It has become a sort of ritual for me to take a last look at the list of those who have passed on during the year. Some I knew, and others were unexpected, but in every case, I find an opportunity to reflect on them and the contributions they have made.
We always hope that the next year will be better than the last, but it is never done without looking back to see where we have been, and this past year is no exception. As expected, we lost some memorable people in 2011. For some, their name and their legacy will live on. Others will pass by us for the last time. Some have influenced us, and others have had no impact at all.
This list seems a little long, but in fact is just a smattering of the true loss we have had. Read through the list and see how many you recognize. Take the time to look up the ones you don't (I did). They won't pass your way again.
========================================
January
• Anne Francis, 80, American actress (Honey West, Forbidden Planet, The Twilight Zone), pancreatic cancer.
• Jack Ertle Oliver, 87, American scientist, provided seismic evidence supporting plate tectonics.
• Tom Cavanagh, 28, American ice hockey player (San Jose Sharks), blunt force trauma.
• John Dye, 47, American actor (Touched by an Angel), heart attack.
• Bill Bower, 93, American aviator, last surviving pilot of Doolittle Raid, complications from a fall.
• David Nelson, 74, American actor (The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet), colon cancer.
• Mississippi Winn, 113, American supercentenarian, Louisiana's oldest person.
• Susannah York, 72, English actress (Tom Jones, Superman), bone marrow cancer.
• Barney F. Hajiro, 94, American soldier, was oldest living Medal of Honor recipient.
• Poppa Neutrino, 77, American adventurer, crossed Atlantic Ocean on raft made of discarded material, heart failure.
• David Frye, 77, American satirist and Richard Nixon impersonator, cardiopulmonary arrest.
• John Barry, 77, British film score composer (From Russia with Love, Chaplin, Out of Africa), five-time Academy Award winner, heart attack.
• Eunice Sanborn, 114, American supercentenarian, oldest living person in America at the time of her death.
February
• Lena Nyman, 66, Swedish actress (I Am Curious (Yellow), I Am Curious (Blue), Autumn Sonata), cancer.
• Gary Moore, 58, Irish rock guitarist and singer (Thin Lizzy), heart attack.
• Christian J. Lambertsen, 93, American diving engineer, inventor of first SCUBA device, renal failure.
• Frank Buckles, 110, American supercentenarian soldier, last living U.S. World War I veteran, natural causes.
• Jane Russell, 89, American actress (The Outlaw, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), respiratory illness.
March
• Johnny Preston, 71, American pop singer ("Running Bear"), heart failure.
• Alberto Granado, 88, Argentine-born Cuban biochemist and writer, travel companion of Che Guevara (The Motorcycle Diaries).
• Hugh Martin, 96, American songwriter ("Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas") and film composer (Meet Me in St. Louis), natural causes.
• John Nettleship, 71, British teacher, inspiration for character of Severus Snape, cancer.
• Joe Morello, 82, American drummer (The Dave Brubeck Quartet).
• Dorothy Young, 103, American actress, assistant to Harry Houdini.
• Mayhew Foster, 99, American brigadier general, flew captured Hermann Goering to interrogation.
• Dame Elizabeth Taylor, 79, British-American actress (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Cleopatra, BUtterfield 8), heart failure.
• Harry Coover, 94, American inventor (Super Glue).
• Carl Bunch, 71, American drummer (Buddy Holly and the Crickets).
April
• Wayne Robson, 64, Canadian actor (The Red Green Show).
• Violet Cowden, 94, American pilot, member of Women Airforce Service Pilots during World War II, heart failure.
• Walter Breuning, 114, American supercentenarian, world's third oldest man ever.
• Trevor Bannister, 76, British actor (Are You Being Served?, Last of the Summer Wine, The Dustbinmen), heart attack.
• Michael Sarrazin, 70, Canadian actor (They Shoot Horses, Don't They?; The Flim-Flam Man; For Pete's Sake), cancer.
• Phoebe Snow, 60, American singer-songwriter ("Poetry Man"), brain hemorrhage.
• Yvette Vickers, 81–82, American actress (Attack of the 50 Foot Woman), singer and model (Playboy). (body discovered on this date).
May
• Jackie Cooper, 88, American actor (Skippy, Our Gang, Superman) and director (M*A*S*H).
• Lawrence Johnson, 97, American boat trailer inventor and manufacturer, natural causes.
• Bill Summers, 75, American car builder (Goldenrod).
• Seiseki Abe, 96, Japanese shodo and aikido teacher.
• Joseph Brooks, 73, American Grammy-winning songwriter ("You Light Up My Life"), suicide by asphyxiation.
• Jeff Conaway, 60, American actor (Grease, Taxi, Babylon 5).
