Literotica Cemetary

[JennyOmanHill]

Gretchen Wyler, Broadway Actress and Animal Activist, Is Dead at 75

28 May 2007

http://www.playbill.com/images/photos/43E390CFB32D4DA4923F3D4DB39AD33D.jpg

Gretchen Wyler, who appeared in such Broadway classics as Guys and Dolls, Damn Yankees and Bye Bye Birdie, died May 27 at her home in Camarillo, CA. She was 75.

The New York Times reports that Ms. Wyler, who also had a successful television career, died of complications from breast cancer.

Ms. Wyler also crusaded for animal rights. Her passion for animals began in 1966, the Times reports, after she witnessed the harsh conditions at a New York shelter. In fact, Wyler would manage that shelter for ten years, and in 1991 she formed The Ark Trust, which a decade later, would join forces with the Humane Society. She was vice president of the Humane Society in Hollywood until last year.

The Humane Society of the United States released a statement, saying, "The humane movement has lost one of its brightest stars. Gretchen Wyler devoted 40 intense years to protecting animals, and the cause gained so much ground during that time because of her extraordinary achievements and advocacy — in the media, in law-making, and in raising public consciousness."

Gretchen Wyler was born in Bartlesville, OK, in February 1932. She made her Broadway debut in Where's Charley? and also appeared in Guys and Dolls, Silk Stockings (she created the role of Janice Dayton), Damn Yankees (she replaced Gwen Verdon as Lola), Rumple (she created the role of Kate Drew), Bye Bye Birdie (she succeeded Chita Rivera as Rose Grant) and Sly Fox, earning a Drama Desk Award nomination for her work as Miss Fancy in the latter.

Ms. Wyler also worked as a producer for the Off-Broadway show The Ballad of Johnny Pot, which starred Tony winner Betty Buckley and John Bennett Perry. During this same time, she also served as the standby for Lauren Bacall in Applause.

Ms. Wyler's television credits were numerous and include a year-long stint on "Dallas," a role on the short-lived CBS series "On Our Own" and guest appearances in "Providence," "Judging Amy," "Friends," "Designing Women," "Who's the Boss?," "Valerie," "MacGyver," "Falcon Crest," "Benson," "St. Elsewhere," "Gimme a Break" and "Hart to Hart."

Ms. Wyler was also featured in Rick McKay's documentary, "Broadway: The Golden Age." She will also be seen in McKay's sequel, "Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age." That interview marked the last time she appeared on camera.

 

[Faneros]

New England Patriots player Marquise Hill

The Associated Press
Monday, May 28, 2007; 5:08 PM


NEW ORLEANS -- The body of New England Patriots player Marquise Hill was found Monday, a state official said, a day after he was reported missing following a jet ski accident on Lake Pontchartrain.

Hill's body was discovered by searchers about a quarter-mile from where the former LSU star and a female companion were involved in the accident, Capt. Brian Clark of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Department said.

U.S. Coast Guard rescue crews search for New England Patriots player Marquise Hill Monday. May 28, 2007, on Lake Pontchartrain, in New Orleans, La. Hill was reported missing Sunday following a jet-ski accident on Lake

"The family will have to make positive identification," Clark said, "but the body we found was that of Mr. Marquise Hill."

The Coast Guard was called Sunday night, Petty Officer Tom Atkeson said. The search began immediately, using boats and helicopters.

By the time the body was found, the Coast Guard, Wildlife and Fisheries, the New Orleans Police Department and Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Department were involved, Clark said.

Hill's body was taken to the Orleans Parish Coroner's office, but phone messages left there were not immediately returned.

Hill's agent, Albert Elias, said he had been told Hill and a young woman were jetskiing Sunday in the lake when both of them went into the water, which had a strong current. Elias said the woman was able to make it to a pylon and hang on until she was rescued, while Hill was last seen floating away from the scene.

Hill played on LSU's national championship team and was a second-round draft pick by New England in 2004.

"We are all shocked," Patriots owner Robert Kraft said in a statement.

The woman, whose identity was not available Monday morning, was rescued and sent to Tulane Medical Center where she told them Hill had tried to keep her calm as the two were drifting away from each other.

Neither Hill nor the woman wore a life preserver, Atkeson said.

"It's so important to have a life jacket and a signaling device," Atkeson said. "One keeps you afloat and the other helps us find you."

Elias said Hill, a defensive end, spent much of his time since Hurricane Katrina helping family members rebuild their homes.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Former Blueshirt Balon Passes Away At Age 68

http://www.newyorkrangers.com/pressbox/images/primages/Balon_Dave_0530_action.jpg

FORMER BLUESHIRT BALON PASSES AWAY AT AGE 68
5/30/2007

Former Rangers player Dave Balon, who spent eight seasons with the team in two separate stints between 1959 and 1971, died on Tuesday in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, at the age of 68.

Balon had suffered from multiple sclerosis for more than 30 years. The illness first began to affect him toward the end of his playing career in the early 1970s and led to a premature retirement from the game. His battle with MS continued to slow him down during his years coaching Tier II junior teams in his native Saskatchewan.

A left wing during his playing days, Balon had two four-season runs with the Rangers during a 13-year NHL career. From 1960 to 1964, he shuttled up and down between the Rangers and their minor-league affiliates in Vancouver, Saskatoon, Trois-Rivieres and Kitchener before making the team for good in 1962. In Balon's second go-around with the team, from 1968 to 1971, he emerged as an NHL All-Star and led the Rangers in goal-scoring twice.

