Final Exits, 22-28 April 2011

Poly Styrene (Photo: Uroica)

Obituaries for 22-28 April 2011

22
* Vernon Olsen, 91, American World War II veteran and survivor of Pearl Harbor attack.
* Moin Akhter, 60, Pakistani actor and comedian, heart attack.
* Cheung Sai Ho, 35, Hong Kong footballer, suicide. (Chinese)
* Wiel Coerver, 86, Dutch footballer and manager. (Dutch)
* Eldon Davis, 94, American architect, creator of Googie architecture.
* Hazel Dickens, 75, American bluegrass singer.
* Annalisa Ericson, 97, Swedish actress (Summer Interlude). (Swedish)
* Mehmet Gedik, 58, Turkish politician, MP for Bursa (1987–1995), shot. (Turkish)
* W. J. Gruffydd, 94, Welsh poet.
* Mikhail Kozakov, 76, Russian actor and director (Nine Days in One Year, The Pokrovka Gate), lung cancer. (Russian)
* Siarhei Lahun, 22, Belarusian weightlifter, car accident.
* Sidney Michaels, 83, American playwright and screenwriter (The Night They Raided Minsky's), Alzheimer's disease.
* Carlos Monden, 73, Chilean-born Mexican actor, complications from anemia and kidney problems. (Spanish)
* Merle Greene Robertson, 97, American artist and archeologist.
* Eyvind Solås, 73, Norwegian musician and television personality. (Norwegian)
* José Torres Martino, 94, Puerto Rican painter and writer, after long illness.

23
* Dmytro Blazheyovskyi, 100, Ukrainian priest, historian, and embroiderer. (Ukrainian)
* Peter Li Hongye, 91, Chinese underground Roman Catholic prelate, clandestine bishop of Luoyang.
* Peter Lieberson, 64, American composer, complications of lymphoma.
* Reinhold Marxhausen, 89, American artist, sound sculptor.
* Huey P. Meaux, 82, American record producer.
* Milorad Bata Mihailović, 88, Serbian painter. (Serbian)
* Norio Ohga, 81, Japanese businessman, president and CEO of Sony, multiple organ failure.
* Noxolo Nogwana, 24, South African lesbian activist, murder.
* Ready Teddy, 23, New Zealand eventing horse, complications from colic.
* Paulo Reis, 50, Brazilian art critic and curator, tuberculosis. (Portuguese)
* Geoffrey Russell, 4th Baron Ampthill, 89, British politician.
* Mohammad Abdus Sattar, 85, Indian Olympic footballer, pneumonia.
* Phillip Shriver, 88, American historian and college administrator.
* John Sullivan, 64, British writer (Only Fools and Horses), viral pneumonia.
* Dutch Tilders, 69, Australian blues musician, cancer.
* Max van der Stoel, 86, Dutch politician and diplomat, Minister of Foreign Affairs (1973–1977, 1981–1982).

24
* Sathya Sai Baba, 84, Indian spiritual guru, founder of the Sathya Sai Organization, multiple organ failure.
* Norma Bazúa Fitch, 82, Mexican poet, cardiorespiratory complications. (Spanish)
* Nawang Gombu, 79, Tibetan-born Indian mountaineer, after short illness.
* Alimirah Hanfadhe, 95, Ethiopian sultan of the Aussa Sultanate.
* Sir Denis Mahon, 100, British art historian and philanthropist.
* Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, 87, South Vietnamese First Lady (1955–1963), after an illness. (Vietnamese)
* Marie-France Pisier, 66, French actress (The Other Side of Midnight), drowning.
* Colin Snedden, 93, New Zealand cricketer.

25
* Winrich Behr, 93, German Panzer captain during World War II, recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
* Rui Biriva, 53, Brazilian musician, cancer. (Portuguese)
* William Craig, 86, Northern Ireland politician, founder of Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party, MP for Belfast East (1974–1979).
* Abdoulaye Hamani Diori, 65, Nigerian politician, after long illness. (French)
* Emre İncemollaoğlu, 23, Turkish footballer, car accident. (Turkish)
* María Isbert, 94, Spanish actress. (Spanish)
* Don Lancer, 68, American radio news announcer, cancer.
* Islwyn Morris, 90, Welsh actor.
* Joe Perry, 84, American football player (San Francisco 49ers).
* Poly Styrene, 53, British musician (X-Ray Spex), breast cancer.
* Gonzalo Rojas, 93, Chilean poet. (Spanish)
* Avraham Tiar, 87, Israeli politician, member of the Knesset (1961–1969).
* Minoru Tanaka, 44, Japanese actor, suspected suicide by hanging. (Ultraman Mebius & Ultraman Brothers, Kamen Rider W Returns - Kamen Rider Accel).
* Stavros Zoras, 70, Greek singer-songwriter, cancer. (Greek)

