Final Exits, 22-28 December 2011

 Jim "Motorhead" Sherwood, 69, American musician, The Mothers of Invention

Obituaries for 22-28 December 2011

22
* Richard Bessière, 88, French author. (French)
* Bettye Danoff, 88, American golfer, founding member of the LPGA.
* Bennie Ellender, 86, American college football coach (Arkansas State, Tulane), Alzheimer's disease.
* David Gold, 31, Canadian musician (Woods of Ypres), car accident.
* Michael von Grünau, 67, Canadian psychologist and neurophysiologist.
* Nina Mula, 80, Russian-born Albanian soprano.
* Vasant Ranjane, 74, Indian cricketer.
* Rogelio Sánchez González, 90, Mexican Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Colima (1972–1980).
* Marion Segal Freed, 77, American film producer, editor and screenwriter.
* Zithulele Sinqe, 48, South African long distance runner, car accident.
* Ernest A. Watkinson, 99, Canadian politician.

23
* Neil Davids, 56, English footballer.
* Cees van Dongen, 79, Dutch motorcycle road racer. (Dutch)
* Evelyn Handler, 78, American academic, President of the University of New Hampshire (1980–1983) and Brandeis University (1983–1991), traffic collision.
* Bill Klatt, 64, American ice hockey player (Minnesota Fighting Saints), leukemia.
* Aydın Menderes, 65, Turkish politician, son of Adnan Menderes.
* Norayr Musheghian, 76, Armenian wrestler, coach and public activist, Olympic gold medalist (1958). (Russian)
* Abdur Razzaq, 69, Bangladeshi politician.
* Bruce Ruxton, 85, Australian veterans' representative and advocate, President of the Victorian RSL (1979–2002).

24
* Armando Brambilla, 69, Italian Roman Catholic prelate, Auxiliary Bishop of Rome (since 1994).
* Sergio Buso, 61, Italian footballer and coach.
* José Andrés Corral Arredondo, 65, Mexican Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Parral (since 1992), heart attack. (Spanish)
* Lex Gigeroff, 49, Canadian writer, actor and producer (Lexx), heart attack.
* Johannes Heesters, 108, Dutch actor and singer, stroke.
* Zsuzsi Mary, 64, Hungarian pop singer, suicide. (Hungarian)
* Jody Rainwater, 92, American bluegrass musician and radio personality, heart disease.
* Lynn Samuels, 69, American radio personality (Sirius XM).
* Walter Söhne, 98, German agronomist. (German)
* Vitaly Tseshkovsky, 67, Russian chess Grandmaster. (Russian)

25
* Giorgio Bocca, 91, Italian essayist and journalist. (Italian)
* Ben Breedlove, 18, American Internet personality, cardiac arrest.
* Sue Carroll, 58, British journalist, pancreatic cancer.
* Argyris Chionis, 68, Greek poet, author and translator. (Greek)
* Adrienne Cooper, 65, American klezmer and Yiddish vocalist.
* Gideon Doron, 66, Israeli political scientist, leader of HaYisraelim. (Hebrew)
* Satyadev Dubey, 75, Indian actor, playwright and director.
* Thomas Finnegan, 86, Irish Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Killala (1987–2002).
* Seán French, 80, Irish politician, Lord Mayor of Cork (1976) and TD (1967–1982).
* Habib Galhia, 70, Tunisian boxer, Olympic bronze medalist (1964). (French)
* Andrew Geller, 87, American architect, kidney failure.
* Khalil Ibrahim, Sudanese Darfuri rebel leader.
* Hans-Heinrich Isenbart, 88, German sports commentator.
* John Christoffel Kannemeyer, 72, South African writer, authority on Afrikaans literature.
* Joop Koopman, 81, Dutch television host and quizmaster. (Dutch)
* Christophe Laigneau, 46, French footballer (Stade Lavallois). (French)
* Sir Moses Pitakaka, Solomon Islander politician, Governor-General (1994–1999).
* George Robb, 85, English footballer (Tottenham Hotspur), dementia.
* Ferenc Schmidt, 70, Hungarian politician. (Hungarian)
* Jim Sherwood, 69, American musician (The Mothers of Invention).
* Simms Taback, 79, American author, graphic artist and illustrator.

