Saturday, January 01, 2011

Who we lost in the last six months of 2010

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.

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