88, British zoologist.
* J.B. Steane, 83, British music critic.
* Christos Tsagas, 72, Greek actor, heart failure. (Greek)

18
* Princess Antoinette, Baroness of Massy, 90, Monegasque princess.
* Ze'ev Boim, 67, Israeli Knesset member, cancer.
* Enzo Cannavale, 82, Italian actor (Cinema Paradiso). (Italian)
* Warren Christopher, 85, American diplomat, Secretary of State (1993–1997), complications from kidney and bladder cancer.
* Jet Harris, 71, British musician (The Shadows), throat cancer.
* Drew Hill, 54, American football player (Los Angeles Rams, Houston Oilers), stroke.
* Charlie Metro, 91, American baseball player and manager (Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Athletics), mesothelioma.
* David Nevin, 83, American historical novelist, Parkinson's disease.

19
* Patrick Ahern, 92, American Roman Catholic prelate, Auxiliary Bishop of New York (1970–1994).
* Kym Bonython, 90, Australian art, jazz and speedway entrepreneur.
* Guillermo Ford, 74, Panamanian politician, Vice President of Panama (1989–1994).
* Viktor Ilyukhin, 62, Russian politician, member of the State Duma (since 1993).
* Åke Johansson, 74, Swedish jazz pianist. (Swedish)
* Knut, 4, German-born polar bear.
* Argentino Luna, 69, Argentine singer and composer, kidney and stomach failure.
* Tom McAvoy, 74, American baseball player (Washington Senators).
* Mohammed Nabbous, 28, Libyan journalist, founder of Alhurra TV, shot.
* Navin Nischol, 65, Indian actor, heart attack.
* Jim Roslof, 64, American artist (Dungeons & Dragons), cancer.
* Robert Ross, 92, American physician and medical school founder (Ross University), cancer.
* Bob Rush, 85, American baseball player (Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Braves, Chicago White Sox).

20
* John Apacible, 38, Filipino actor, shot.
* Don Canney, 80, American politician, Mayor of Cedar Rapids, Iowa (1969–1992), heart failure.
* Bob Christo, 72, Australian-born Indian actor, heart attack.
* Aurimas Dautartas, 35, Lithuanian television presenter and radio host, suicide by hanging. (Lithuanian)
* Néstor de Vicente, 46, Argentine footballer, car crash. (Spanish)
* Diana Díaz, 15, Mexican diver, car accident. (Spanish)
* Kurt Hauenstein, 62, Austrian singer (Supermax), heart attack. (German)
* Oliver Humperdink, 62, American professional wrestling manager, pneumonia and cancer.
* Agostinho Januszewicz, 80, Polish-born Brazilian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Luziânia (1989–2004).
* Ralph Mooney, 82, American steel guitarist, complications from cancer.
* Johnny Pearson, 85, British composer, arranger and pianist.
* Dorothy Young, 103, American actress, assistant to Harry Houdini.

21
* Barry Ackerley, 76, American businessman (Ackerley Group), former owner of the Seattle SuperSonics, stroke.
* Hafiz Saleh Muhammad Alladin, 80, Indian astronomer and education advisor, after short illness.
* Nikolai Andrianov, 58, Russian gymnast, most medaled athlete at the 1976 Summer Olympics, after long illness. (Russian)
* Jesús Aranguren, 66, Spanish footballer and manager. (Spanish)
* Hans Boskamp, 78, Dutch actor and footballer, stroke. (Dutch)
* Bohumil Fišer, 67, Czech cardiologist and academic, Minister of Health (2000–2002), cancer. (Czech)
* Mayhew Foster, 99, American brigadier general, flew captured Hermann Goering to interrogation.
* Loleatta Holloway, 64, American soul and disco musician, heart failure.
* Ladislav Novák, 79, Czech footballer.
* Pinetop Perkins, 97, American blues musician, cardiac arrest.
* Kjeld Tolstrup, 45, Danish radio disc jockey (DR P3), after long illness. (Danish)
* Joe Wizan, 76, American film producer and studio executive, after long illness.

Final Exits, 1-7 March 2011

 Novelist and screenwriter Al Morgan's The Great Man (1956), performed here by Julie London and José Ferrer.

Obituaries for 1-7 March 2011

1
* Ryan Hawks, 25, American freestyle skier, race crash.
* Leonard Lomell, 91, American World War II highly-decorated veteran, natural causes.
* Mike Lounge, 64, American NASA astronaut (1981–1991), complications from liver cancer.
* Ion Monea, 70, Romanian Olympic silver (1968) and bronze (1960) medal-winning boxer. (Romanian)
* Vjera Žagar Nardelli, 84, Croatian actress. (Croatian)
* Fateh Singh Rathore, 72, Indian wildlife conservationist.
* Blair River, 29, American spokesman (The Heart Attack Grill), pneumonia.
* Hazel Rowley, 59, British-born Australian writer, stroke.