26
* Houston Antwine, 72, American football player (Boston/New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles), AFL All-Star (1963–1968), heart failure.
* Pedro Armendáriz, Jr., 71, Mexican actor (Zorro series), cancer.
* Sarekoppa Bangarappa, 79, Indian politician, Chief Minister of Karnataka (1990–1992).
* Joe Bodolai, 63, American comedy writer (Saturday Night Live) and producer, suicide by poisoning.
* Sean Collins, 59, American surfer and surf forecaster (Surfline), heart attack.
* Fred Fono, 49, Solomon Islander politician, Deputy Prime Minister (2006) and MP for Central Kwara'ae (1997–2010).
* Barbara Lea, 82, American jazz singer and actress.
* Betty McQuade, 70, Scottish-born Australian singer.
* Sam Rivers, 88, American jazz musician and composer, pneumonia.
* James Rizzi, 61, American pop artist.

27
* Catê, 38, Brazilian footballer, car accident.
* Sir Clifford Darling, 89, Bahamian politician, Governor-General (1992–1995).
* Sir Michael Dummett, 86, British philosopher.
* Helen Frankenthaler, 83, American painter.
* Julia Sampson Hayward, 77, American tennis player, won Australian Open doubles and mixed doubles (1963).
* Rusty Hevelin, 89, American science fiction fanzine publisher.
* Mykola Koltsov, 75, Russian-born Ukrainian footballer and youth trainer. (Ukrainian)
* Ante Čedo Martinić, 51, Croatian actor (Ruža vjetrova), cancer. (Croatian)
* Thinley Norbu, 81, Tibetan Buddhist writer and teacher.
* Martino Scarafile, 84, Italian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Castellaneta (1985–2003).
* Dan Terry, 87, American jazz trumpeter and big band leader.
* Dennis Utter, 72, American politician, Nebraska State Senator (since 2009).
* Johnny Wilson, 82, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (Detroit Red Wings).

28
* Don Mueller, 84, American baseball player (New York Giants, Chicago White Sox), MLB All-Star (1954, 1955).
* Lucia Rikaki, 50, Greek stage, film and television director, cancer.
* Myron Roderick, 77, American Olympic wrestler (1956) and coach.
* Greg Spira, 44, American baseball researcher (SABR), writer and editor.
* Kaye Stevens, 79, American singer and actress, breast cancer and blood clots.
* Teruo Sugihara, 74, Japanese golfer, prostate cancer.

Prominent South Korean Democracy Activist Dies

South Korean news media report that a former leading South Korean democracy activist and prominent liberal politician, Kim Geun-tae, has died.

Reports say Kim died Friday from a brain disease at the age of 64.

Kim was known as a democracy activist during dictatorships of the 1970s and 1980s. He was repeatedly jailed and tortured for his opposition against the regimes in support of democracy and labor rights.

In 1987, while in prison, Kim received the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award and was designated a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.

In 1996, he was elected to the National Assembly and twice won reelection. He was also a former leader of the Uri Party, and a former Health and Welfare Minister.

Kim had battled Parkinson's disease for the past five years. South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports that he died of complications from pneumonia and kidney disease in a Seoul hospital.

It says he is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

Photo: Kim Keun-Tae, during South Korea's Protest Against Importing American Beef on 6 June 2008. Photo by Chong-Dae Park a.k.a. ChongDae.

Kim Jong Il Led North Korea With Cult of Personality

Kim Jong Il ruled North Korea for 17 years, continuing a government focused on the principle of self-reliance and a cult of personality founded by his father, Kim Il Sung.

There is not much reliable personal information about the enigmatic Mr. Kim. According to local legend, he was born on North Korea's Mount Paekdu under rainbows and the appearance of a new star in 1942. But his birth is believed to have actually taken place in Siberia in the Soviet Union in 1941.

Little is known about Mr. Kim's childhood. He graduated from Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung University in 1964.

In the 1970s, Mr. Kim was named to leadership positions in the ruling party, beginning two decades of grooming to replace his father as the country's leader.

He had a reputation for a lavish lifestyle that included a fondness for fine foods, cognac and women, which continued after he took power following his father's death in 1994.

Mr. Kim was also said to be a fan of the cinema. In addition to owning a large movie collection, he produced several films of his own. A South Korean director and actress said they were kidnapped and forced to make films for the man North Koreans called “Dear Leader.”

