Final Exits, 1-7 August 2011

Marshall Grant (left), American bassist (Tennessee Two).

Obituaries for 1-7 August 2011

1
* Viktor Aniskin, 65, Russian journalist. (Russian)
* Stan Barstow, 83, English novelist.
* Gerard Buisman, 59, Dutch troubadour. (Dutch)
* Carmela Marie Cristiano, 83, American Roman Catholic nun (Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth); first nun to seek political office in New Jersey.
* Leo Figueres, 93, French politician. (French)
* Florentina Gómez Miranda, 99, Argentine lawyer and women's rights activist.
* Gamini Goonesena, 80, Sri Lankan cricketer.
* Ivan Mesquita, 79, Brazilian actor. (Portuguese)
* Con Murphy, 51, Irish judge, after short illness.
* Chieko N. Okazaki, 84, American Mormon women's leader, first non-Caucasian woman to hold a senior position in the LDS church, heart failure.
* Zhanna Prokhorenko, 71, Russian film actress (Ballad of a Soldier). (Russian)
* Harald Stender, 86, German footballer. (German)

2
* Leslie Esdaile Banks, 51, American author (The Vampire Huntress Legend Series), adrenal cancer.
* Baruj Benacerraf, 90, Venezuelan-born American immunologist, Nobel laureate (1980).
* Ralph Berkowitz, 100, American composer.
* Tokon Koboshevich Dayyrbekov, 52, Kyrgyz actor. (Russian)
* DeLois Barrett Campbell, 85, American gospel singer (The Barrett Sisters), pulmonary embolism.
* Vittorio Citterich, 81, Italian journalist and news anchor. (Italian)
* Al Federoff, 87, American baseball player (Detroit Tigers).
* James M. Flinchum, 94, American journalist.
* Asadullo Gulomov, 58, Tajik politician, Deputy Prime Minister (2006–2011). (Russian)
* Andrey Kapitsa, 80, Russian geographer and explorer, discovered and named Lake Vostok.
* Nikolay Kutuzov, 85, Russian conductor, People's Artist of the USSR. (Russian)
* Coby van Megen, 78, Dutch table tennis player. (Dutch)
* Clarence E. Miller, 93, American politician, U.S. Representative from Ohio (1967–1993), pneumonia.
* Larry Moyer, 60, American ARCA stock car racer, after long illness.
* Attilio Pavesi, 100, Italian Olympic cyclist, oldest living Olympic champion. (Italian)
* Richard Pearson, 93, Welsh actor.
* Venere Pizzinato, 114, Italian supercentenarian, third-oldest living person in the world.
* Italo Rossi, 80, Brazilian actor. (Portuguese)
* José Sanchis Grau, 79, Spanish comic book artist. (Valencian)
* James Ford Seale, 76, American murderer, Ku Klux Klan member.

3
* Wolf Böhringer, 81, German chess player. (German)
* Rudolf Brazda, 98, German concentration camp prisoner, last known survivor of homosexual deportation.
* Richard Cates, 85, American lawyer.
* Annette Charles, 63, American actress (Grease), cancer.
* Antonio M. Diaz, 83, Filipino politician, Representative from Zambales (1969–1972, 1992–2001, 2004–2011).
* Nicholas Kachurin, 51, Russian magazine editor (Top Gear). (Russian)
* Vladimir Lobashev, 78, Russian nuclear physicist. (Russian)
* Ingrid Luterkort, 101, Swedish actress. (Swedish)
* Andrew McDermott, 45, British singer (Threshold), complications of kidney failure. (German)
* Simona Monyová, 44, Czech writer, stabbed. (Czech)
* Jorge Neri, 67, Mexican composer, liver cancer. (Spanish)
* Ray Patterson, 89, American basketball executive (Milwaukee Bucks, Houston Rockets).
* Nikolay Petrov, 68, Russian pianist, People's Artist of the USSR, stroke.
* William Sleator, 66, American science fiction writer.
* Bubba Smith, 66, American football player (Baltimore Colts) and actor (Police Academy).
* Mohsen Koochebaghi Tabrizi, 87, Iranian Shi'ite Muslim marja, heart attack. (Persian)
* Angel Turconi, 88, Italian footballer. (Italian)
* Jane Walker, 69, British journalist, pancreatic cancer.
* Allan Watkins, 89, Welsh cricketer, after short illness.
* Oleh Yemtsev, 59, Ukrainian entertainer, after long illness. (Russian)

4
* Henk Alkema, 66, Dutch composer, music arranger and musician. (Dutch)
* Michael Bukht, 69, British radio executive, television personality and chef.
* Vladimir Klipel, 94, Russian writer. (Russian)
* Eugene V. Kolokolnikov, 64, Russian athletics coach. (Russian)
* Naoki Matsuda, 34, Japanese footballer, suspected heart attack.
* Erhard Pumm, 65, German trade unionist. (German)
* Conrad Schnitzler, 74, German musician (Tangerine Dream, Kluster, Eruption, Berlin Express), stomach cancer.
* Piet Stoffelen, 71, Dutch politician. (Dutch)
* Erika Thijs, 51, Belgian politician, cancer. (Dutch)
* Sherman White, 82, American basketball player (Long Island University).

