Archive for the ‘Obits’ Category

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Obit watch: September 20, 2024.

Friday, September 20th, 2024

Dr. John A. Clements, another big damn hero, passed away on September 3rd at 101.

Newborn babies sometimes have a problem called respiratory distress syndrome, or RDS. They can’t breathe, and they die. Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, the second son of JFK and Jacqueline, famously died from RDS. In the 1960s, RDS killed about 10,000 babies every year.

Dr. Clements first did the early work that determined the lungs used a surfactant to allow breathing. Then, two other researchers that he served as an advisor for determined that RDS was caused by an absence of surfactant in the baby’s lungs.

Then Dr. Clements developed an artificial surfactant.

His research led to the first synthetic lung surfactant, which the University of California licensed to the drugmaker Burroughs Wellcome and Company. Its drug Exosurf was the first replacement surfactant for clinical use approved by the Food and Drug Administration, in 1990.
Eventually, further study found that animal-derived surfactants worked better, and they are most often used today. Infant deaths from R.D.S. in the United States have declined to fewer than 500 a year.

JD Souther, musician and actor.

Mr. Souther was almost the fifth Eagle: He joined the quartet for an afternoon tryout at the Troubadour, but he decided that the band was already perfect, and that he’d rather write for them.
A string of songs followed, many of them hits and most of them written with Mr. Henley and Mr. Frey, including “The Best of My Love,” “Victim of Love,” “Heartache Tonight” and “New Kid in Town.”

…

In recent years he was better known, at least to younger fans, for his screen presence. In 2012 he joined the cast of “Nashville,” playing a veteran music producer, Watty White — a character that drew heavily on his own experiences in the industry. He appeared during the first season, and his character was popular enough that the showrunners brought him back for the fifth season.

Nobody else has bothered to report this yet, as far as I’ve seen, but: Nelson DeMille, thriller author.

His first novel was “By the Rivers of Babylon,” published in 1978.

I actually remember when that came out, and being interested in reading it. However, I had somewhat limited means at the time, and that was one of the books I never bought. Now that I’m older, I may have to pick it up, because what’s not to like about a book with two Concordes in it?

Posted in Books, Music, Obits | 1 Comment »

Obit watch: September 16, 2024.

Monday, September 16th, 2024

Dr. George Berci, Holocaust survivor, violinist, and big damn hero, passed away on August 30th. He was 103.

Dr. Berci was one of the pioneers of minimally invasive surgery.

Dr. Berci brought a precise eye and an inventor’s zeal to innovations that enabled doctors to better visualize the bladder, colon, esophagus, prostate, common bile duct and other body parts. Until earlier this summer, he was the senior director of minimally invasive surgery research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he had worked since 1969.
His innovations were critical to the revolution in minimally invasive endoscopies and laparoscopies, which dramatically reduced the need for surgeons to make large incisions.
In endoscopies, doctors use a flexible tube with a light and a camera to examine the upper and lower digestive system. Dr. Berci focused mainly on the area around the throat and vocal cords.
In laparoscopies, surgeons place a thin rod with a video camera attached at the end through a small abdominal incision. Carbon dioxide is then used to inflate the space to give doctors enough room to use small instruments to, among other things, remove gallbladders, cysts, tumors, appendixes and spleens; diagnose endometriosis; and repair hernias.

…

“It is unlikely that there will ever be another surgeon who so single-handedly impacts an entire field of surgery as Dr. Berci did,” said Dr. Brunt, the producer of the documentary, who is a professor of surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “He understood the potential for laparoscopy and its applications long before most surgeons saw any value in it.”

Tito Jackson. THR.

Herbie Flowers, session musician who played bass on “Walk on the Wild Side”.

Tommy Cash, Johnny’s brother, but he had a music career of his own. THR.

Posted in Heroism, History, Music, Obits | Comments Closed

Obit watch: September 13, 2024.

Friday, September 13th, 2024

Donald Sheppard passed away on September 7th. He was 104. BBC.

Mr. Sheppard served in the Royal Engineers during World War II.

Mr. Sheppard was one of more than 150,000 soldiers who crossed the English Channel on June 6, 1944. He landed at Juno Beach, in Normandy, under a hail of gunfire. More than 4,000 Allied troops died that day.
“When he landed on the beach, he said he was just walking over dead bodies,” his son said. “Dead boys, dead men. And they gave their life for our freedom. I think to him, personally, he never wants that to be forgotten.”

