Final Exits, 1-7 June 2011

Obituaries for 1-7 June 2011

Photo: Martin Rushent on 17 February 2011. (Photographer: Mattgirling)

1
* Munir Dar, 76, Pakistani Olympic gold medal-winning (1960) field hockey player.
* Matt Fong, 57, American politician, California State Treasurer (1995–1999), skin cancer.
* Giorgos Kosmopoulos, 74, Greek politician, Mayor of Olympia (1991–1994). (Greek)
* Manolo Otero, 63, Spanish singer and actor, liver cancer. (Portuguese)
* Frank Ponta, 75, Australian paralympian, after long illness.
* Haleh Sahabi, 54, Iranian humanitarian, daughter of Ezzatollah Sahabi, cardiac arrest.

2
* Ray Bryant, 79, American jazz pianist, after long illness.
* Willem Duys, 82, Dutch radio and television presenter and record producer, infection. (Dutch)
* Josephine Hart, 69, Irish-born British novelist and poetry promoter, ovarian cancer.
* Philip Holland, 94, British politician, MP for Acton (1959–1964); Carlton (1966–1983) and Gedling (1983–1987).
* Walter R. Peterson, Jr., 88, American politician, Governor of New Hampshire (1969–1973), lung cancer.
* Geronimo Pratt, 63, American political leader (Black Panther Party).
* Joel Rosenberg, 57, American science fiction author, heart attack.
* Albertina Sisulu, 92, South African anti-apartheid activist.
* Philip Rahtz, 90, British archaeologist.
* Lavina Washines, 71, American tribal leader, first female leader of the Yakima Nation (2006–2008).

3
* James Arness, 88, American actor (Gunsmoke), natural causes.
* Harry Bernstein, 101, British-born American author.
* Wally Boag, 90, American performer (Disneyland's Golden Horseshoe Revue).
* Papa Joe Chevalier, 62, American sports talk radio host, stroke.
* Bruce Crozier, 72, Canadian politician, Ontario MPP for Essex South (1993–1999) and Essex (since 1999), aortic aneurysm.
* Andrew Gold, 59, American singer-songwriter ("Lonely Boy", "Thank You for Being a Friend"), heart attack.
* John Henry Johnson, 81, American Hall of Fame football player (49ers, Lions, Steelers, Oilers).
* Miriam Karlin, 85, British actress and activist, cancer.
* Jack Kevorkian, 83, American right to die activist, pulmonary thrombosis.
* Bhajan Lal, 80, Indian politician, Chief Minister of Haryana (1979–1985; 1991–1996), cardiac arrest.
* Peter Murphy, 88, Irish television presenter (RTE).
* Sammy Ofer, 89, Israeli businessman, after long illness.
* Benny Spellman, 79, American R&B singer, respiratory failure.
* Jan van Roessel, 86, Dutch footballer (Willem II Tilburg).
* Wang Haifang, 47, Chinese football coach, car accident. (Chinese)

4
* Dimi Mint Abba, 52, Mauritanian singer, brain hemorrhage.
* Lilian Jackson Braun, 97, American author (Cat Who series), natural causes.
* Claudio Bravo, 74, Chilean painter, epilepsy.
* Tommy Brent, 88, American theatrical producer.
* Lindsey Durlacher, 36, American Greco-Roman wrestler.
* Lawrence Eagleburger, 80, American diplomat and politician, Secretary of State (1992–1993).
* Curth Flatow, 91, German dramatist and screenwriter, natural causes. (German)
* Maurice Garrel, 88, French actor. (French)
* Donald Hewlett, 90, English actor.
* Ilyas Kashmiri, 47, Pakistani leader of Harkatul Jihad al-Islami, drone strike.
* Andreas P. Nielsen, 58, Danish author and composer, cancer. (Danish)
* Martin Rushent, 63, English record producer (Buzzcocks, Human League, The Stranglers).
* Kiyoshi Sasamori, 70, Japanese cabinet advisor and labor union leader (RENGO), pneumonia.
* Betty Taylor, 91, American performer (Disneyland's Golden Horseshoe Revue).
* Frankie Toler, 59, American drummer (The Allman Brothers Band, Gregg Allman Band, Marshall Tucker Band), long illness following liver transplant.

5
* Mark H. Beaubien, Jr., 68, American politician, member of the Illinois House of Representatives (since 1997).
* Leon Botha, 26, South African artist and musical performer, progeria-related heart failure. (Afrikaans)
* Calvin Hannah, 81, American photographer.
* Azam Khan, 61, Bangladeshi pop singer, cancer.
* Gordon Lorenz, 61, British songwriter.