June
• Andrew Gold, 59, American singer-songwriter ("Lonely Boy", "Thank You for Being a Friend"), heart attack.
• James Arness, 88, American actor (Gunsmoke), natural causes.
• Lilian Jackson Braun, 97, American author (Cat Who series), natural causes.
• Fred Steiner, 88, American television composer (Perry Mason, Star Trek, The Twilight Zone).
• Peter Falk, 83, American actor (Columbo, Murder, Inc., Pocketful of Miracles, The Princess Bride).
• George Ballas, 85, American entrepreneur, inventor of the Weed Eater.
July
• Betty Ford, 93, American First Lady (1974–1977) and co-founder of Betty Ford Center.
• Roberts Blossom, 87, American actor (Doc Hollywood, Escape from Alcatraz, Home Alone).
• Jerry Ragovoy, 80, American songwriter ("Time Is on My Side"), stroke.
• Amelia Trice, 75, American Kootenai tribal leader and activist, leader of the last Indian war against the United States, cancer.
• Elliot Handler, 95, American businessman, co-founder of Mattel, namer of the Barbie doll, creator of Hot Wheels, heart failure.
• Linda Christian, 87, Mexican-born American actress, first Bond girl (1954 television adaptation of Casino Royale).
August
• George Devol, 99, American inventor, creator of Unimate, the first industrial robot.
• Albert Brown, 105, American veteran, oldest survivor of Bataan Death March.
• Gun Hägglund, 79, Swedish television personality, world's first female television news presenter, after short illness. (Swedish)
• Jerry Leiber, 78, American songwriter ("Stand By Me", "Hound Dog", "Jailhouse Rock", "Kansas City"), cardiopulmonary failure.
September
• Liu Huang A-tao, 90, Taiwanese activist, first comfort woman to sue Japan for compensation.
• 44 ice hockey players and coaches killed in the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash.
• Cliff Robertson, 88, American actor (Charly, Spider-Man, PT 109), natural causes.
• Walter Bonatti, 81, Italian mountain climber.
• Tom Wilson, Sr., 80, American cartoonist (Ziggy).
• Wilson Greatbatch, 92, American engineer, inventor of the implantable cardiac pacemaker.
October
• Kenneth H. Dahlberg, 94, American businessman and World War II fighter ace, natural causes.
• Steve Jobs, 56, American computer entrepreneur and inventor, co-founder of Apple Inc., pancreatic cancer.
• Roger Williams, 87, American pianist (Autumn Leaves), pancreatic cancer.
• Bob Galvin, 89, American businessman, CEO of Motorola (1959–1986).
• Dennis Ritchie, 70, American computer scientist, developer of the C programming language and the Unix operating system. (body discovered on this date)
• Paul Leka, 68, American pianist, arranger and songwriter ("Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye", "Green Tambourine").
• Chuck Ruff, 60, American drummer (Edgar Winter, Sammy Hagar), after long illness.
• Edgar Villchur, 94, American inventor of the acoustic suspension loudspeaker.
November
• Andy Rooney, 92, American journalist, 60 Minutes correspondent (1978–2011), surgical complications.
• Joe Frazier, 67, American boxer, World Heavyweight Champion (1970–1973), liver cancer.
• Bil Keane, 89, American cartoonist (The Family Circus), heart failure.
• Evelyn Lauder, 75, Austrian-born American philanthropist (The Breast Cancer Research Foundation), creator of pink ribbon symbol, complications from ovarian cancer.
• Lee Pockriss, 87, American songwriter ("Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini").
• Karl Slover, 93, Slovak-born American actor (The Wizard of Oz).
• Anne McCaffrey, 85, American science fiction writer (Dragonriders of Pern series), stroke.
• Vasily Alekseyev, 69, Russian Olympic gold-medal winning weightlifter (1972 and 1976), heart failure.
December
• Bill McKinney, 80, American actor (Deliverance, The Outlaw Josey Wales), esophageal cancer.
• Bruno Bianchi, 56, French cartoonist and animator (Heathcliff and The Catillac Cats), co-creator of Inspector Gadget.
• Pusuke, 26, Japanese dog, world's oldest known living dog at time of death, natural causes.
• Jerry Robinson, 89, American comic book artist (Batman) and reputed creator of The Joker.
• Harry Morgan, 96, American actor (M*A*S*H, Dragnet), pneumonia.
• Bonnie Prudden, 97, American rock climber and physical fitness advocate.
• Bert Schneider, 78, American film and television producer (Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Monkees), natural causes.
• Kim Jong-il, 69 or 70, North Korean Supreme Leader (since 1994), heart attack.