Balon left the Rangers for the first time in a highly publicized trade that brought goaltending legend Jacques Plante to New York in June 1963. Over the next four seasons in Montreal and Minnesota, Balon began to show his scoring potential, netting a total of 46 goals over his first two years with the Habs. Balon's improvement prompted the Rangers to send three players to Minnesota in June 1968 in order to bring him back to the organization.

The trade for Balon proved a brilliant, as the winger's return was triumphant. After a subpar season of only 19 goals and 31 points in 1968-69, he exploded for 33 goals and a career-high 70 points in 1969-70, followed by a career-high 36 goals in 1970-71. His 70 points in 1969-70 placed him third on the team in scoring behind Walt Tkaczuk and Jean Ratelle. Part of Balon's great success that season was the opportunity to play on the Rangers' original "Bulldog Line" with Tkaczuk and Bill Fairbairn.

In 1970-71, Balon, who wore No. 17, was named the winner of the Frank Boucher Trophy, awarded annually to the Rangers' "most popular player on and off the ice."

Balon began the 1971-72 season with the Rangers but did not get a chance to participate in the team's run to the 1972 Stanley Cup Finals because he was traded to Vancouver early in the season. The five-player deal took place on Nov. 16, 1971, bringing defenseman Gary Doak to the Blueshirts.

He concluded his NHL career with the Canucks in 1972-73 and attempted a comeback in the WHA with Quebec during the 1973-74 season but was forced to retire for good at age 35 because of multiple sclerosis.

Balon is survived by his wife, Gwen, daughter Jodi and son Jeff. A funeral service is scheduled for Monday, June 4, in Prince Albert.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Jean-Claude Brialy, French actor and director, dies at 74

Jean-Claude Brialy, a dashing leading man of the French New Wave films of the 1960s and '70s, died last Wednesday in Paris. He was 74.

The New Wave movement, which began to flourish in the late 1950s, was a rebellion against the conventions of cinema. The director became the intellectual author of the movie; the stars were made more human, the stories more enigmatic.

Brialy's starring roles under the leading lights of the movement, including François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, made him an embodiment of French films for a global audience.

Brialy, who was born the son of a military family in 1933 in Aumale, Algeria, was trained in comedy, tragedy and farce at drama school in Strasbourg, and he worked in the theater in his youth. His first starring appearance on-screen was in Claude Chabrol's "Handsome Serge" ("Le Beau Serge") in 1958.

American audiences took note of him as a leading man in Godard's "Woman Is a Woman" ("Une Femme Est une Femme"), which was made in 1961 and first seen in the United States at the New York Film Festival in 1964.

In that film, which the director called "a neorealist musical," Brialy addresses the audience with a line that became an epigram for the New Wave: "It's hard to tell if this is a comedy or a tragedy, but either way it's a masterpiece."

Brialy also starred in Eric Rohmer's 1970 film "Claire's Knee" ("Le Genou de Claire"), in which he played a handsome, bearded, worldly diplomat filled with desire for a young woman's patella.

Writing in The New York Times, Vincent Canby called it "very close to being a perfect movie."

Brialy appeared in close to 200 films and television shows over the years and directed a dozen. For two decades, he owned a popular theater in Paris. He was working until last year, after more than a half-century on-screen and onstage.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Former NASCAR Chairman Bill France Jr. Dies

Jun 4, 3:04 PM (ET)

Bill France Jr., who transformed NASCAR from a small Southern sport into a billion-dollar conglomerate during his 31 years as chairman, died Monday. He was 74.

He died at his Daytona Beach, Fla., home, NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said.

France had been in poor health for much of the last decade - he was diagnosed with cancer in 1999. Although he was in remission, the extensive treatments took a toll. He never regained his full strength, often had difficulty breathing and had taken to using a motorized scooter to get around.

France was hospitalized at least twice this year but spent his final days resting at home. Officials at Dover International Speedway, where the Nextel Cup series was racing Monday afternoon, lowered the flag to half-staff in his memory.

His last public appearance was Feb. 12 in Daytona Beach, where NASCAR's top names gathered to "Roast and Toast" him at the Bill France Hot Dog Dinner during the Daytona 500 build-up.

A shrewd businessman who was fiercely protective of his family-owned company, France always acted in NASCAR's best interests. His decisions often riled car owners, drivers, sponsors and fans, but France never backed down. He was in charge - like it or not - and he quickly reminded dissenters.

"Part of leadership is having the guts to make a decision and then having the guts to stand by it and making it work," said four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon. "That's what he did on a lot of occasions. He did it in a way that let you know who the boss was and also did it in a way that you respected him. And I've said it all along, I think that is the cornerstone in our sport."

France became chairman in 1972 when he replaced his father, NASCAR founder William Henry Getty France, who retired 25 years after forming the National Association for Stock Car Racing.

He had prepped for the job by doing a little bit of everything during his rise through the grass roots ranks of racing.

He also was a flagman, sold concessions, parked cars, scored races, promoted events and even helped in the construction of Daytona International Speedway.

France worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week as he drove a compactor, bulldozer and grader in the 13 months it took to build the track. He once even tried to use a mule to pull trees out of the swamps, because the motorized equipment kept getting stuck.

When he finally took over NASCAR, he inherited a sport that was rich in Southern tradition but mostly unknown everywhere else in the United States.

"Other than the founding of NASCAR itself, Bill Jr.'s appointment to leadership is probably the most significant event in the history of the sanctioning body," the International Motorsports Hall of Fame said about the transition.