5
* Claudio Díaz, 52, Argentine journalist, thyroid cancer. (Spanish)
* Mark Duggan, 29, British taxi driver, shooting by police triggered 2011 London riots, shot.
* Marion D. Hanks, 89, American Mormon leader.
* Donald Ray Kennard, 74, American politician, member of the Louisiana House of Representatives (1976–2008), brain aneurysm rupture.
* Andrzej Lepper, 57, Polish politician, suspected suicide by hanging.
* Takehiko Maeda, 82, Japanese television writer. (Japanese)
* Jennifer Minetti, 71, German actress. (German)
* Gary Nixon, 70, American motorcycle racer, complications from a heart attack.
* Francesco Quinn, 48, Italian-born American actor (Platoon, The Young and the Restless), son of Anthony Quinn, apparent heart attack.
* Erkki Wessman, 80, Finnish writer. (Finnish)
* Stan Willemse, 86, British footballer (Chelsea).

6
* Marshall Grant, 83, American bassist (Tennessee Two).
* Bernadine Healy, 67, American cardiologist, director of the National Institutes of Health (1991–1993), brain cancer.
* Fred Imus, 69, American radio talk show host, brother of Don Imus. (body found on this date)
* Kuno Klötzer, 89, German football coach. (German)
* Fe del Mundo, 99, Filipino pediatrician, National Scientist of the Philippines, heart attack.
* Roman Opałka, 79, French-born Polish painter. (Polish)
* John W. Ryan, 81, American academic administrator, President of Indiana University (1971–1987).
* Henri Tisot, 74, French actor. (French)
* William Wong, 88, American restaurateur, founder of Kowloon Restaurant.

7
* Joseph Candolfi, 89, Swiss Roman Catholic prelate, Auxiliary Bishop of Basel (1983–1996). (German)
* Hugh Carey, 92, American politician, Governor of New York (1975–1982) and U.S. Representative (1961–1974).
* Cornelius Elanjikal, 92, Indian Roman-Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Verapoly (1987–1996). (Malayalam)
* Mark Hatfield, 89, American politician, Governor of Oregon (1959–1967) and U.S. Senator (1967–1997).
* Harri Holkeri, 74, Finnish politician, Prime Minister (1987–1991), after long illness.
* Leo Mattioli, 39, Argentine cumbia singer, cardiac arrest.
* Tom Radney, 79, American politician, Alabama state senator, after long illness.
* Jiří Traxler, 99, Czech-born Canadian jazz musician. (Czech)
* Nancy Wake, 98, New Zealand-born Australian French Resistance leader, chest infection.
* Charles Wyly, 77, American billionaire and philanthropist, co-founder of Michaels Stores, automobile accident.
* Joe Yamanaka, 64, Japanese rock singer, lung cancer. (Japanese).

Former US Senator Hatfield Dies at 89

Mark Hatfield, a former five-term U.S. senator and outspoken war critic, has died at a home in the northwestern city of Portland.

He died Sunday at the age of 89. No cause of death was given.

Hatfield served 30 years in the Senate beginning in 1967, where he worked to end U.S. military involvement in Vietnam and later voted against the Persian Gulf war – a vote in opposition to all but one of his fellow Republican Party senators.

He also pushed for a ban on U.S. nuclear weapons testing in the 1980s.

Hatfield took part in the U.S. invasion of Iwo Jima while serving in the Navy, and visited the Japanese city of Hiroshima after it was hit by an American atomic bomb.

His Senate career was marred by two ethics scandals involving financial ties between his wife and a Greek financier, and failing to report thousands of dollars worth of gifts.

Before being elected to the Senate, Hatfield served two terms as governor of the state of Oregon.

Photo: U.S. Senate Historical Office

Poland’s Former Deputy PM Lepper Dead at 57

Authorities in Poland say former deputy prime minister Andrzej Lepper has been found dead and that it appears he committed suicide. He was 57.

Police say Lepper's body was found in his Warsaw office Friday and that everything indicates he killed himself. A police spokesman is quoted as saying authorities have ruled out the involvement of third parties.

A former pig farmer, Lepper was a member of the populist Self-Defense Party, which became a junior partner in a conservative nationalist government that held power from 2006 until 2007. He served as deputy prime minister and agriculture minister in that government, which was led for most of its short tenure by then-Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

Lepper was removed from his posts after he was linked to a corruption investigation.

Last year, Lepper was found guilty of demanding sexual favors from female members of his party and was handed a jail sentence against which he appealed.