26
* John Cossette, 54, American television producer (Grammy Awards).
* Roger Gimbel, 86, American Emmy-winning television producer (Chernobyl: The Final Warning, S.O.S. Titanic, The Amazing Howard Hughes), pneumonia.
* José María Izuzquiza Herranz, 85, Spanish-born Peruvian Roman Catholic prelate, Vicar Apostolic of Jaén en Peru (1987–2001).
* Lynn Hauldren, 89, American copywriter and product spokesperson (Empire Carpet).
* Sarantis Karavouzis, 72, Greek painter, after long illness. (Greek)
* Sir Henry Leach, 87, British admiral.
* Jim Mandich, 62, American football player and announcer (Miami Dolphins), bile duct cancer.
* Aage Møst, 88, Norwegian sports official, President of the Norwegian Athletics Association (1956–1965). (Norwegian)
* Sadler's Wells, 30, American racehorse.
* Phoebe Snow, 60, American singer-songwriter ("Poetry Man"), brain hemorrhage.
* Samuel Zoll, 76, American jurist and politician, Mayor of Salem, Massachusetts (1970–1973), gallbladder cancer.

27
* Orlando Bosch, 84, Cuban exile, after long illness.
* Neusinha Brizola, 56, Brazilian singer and cultural producer, daughter of Leonel Brizola, lung complications. (Portuguese)
* Ibrahim Coulibaly, 47, Ivorian militia leader.
* Sofia Fildisi, 74, Greek author, poet, lyricist, politician, and journalist. (Greek)
* Jack H Goaslind, 83, American leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
* Igor Kon, 82, Russian philosopher, psychologist, and sexologist.
* Dag Stokke, 44, Norwegian keyboardist (TNT), church organist and mastering engineer, cancer. (Norwegian)
* Harold Schnitzer, 87, American philanthropist and company executive (Schnitzer Steel), cancer.
* Harry Thuillier, 85, Irish Olympic fencer and radio presenter.
* Alice Ward, 79, American boxing manager, mother of Micky Ward, portrayed by Melissa Leo in The Fighter, cardiac arrest.
* David Wilkerson, 79, American Christian evangelist and author, car accident.

28
* Johan H. Andresen Sr., 80, Norwegian businessman. (Norwegian)
* William Campbell, 84, American film and television actor (Love Me Tender), (Star Trek, Dementia 13).
* Enrique Arancibia Clavel, 66, Chilean DINA agent. (Spanish)
* Erhard Loretan, 52, Swiss mountaineer, third climber to scale all 14 eight-thousanders, climbing accident.
* Peter Moss, 59, British journalist and novelist, explosion.
* Willie O'Neill, 70, Scottish football player (Celtic). (death announced on this date)

Swiss Mountaineer Loretan Dies in Climbing Accident

Friday, 29 April 2011

Police in Switzerland said Friday that famed Swiss mountaineer Erhard Loretan has fallen to his death in a climbing accident on his birthday.

The 52-year-old Loretan died Thursday while guiding a client up the summit ridge of the Gruenhorn in the Bernese Alps. They were at a height of 3,800 meters when, for unknown reasons, the two men fell around 200 meters. Loretan died at the scene, while his companion was flown to a hospital in serious condition.

The Swiss climber was one of just three men to scale all 14 of the world's peaks rising above 8,000-meters, completing the feat at the age of 36. Loretan was also well known for his 1986 nighttime ascent of Mount Everest without using bottled oxygen, in just 40 hours.

Remembering Hazel Dickens

Remembering Hazel Dickens
Katherine Cole, VOA
Washington
27 April 2011

Trailblazing bluegrass and folk singer-songwriter Hazel Dickens recently died at the age of 76.  Dickens was a performer whose childhood in a West Virginia coal mining town led her to become a labor activist and inspired a life-long musical career.

“It’s Hard to Tell The Singer From The Song” is the title track to Hazel Dickens' 1987 solo CD. Many of Hazel’s songs, like “They’ll Never Keep Us Down,” are anthems to working men and women, with the plight of non-unionized workers being a subject close to her heart, as was the coal mining country that she grew up in.

One of Hazel Dickens' most famous is “Black Lung,” written for a brother who died of the disease. Black lung is the common name for any lung disease developing from breathing coal dust.

Hazel Dickens grew up the eighth of 11 children in a poor mining family in West Virginia. Poverty forced her to leave the family home and move to Baltimore, Maryland, where she worked in factories alongside her sister and two brothers.

In a VOA interview several years ago, Hazel said the four attended music gatherings in their rare free time. At one, she met Mike Seeger, the younger brother of folk legend Pete Seeger, and they soon formed a band with her two brothers.