He was accused of playing a role in a 1983 bombing that killed 17 South Korean officials visiting Burma, as well as the 1987 bombing of a Korea Air flight that killed 115 people. Neither allegation has been proven.

Mr. Kim continued his revered father's governing principles, but lacked his charisma. Still, Mr. Kim cultivated his own force of personality exemplified by his bouffant hairdo, jumpsuits and large sunglasses.

He poured the impoverished and reclusive country's resources into the military, creating the world's fifth-largest force, while many North Koreans suffered from hunger.

His international relations were dominated by North Korea's push to develop nuclear arms. Former U.S. president George W. Bush called Mr. Kim a “tyrant” who starved his own people so he could build nuclear weapons.

North Korea conducted a nuclear test in 2006, and in 2007 agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for aid. But the country is estimated to have enough nuclear material to produce several atomic bombs, and multi-party negotiations to convince North Korea to dismantle its nuclear program have stalled.

Mr. Kim's marital status was not clear, but he is said to have been married once, with at least a few other companions, and has at least three sons. His youngest son, Kim Jong Un, has been groomed as his successor.

His two-day funeral ceremony was held on December 28, at the end of a 10-day period of national mourning.

Final Exits, 15-21 December 2011

Clark Terry and Bob Brookmeyer at the Clearwater Jazz Festival in the 1980s. Photo by Laura Kolb @ Lochaven.

Obituaries for 15-21 December 2011

15
* Eduardo Barreto, 57, Uruguayan comic book artist.
* Graham Booth, 71, British politician, Member of the European Parliament for South West England (2002–2008).
* William Claver, 75, Filipino human rights lawyer, Congressman from Kalinga-Apayao (1987–1992).
* David Fordham, 62, Australian sports commentator, cancer.
* Walter Giller, 84, German actor. (German)
* Christopher Hitchens, 62, British writer (God Is Not Great) and commentator (Vanity Fair), esophageal cancer.
* Paula Hyman, 65, American professor of modern Jewish history (Yale University).
* Ricardo Ibarra, 61, Argentine Olympic rower. (Spanish)
* Guy Ignolin, 75, French professional cyclist. (French)
* Nur Khan, 88, Pakistani air marshal, Chief of Air Staff (1965–1969) and Governor of West Pakistan (1969–1970).
* James M. Quigley, 93, American politician, Representative from Pennsylvania (1955–1957; 1959–1961).
* Jason Richards, 35, New Zealand race car driver, cancer.
* Carmen Rupe, 75, New Zealand transsexual entertainer, kidney failure.
* Mario Tovar González, 78, Mexican Olympic wrestler, respiratory complications. (Spanish)

16
* Ulf Aas, 92, Norwegian illustrator. (Norwegian)
* Bob Brookmeyer, 81, American jazz valve trombonist, cardiopulmonary arrest.
* Robert Easton, 81, American actor and dialect coach.
* Dan Frazer, 90, American actor (Kojak, As The World Turns), cardiac arrest.
* Alice Glenn, 89, Irish politician, TD for Dublin Central (1981–1982; 1982–1987).
* Chubee Kagita, 54, Japanese politician, heart failure. (Japanese)
* Gadzhimurat Kamalov, 46, Russian journalist, shot.
* Henry Kitchener, 3rd Earl Kitchener, 92, British soldier and aristocrat.
* Mark Kopytman, 82, Ukrainian-born Israeli composer. (Hebrew)
* Bert Muhly, 88, American politician and academic, Mayor of Santa Cruz, California (1974–1975), heart failure.
* Patrick V. Murphy, 91, American police chief, New York City Police Commissioner (1970–1973), heart attack.
* Te Paekiomeka Joy Ruha, 80, New Zealand Māori leader.
* Slim Dunkin, 24, American rapper (1017 Brick Squad), shot.
* Keith W. Wilcox, 90, American architect and politician, member of LDS priesthood.

