The Rest In Peace & Remembrance Thread #2

Maurice Sendak dead at 83 :(

Remember having "Where the Wild Things Are" read to me when I was little and then reading it to my niece and nephew when they were little.


Maurice Sendak, renowned children's book author, has died. He was 83.

Sendak died on Tuesday from complications caused by a recent stroke, his editor told the New York Times. He lived in Ridgefield, Conn., and was hospitalized in nearby Danbury. According to the Associated Press, Sendak had a stroke on Friday.

He wrote more than a dozen groundbreaking children's books--including "Where the Wild Things Are," his most famous, published in 1963.

The book--about a disobedient boy named Max who, after being sent to his room without supper, creates a surreal world inhabited by wild creatures--won Sendak the coveted Caldecott Medal in 1964. It was adapted into a live-action film in 2009 by Spike Jonze.
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Susan
 
'Laugh-In' co-creator Digby Wolfe dies at 82
May 8, 7:10 PM (ET)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Digby Wolfe, the comedy writer who co-created the 1960s variety show "Laugh-In," has died. He was 82.

Friends have confirmed that the British-born writer, actor, singer and teacher died May 2 of lung cancer at his home in Albuquerque, N.M.

Friend and former teaching colleague Jim Linnell described Wolfe as a "whirlwind of ideas and encouragement." He says Wolfe had the power to set loose uncontrollable laughter in people.

Wolfe and his "Laugh-In" colleagues earned an Emmy in 1968 for their work on the television show.

Wolfe had small guest roles on various TV series and also mentored hundreds of young writers.

A memorial service is being planned for June 10 at the University of New Mexico, where Wolfe taught writing for 12 years.

His 37-year teaching career also included a stint at the University of Southern California.

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Liberator of ladies' hair Vidal Sassoon dies at 84
May 9, 8:15 PM (ET)
By SANDY COHEN


LOS ANGELES (AP) - Vidal Sassoon used his hairstyling shears to free women from beehives and hot rollers and give them wash-and-wear cuts that made him an international name in hair care.

When he came on the scene in the 1950s, hair was high and heavy - typically curled, teased, piled and shellacked into place. Then came the 1960s, and Sassoon's creative cuts, which required little styling and fell into place perfectly every time, fit right in with the fledgling women's liberation movement.

"His timing was perfect: As women's hair was liberated, so were their lives," Allure magazine Editor-in-Chief Linda Wells told The Associated Press in a written statement. "Sassoon was one of the original feminists."

Sassoon was at his home in Los Angeles with his family when he died Wednesday at age 84, police spokesman Kevin Maiberger said. Maiberger said police were summoned to the home but found that Sassoon had died of natural causes, and authorities wouldn't investigate further.

Full story at Iwon/AP News.
 
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Carroll Shelby, legendary car builder and racing champion, dies at age 89
By Justin Hyde | Motoramic


Carroll Shelby, an international automotive icon who rose from a bed-ridden childhood in Texas to build one of the most iconic sports cars ever and become a world-champion racer died Thursday at the age of 89 after a lengthy illness. His cars will live forever.

A winner at Le Mans in 1959, a driver in everything from Formula 1 to the Bonneville Salt Flats, Shelby's lasting impact will be the cars he built, namely the Shelby Cobra 427 that beat Ferrari in Europe and his variations of the Ford Mustang that he was involved with from the 1960s through his death.

Throughout his career, Shelby battled and overcame his physical limitations, from racing crashes to a congenital heart defect that required several surgeries and eventually a heart transplant in 1990.

Full story at Yahoo News.
 
Robin Gibb of the Bee Gee's Dies

Robin Gibb died in a London hospital after a battle with colon and liver cancer today. He was 62. Robin's series of health crises began in August 2010 when he underwent emergency surgery to treat a blocked intestine. The same hereditary condition led to Robin's twin brother Maurice Gibb's death in January 2003 at age 53. He contracted pneumonia and slipped into a coma.
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Susan
 
Another favourite of mine Robin Gibb has passed away, so sad. He will be dearly missed by family and fans around the world.

My condolences to his family at this tragic and difficult time.

R.I.P Robin you are with the Angels now
 
Eugene Polley, inventor of TV remote, dies at 96
May 22, 3:18 PM (ET)
By CARLA K. JOHNSON

CHICAGO (AP) - Couch potatoes everywhere can pause and thank Eugene Polley for hours of feet-up channel surfing. His invention, the first wireless TV remote, began as a luxury, but with the introduction of hundreds of channels and viewing technologies it has become a necessity.

Just ask anyone who's lost a remote.

Polley died of natural causes Sunday at a suburban Chicago hospital, said Zenith Electronics spokesman John Taylor. The former Zenith engineer was 96.

In 1955, if you wanted to switch TV channels from "Arthur Godfrey" to "Father Knows Best," you got up from your chair, walked across the room and turned a knob. Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.