…

In 1945, Mr. Sheppard helped British forces liberate Bergen-Belsen, one of the largest concentration camps in Germany; more than 50,000 people, including Anne Frank, died there. When the British arrived, corpses lay in piles; about 60,000 people, emaciated and ill, were still alive.
Mr. Sheppard struggled to talk about the experience; a granddaughter, Daisy O’Brien, said she did not learn about it until she was a teenager. Mr. Sheppard would become emotional remembering that day, his son said.“He couldn’t believe that one human could do that to another human,” Jonathan Sheppard said, and would often lament the “senselessness” of war.

…

After his retirement, Mr. Sheppard devoted himself to keeping alive the memory of the soldiers who fought and died beside him. He raised money for veterans, made repeated trips to Normandy and, until recently, spoke to schoolchildren about the war.

Chad McQueen. I think I’ve noted before that I don’t do obits for celebrity children just because they are celebrity children, but he did have a career beyond being Steve McQueen’s son. Other credits include “V”, “New York Cop”, and “Firepower”.

Bob Weatherwax, Hollywood dog trainer. He was most famous for succeeding his father, Rudd, in training dogs to play “Lassie”.

On a trip to Philadelphia to promote the 1994 movie “Lassie,” a successful attempt to revive the franchise, he and the film’s star stayed at the luxurious Rittenhouse Hotel, where the celebrity collie dined on boiled chicken that was prepared by a chef, delivered by room service and washed down with distilled water.
Lassie usually traveled with Mel, a Jack Russell terrier. The two dogs watched “Lassie” reruns on Nickelodeon in between promotional appearances.
“The hotels say they wish they had more guests like Lassie,” Mr. Weatherwax told The Los Angeles Times in 1994. “They don’t have to deal with cigarette holes in the carpet or spilled drinks.”

Alberto Fujimori.

Joe Schmidt, one of the Detroit Lions greats.

Schmidt was named to 10 Pro Bowls, selected as a first-team All-Pro eight times and chosen for the N.F.L.’s all-decade team for the 1950s.
The Lions were an N.F.L. powerhouse in those years. They defeated the Cleveland Browns for the 1952 league championship; beat them again in the 1953 title matchup, when Schmidt was a rookie; and bested them once more in 1957, routing them 59-14. They also went to the championship game against the Browns in 1954, but that time they lost.
Schmidt was 6 feet 1 inches and 220 pounds, not especially big even by the standards of his era. But he anchored the defense on Lions teams that included his fellow future Hall of Famers Yale Lary, Jack Christiansen and Dick Lane (known as Night Train) in the secondary, along with an offense featuring Bobby Layne at quarterback, Doak Walker at halfback and Lou Creekmur and Dick Stanfel on the line.
He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, in 1973.

…

Schmidt’s teammates voted him their most valuable player four times. He was also the Lions’ longtime captain. When he retired after the 1965 season, he had intercepted 24 passes and recovered 14 fumbles.

Posted in Heroism, Mammals, NFL, Obits, Sports | Comments Closed

Obit watch: September 10, 2024.

Tuesday, September 10th, 2024

James Earl Jones. NYT (gift link). THR. Variety.

I didn’t realize he was an EGOT (but the Oscar was honorary, not competitive).

The IMDB trivia asserts he was a NRA member, which is interesting. It also asserts that he was considered for the lead role in one of the spin-offs of a minor 1960s SF TV series, but they cast Avery “Hawk” Brooks instead.

Other credits include three episodes of “Homicide: Life on the Street”, something called “Excessive Force” that sounds fun, “The Last Remake of Beau Geste”, “Exorcist II: The Heretic”, and, of course, “The Star Wars Holiday Special”.

Once, while traveling cross-country, Jones broke out his Darth Vader voice on the CB radio scanner. “The truck drivers would really freak out — for them, it was Darth Vader. I had to stop doing that,” he told The New York Times magazine.

As a not-quite-an-obit but belongs here anyway note, the NYT obit is credited to Robert D. McFadden. Mr. McFadden retired from the Times on September 1st, and the paper of record ran a very nice tribute to him. I’ll say something nice about the NYT for once: I agree, Mr. McFadden was a pretty swell obit writer. I think he belongs in the same class as the legendary Robert McG. Thomas Jr..