6
* John R. Alison, 98, American World War II combat flying ace.
* Derek Brien, 34, Irish motorcycle racer, race crash.
* Declan Costello, 84, Irish politician, TD for Dublin North West (1951–1969); Dublin South West (1973–1977), Attorney General (1973–1977) and High Court judge.
* Nils-Bertil Dahlander, 83, Swedish jazz drummer. (Swedish)
* Dulce Figueiredo, 83, Brazilian First Lady (1979–1985), widow of João Figueiredo. (Portuguese)
* Stefan Kurylowicz, 62, Polish architect, plane crash.
* Shrek, 16, New Zealand sheep known for its unshorn fleece, euthanised.
* Tillmann Uhrmacher, 44, German DJ, music producer and radio host. (German)

7
* Thomas Emma, 49, American basketball player (Duke University), fall.
* Buddy Gask, 64, British rock and roll singer (Showaddywaddy), after long illness.
* Walid Gholmieh, 73, Lebanese musician, director of Conservatoire Libanais.
* Genaro Hernández, 45, American boxer, cancer.
* José Pagán, 76, Puerto Rican baseball player (San Francisco Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates).
* Nataraja Ramakrishna, 88, Indian dance guru, after long illness.
* Jorge Semprún, 87, Spanish writer and politician. (Spanish)
* Leonard B. Stern, 87, American television director, producer and writer (Get Smart, McMillan & Wife, The Governor & J.J.), creator of The Honeymooners.
* Edgar Tekere, 74, Zimbabwean politician, cancer.

Spanish Resistance Fighter, Holocaust Survivor, Dies

Jorge Semprún, 1970. (Photo: Primera Plana magazine, Buenos Aires, Argentina.)

Spanish Resistance Fighter, Holocaust Survivor, Dies
Wednesday, 8 June 2011

Spanish writer, resistance fighter and Holocaust survivor Jorge Semprun has died in Paris at the age of 87.

Semprun documented his experiences in the Nazi death camp Buchenwald in a famous autobiography recently released in English as The Cattle Truck.

He also was known for his screenplays Z, directed by Costa Gavras, and The War is Over, directed by Alain Resnais.

Born in 1923 in Madrid, Semprun settled in France after his family fled from the civil war and violence in Spain.

Semprun later joined the French resistance against Nazi German occupation, was captured and sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp where he remained until the end of World War Two in 1945.

Undeterred, he joined the Communist party and stood against Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, who ruled Spain for more than three decades until his death in 1975.

Semprun was appointed Spain's minister of culture from 1988-1991.

He then returned to Paris to write.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Dies

Saturday, 4 June 2011

Former U.S. Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger has died at age 80.

Word of his death came from representatives of former President George H.W. Bush and former Secretary of State James Baker. No other details were immediately available.

The White House has issued a statement calling Eagleburger “a distinguished diplomat and public servant” and noted that, he served the nation during the “pivotal days” at the end of the Cold War, after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted that Eagleburger had served in the U.S. Army before joining the foreign service. She called him “a strong voice and stalwart champion for America's values.” Eagleburger last month appeared at a State Department event with Secretary Clinton and former Secretary Madeleine Albright.

Eagleburger was the only career foreign service officer to rise to the position of Secretary of State.

He served in the position under the first President Bush for five months in 1992 when his predecessor, James Baker, stepped down from the post to run Mr. Bush's unsuccessful re-election campaign.

George H.W. Bush was U.S. president from 1989 to 1993. He is the father of President George W. Bush, who served from 2001 to 2009.

Final Exits, 29-31 May 2011

Obituaries for 29-31 May 2011

29
* Sergei Bagapsh, 62, Abkhazian politician, President (since 2005), complications after surgery.
* Jon Blake, 52, Australian actor, pneumonia.
* Bill Clements, 94, American politician, Governor of Texas (1979–1983; 1987–1991).
* Da Real One, 46, American poet (Def Poetry), shot.
* Wally Jay, 93, American martial arts teacher, founder of Small Circle JuJitsu, after long illness.
* Ferenc Mádl, 80, Hungarian politician, President of the Republic (2000–2005). (Hungarian)
* Osamu Maruoka, 60, Japanese militant, member of Japanese Red Army.
* Tom Roeser, 82, American political commentator.
* Bill Roycroft, 96, Australian equestrian, five-time Olympian, gold medallist (1960).
* Cosmo Francesco Ruppi, 78, Italian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Termoli-Larino (1980–1988) and Archbishop of Lecce (1988–2009).
* Albert M. Sack, 96, American author and antiques dealer.

30
* Ricky Bruch, 64, Swedish athlete, cancer. (Swedish)
* Henri Chammartin, 92, Swiss dressage equestrian, multiple Olympic medallist. (German)
* Paul B. Ferrara, 68, American DNA scientist, pioneer of genetic fingerprinting, brain tumor.
* Prince Ali Mirza Qajar, 81, Iranian royal, Head of the Qajar Imperial Family (since 1988), after long illness. (Persian)
* Eddie Morrison, 63, Scottish footballer and manager (Kilmarnock).
* Isikia Savua, 59, Fijian diplomat and police commissioner.
* Marek Siemek, 68, Polish philosopher and historian of philosophy. (Polish)
* Clarice Taylor, 93, American actress (Sesame Street, The Cosby Show).
* Giorgio Tozzi, 88, American operatic bass, heart attack.
* Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, 89, American Nobel laureate.

