Obit watch: October 26, 2023.

I’m not a big fan of posting obits for children of celebrities just because of their relationship. Generally, when I post one, the person has to be interesting for some other reason.

Rock Brynner, whose life as a road manager for the Band, bodyguard for Muhammad Ali, farmer, pilot, street performer, novelist and professor of constitutional history overshadowed what, for a lesser mortal, might be a more than sufficient laurel on which to rest — he was the son of the actor Yul Brynner — died on Oct. 13 in Salisbury, Conn. He was 76.

I think that qualifies. Also, someone close to me called out the paper of record’s use of the word “peripatetic“. I personally think that’s a perfectly cromulent word, and, much like “gargantuan“, is one that I rarely have an opportunity to use in a sentence.

Murray Newman has a very nice obit up for Skip Cornelius:

From his fellow members of the Defense Bar to the Prosecutors who handled cases against him to pretty much all of the Judges he practiced before, Skip was the Gold Standard of what it meant to be a lawyer practicing indigent defense.

He was so good at everything he did and he was so good in trial. As news of his passing spread, former prosecutors shared stories of their whale cases against Skip where he somehow kept the juries out for hours and hours. His name rarely made the news but he was most definitely the lawyer that all of the other lawyers knew and respected. He was a subtle, but commanding presence in the courtroom. He was serious but also had an outstanding dry sense of humor. He was confident and steady in all of his cases and there wasn’t a prosecutor born that rattled him.

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