He retired with more than 250 advance obituaries still in the pipeline, each awaiting its day.

Also among the dead: Ed Kranepool, one of the original Mets.

When Stengel assessed Kranepool’s talent, he told The New York Times: “He don’t strike out too much and he don’t let himself get suckered into goin’ for bad pitches. I wouldn’t be afraid to play him. He don’t embarrass you.”

…

After the ’69 Series, Kranepool and several teammates, including Tom Seaver and Cleon Jones, put together a musical act that performed in Las Vegas, singing, among other songs, “The Impossible Dream.” After the group’s debut on the Circus Maximus stage at Caesars Palace, Kranepool conceded that the singing Mets were nervous.
“It’s not like Shea Stadium, where we know what we’re doing,” he told The Times. “But we had enough Scotch.”

Baseball Reference.

Posted in 1970s, Media, Movies, Obits, Sports, TV | 3 Comments »

Obit watch watch.

Monday, September 9th, 2024

Yes, I know.

I think it’d be better to wait until tomorrow for the James Earl Jones obits, to allow the dust to settle and the corrections to be made. I know I’m sacrificing timeliness, but I’d rather be right.

Posted in Obits | 1 Comment »

Obit watch: September 4, 2024.

Wednesday, September 4th, 2024

Paul Harrell, noted gun YouTuber. (Hattip: Lawrence.) McThag.

Edited to add: The Firearm Blog. NYPost, which kind of makes me want to go “!!!!”. On the other hand, the NYP ran an article yesterday about a heron eating a rat, so running an obit for a popular YouTuber, even if he was a gun guy, is probably closer to news.

Rob “Rabbit” Pitt, car guy. Sacramento Bee. (Hattip: FotB RoadRich.)

Archived NYT obit for James Darren, which did not go up until after I posted yesterday.

Posted in Cars, Guns, Obits | Comments Closed

Obit watch: September 3, 2024.

Tuesday, September 3rd, 2024

James Darren, actor and musician.

Other credits include the good “Hawaii Five-O”, “S.W.A.T.” (the original), “Black Sheep Squadron” (aka “Baa Baa Black Sheep”), and “Renegade”.

Simon Verity, stone carver.

Mr. Verity was chosen to direct the St. John the Divine project in 1988. That venture placed him on a scaffold on Amsterdam Avenue for parts of nine years, leading a team that, using hammers, mallets and chisels, carved 31 biblical figures, including Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist, Abraham and Sarah, from limestone blocks in the niches that frame the great brass doors at the Portal of Paradise.
One carving, a reimagining of the burning of Jerusalem, depicts the destruction of the World Trade Center and other city landmarks under a nuclear mushroom. (It was created more than a decade before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.) The carving illustrates signs of a rebirth, building on the city’s ashes.
The Very Rev. Patrick Malloy, dean of the cathedral, said in a statement that many tourists visited the cathedral just to see the portal.
“Mr. Verity took the long-dead worthies of the Hebrew and Christian traditions and made them things of wonder for people in our own day,” he added. “Beyond this present age, his work will endure into a future beyond us.”

…

In the late 1970s, Mr. Verity visited Austria, where he became fascinated by a 17th-century grotto built for the prince-archbishop of Salzburg. He went on to restore centuries-old grottoes and designed and built new ones, both in Europe and in the United States.

…

One of his original grottoes was at Leeds Castle, in Kent, England, which visitors entered through a suite of rooms. Nearly all the rooms were encrusted, from ceiling to floor, with colorful mosaics made from minerals, shells and animal bones, and some of the walls were covered with elaborate limestone sculptures.
In addition, he carved statues of four whales and a fountain for King Charles III when Charles was the Prince of Wales; a teacup made of broken crockery for Elton John’s garden; a seated king in the front of Wells Cathedral, whose restoration he also worked on; and “The Agony in the Garden,” which depicts Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane before his betrayal.
Mr. Verity created fountains and a sundial at the American Academy in Rome and headstones for the writer Nancy Mitford; George Wein, the Newport Jazz Festival impresario, and his wife, Joyce (for which he sculpted a jazz band); and the British poet laureate John Betjeman.

Posted in Music, Obits, TV | 1 Comment »

Obit watch: August 30, 2024.