"His role in the impact of the sport has been huge," Gordon said. "His personality came at a time when it was what our sport needed. I think he did an incredible job of basing his opinion on what he believed the facts to be and then having the courage to make that decision and see it through.

"He ain't a waffler. ... He's just going to go do it."

Over the span of three remarkable decades, France oversaw the expansion of the sport, parlaying the loyal fan base of the Deep South into sold-out tracks in New England, California, Texas and the Midwest. He also moved the season-ending awards banquet to New York City in an effort to court the Madison Ave. money.

It all translated into more money from sponsors, bigger paydays for drivers and robust TV audiences.

In 1999, NASCAR finally packaged the entire circuit together in a $2.4 billion contract that awarded races to Fox, NBC and TNT that began in 2001.

Through it all, Daytona Beach remained the heart of NASCAR and the France family.

On the 50th anniversary of NASCAR, France took part in a media bus tour around Daytona, talking about the sports' history. The tour included the hotel where the initial NASCAR organizational meeting took place, France Jr.'s boyhood home, his father's gas station, the north turn of the beach course and more.

France, who had a mild heart attack in 1997, relinquished his role as NASCAR president to Mike Helton in 2003. He handed off chairman duties to son Brian in 2003. France took the role of vice chairman, reporting to headquarters daily, but moved into a different office a bit removed from the action as he left much of the decision-making to Brian.

"I've got total confidence in what Brian can do," France Jr. said. "He's loaded with street smarts."

France's daughter, Lesa France Kennedy, runs International Speedway Corp., the owner and operator of most of the major U.S. race tracks. His younger brother, Jim, is the executive vice president of NASCAR and vice chairman of ISC.

France also is survived by his wife, Betty Jane, and three grandchildren.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Yanks Great Dies

BOYER, 70, PLAYED IN 27 WORLD SERIES GAMES

June 5, 2007 -- CHICAGO - To different generations of Yankees fans Clete Boyer meant something different. In the 1960s he was the clutch-hitting third baseman who was the best at diving toward the line and turning doubles into outs. Later, he was a coach. And to Derek Jeter, he was someone to go to in order to learn about throwing balls to first when Boyer was a spring training instructor.

All of that came flowing back yesterday when Boyer was taken off life support in Atlanta and died at the age of 70. Boyer, a Yankee from 1959 to 1966, suffered a stroke Sunday.

“It must have been 1993 or maybe 1994 when Clete was in spring training and he was telling me about my throws,’’ Jeter said minutes after hearing about his mentor’s death in the Yankees’ clubhouse. “He told me to throw the ball low and toward the home plate side of the first base. That way, he said, you give the first baseman a chance. He has no chance if you throw it high and the other way. He was a great guy and always very good with young players. He went out of his way to help us.’’

Moose Skowron, a Yankees teammate, paid Boyer the highest compliment.

“I got a lot of rings because he was playing third base,’’ Skowron said. “He was a helluva player. He always gave 100 percent. He hung around with Whitey (Ford) and Mickey (Mantle), he was part of the group.’’

Skowron was with Boyer recently in Long Island and looking forward to having his pal join him for a fantasy camp in October.

“He said he would be more than honored to come and now he won’t be there,’’ Skowron said.

In a statement issued through his public relations firm, George Steinbrenner said, “He was a great third baseman and a tough guy. He never talked too much. He was a very hard worker and had fire in his belly.’’

“He loved life, you can say that much,’’ said Joe Torre, a teammate of Boyer’s in Atlanta. “He was a real good player. He played when Brooks (Robinson) played so he didn’t get a lot of attention but he could play third base.’’

Boyer, who helped the Yankees win World Series titles in 1961 and 1962, played in 27 World Series games from 1960 through 1964 and holds the World Series record for assists by a third baseman (68). In Game 7 of the 1964 World Series against the Cardinals, Clete and his brother Ken, also a third baseman, homered. Ken, the NL MVP that season, died in 1982 at age 51.

Boyer won his only Gold Glove while with Atlanta in 1969. He was a career .242 hitter with 162 home runs and 654 RBIs. He made his major league debut in 1955 with the Kansas City Athletics at the age of 18. The A’s traded him to the Yankees during the 1957 season.

After finishing his career in 1971, Boyer played in Japan. He later coached under Billy Martin with Oakland and the Yankees.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Wyoming Sen. Craig Thomas Dead At 74

2 Days After Being Elected, Thomas Diagnosed With Leukemia

June 4, 2007

WASHINGTON -- Wyoming Sen. Craig Thomas died on Monday. He was 74.

The senator's family issued a statement saying he died Monday evening at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

He had been receiving chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia.

Just before the 2006 election, Thomas was hospitalized with pneumonia and had to cancel his last campaign stops. He nonetheless won with 70 percent of the vote, monitoring the election from his hospital bed.

Two days after the election, Thomas announced that he had just been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.

Thomas was a three-term conservative Republican who stayed clear of the Washington limelight and political catfights.

Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a Democrat, will appoint a successor from one of three finalists chosen by the state Republican party.

 

[linuxgeek]

Don Herbert

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19196808/

Don Herbert, TV’s ‘Mr. Wizard,’ dies at 89
‘Really taught kids how to use the thinking skills of a scientist,’ says friend
12 - June - 2007

LOS ANGELES - Don Herbert, who as television’s “Mr. Wizard” introduced generations of young viewers to the joys of science, died Tuesday. He was 89.