31
* Pauline Betz, 91, American tennis player.
* Jonas Bevacqua, 33, American fashion designer (Lifted Research Group).
* Hans Keilson, 101, German-born Dutch psychoanalyst and novelist.
* Adolfas Mekas, 85, Lithuanian-born American film director.
* Andy Robustelli, 85, American Hall of Fame football player (Los Angeles Rams, New York Giants).
* Philip Rose, 89, American theatrical producer, stroke.
* Ezzatollah Sahabi, 81, Iranian politician, Member of Parliament (1980–1984), stroke. (Persian)
* Syed Saleem Shahzad, 40, Pakistani journalist, shot. (body found on this date)
* Ram Man Trishit, 70, Nepali lyricist, kidney problems.
* Sølvi Wang, 81, Norwegian singer and actress. (Norwegian)

Former Black Panther Leader in US Dies

Friday, 3 June 2011

A former leader of the radical Black Panther movement in the United States who was wrongfully imprisoned for 27 years has died.

Family members of Elmer Pratt say he died Thursday in a small village in Tanzania where he had been living. He was 63.

The cause of death is not clear.

Pratt, whose nickname was “Geronimo,” was convicted in 1972 for allegedly robbing and killing a woman in California.

He long maintained his innocence and said he was targeted by the FBI because he was a member of the Black Panther movement.

Pratt's conviction was overturned in 1997, and prosecutors announced two years later they would not seek to retry him.

The Black Panther movement, which was active in the U.S. from 1966 to 1982, was an African-American leftist revolutionary organization. The movement sometimes used violent means to fight what it considered police brutality.

South Africa Mourns Anti-Apartheid Icon 'Ma' Sisulu

Friday, 3 June 2011

South Africa is grieving the loss of a woman many consider to be the mother of the modern country.

Albertina Sisulu, known as Ma Sisulu, died late Thursday at her home in Johannesburg. She was 92.

Following the announcement, the Nelson Mandela Foundation issued a statement saying, "South Africa has lost a treasure."

Sisulu was born in the Tsomo district of Eastern Cape in 1918 and moved to Johannesburg in 1940 to train as a nurse. There she met anti-apartheid leader Walter Sisulu. The two married in 1944, with former president Nelson Mandela serving as the best man.

When South Africa's apartheid government jailed Walter Sisulu and Mr. Mandela in 1964, she took up the cause. Sisulu continued to lead despite being jailed, tortured and even banned from meeting with more than one person at a time.

In 1983, Sisulu formed the United Democratic Front, helping to revitalize the anti-apartheid movement.

Sisulu capped off her political career by formally nominating Nelson Mandela for president in 1994 and then serving one term as a legislator in the new democratic government.

Veteran activists say despite facing many hardships, Ma Sisulu kept her family together and always carried herself with grace and dignity.

South African Cabinet Minister Collins Chabane said Friday the state will give her an official, special funeral.

Part of Ma Sisulu's legacy are her children, who continue to play an active role in South African politics.

Her daughter Lindiwe Sisulu is the country's defense minister. Her son Max Sisulu is speaker of the National Assembly. And her other daughter, Beryl Sisulu, serves as South Africa's ambassador to Norway.

The family said Ma Sisulu had been in good health and was at the center of family activities at the time of her death.

(Photo: Dawidl)

South African Anti-Apartheid Veteran Albertina Sisulu Dies at 92

The University of Johannesburg confers an honorory doctoral degree (Doctor Litterarum et Philosophiae (honoris causa)) to Albertina Sisulu in acknowledgment of her revolutionary role in pre-1994 South Africa. (Photo: Dawidl)

South African Anti-Apartheid Veteran Albertina Sisulu Dies at 92
Thursday, 2 June 2011

A veteran of South Africa's anti-apartheid movement, Albertina Sisulu, had died in her Johannesburg home. She was 92.

Sisulu was an important figure in the ANC Women's League at the height of apartheid and was the widow of Walter Sisulu, one of Nelson Mandela's mentors. Walter Sisulu died in 2003.

The ruling African National Congress said Thursday that Albertina Sisulu dedicated all her life to the ANC and to the defeat of apartheid in South Africa.

Sisulu reared five children while her husband spent 25 years in prison on Robben Island alongside Mr. Mandela. Albertina Sisulu also spent months in prison and often had her movements restricted by the apartheid government.

Albertina Sisulu held leadership posts in the ANC and served in parliament, taking a seat after the first all-race elections in 1994.

She lived to see her children take prominent positions in post-apartheid South Africa. Her daughter, Lindiwe Sisulu, is defense minister and her son, Max Sisulu, is a member of parliament.