Friday, August 30th, 2024

Lawrence sent this over, but it was already on my radar and just waiting until I had time.

Johnny Gaudreau, winger for the Columbus Blue Jackets of the NHL, was killed yesterday along with his brother. He was 31. His brother was 29. NHL.

According to the reports, Mr. Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew, were out cycling. A car moved over to one side to give them clearance as it passed: another driver, who was allegedly drunk, tried to pass that vehicle on the right and hit the two brothers from behind.

The driver, Sean Higgins, 43, is suspected of being under the influence of alcohol and has been charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle.

…

Both brothers, who were New Jersey natives, had been in the area to be groomsmen in their sister Katie’s wedding that was scheduled for Friday in Philadelphia.

Posted in Cycling, Obits, Sports | Comments Closed

Obit watch: August 28, 2024.

Wednesday, August 28th, 2024

Things have been kind of slow on the obit front. I don’t know if it just too hot for people to die, or what’s going on, but it just doesn’t seem like there’s been a lot to report.

I have had this one in my pocket for a few days now. I’m wondering if it will ring a bell with any of my readers: Mitzi McCall.

Ms. McCall was a pretty successful entertainer. She had a comedy act with her husband, Charlie Brill.

They got a big break on the night of February 9, 1964. They were booked to appear on “The Ed Sullivan Show”. The lists of acts that night included:

…Fred Kaps, a Dutch magician; the cast of the Broadway musical “Oliver!” (which included a then-unknown Davy Jones, soon to be a member of the Monkees); the impressionist Frank Gorshin; the music-hall singer and actress Tessie O’Shea; and, finally, McCall & Brill.

Oh, yeah, there was one other act booked that night: a group of obscure British musicians that called themselves the Beatles.

In their sketch, Mr. Brill played a producer casting a young actress for a new movie. Ms. McCall played his secretary and three other roles: a nervous former Miss Palm Springs, a pushy stage mother and a Method actor. The sketch fell with a thud, except for some chuckles when Ms. McCall tossed in an ad lib as the stage mother.
“My little girl was waiting outside, you know,” she said. “She used to be one of the Beatles.”
“Oh, what happened?” Mr. Brill asked.
“Somebody stepped on her.”

They bombed. Their agent didn’t call them for six months. But they recovered:

They performed their act — which Mr. Brill said was influenced by the comedy of Mike Nichols and Elaine May — until the mid-1980s, opening for Ann-Margret, Ella Fitzgerald and Marlene Dietrich. They had a recurring role as the bickering “Fun Couple” on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In”; appeared on many variety and talk shows, and on game shows like “Tattletales”; and portrayed a detective and his fun-loving wife on the crime drama “Silk Stalkings” in the 1990s.

Ms. McCall was 93. Her husband, Mr. Brill, survives her.

On her own, Ms. McCall was seen on numerous sitcoms, including “Maude,” “Roseanne” and “Ellen,” and wrote episodes of “One Day at a Time” and “ALF.”

She was also the dry cleaner’s wife in that “Seinfeld” episode. Other credits include “Twilight Zone” (both the original and the 1986 revival), “The Jim Backus Show”, “The Dennis O’Keefe Show”, the 1990 “Dragnet”, and “Madman of the People”.

Posted in 1970s, History, Music, Obits, TV | 1 Comment »

Obit watch: August 19, 2024.

Monday, August 19th, 2024

Phil Donahue. NYT (gift link).

Posted in 1970s, Obits, TV | Comments Closed

Obit watch: August 18, 2024.

Sunday, August 18th, 2024

Alain Delon, noted French actor. NYT (gift link).

Other credits include “Someone Is Bleeding” (aka “Icy Breasts”, based on a Richard Matheson novel), “The Assassination of Trotsky” (apparently, he was the assassin to Richard Burton’s (!) Trotsky), and…

…he didn’t have much of a US career, but he did play “Joe Patroni”‘s co-pilot and procurer in “The Concorde…Airport ’79“.

John Aprea, actor. Other credits include a movie that does not exist and is clearly a copyright trap by IMDB, “Renegade”, “Lt. Vince Novelli” on “Matt Houston”, “Mrs. Columbo” (but not “Columbo”), “The F.B.I.”, “The Seven-Ups”…

…and yes, he did do a “Mannix” (“Murder Revisited”, season 3, episode 23. IMDB lists him as “Thug (uncredited)”.)

