I started doing this last year, as a result of losing my brother… that is, looking at the people that we lost during the first and last 6 months of the year. Many times we don’t have an appreciation for them, because they have fallen off the radar... and then they are gone with barely a whisper of recognition. We may or may not see their names one more time before they vanish into history, but they often have influenced our lives in ways we can only reflect upon after they have gone.
Below is the same smattering of names I have compiled before, of those no longer with us during the 6 months of that year. As before, I am familiar with practically every name on this list, with only a few exceptions. Now however, I am beginning to see how so many people have touched my life. There are so many more that I left off, but they are no less significant.
As you read through the list, see how many you know. I recommend that you look up some of the ones you don't . They were all special in some way. Some of them were only known to a few, but they made this list because they made a difference to someone. Get to know them. Their names may not pass this way again.
January 2010
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Jan 4 - Tsutomu Yamaguchi, 93, Japanese survivor of Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings, stomach cancer.
Jan 8 - Art Clokey, 88, American stop motion animator (Gumby, Davey and Goliath), bladder infection.
Jan 13 - Teddy Pendergrass, 59, American soul singer, complications from colorectal cancer.
Jan 16 - Glen Bell, 86, American entrepreneur, founder of Taco Bell.
Jan 17 - Erich Segal, 72, American professor, author (Love Story), and screenwriter (Yellow Submarine), heart attack.
Jan 22 - Jean Simmons, 80, British-born American actress (Hamlet, Spartacus), lung cancer.
Jan 24 - Pernell Roberts, 81, American actor (Bonanza; Trapper John, M.D.), pancreatic cancer.
Jan 27 - J. D. Salinger, 91, American author (The Catcher in the Rye), natural causes.
February 2010
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Feb 12 - Nodar Kumaritashvili, 21, Georgian luger, national team member for the 2010 Winter Olympics, training accident.
Feb 14 - Lee Freeman, 60, American rhythm guitarist (Strawberry Alarm Clock), cancer.
Feb 14 - Doug Fieger, 57, American musician (The Knack), lung cancer.
Feb 16 - Ronald Howes, 83, American inventor, designer of Easy-Bake Oven.
Feb 16 - Bill Gordon, 92, American inventor, designer of the Arecibo Radio Telescope, natural causes.
Feb 18 - John Babcock, 109, Canadian soldier, Canada's last surviving World War I veteran.
Feb 19 - Rudy Larriva, 94, American animator and animation director (Looney Tunes, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show).
Feb 20 - Alexander Haig, 85, American politician and diplomat, Secretary of State (1981–1982), complications from an infection.
March 2010
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Mar 7 - Daisey Bailey, 113, American supercentenarian, second-oldest person in U.S. and fourth-oldest in world.
Mar 11 - Merlin Olsen, 69, American football player (L.A. Rams) and actor (Little House on the Prairie, Father Murphy), mesothelioma.
Mar 14 - Peter Graves, 83, American actor (Mission: Impossible, Airplane!), heart attack.
Mar 17 - Robert M. White, 85, American X-15 test pilot.
Mar 18 - Fess Parker, 85, American actor (Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone), natural causes.
Mar 20 - Stewart Udall, 90, American politician (Arizona), Secretary of the Interior (1961–1969), natural causes.
Mar 24 - Robert Culp, 79, American actor (I Spy, The Greatest American Hero, Everybody Loves Raymond), complications following a fall.
Mar 27 - Dick Giordano, 77, American comic book artist and editor (Batman, Green Lantern), complications from pneumonia.
April 2010
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Apr 1 - John Forsythe, 92, American actor (Bachelor Father, Charlie's Angels, Dynasty), complications from pneumonia.
Apr 6 - Wilma Mankiller, 64, American activist, first female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation (1985–1995), pancreatic cancer.
Mar 6 - Eddie Carroll, 76, Canadian voice actor (Jiminy Cricket).
Apr 8 - Jack Agnew, 88, American soldier, member of the Filthy Thirteen, inspiration for The Dirty Dozen.
Apr 10 - Dixie Carter, 70, American actress (Designing Women, Diff'rent Strokes), endometrial cancer.
Apr 18 - Allen Swift, 86, American voice actor (Underdog, Howdy Doody), natural causes.
May 2010
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May 2 - Lynn Redgrave, 67, English actress (Georgy Girl, Gods and Monsters), breast cancer.
May 9 - Edward Uhl, 92, American co-inventor of the bazooka, heart failure.
May 9 - Lena Horne, 92, American singer and actress (Stormy Weather, The Wiz).
May 11 - Bud Mahurin, 91, American flying ace, complications from a stroke.
May 15 - John Shepherd-Barron, 84, British inventor of the ATM.
May 16 - Ronnie James Dio, 67, American heavy metal singer (Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Dio), stomach cancer.
May 27 - John William Finn, 100, American naval officer, oldest living Medal of Honor recipient.
May 28 - Gary Coleman, 42, American actor (Diff'rent Strokes), intracranial hemorrhage.
June 2010
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Jun 3 - Rue McClanahan, 76, American actress (The Golden Girls, Maude), stroke.
Jun 13 - Jimmy Dean, 81, American country music singer (Big Bad John), actor and businessman (Jimmy Dean Foods), natural causes.
Jun 15 - Phil Gordon, 94, American character actor and dialect coach (The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction).
Jun 20 - Edith Shain, 91, American nurse, subject of V–J day in Times Square photograph, cancer.