Herbert, who had bone cancer, died at his suburban Bell Canyon home, said his son-in-law, Tom Nikosey.

“He really taught kids how to use the thinking skills of a scientist,” said former colleague Steve Jacobs. He worked with Herbert on a 1980s show that echoed the original 1950s “Watch Mr. Wizard” series, which became a fond baby boomer memory.

In “Watch Mr. Wizard,” which was produced from 1951 to 1964 and received a Peabody Award in 1954, Herbert turned TV into an entertaining classroom. On a simple, workshop-like set, he demonstrated experiments using household items.

“He modeled how to predict and measure and analyze. ... The show today might seem slow but it was in-depth and forced you to think along,” Jacobs said. “You were learning about the forces of nature.”

Herbert encouraged children to duplicate experiments at home, said Jacobs, who recounted serving as a behind-the-scenes “science sidekick” to Herbert on the ’80s “Mr. Wizard’s World” that aired on the Nickelodeon channel.

When Jacobs would reach for beakers and flasks, Herbert would remind him that science didn’t require special tools.

“‘You could use a mayonnaise jar for that,”’ Jacobs recalled being chided by Herbert. “He tried to bust the image of scientists and that science wasn’t just for special people and places.”

Herbert’s place in TV history was acknowledged by later stars. When “Late Night with David Letterman” debuted in 1982, Herbert was among the first-night guests.

Born in Waconia, Minn., Herbert was a 1940 graduate of LaCrosse State Teachers College and served as a U.S. Army Air Corps pilot during World War II. He worked as an actor, model and radio writer before starting “Watch Mr. Wizard” in Chicago on NBC.

The show moved to New York after several years.

He is survived by six children and stepchildren and by his second wife, Norma, his son-in-law said. A private funeral service was planned.

 

[sweet soft kiss]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19196808/

Don Herbert, TV’s ‘Mr. Wizard,’ dies at 89
‘Really taught kids how to use the thinking skills of a scientist,’ says friend
12 - June - 2007

LOS ANGELES - Don Herbert, who as television’s “Mr. Wizard” introduced generations of young viewers to the joys of science, died Tuesday. He was 89.

Herbert, who had bone cancer, died at his suburban Bell Canyon home, said his son-in-law, Tom Nikosey.

“He really taught kids how to use the thinking skills of a scientist,” said former colleague Steve Jacobs. He worked with Herbert on a 1980s show that echoed the original 1950s “Watch Mr. Wizard” series, which became a fond baby boomer memory.

In “Watch Mr. Wizard,” which was produced from 1951 to 1964 and received a Peabody Award in 1954, Herbert turned TV into an entertaining classroom. On a simple, workshop-like set, he demonstrated experiments using household items.

“He modeled how to predict and measure and analyze. ... The show today might seem slow but it was in-depth and forced you to think along,” Jacobs said. “You were learning about the forces of nature.”

Herbert encouraged children to duplicate experiments at home, said Jacobs, who recounted serving as a behind-the-scenes “science sidekick” to Herbert on the ’80s “Mr. Wizard’s World” that aired on the Nickelodeon channel.

When Jacobs would reach for beakers and flasks, Herbert would remind him that science didn’t require special tools.

“‘You could use a mayonnaise jar for that,”’ Jacobs recalled being chided by Herbert. “He tried to bust the image of scientists and that science wasn’t just for special people and places.”

Herbert’s place in TV history was acknowledged by later stars. When “Late Night with David Letterman” debuted in 1982, Herbert was among the first-night guests.

Born in Waconia, Minn., Herbert was a 1940 graduate of LaCrosse State Teachers College and served as a U.S. Army Air Corps pilot during World War II. He worked as an actor, model and radio writer before starting “Watch Mr. Wizard” in Chicago on NBC.

The show moved to New York after several years.

He is survived by six children and stepchildren and by his second wife, Norma, his son-in-law said. A private funeral service was planned.

wow... Mr. Wizard... I loved his shows when I was a kid...

 

[JennyOmanHill]

"Real World's" Frankie Dies at 25

http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tmz.com/media/2007/06/0612_frankie_realworld_sd.jpg

Frankie Abernathy -- the punked-out, boat-phobic rock chick of MTV's "Real World: San Diego" fame -- died at the age of 25 on Saturday at her mother's home in Shorewood, Wisc.

Abernathy suffered from cystic fibrosis, though an official cause of death has yet to be determined, according to MTV News. During her stint in the "Real World" house, Frankie exhibited symptoms of cystic fibrosis, such as difficulty breathing and immune-system impairment, and it was a significant part of her storyline on the show.

Frankie had some tumultuous times on the show, and ended up leaving the house before the end of the season.

 

[DesertDave]

Billy Graham's wife Ruth dies at 87

Ruth Graham, who surrendered dreams of missionary work in Tibet to marry a suitor who became the world's most renowned evangelist, died Thursday. She was 87. Graham died at 5:05 p.m. at her home at Little Piney Cove, surrounded by her husband and all five of their children, said a statement released by Larry Ross, Billy Graham's spokesman.

"Ruth was my life partner, and we were called by God as a team," Billy Graham said in a statement. "No one else could have borne the load that she carried. She was a vital and integral part of our ministry, and my work through the years would have been impossible without her encouragement and support.

"I am so grateful to the Lord that He gave me Ruth, and especially for these last few years we've had in the mountains together. We've rekindled the romance of our youth, and my love for her continued to grow deeper every day. I will miss her terribly, and look forward even more to the day I can join her in Heaven."