Photo: Leader of Samoobrona, Andrzej Lepper in 2002. (Photographer: Błażej Pajda)

Remembering Folk Artist Bill Morrissey

2 August 2011
Katherine Cole

Singer-songwriter Bill Morrissey, 59,  died on July 23, but his death hasn’t received the same attention as that of Amy Winehouse on the same day. Based in the northeastern state of New Hampshire, Morrissey was well known to folk music fans, releasing 10 studio albums and earning two Grammy nominations. One of Bill Morrissey’s Grammy nominations came for his 1999 album “Songs of Mississippi John Hurt.”

Morrissey became a professional musician at a young age. He grew up studying the great folk singers and songwriters of the 1960s. He also spent time working in restaurants and as a commercial fisherman, no doubt studying his co-workers as he went about his business, and later turning their quirks and behaviors into song.  Songs about old mill towns and the people who populated them was a specialty of his. “Small Town On The River” is one example.

Morrissey’s own life was as difficult as those of the characters in his songs. He battled alcoholism, depression, and was eventually diagnosed as bipolar. And, as he wrote on his website, “I’m on medication for depression, but sometimes the depression is stronger than the medication.”  He persevered, however, and, on good days, continued to write and perform.

Morrissey released “Something I Saw, or Thought I Saw” in 2001, featuring songs written soon after his second divorce. Many critics compared it to Richard and Linda Thompson’s break-up album “Shoot Out The Lights,” as both deal with fractured relationships. “Birches” is one of Bill Morrissey’s best-loved songs. It about the middle of a marriage, telling the tale of a love that’s still strong, but perhaps not burning as bright as it once did.

Morrissey died while on tour, which is likely when most performers would prefer the inevitable to happen. In addition to his 10 solo CDs, Morrissey and his good friend Greg Brown released a Grammy-nominated duo CD. He also wrote a well-received novel called “Edson,” and had just completed a second novel at the time of his death.  If you’d like to find out more about Bill Morrissey, his songs and his books, visit his website: Bill Morrissey.net.

Renowned Russian Pianist Nikolai Petrov Dies

Renowned Russian pianist Nikolai Petrov has died after suffering a stroke a few months ago while performing in Belarus.

An assistant for Petrov said he passed away Wednesday in a Moscow hospital.

He was 68.

Petrov was an award winning pianist who performed 70 to 100 concerts each year.

His career included performances with top orchestras in New York, Washington and across Europe.

He also taught at the Moscow Conservatory.

Petrov's funeral is scheduled for Friday in Moscow.

Final Exits, 29-31 July 2011

29
* John Edward Anderson, 93, American businessman and philanthropist, pneumonia.
* Jack Barlow, 87, American country music singer, after long illness.
* Antonis Carouzos, 63, Greek businessman, cancer. (Greek)
* Richard Marsh, Baron Marsh, 83, British politician and businessman, MP for Greenwich (1959–1971), Chairman of British Rail (1971–1976).
* Nella Martinetti, 65, Swiss singer-songwriter.
* Gene McDaniels, 76, American singer-songwriter.
* Ivan Milas, 72, Croatian politician. (Croatian)
* Takeshi Miyaji, 45, Japanese video game designer (GunGriffon, Grandia).
* Dimitar Panitza, 80, Bulgarian journalist and editor.
* Matthew J. Perry, 89, American federal judge.
* Agnes Varis, 81, American philanthropist, cancer.
* Max Harry Weil, 84, Swiss-born American physician, pioneer of critical care medicine, prostate cancer.

30
* Mario Echandi Jiménez, 96, Costa Rican politician, President (1958–1962), pneumonia.
* Vincent Kympat, 65, Indian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Jowai (since 2006).
* Sam Norkin, 94, American caricaturist and illustrator.

31
* Eliseo Alberto, 59, Cuban-born Mexican writer, complications from a kidney transplant.
* Rick Buckley, 74, American radio executive (WOR (AM)), brain embolism.
* Clyde Holding, 80, Australian politician, federal minister (1984–1990).
* John Hoyland, 76, English abstract painter, complications following heart surgery.
* Andrea Pazzagli, 51, Italian footballer (A.C. Milan), stroke.
* Ruth Perelman, 90, American philanthropist.
* Joseph Albert Rosario, 96, Indian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Amravati (1955–1995).
* Ljubiša Stojanović, 59, Serbian singer, car accident.

Nobel Prize Winning Immunologist Dies at 90

Venezuelan-born doctor Baruj Benacerraf, whose research on the human immune system won him a Nobel Prize for Medicine, has died.

Dr. Benacerraf was living in Boston, Massachusetts and had been suffering from pneumonia. He was 90 years old.

Dr. Benacerraf was born in Caracas and grew up in Paris, arriving in the United States in 1939 to study medicine.

His research into why some people are better able to fend off disease and infection than others brought him the 1980 Nobel Price for Medicine, which he shared with two fellow researchers.

Dr. Benacerraf also ran the Boston-based Dana-Farmer Cancer Institute.