Posted in Mannix, Movies, Obits, TV | Comments Closed

Obit watch: August 15, 2024.

Thursday, August 15th, 2024

Wally Amos, of “Famous Amos” cookie fame.

He also became an advocate for childhood literacy. His mother had never learned to read, and neither had he until late in his childhood. He worked closely with the group Literacy Volunteers of America, and in 1987 he hosted his own public-access cable TV program, “Learn to Read.”
Years later, after he had gotten back into the cookie trade with a small shop near his home in Honolulu, he set aside an adjacent room stocked with children’s books. Every Saturday, he would take a seat in a rocking chair, surrounded by children, and read to them for hours.

Gena Rowlands. NYT (archived). Other credits include “Run For Your Life”, “Lonely Are the Brave”, “77 Sunset Strip”, and “Columbo”.

Seth Bloom, the blue-haired clown and physical comedy virtuoso who helped outreach organizations in Afghanistan and other remote places stage circuses that roused smiles from children while also teaching them important life skills, including how to avoid land mines, died on Aug. 2 in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. He was 49.
Mr. Bloom died by suicide, said his wife, Christina Gelsone, with whom he performed in two-person clown shows around the world, including at the Big Apple Circus in New York City.

…

The Acrobuffos act took the couple around the world. For part of “Air Play,” which was probably their biggest hit, they jumped around in giant balloons, with only their heads visible.
“The most important thing we’ve learned about climbing inside balloons is not to fart,” Mr. Bloom once said.

The number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-TALK (8255). You can also dial 988 to reach the Lifeline.

Posted in Food, Movies, Obits, TV | Comments Closed

Obit watch: August 13, 2024.

Tuesday, August 13th, 2024

Captain Paul Bucha (United States Army – ret.).

Captain Bucha received the Medal of Honor for actions between March 16 and 19th, 1968. His citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Capt. Bucha distinguished himself while serving as commanding officer, Company D, on a reconnaissance-in-force mission against enemy forces near Phuoc Vinh. The company was inserted by helicopter into the suspected enemy stronghold to locate and destroy the enemy. During this period Capt. Bucha aggressively and courageously led his men in the destruction of enemy fortifications and base areas and eliminated scattered resistance impeding the advance of the company. On 18 March while advancing to contact, the lead elements of the company became engaged by the heavy automatic-weapon, heavy machine-gun, rocket-propelled-grenade, claymore-mine and small-arms fire of an estimated battalion-size force. Capt. Bucha, with complete disregard for his safety, moved to the threatened area to direct the defense and ordered reinforcements to the aid of the lead element. Seeing that his men were pinned down by heavy machine-gun fire from a concealed bunker located some 40 meters to the front of the positions, Capt. Bucha crawled through the hail of fire to singlehandedly destroy the bunker with grenades. During this heroic action Capt. Bucha received a painful shrapnel wound. Returning to the perimeter, he observed that his unit could not hold its positions and repel the human wave assaults launched by the determined enemy. Capt. Bucha ordered the withdrawal of the unit elements and covered the withdrawal to positions of a company perimeter from which he could direct fire upon the charging enemy. When one friendly element retrieving casualties was ambushed and cut off from the perimeter, Capt. Bucha ordered them to feign death and he directed artillery fire around them. During the night Capt. Bucha moved throughout the position, distributing ammunition, providing encouragement, and insuring the integrity of the defense. He directed artillery, helicopter-gunship and Air Force-gunship fire on the enemy strong points and attacking forces, marking the positions with smoke grenades. Using flashlights in complete view of enemy snipers, he directed the medical evacuation of three air-ambulance loads of seriously wounded personnel and the helicopter supply of his company. At daybreak Capt. Bucha led a rescue party to recover the dead and wounded members of the ambushed element. During the period of intensive combat, Capt. Bucha, by his extraordinary heroism, inspirational example, outstanding leadership, and professional competence, led his company in the decimation of a superior enemy force which left 156 dead on the battlefield. His bravery and gallantry at the risk of his life are in the highest traditions of the military service. Capt. Bucha has reflected great credit on himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

He was a West Point graduate:

He was soon appointed commander of the last rifle company to be formed during an Army expansion — one that left him with a collection of the least coveted recruits: men who had flunked basic infantry tasks, former prisoners and “guys with master’s degrees in Elizabethan literature,” Mr. Bucha later recalled to the National Purple Heart Honor Mission, a veterans group.