17
* John Bishop, 65, American soul and jazz guitarist, heart attack.
* Sérgio Britto, 88, Brazilian actor and television host, heart failure. (Spanish)
* Michael Gower Coleman, 72, South African Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Port Elizabeth (1986–2011).
* Eva Ekvall, 28, Venezuelan TV news anchor and model, Miss Venezuela 2000, breast cancer.
* Cesária Évora, 70, Cape Verdean singer, heart failure.
* Kim Jong-il, 69 or 70, North Korean Supreme Leader (since 1994), heart attack.
* Mario Mannucci, 79, Italian rally co-driver. (Polish)
* Harley Sewell, 80, American football player (Detroit Lions, Los Angeles Rams).
* Joãosinho Trinta, 78, Brazilian Carnival designer, septic shock. (Portuguese)

18
* Doe Avedon, 86, American actress (The High and the Mighty) and model, pneumonia.
* Henry E. Catto, Jr., 81, American public servant and diplomat, complications of leukemia.
* Lorenzo de Rodas, 81, Mexican actor (Bajo la misma piel), heart attack. (Spanish)
* Jeremy Doyle, 28, Australian wheelchair basketball player, bladder cancer.
* Václav Havel, 75, Czech playwright and politician, President of Czechoslovakia (1989–1992) and the Czech Republic (1993–2003).
* Warren Hellman, 77, American investor, founder of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festivals, complications from leukemia treatment.
* Salem Jubran, 71, Israeli Arab poet and journalist.
* Ralph MacDonald, 67, American percussionist and songwriter.
* Donald Neilson, 75, English serial killer.
* Don Sharp, 89, Australian-born British film director (Hammer horror).
* Ronald Wolfe, 89, British sitcom writer (The Rag Trade, On the Buses), complications from a fall.

19
* George Athor, 49, South Sudanese rebel leader, shot.
* Luciano Magistrelli, 73, Italian Olympic footballer, heart attack. (Italian)
* Héctor Núñez, 75, Uruguayan footballer, after long illness. (Spanish)
* Horst-Eberhard Richter, 88, German psychoanalyst and social philosopher. (German)
* Ron Smith, 70, American radio host (WBAL), pancreatic cancer.

20
* Robert Ader, 79, American psychologist, co-founder of psychoneuroimmunology.
* Hana Andronikova, 44, Czech writer and playwright, cancer.
* Hugh Carless, 86, British diplomat and explorer.
* Clem DeRosa, 86, American jazz drummer, arranger, bandleader and music educator, director of the International Association for Jazz Education.
* Vasilis Dioskouridis, 70, Greek intellectual. (Greek)
* Jack Goldman, 90, American physicist, chief scientist at Xerox Corporation.
* Iván Heyn, 34, Argentine economist and politician.
* Khalifa Kambi, 56, Gambian politician, Deputy Minister of Agriculture (since 2010).
* Yoshimitsu Morita, 61, Japanese film director (The Family Game), liver failure.
* Tushar Ranganath, 37, Indian film director (Gulama), heart attack.
* John Rex, 86, South African-born British sociologist. (death reported on this date)
* Leopold Unger, 89, Polish journalist. (Polish)
* Kenchappa Varadaraj, 89, Indian Olympic footballer.
* Václav Zítek, 79, Czech opera singer.

21
* Francis Braganza, 89, Indian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Baroda (1987–1997).
* John Chamberlain, 84, American sculptor.
* P. K. Iyengar, 80, Indian nuclear scientist.
* Olavi Rokka, 86, Finnish Olympic modern pentathlete, bronze medalist (1952). (Finnish)
* Yevhen Rudakov, 69, Russian Olympic bronze medal-winning (1972) football goalkeeper. (Ukrainian)
* Robert Simons, 89, English cricketer (Hertfordshire).
* Roberto Szidon, 70, Brazilian classical pianist, heart attack. (Portuguese)
* Umanosuke Ueda, 71, Japanese professional wrestler and actor, respiratory failure. (Japanese)
* Jean-Pierre Urkia, 93, French-born Laotian Roman Catholic prelate, Vicar Apostolic of Paksé (1967–1975).

North Korea's Kim Jong Il Dead at 69

North Korea's long-time leader Kim Jong Il has died.

The official Korean Central News Agency reported Monday the 69-year-old reclusive leader died Saturday of a heart attack while on a train for one of his “field guidance” tours. The agency attributed his death to “physical and mental over-work.”

KCNA said his funeral will be held on December 28 in Pyongyang. A period of national mourning was declared from December 17 to 29.

Kim Jong Il came to power after his father, North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung, died in 1994. Reliable biographical information about Mr. Kim is scarce. He rarely appeared in public and his voice was seldom broadcast.