Ruth Graham had been bedridden for months with degenerative osteoarthritis of the back and neck — the result of a serious fall from a tree in 1974 while fixing a swing for grandchildren — and underwent treatment for pneumonia two weeks ago. At her request, and in consultation with her family, she had stopped receiving nutrients through a feeding tube for the last few days, Ross said.

A public memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at the Montreat Conference Center. A private interment service will be held the next day in Charlotte.

As Mrs. Billy Graham, Ruth Graham could lay claim to being the first lady of evangelical Protestantism, but neither exploited that unique status nor lusted for the limelight.

Behind the scenes, however, she was considered her husband's closest confidant during his spectacular global career — one rivaled only by her father, L. Nelson Bell, until his death in 1973.

"She would help my father prepare his messages, listening with an attentive ear, and if she saw something that wasn't right or heard something that she felt wasn't as strong as it could be, she was a voice to strengthen this or eliminate that," said her son, Franklin, who is now the head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

"Every person needs that kind of input in their life and she was that to my father."

Bell, a missionary doctor, headed the Presbyterian hospital in Qingjiang, China, that had been founded by the father of author Pearl Buck. Ruth grew up there and spent three high school years in what's now North Korea.

"What she witnessed in her family home, she practiced for herself — dependence on God in every circumstance, love for his word, concern for others above self, and an indomitable spirit displayed with a smile," said the Grahams' youngest daughter, also named Ruth.

Despite her reluctance to be a public personality herself, Ruth Graham met many of the powerful and famous through her husband — who was a spiritual adviser to presidents for decades. President Bush and first lady Laura Bush called her a "remarkable woman of faith" who "inspired people around the world with her humor, intelligence, elegance, and kindness."

She met Billy Graham at Wheaton College in Illinois. He recalled in 1997 memoirs, "If I had not been smitten with love at first sight of Ruth Bell I would certainly have been the exception. Many of the men at Wheaton thought she was stunning."

Billy Graham courted her, managing to coax her away from the foreign missions calling and into marriage after both graduated in 1943. In 1945, after a brief stint pastoring a suburban Chicago congregation, he became a roving speaker for the fledgling Youth for Christ organization.

From that point onward she had to endure her husband's frequent absences, remarking, "I'd rather have a little of Bill than a lot of any other man."

Ruth Graham moved the couple into her parents' home in Montreat, where they had relocated after fleeing wartime China. She stayed in western North Carolina mountain town the rest of her life.

The young couple later bought their own house across the street from the Bells. Then in 1956, needing protection from gawkers, the Grahams moved into Little Piney Cove, a comfortably rustic mountainside home she designed using logs from abandoned cabins. It became Billy's retreat between evangelistic forays.

Though the wife of a famous Baptist minister, the independent-minded Ruth Graham declined to undergo baptism by immersion and remained a loyal, lifelong Presbyterian. When in Montreat, a town built around a Presbyterian conference center, Billy Graham would attend the local Presbyterian church where his wife often taught the college-age Sunday School class.

Due to her husband's travels, she bore major responsibility for raising the couple's five children: Franklin (William Franklin III), Nelson, Virginia, Anne and Ruth.

Ruth Graham was the author or co-author of 14 books, including collections of poetry and the autobiographical scrapbook "Footprints of a Pilgrim."

In 1996, the Grahams were each awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for "outstanding and lasting contributions to morality, racial equality, family, philanthropy, and religion."

Crime novelist Patricia Cornwell began her writing career with a Ruth Graham biography that depicted many deeds of personal charity. Cornwell said as a youth in Montreat she thought Ruth Graham "was the loveliest, kindest person ever born. I still do."

She helped establish the Ruth and Billy Graham Children's Health Center in Asheville, and the Billy Graham Training Center near Montreat.

Ruth Graham will be buried at the new Billy Graham Library in Charlotte — a source of apparent discord within the family last year. This week, Billy Graham said he and Ruth had decided "after much prayer and discussion" they would be laid to rest at the foot of a cross-shaped walkway in the library's prayer garden.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

WWE Hall of Famer “Sensational” Sherri Passes Away

The following is from WWE.com:

WWE is saddened to learn of the death of WWE Hall of Famer “Sensational” Sherri. She was 49.

She passed away at her mother’s home in Birmingham, Ala. Friday morning, according to her husband of 10 years, Robert Schrull.

“It’s a great loss to the wrestling world,” he told WWE.com. The couple resided in St. Petersburg, Fla.

In the early 1980s, Sherri began her career in the AWA. In 1985, she defeated Candi Devine to become the AWA Women’s Champion. Their rivalry lasted more than a year, with the championship trading hands on several occasions.

It was during this time that she began perfecting her skills as a manager, leading “Playboy” Buddy Rose and “Pretty Boy” Doug Somers to the AWA Tag Team Championship. On June 28, 1986, Martel would win the AWA Women’s Championship for a third and final time from Candi Devine.

On July 24, 1987, “Sensational” Sherri debuted in WWE, pinning her trainer and mentor the Fabulous Moolah to become Women’s Champion. Sherri defended the gold against Debbie Combs, Velvet McIntyre, and Desiree Peterson.

She quickly earned the reputation as someone who would do anything to win, even if it meant using unsavory tactics. Her rivalry with Moolah continued as they became the captains for the first-ever female Survivor Series teams in 1989. Sherri held the championship for 15 months before losing to Rockin’ Robin.