…

In April 1970, around the time his tour of duty ended, Mr. Bucha returned to West Point to teach social science. But in 1972, he was one of 33 highly qualified young officers teaching at the military academy to resign over 18 months. Their resignations, to seek other professional opportunities, were reported on the front page of The New York Times.

Ross Perot hired him.

Mr. Bucha rose to become the executive in charge of foreign operations for Mr. Perot’s best-known company, Electronic Data Systems, which provided information technology services.

…

Mr. Bucha later openly criticized Mr. Perot for exaggerating stories about his career and traveled around the country on behalf of President George H.W. Bush’s campaign for a second term. In 2008, Mr. Bucha was a foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
There was a point of consistency across his political stances, Ms. Whaley, his daughter, said: “He was a person who valued character and integrity.”

He served as president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society from 1995 to 1999.

Though Mr. Bucha became well known for his Medal of Honor, he often appeared publicly without it.
“I never wear it if I’m giving a speech that might get political,” he told the Purple Heart Mission. The medal, he said, belonged not principally to him but to the men he had fought alongside, and he did not want to say anything while wearing it that they might have disagreed with.

Statement from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. According to the society, there are 60 surviving recipients.

Posted in Heroism, History, Obits, Politics | 1 Comment »

Obit watch: August 9, 2024.

Friday, August 9th, 2024

Jacques Lewis has passed away. He was 105.

Mr. Lewis is believed to have been the last surviving French soldier who went onshore at Normandy on D-Day.

In 1944, Mr. Lewis was a member of the Free French Forces, the army that Gen. Charles de Gaulle had assembled in exile in London after Germany invaded and occupied France in 1940. Fluent in English, he was assigned as a liaison officer attached to the U.S. Army’s 70th Tank Battalion as the D-Day landings approached.
Mr. Lewis was not just an interpreter; he was a soldier, and thus well-suited to take on a vital role after the invasion. The Americans needed someone with military experience to link up with French villagers and French guerrilla resistance fighters known as the Maquis to help guide U.S. troops past German positions inland to reach the small rural town of Carentan and relieve members of the U.S. 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions, who had earlier parachuted in, behind enemy lines.
In an interview with the French television channel TF1 in 2019 on the 75th anniversary of the Normandy landings, he recalled approaching Utah Beach on the morning of June 6, 1944. It was the first time he had spoken about the war, even to his family, he said.
“We were crouched behind the ramp of our landing craft, and when the ramp went down, I saw my country, France, which I’d wanted to help liberate for so long,” he said. “It was very moving. But then I saw the stretchers carrying wounded or dead American soldiers — being carried down the beach to get into our landing craft to be taken back to England. I realized that many of the first wave of my American comrades had already died on the beaches to liberate my country.”
He waded ashore, his rifle over his head, under heavy German gunfire. In the TF1 interview, he displayed a military identification bracelet that he wore on his left wrist that morning (comparable to the dog tags his American comrades wore around their necks). Pointing to his military number, FFF 55770, he said, “That was so that they knew I was a French soldier if I died.”
Allied casualties on Utah Beach — 197 killed or wounded — were relatively light compared with the 2,400 or so recorded at Omaha Beach to the east. By nightfall on D-Day, more than 10,300 allied troops had been killed or wounded across Normandy.

…

After Mr. Lewis crossed Utah beach unscathed, his first task was to help the Americans reach Carentan. Consulting with resistance fighters and French residents, he mapped out routes that the Americans could take and then joined them. Along the way, they were greeted as saviors.
“The locals appeared at their windows or emerged from their doors,” he recalled. “They gave us wine, and my American colleagues gave the kids chocolate. They were so happy to see the Americans and surprised to realize I was French.”

…

On June 8, less than two months before he died, Mr. Lewis insisted to his caregivers that he be taken in his wheelchair to greet President Biden and President Emmanuel Macron of France at a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Mr. Biden thanked him for his work with American forces as they had moved inland from Utah Beach to drive the Germans out of France.

Chi Chi Rodriguez, noted golfer.

