So we're reached the end of another year. It's been especially an challenging one for many of us, but we got through it and look forward to making 2011 a better one. We set aside our thoughts and look toward what great thing will come for us.
As we peer into the future, we also need to take a breath and look back at where we have been. We lost some memorable people in 2010, and although a few of their names will appear on occasion in the future, there is a good chance that most of them, except for a few that knew them intimately, will vanish into obscurity with barely a whisper. Some have influenced our lives, while others did not spark any recognition at all.
Below is the same limited selection of names I have compiled before. I am familiar with some names on this list, but was surprised to see others. It was only in their passing, that I can recognize their significance, and what contributions they made. Read through the list, see how many you know. Take a moment to look up some of the ones you don't, and honor their memory. We owe them that much.
July 2010
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Jul 4 - John Hampton, 103, American philanthropist, co-founder of Toys for Tots.
Jul 5 - Jim Bohlen, 84, American-born Canadian environmentalist, founder of Greenpeace.
Jul 8 - Maria Olivia da Silva, 130?, Brazilian supercentenarian and oldest citizen claimant. (Portuguese)
Jul 8 - Thomas C. Peebles, 89, American physician, isolated the measles virus.
Jul 9 - Nobuyoshi Tamura, 77, Japanese aikidoka, cancer.
Jul 11 - Stuart F. Feldman, 73, American lawyer and lobbyist, co-founded the Vietnam Veterans of America, pneumonia.
Jul 13 - George Steinbrenner, 80, American baseball team owner (New York Yankees), heart attack.
Jul 13 - Vernon Baker, 90, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient, cancer.
Jul 14 - Seymour London, 95, American doctor, invented automatic sphygmomanometer, heart disease.
Jul 17 - Shirley Silvey, 82, American animator (The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, Dudley Do-Right Show, George of the Jungle), heart failure.
Jul 19 - David Warren, 85, Australian inventor of the flight data recorder.
Jul 23 - Daniel Schorr, 93, American journalist (CBS News, National Public Radio).
Jul 23 - Dorothy Stowe, 89, American-born Canadian activist, co-founder of Greenpeace.
Jul 29 - Zheng Ji, 110, Chinese nutritionist and biochemist, world's oldest professor. (Chinese)
August 2010
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Aug 5 - Jürgen Oesten, 96, German seaman, U-boat commander during World War II.
Aug 6 - David C. Dolby, 64, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient.
Aug 8 - Patricia Neal, 84, American actress, 1964 Academy Award winner (Hud), lung cancer.
Aug 13 - Edwin Newman, 91, American journalist and newscaster (NBC News), pneumonia.
Aug 14 - Abbey Lincoln, 80, American jazz singer and actress (For Love of Ivy, Nothing But a Man).
Aug 18 - Kenny Edwards, 64, American singer-songwriter (The Stone Poneys), prostate cancer.
Aug 19 - Ahna Capri, 66, American actress (Enter the Dragon), car accident.
Aug 20 - Jack Horkheimer, 72, American public television host (Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer), executive director of Miami Planetarium, respiratory ailment.
Aug 21 - Chloé Graftiaux, 23, Belgian rock climber, mountaineering accident.
Aug 23 - George David Weiss, 89, American composer ("What a Wonderful World", "Can't Help Falling in Love", "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"), natural causes.
Aug 23 - Marcel Albert, 92, French aviator, World War II flying ace.
Aug 26 - Walter Wolfrum, 87, German World War II Luftwaffe fighter ace.
Aug 29 - Peter Lenz, 13, American motorcycle racer, collision.
Aug 30 - Francisco Varallo, 100, Argentine footballer, last surviving participant in the 1930 FIFA World Cup.
September 2010
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Sep 3 - Mike Edwards, 62, English cellist (Electric Light Orchestra), car accident.
Sep 7 - Glenn Shadix, 58, American actor (Beetlejuice, The Nightmare Before Christmas), fall.
Sep 8 - Allen Dale June, 91, American original Navajo code talker.
Sep 9 - Bunny Summers, 86, American actress (Re-Animator, The Last Starfighter), after brief illness.
Sep 10 - Billie Mae Richards, 88, Canadian voice actress (The Care Bears Movie, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Rudolph's Shiny New Year), stroke.
Sep 11 - Harold Gould, 86, American actor (The Sting, Rhoda, The Golden Girls), prostate cancer.
Sep 20 - Leonard Skinner, 77, American school teacher, namesake of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Alzheimer's disease.
Sep 22 - Eddie Fisher, 82, American singer and entertainer, complications from hip surgery.
Sep 26 - Gloria Stuart, 100, American film actress (The Invisible Man, Titanic), respiratory failure.
Sep 29 - Tony Curtis, 85, American actor (Some Like It Hot, Spartacus, The Defiant Ones), cardiac arrest.
October 2010
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Oct 10 - Louis F. Bantle, 81, American chairman of U.S. Tobacco Company, lung cancer and emphysema.
Oct 14 - Benoît Mandelbrot, 85, Polish-born American mathematician, pioneer of the study of fractals, pancreatic cancer.
Oct 15 - Georges Mathé, 88, French oncologist and immunologist, bone marrow transplant pioneer.
Oct 15 - Mildred Fay Jefferson, 84, American pro-life activist, first black woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School.
Oct 16 - Barbara Billingsley, 94, American actress (Leave It to Beaver).
Oct 19 - Tom Bosley, 83, American actor (Happy Days, Father Dowling Mysteries), heart failure.
Oct 22 - Alex Anderson, 90, American cartoonist, created characters for The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show and Crusader Rabbit.
Oct 28 - James MacArthur, 72, American actor (Hawaii Five-O, Swiss Family Robinson), natural causes.
November 2010
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Nov 1 - Ernesto Presas, 65, Filipino martial arts grandmaster.
Nov 3 - Jim Clench, 61, Canadian bass guitarist (April Wine, Bachman–Turner Overdrive), lung cancer.
Nov 5 - Jill Clayburgh, 66, American actress (An Unmarried Woman, Ally McBeal, Dirty Sexy Money), chronic leukemia.
Nov 15 - William Self, 89, American actor and television production manager (Batman, Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea), heart attack.
Nov 27 - Irvin Kershner, 87, American film director (Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Never Say Never Again), lung cancer.
Nov 28 - Leslie Nielsen, 84, Canadian-born American actor (Airplane!, The Naked Gun), pneumonia.
December 2010
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Dec 4 - Pamela Bryant, 51, American model, actress (H.O.T.S.), and Playboy Playmate of the Month (April 1978), natural causes.
Dec 15 - Blake Edwards, 88, American film director, producer and screenwriter (The Pink Panther, Breakfast at Tiffany's), pneumonia.
Dec 17 - Captain Beefheart, 69, American rock musician and artist (Trout Mask Replica), complications from multiple sclerosis.
Dec 20 - Steve Landesberg, 74, American actor (Barney Miller, Forgetting Sarah Marshall), colorectal cancer.
Dec 21 - Ernie Tripke, 88, American police officer, first responder to James Dean crash, heart and lung problems.
Dec 26 - Teena Marie, 54, American singer and composer.
Dec 26 - Albert Ghiorso, 95, American nuclear scientist, co-discovered twelve chemical elements.
Dec 27 - Grant McCune, 67, American Academy Award-winning visual effects artist (Star Wars), pancreatic cancer.
Dec 29 - Brigitte Burdine, 48, American video game developer (World of Warcraft, Killzone 2), hit-and-run accident.
Dec 31 - Onie Ponder, 112, American supercentenarian.