2
* Shahbaz Bhatti, 42, Pakistani politician, Minister for Minorities (since 2008), shot.
* Anthony Walter Dayrell Brooke, 98, British heir to the Sarawakan throne.
* Enrique Curiel, 63, Spanish politician, cancer.
* Bernard Cywinski, 70, American architect (Apple Store), partner and founder of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, cancer.
* John Haines, 86, American poet.
* Vlassis Kaniaris, 83, Greek visual artist, after long illness. (Greek)
* Erling Kroner, 67, Danish trombonist and bandleader, cancer. (Danish)
* Allan Louisy, 94, Saint Lucian politician and judge, Prime Minister (1979–1981).
* David Lynch, 40, American white supremacist, leader of the American Front, shot.
* Ruby Muhammad, 103, American spiritual figure, lung cancer.
* Art Statuto, 85, American football player (Los Angeles Rams).
* Thor Vilhjálmsson, 85, Icelandic author, natural causes. (Icelandic)
* Walter Zacharius, 87, American publisher (Lancer Books, Kensington Books), cancer.

3
* Raymond Buse, Jr., 85, American distiller, horse breeder, and baseball team owner (Cincinnati Reds, Cincinnati Bengals).
* Aldo Clementi, 85, Italian composer.
* May Cutler, 87, Canadian author and publisher, founder of Tundra Books, first female Mayor of Westmount, Quebec (1987–1991).
* Paquito Diaz, 73, Filipino actor, complications from a stroke.
* James L. Elliot, 67, American astronomer, discovered rings of Uranus.
* Lasse Eriksson, 61, Swedish comedian. (Swedish)
* Goga Kapoor, 70, Indian actor.
* Irena Kwiatkowska, 98, Polish actress.
* Al Morgan, 91, American novelist and television producer (The Today Show), after long illness.
* Venkatraman Radhakrishnan, 81, Indian astrophysicist, cardiac complications.
* Višnja Stahuljak, 85, Croatian writer, after long illness. (Croatian)
* James Travers, 62, Canadian journalist, political correspondent (Toronto Star), editor in chief (Ottawa Citizen, 1991–1996), post-surgery complications.

4
* Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, 86, Nepali Prime Minister (1990–1991, 1999–2000), multiple organ failure.
* Frank Chirkinian, 84, American producer (CBS Sports), lung cancer.
* Vivienne Harris, 89, British businesswoman and newspaper publisher, co-founder of the Jewish Telegraph.
* Charles Jarrott, 83, British film and television director (Anne of the Thousand Days), prostate cancer.
* Ed Manning, 68, American basketball player and coach, heart condition.
* Johnny Preston, 71, American pop singer ("Running Bear"), heart failure.
* Mikhail Simonov, 81, Russian aircraft designer, chief designer of the Sukhoi Design Bureau (1983–2011), after long illness.
* Arjun Singh, 80, Indian politician, Minister of Human Resource Development (2004–2009), heart attack.
* Alenush Terian, 90, Iranian astronomer and physicist.
* Simon van der Meer, 85, Dutch physicist and Nobel laureate. (Dutch)

5
* Alberto Granado, 88, Argentine-born Cuban biochemist and writer, travel companion of Che Guevara (The Motorcycle Diaries).
* Kim Hill, 44, American inspiration for the Ronald McDonald House, brain cancer.
* Oswald Georg Hirmer, 81, German-born South African Roman Catholic missionary, Bishop of Umtata (1997–2008). (German)
* Lina Ron, 51, Venezuelan political leader, President of Popular Unity, heart attack.

6
* Jean Bartel, 87, American actress, Miss America 1943.
* Rostislav Čtvrtlík, 47, Czech stage, television and voice actor, brain tumor. (Czech)
* Mike DeStefano, 44, American comedian (Last Comic Standing), heart attack.
* Herman Ernest, 59, American R&B and funk drummer, cancer.
* Agnes-Marie Grisebach, 97, German writer. (German)
* Oddmund Jensen, 82, Norwegian Olympic cross-country skier. (Norwegian)
* Ján Popluhár, 75, Slovak footballer (1962 FIFA World Cup).
* Frank Ziegler, 87, American football player (Philadelphia Eagles).

7
* Arnie Carruthers, 81, American jazz pianist, bladder cancer.
* Adrián Escudero, 83, Spanish footballer. (Spanish)
* Samuel Hazard Gillespie, Jr., 100, American lawyer and politician, pancreatic cancer.
* Luiza Melinda, 64, Greek dancer. (Greek)
* Rudy Salud, 72, Filipino sports executive, PBA Commissioner (1988–1992), complications from surgery.