He may be best remembered for defying the international community and boosting North Korea's nuclear program, while millions of North Koreans were starving.

Late last year, Mr. Kim promoted his youngest son Kim Jong Un to the rank of four-star general, in what was seen as a bid to extend the world's only communist family dynasty to a third generation.

The KCNA on Monday urged people to follow Kim Jong Un, who is believed to be around 28 years old.

North Koreans expressed shock at the news of Mr. Kim's death, with many people crying openly in the streets.

Workers at an electric wire factory were seen in tears as they watched the announcement on state television.

Factory worker Jo Jae Sok said he could not believe the news. “Leader Kim Jong Il is always with us. I saw him on TV every day. We have worked hard for the modernization of the factory under difficult conditions, eagerly waiting for him to come to our factory again. I can't believe the news about his passing away.”

Another factory worker, Kim Ok Song said she had been waiting for Mr. Kim to visit the factory she worked in. “It is unbelievable that leader Kim Jong Il whom I have followed like my own father passed away. I don't know how to describe my grief. I have been looking forward to seeing him in my factory. I will change sorrow into strength and courage and remain faithful respected Comrade Kim Jong Un.”

Vaclav Havel Dies at Age 75

Former Czech President Vaclav Havel, the dissident playwright who led the peaceful revolution that toppled communism in the former Czechoslovakia, has died. He was 75.

A spokeswoman said Mr. Havel died in his sleep early Sunday at his weekend house in the northern Czech Republic with his wife and a nun at his side. A former chain smoker, he had a history of chronic respiratory problems that physicians traced back to his Cold War years in communist prisons.

Mr. Havel was his country's first democratically-elected president after the 1989 non-violent “Velvet Revolution” that ended four decades of communist repression. On taking office, he oversaw Czechoslovakia's transition to a free-market economy and democracy, as well as its peaceful 1993 breakup into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

U.S. President Barack Obama, in a statement Sunday, praised Mr. Havel's “moral leadership,” saying he “lived with a spirit of hope.” He said the Czech leader's peaceful resistance “shook the foundations of an empire” and “exposed the emptiness of a repressive (communist) ideology.”

In Prague, where black flag flew over Prague Castle, the presidential seat, Czech citizens lighted candles at the monument to the Velvet Revolution.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed Mr. Havel as “a great European” who fought for freedom on the continent, while British Prime Minister David Cameron said all of Europe owes the former president a “profound debt” for bringing freedom and democracy to the continent.

Former Polish President Lech Walesa, who spurred the fall of communism in his homeland, said Vaclav Havel's voice will “be greatly missed” in Europe, “above all now when it is experiencing a great crisis.”

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, in a message posted on Twitter, called the Czech icon “a voice for freedom” and “one of the greatest Europeans of our age.”

Mr. Havel left office in 2003, just months before the Czech Republic and Slovakia joined the European Union. He was credited with laying the groundwork that brought the Czech Republic into the 27-nation bloc, and was president when the republic joined NATO in 1999. But he said his proudest presidential moment was the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact – the Moscow-led military alliance that lasted until 1991.

Mr. Havel first rose to prominence after the 1968 Soviet-led invasion that crushed the “Prague Spring” reforms of Alexander Dubcek and other liberally-minded communists in the former Czechoslovakia. His plays were then banned by hardliners installed by Moscow who sought to crush any traces of those reforms.

However, he continued to write a series of underground essays widely seen as some of the most damning critiques of what communism did to society and the individual in post-World War Two Europe.

Photo by Henryk Prykiel: Václav Havel, 1991.

Cape Verde's 'Barefoot Diva' Dies

Cesária Évora, the Cape Verdean singer known as the “Barefoot Diva” because she performed without shoes, has died at the age of 70.

The singer, who won international acclaim with her sultry voice and melancholy ballads of lost love, died Saturday in a hospital on her native island of Sao Vicente.

Évora retired in September because of health problems. She underwent open heart surgery last year.

Évora was the best-known performer of “morna,'' Cape Verde's national music.

Her 1995 album, Cesaria, was released in more than a dozen countries and brought the entertainer her first Grammy award nomination. She won a Grammy in the World Music category several years ago for her album, Voz D'Amor.

Photo by Bremond: Cesária Évora in concert, 14 November 2009, at the Rockhal of Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.