Or you could buy a new Zenith television with Flash-Matic tuning. The TV came with a green ray gun-shaped contraption with a red trigger. The advertising promised "TV miracles." The "flash tuner" was "Absolutely harmless to humans!" Most intriguing of all: "You can even shut off annoying commercials while the picture remains on the screen." Polley was proud of his invention even late in life, Taylor said. He showed visitors at his assisted-living apartment his original Flash-Matic and how it had evolved into the technology of today. "He was a proud owner of a flat-screen TV and modern remote," Taylor said. "He always kept his original remote control with him."

Polley's Flash-Matic pointed a beam of light at photo cells in the corners of the television screen. Each corner activated a different function, turning the picture and sound off and on, and changing the channels.

Chicago native Polley and fellow Zenith engineer Robert Adler were honored in 1997 with an Emmy for their work in pioneering TV remotes. In 2009, he received the Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award from the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers.

Beyond keeping TV viewers pinned to their chairs, Polley's invention unchained technology from mechanical knobs and levers, opening vast possibilities, said Richard Doherty, CEO of suburban New York-based technology assessment and market research company Envisioneering.

"Without his idea you might not have gotten to the Internet," Doherty said. "It allowed you to go beyond the physical dial. It set the pace for dozens for follow-on inventions that go beyond the physical." During his 47-year career as an engineer, Polley earned 18 U.S. patents. At Zenith, he worked his way up from the stockroom, according to a biography from Lincolnshire, Ill.-based LG Electronics, which owns Zenith. Polley also worked on radar advances for the U.S. Department of Defense during World War II. He helped develop the push-button radio for automobiles and the video disk, a forerunner of today's DVD.

Polley's invention made life easier - perhaps too easy - for a generation of children.

"In my house, the remote control was named Rick," said Doherty. "'Rick, change it to Channel 7. Rick, change it to Channel 2. Rick, go back to the ballgame.' It kept me fitter as a kid."
 
Guitar picking master Doc Watson dies in NC at 89
May 30, 3:23 AM (ET)
By CHRIS TALBOTT


You could hear the mountains of North Carolina in Doc Watson's music. The rush of a mountain stream, the steady creak of a mule in leather harness plowing rows in topsoil and the echoes of ancient sounds made by a vanishing people were an intrinsic part of the folk musician's powerful, homespun sound.

It took Watson decades to make a name for himself outside the world of Deep Gap, N.C. Once he did, he ignited the imaginations of countless guitar players who learned the possibilities of the instrument from the humble picker who never quite went out of style. From the folk revival of the 1960s to the Americana movement of the 21st century, Watson remained a constant source of inspiration and a treasured touchstone before his death Tuesday at age 89.

Blind from the age of 1, Watson was left to listen to the world around him and it was as if he heard things differently from others. Though he knew how to play the banjo and harmonica from an early age, he came to favor the guitar. His flat-picking style helped translate the fiddle- and mandolin-dominated music of his forebears for an audience of younger listeners who were open to the tales that had echoed off the mountains for generations, and to the new lead role for the guitar.

"Overall, Doc will be remembered as one of America's greatest folk musicians. I would say he's one of America's greatest musicians," said David Holt, a longtime friend and collaborator who compared Watson to Lead Belly, Bill Monroe, Muddy Waters and Earl Scruggs.

Like those pioneering players, Watson took a regional sound and made it into something larger, a piece of American culture that reverberates for decades after the notes are first played.

"He had a great way of presenting traditional songs and making them accessible to a modern audience," Holt said. "Not just accessible, but truly engaging."

Watson died at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, where he was hospitalized recently after falling at his home in Deep Gap, 100 miles northwest of Charlotte. He underwent abdominal surgery while in the hospital and had been in critical condition for several days.

Full story at Iwon/AP News.
 
Desperate Housewives' Kathryn Joosten Dies at 72
by Michael Slezak


Emmy winner Kathryn Joosten, whose emotional death scene as Karen McKluskey gave Desperate Housewives‘ recent series finale its biggest emotional punch, died yesterday of lung cancer in Westlake Village, CA. She was 72.

Joosten won her Emmys in 2005 and 2008 in the Oustanding Guest Actress in a Comedy for her portrayal of Wisteria Lane’s crankiest (but still loveable) resident.

Prior to her Housewives success, Joosten was best known for playing Mrs. Landingham, secretary to Martin Sheen’s President Bartlet, on The West Wing.

She also had roles on such shows as Scrubs, My Name Is Earl, Joan of Arcadia, and Dharma & Greg.

Joosten, who didn’t begin her acting career until she was 42, famously told interviewers through the years that Housewives‘ creator Marc Cherry had promised never to kill off Mrs. McCluskey, seeing how many of her prior characters hadn’t survived to their shows’ series finales.

According to her rep, Joosten was surrounded by family at the time of her death.
 
RIP, Kathryn Joosten. :(

You gave us such memorable TV characters, from Mrs. Landingham to Mrs. McKluskey (also loved her in Scrubs and Joan of Arcadia!). A great actress and lovely lady.
And, whenever I hear 'Wonderful, Wonderful', I will think of you.
My sincere condolences go out to her family.
 
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Richard Dawson has passed away at the age of 79 :(

Richard Dawson for some will be remembered as the host of Family Feud but for others will be remembered for playing Cpl Newkirk on Hogan's Heroes.

RIP in Richard.

Richard Dawson dead at age 79
 
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