Rodriguez was 5-foot-7 and about 120 pounds. But he used his strong hands and wrists to get off long low drives, and he was an outstanding wedge player, offsetting his sometimes balky putting game. “For a little man, he sure can hit it,” Jack Nicklaus told Sports Illustrated in 1964, relating how Rodriguez often outdistanced him off the tee on flat, into-the-wind fairways.
Rodriguez won eight tournaments on the PGA Tour, then became one of the top players on the Senior (now Champions) Tour, capturing 22 events, including two majors: the 1986 Senior Players Championship and the 1987 Senior PGA Championship. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1992.

…

After draining a difficult putt, Rodriguez would also turn his putter into a simulated sword being unleashed on a bull, then wipe imaginary blood from it and place it in an invisible scabbard.

Kevin Sullivan, professional wrestler.

Known early in his career as “The Boston Battler,” Sullivan was inspired by the heavy metal acts of the 1970s and ’80s like Black Sabbath and Judas Priest to become the “Prince of Darkness,” a demonic rival of some of the stars of that era, including Dusty Rhodes, the Road Warriors and Hogan, according to W.W.E.
Among the crews he led in the ring were the Army of Darkness; The Varsity Club, a group of college buddies; and Dungeon of Doom, W.W.E. said. Also known as “The Taskmaster,” he painted black X’s and lightning bolts on his forehead, wore leather body armor and chains and stuck out his tongue like Gene Simmons of Kiss.
“During their heyday, Sullivan’s cult came to the ring with either Jeff Beck’s ‘Gets Us All in the End’ or Deep Purple’s ‘Nobody’s Home’ blaring behind them and a series of black-cloaked and corpse-painted minions who usually brought with them boa constrictors of varying colors and sizes,” according to a 2015 editorial about Sullivan on the website Metal Injection. “Add in a half-naked Fallen Angel, then you’ve got a good idea of just how much of a spectacle Sullivan’s Army of Darkness was.”

…

“The money is better than in anything else I could do,” Sullivan told The New York Times in 1989. “I’ll tell you what I like the most about it. I get to live in a beach house in Daytona Beach, Florida, that’s completely paid for. Now, that’s nice.”

Posted in Heroism, History, Obits, Sports | 3 Comments »

Obit watch: August 7, 2024.

Wednesday, August 7th, 2024

Charles Cyphers, actor. NYT (archived). Other credits include “FBI: The Unheard Music The Untold Stories”, “Renegade”, “The F.B.I.”, and “Jake and the Fatman”.

Duane Thomas, one of the great Dallas Cowboys. ESPN.

Thomas spent the 1971 season without speaking with reporters and apparently his teammates.
It didn’t stop Thomas from performing on the field. He became the first player to score a touchdown in Texas Stadium in 1971. When that season ended, Thomas rushed 175 times for 793 yards and a NFL-leading 11 touchdowns.

Patti Yasutake, actress. Other credits include “Crossing Jordan” (the “Quincy, M.E.” of the ’90s except it sucked), “Murder One” (curiously, Charles Cyphers was also in “Murder One”), “Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot”, and “T.J. Hooker”.

Joss Naylor, English sportsman. He specialized in “fell running”: basically, running up and down mountains for days at a time.

His feats running the fells — the term in northern England for hills and mountains — defied common sense and earned him multiple nicknames, including “Iron Man” and “King of the Fells.”
In 1971, Mr. Naylor became the sixth person to conquer the Bob Graham Round — a 24-hour challenge to finish a 66-mile trek over 42 peaks in Cumbria’s Lake District. He overachieved, topping 61 peaks in 23 hours 37 minutes.
The next year, he crossed 63 peaks in the challenge, followed by 72 in 1975 — both times in under 24 hours.
Still running at age 50 in 1986, he completed the Wainwright Round, a series of 214 summits, in just over seven days, setting a record that stood until 2014. (He would have finished faster had he not stopped to save a lamb stuck in mud.)

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In competitions that sometimes lasted a week, he survived on scone-like cakes and black currant juice with a dash of salt and cod liver oil that he swilled straight from the bottle — “like whiskey,” he once said.

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In 1971, after the Bob Graham Round, he took on the National Three Peaks Challenge, which involved racing up the highest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales in 24 hours, including driving time between the mountains. He finished in just under 12 hours. Nobody has beaten that time.

Bucca di Bankrupt. (Headline hatip to Mike the Musicologist.)

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