In the early ‘90s WWE phased out the Women’s Division, leaving Sherri to focus on managing the male wrestlers. Her first client was “Macho Man” Randy Savage. It was during this time that she became “Sensation Queen.”

The couple had rivals with Miss Elizabeth, Hulk Hogan, Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire. In 1991, “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase enlisted her services. After that relationship dissolved, she took on the managerial duties of Shawn Michaels.

In 1994, Sherri appeared in WCW as “Sensuous” Sherri managing Ric Flair during his rivalries with Sting and Hulk Hogan. After separating from Flair, she became “Sister” Sherri guiding Harlem Heat to seven WCW Tag Team Championships.

Sherri was enshrined in the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006. “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase was her presenter.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

'Laugh-In,' 'Little House' Creator Friendly Dies

Reuters
LOS ANGELES (June 20) -- Veteran TV executive Ed Friendly, co-creator of the 1960s comic sensation "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" and producer of the frontier family drama "Little House on the Prairie," has died, his publicist said on Tuesday.

Friendly, who was 85, died at his home in Rancho Santa Fe, California, near San Diego, on Sunday after a yearlong battle with cancer, said spokesman Warren Cowan.

A New York native who worked at all three of the major broadcast networks -- ABC, CBS and NBC -- early in his career, he moved to California in 1967 to form his own company, Ed Friendly Productions, which launched his two best-known projects.

He was co-creator and executive producer, with George Schlatter, of the landmark sketch comedy show "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In," which became an overnight hit when it debuted in 1968 and ran until 1973 on NBC.

The show made household names of its co-hosts, Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, and launched the careers of such stars as Goldie Hawn, Lily Tomlin, Jo Anne Worley, Arte Johnson, Ruth Buzzi and announcer, Gary Owens.

It also introduced a host of catch phrases into the American lexicon, including "You bet your bippy," "Sock it to me," and "Here come da judge!"

A year after "Laugh-In" ended its run, Friendly scored another NBC success with "Little House on the Prairie," which starred Michael Landon, formerly of "Bonanza," as the father of a frontier family.

The show, based on the "Little House" stories of pioneer life by Laura Ingalls Wilder, ran until 1983.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Thommie Walsh, Tony-Winning Choreographer, Dead at 57

Thommie Walsh, the Tony-winning choreographer who was also a part of the original Broadway cast of A Chorus Line, died June 16 at the age of 57.

Mr. Walsh passed away after a battle with lymphoma.

Mr. Walsh was born March 15, 1950, and according to his official website, began his show-business journey at the age of five as a dance student at the Irma Baker School of Dance. By the time he was 23, he was making his Broadway debut as a performer in the original cast of Seesaw. At that time, the artist who would go on to win two Tony Awards for his choreographic talents, went by the name of Thomas J. Walsh.

Mr. Walsh was also part of the cast of the short-lived Rachael Lily Rosenbloom and Don't You Ever Forget It before he landed a role in the original cast of the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical A Chorus Line. Walsh originated the role of Bobby in the Michael Bennett musical, the character who breaks into houses, "not to steal anything, just to rearrange the furniture."

Mr. Walsh's next outing was The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, the first Broadway production where he worked offstage rather than on — Walsh was the associate choreographer for the production, which boasted direction and choreography by another Thommie, Tommy Tune. That was the official beginning of a lengthy working relationship with Tune, which also included the Broadway productions of A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, Nine and My One and Only.

For Hollywood/Ukraine, Mr. Walsh was co-choreographer. He and Tune received the 1980 Tony Award for Best Choreography for their work.

Walsh received solo choreography credit for Nine and received his second Tony nomination for Best Choreography. On My Only and Only, he and Tune shared staging and choreography credits and received Tony nominations for both direction and choreography, winning the Tony for the latter category.

Mr. Walsh's other Broadway credits included the musical staging of The 1940's Radio Hour (1979), Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? (1982) and My Favorite Year (1992).

Mr. Walsh also directed the Off-Broadway production of Lucky Stiff, the London production of Always and the Goodspeed Opera House mounting of A Broadway Baby. He directed and choreographed the national tour of Whorehouse, which co-starred Gary Sandy and Ann-Margret.

Among the many artists Mr. Walsh directed and staged musical numbers for are Chita Rivera, Sandy Duncan, Whoopi Goldberg, Lorna Luft, Joel Grey and Barbara Cook.

Mr. Walsh also had a long working relationship with Tony winner Donna McKechnie, the singer-actress-dancer he shared a stage with in A Chorus Line. Walsh directed McKechnie’s acclaimed autobiographical concert, Donna McKechnie: Inside the Music.

With Robert Viagas and Baayork Lee, Mr. Walsh penned the tome "On the Line: The Creation of A Chorus Line."

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Italian Designer Gianfranco Ferre Dies

MILAN, Italy (AP) - Gianfranco Ferre, the Italian designer known as the "architect of fashion" for his structured, sculpted shapes and for his groundbreaking tenure at Christian Dior, died Sunday, June 17th, a hospital said. He was 62.

Ferre was taken to the San Raffaele hospital in Milan on Friday after suffering a massive brain hemorrhage.

Ferre started his career as an accessories and jewelry designer, and then moved on to clothes. His unofficial title as Italy's architect of fashion came thanks to the degree in architecture he obtained in 1969 from Milan's Polytechnic Institute that inspired his designs.

He started his own company in the mid-1970s, but his major leap came in 1989, when he was tapped by Bernard Arnault to be the top designer for Christian Dior. At the time, it was almost unheard of for a non-French designer to lead the venerable Parisian house.