Over the next few years, Hazel became a regular part of the Baltimore and Washington music scene, playing and singing in several bands.

In the early 1960s, she teamed up with Alice Gerrard, and the two spent hours at the United States Library of Congress, researching early folk songs. They recorded only two albums together, but countless female musicians cite Hazel and Alice as influences and continue to perform their songs like “Won’t You Come and Sing For Me.”

Hazel Dickens’ solo career began with the soundtrack to an Academy Award-winning documentary film about a violent miner’s strike. “Harlan County USA” is a very powerful film about a 13-month strike, and it highlights the central role women played. Hazel has four songs on the soundtrack, including “They’ll Never Keep Us Down.”

Songs like that one are a reason that Hazel Dickens was called the “voice of the working class.” While many come from her own life, Hazel’s songs are ones that many people, not just those working down deep in coal mines or in factories can identify with.

Hazel Dickens lived in Washington for many years and, despite bouts of ill health, performed at the South by Southwest music conference just a month before her death.  She received many honors and accolades over her long career, including membership in the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame, a lifetime achievement award from the Folk Alliance International,and on April 16 of this year Hazel was given the Washington Monument award by the D.C. Bluegrass Union.

Cuban Militant Bosch Dies at 84

Wednesday, 27 April 2011

Orlando Bosch, a prominent Cuban exile militant and fierce foe of former President Fidel Castro, has died. He was 84 years old.

A family friend says Bosch died Wednesday after a “long and painful illness.” The cause of death was not immediately released.

Bosch was one of several Cuban exile militants who fought Fidel Castro's regime from abroad through sabotage operations. In 1976, he and former CIA operative Luis Posada Carriles were arrested in Venezuela and accused of involvement in the bombing of a Cuban jetliner that year.

Both men were later acquitted of plotting the attack, which killed 73 people.

In a 2005 interview with the Miami Herald newspaper, Bosch said the truth about the airplane bombing would be revealed in recordings and documents published after his death.

Bosch settled in the Miami area after the Cuban revolution that brought Mr. Castro to power in 1959. He had originally supported the revolution but later turned against the Cuban leader.

Vietnam's 'Dragon Lady' Dies in Exile

Madame Ngô Đình Nhu and Lyndon Baines Johnson, 12 May 1961.  (Photo: United States Federal Government/LBJ Library)

Vietnam’s 'Dragon Lady' Dies in Exile
Wednesday, 27 April 2011

The woman who was once first lady of the country then known as South Vietnam has died in Rome, where she had been living in exile.

Italian officials announced Wednesday that Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, who served as official hostess to her unmarried brother-in-law, President Ngo Dinh Diem, died on Sunday at an estimated age of 87.

Madame Nhu's husband, the president's brother, had served as head of Vietnam's secret police.

Born Tran Le Xuan, a name meaning “beautiful spring,” she gained a reputation for being assertive and outspoken. Americans nicknamed her “the Dragon Lady” after a character in a popular comic.

She fled into exile after both her husband and the president died in a coup in 1963.

Singer Phoebe Snow of 'Poetry Man' Fame Dies

Singer Phoebe Snow of 'Poetry Man' Fame Dies
Tuesday, 26 April 2011

U.S. singer-songwriter Phoebe Snow, best known for her 1975 smash hit “Poetry Man,” has died.

Snow's manager said she died of complications from a stroke she suffered last year.

The New York-born Snow was widely known as a folk guitarist who also was adept at blues and jazz.

She dropped out of show business at the height of her fame in the mid 1970s to care for her daughter, who was born with severe brain damage.

Snow occasionally would return to the spotlight to make albums, do concert tours, and record television commercials.

She was one of former president Bill Clinton's favorite singers, and performed for him several times at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland.

Indian Guru Dies

Indian Guru Dies
Sunday, 24 April 2011

Sathya Sai Baba, one of India's most famous holy men, has died.

He died of heart failure Sunday morning in a hospital near his ashram in Puttaparti village in southern Andhra Pradesh state. He had been hospitalized since late last month.

The 85-year-old Hindu guru, who always dressed in orange robes with his afro-style hairdo, was considered a living god by his worldwide followers.

India has ordered a heavy police deployment to Puttaparti for the hundreds of thousands of devotees expected to make the pilgrimage there for Sai Baba's funeral.

Sai Baba claimed to be the reincarnation of another holy man, Sai Baba of Shirdi, who died in 1918.

From his ashram in Puttaparti, Sai Baba built an empire of schools and health centers that helped to spread his influence.

While his charitable work and teachings brought Sai Baba public respectability, his showman antics in which he would miraculously produce gold coins or watches on stage at public events also brought him critics and notoriety.