Ferre stayed on at Dior until the fall of 1996, when he returned to Milan to tend to his own men's and women's collections.

Ferre's style was based on simple and structured lines, and the white blouse became one of his trademarks. His suits were used by businesswomen around the world looking for a sophisticated look.

For the evening, Ferre often made important dresses with ample skirts supported by layers of crinolines.

In 2002, Ferre sold Gianfranco Ferre to It Holding, but he stayed on as creative director. His spring-summer 2008 menswear collection is scheduled to be presented next week in Milan.

Born Aug. 15, 1944 in Legnano, in northern Italy, Ferre worked and lived in India for several years. His passion for travel and world cultures was often reflected in his collections.

He is survived by a brother and sister-in-law.

 

[Agent99]

Down on the farm

Bob Evans founder dies at 89

By MARK WILLIAMS, AP Business Writer

Thu Jun 21, 6:14 PM ET

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Bob Evans, whose quest for quality sausage to serve the truckers who filled his 12-stool, 24-hour-a-day steakhouse in southeast Ohio led to the creation of a restaurant chain that bears his name, died Thursday, Bob Evans Farms Inc. announced. He was 89.

Evans died at the Cleveland Clinic, Evans' family told the company. The clinic said he died of complications from pneumonia.

Evans complained that he could not get good sausage for the restaurant he started after World War II in Gallipolis in southeast Ohio.

Starting with $1,000, a couple of hogs, 40 pounds of black pepper, 50 pounds of sage and other secret ingredients, he opted to make his own, relying on the hog's best parts as opposed to the scraps commonly used in sausage. He began selling it at the restaurant and mom-and-pop stores, and peddled tubs of it out of the back of his pickup truck.

It marked the beginning of what is now a restaurant chain with sales of $1.6 billion in the fiscal year ended April 28 with 590 restaurants in 18 states. The company also operates 108 Mimi's Cafe casual restaurants in 19 states, mostly in the West. Its sausage and other products are sold in grocery stores.

"You might say the truck drivers did my research for me," he said. "They would tell me that this was the best sausage they ever had, and then buy 10-pound tubs to take home."

Evans formed Bob Evans Farms in 1953 with five friends and relatives. The chain emphasizes farm-fresh food, cleanliness and service in a homey atmosphere.

The red brick restaurants have white trim and the yellow "Bob Evans" name, reflecting Evans' handwriting, at the top of the building.

The original Bob Evans restaurant opened in 1962 at the farm near Gallipolis, about 80 miles southeast of Columbus, to serve the growing number of visitors who stopped by. The restaurant, called The Sausage Shop at first, started with 12 stools.

"People like to deal with farmers. They like to buy stuff from the farm. They think it's fresher," Evans said in a 2003 interview. "In their mind, it's better and they're willing to pay more for it."

Evans and his family appeared in the company's early advertising, with Evans frequently wearing a Stetson and a string tie.

"Bob is a creative guy, an idea man, a quality control specialist. That was really the role he played," said Stewart Owens, former chief executive of the company, which moved to Columbus in 1968.

"Bob Evans is an icon of southern Ohio," said Chris Boring, president of Boulevard Strategies, a Columbus-based company that follows the retail industry. "Family values are reflected at every aspect of the operation, from the menu to the decorations."

Evans did clash with the company after his retirement as president Dec. 31, 1986.

In the 2003 interview, he criticized the company over its failed Mexican concept restaurant in the 1990s — "That was a disaster" — and some acquisitions he says he wasn't consulted about.

In 2001, Evans came out in favor of a proposal to sell the company to beef up the stock price. Two years later, he was happier as the company's performance was more focused and the stock price had rebounded.

"They're doing a pretty good job," he said then. "They got rid of all those dogs."

Anyone who bought 1,000 shares of Bob Evans when the company went public in 1963 at $9 per share would have shares worth more than $2 million today.

Evans is survived by his wife, Jewell, and five of his six children.

 

[omahaman2]

'Lion Sleeps Tonight' Singer Medress Dies
AP
Posted: 2007-06-23 15:59:52
NEW YORK (June 23) - Hank Medress, whose vocals with the doo wop group the Tokens helped propel their irrepressible single "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" to the top of the charts and who produced hits with other groups, has died of lung cancer. He was 68.

Medress died Monday at his Manhattan home, relatives said.

He was a teenager at Brooklyn's Lincoln High School when he launched his vocal quartet in 1955 with Neil Sedaka, performing as the Linc-Tones. When Sedaka departed for a successful solo career, lead singer Jay Siegel joined brothers Mitch and Phil Margo and Medress to become the Tokens.

It wasn't until 1961 that the group scored its singular smash, its hypnotic "Wimowehs" derived from a traditional Zulu melody. The Weavers had made the song a folk staple in the '50s, but the Tokens brought their version to No. 1 on the pop charts.

The band had other minor Top 40 hits, including "I Hear the Trumpets Blow" in 1966 and "Portrait of My Love" in 1967 - but never recaptured the success of its enduring single.

Medress would return to the charts, though, when the Tokens landed a production deal. The all-girl vocal group the Chiffons benefited from his studio touch with the classic '60s singles "He's So Fine" and "One Fine Day."

After splitting with the Tokens in the 1970s, Medress worked with a record company executive named Tony Orlando, persuading him to handle vocals on "Knock Three Times" - a move that catapulted the song into pop history. Medress and production partner Dave Appell also produced the Orlando and Dawn hit "Candida."

In the 1980s, Medress helped former New York Dolls lead singer David Johansen reinvent himself as lounge lizard hipster Buster Poindexter, producing his debut album and the single "Hot, Hot, Hot."

From 1990-92, he served as president of EMI Music Publishing Canada. More recently, he worked as a consultant to Sound Exchange, a nonprofit group helping musicians collect royalties.

He was survived by four children and two grandchildren.

 

[Faneros]

Bob Evans founder dies at 89

By MARK WILLIAMS, AP Business Writer

Thu Jun 21, 6:14 PM ET

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Bob Evans, whose quest for quality sausage to serve the truckers who filled his 12-stool, 24-hour-a-day steakhouse in southeast Ohio led to the creation of a restaurant chain that bears his name, died Thursday, Bob Evans Farms Inc. announced. He was 89.

Evans died at the Cleveland Clinic, Evans' family told the company. The clinic said he died of complications from pneumonia.

Evans complained that he could not get good sausage for the restaurant he started after World War II in Gallipolis in southeast Ohio.

Starting with $1,000, a couple of hogs, 40 pounds of black pepper, 50 pounds of sage and other secret ingredients, he opted to make his own, relying on the hog's best parts as opposed to the scraps commonly used in sausage. He began selling it at the restaurant and mom-and-pop stores, and peddled tubs of it out of the back of his pickup truck.

It marked the beginning of what is now a restaurant chain with sales of $1.6 billion in the fiscal year ended April 28 with 590 restaurants in 18 states. The company also operates 108 Mimi's Cafe casual restaurants in 19 states, mostly in the West. Its sausage and other products are sold in grocery stores.

"You might say the truck drivers did my research for me," he said. "They would tell me that this was the best sausage they ever had, and then buy 10-pound tubs to take home."

Evans formed Bob Evans Farms in 1953 with five friends and relatives. The chain emphasizes farm-fresh food, cleanliness and service in a homey atmosphere.

The red brick restaurants have white trim and the yellow "Bob Evans" name, reflecting Evans' handwriting, at the top of the building.

The original Bob Evans restaurant opened in 1962 at the farm near Gallipolis, about 80 miles southeast of Columbus, to serve the growing number of visitors who stopped by. The restaurant, called The Sausage Shop at first, started with 12 stools.

"People like to deal with farmers. They like to buy stuff from the farm. They think it's fresher," Evans said in a 2003 interview. "In their mind, it's better and they're willing to pay more for it."

Evans and his family appeared in the company's early advertising, with Evans frequently wearing a Stetson and a string tie.

"Bob is a creative guy, an idea man, a quality control specialist. That was really the role he played," said Stewart Owens, former chief executive of the company, which moved to Columbus in 1968.

"Bob Evans is an icon of southern Ohio," said Chris Boring, president of Boulevard Strategies, a Columbus-based company that follows the retail industry. "Family values are reflected at every aspect of the operation, from the menu to the decorations."

Evans did clash with the company after his retirement as president Dec. 31, 1986.

In the 2003 interview, he criticized the company over its failed Mexican concept restaurant in the 1990s — "That was a disaster" — and some acquisitions he says he wasn't consulted about.

In 2001, Evans came out in favor of a proposal to sell the company to beef up the stock price. Two years later, he was happier as the company's performance was more focused and the stock price had rebounded.

"They're doing a pretty good job," he said then. "They got rid of all those dogs."

Anyone who bought 1,000 shares of Bob Evans when the company went public in 1963 at $9 per share would have shares worth more than $2 million today.

Evans is survived by his wife, Jewell, and five of his six children.

"Bob Evans, down on the farm"

 

[linuxgeek]

Charles W. Lindberg

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OBIT_LINDBERG?SITE=KPUA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Iwo Jima Flag Raiser Lindberg Dies at 86

By CHRIS WILLIAMS
Associated Press
Jun 25, 11:50 AM EDT

RICHFIELD, Minn. (AP) -- Charles W. Lindberg, one of the U.S. Marines who raised the first American flag over Iwo Jima during World War II, has died. He was 86.

Lindberg died Sunday at Fairview Southdale hospital in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina, said John Pose, director of the Morris Nilsen Funeral Home in Richfield, which is handling Lindberg's funeral.

Lindberg spent decades explaining that it was his patrol, not the one captured in the famous Associated Press photograph by Joe Rosenthal, that raised the first flag as U.S. forces fought to take the Japanese island.

In the late morning of Feb. 23, 1945, Lindberg fired his flame-thrower into enemy pillboxes at the base of Mount Suribachi and then joined five other Marines fighting their way to the top. He was awarded the Silver Star for bravery.

"Two of our men found this big, long pipe there," he said in an interview with The Associated Press in 2003. "We tied the flag to it, took it to the highest spot we could find and we raised it.

"Down below, the troops started to cheer, the ship's whistles went off, it was just something that you would never forget," he said. "It didn't last too long, because the enemy started coming out of the caves."

The moment was captured by Sgt. Lou Lowery, a photographer from the Marine Corps' Leatherneck magazine. It was the first time a foreign flag flew on Japanese soil, according to the book "Flags of Our Fathers," by James Bradley with Ron Powers. Bradley's father, Navy Corpsman John Bradley, was one of the men in the famous photo of the second flag-raising.

"We thought it would be a slaughterhouse up on Suribachi," Lindberg said in the book. "I still don't understand why we were not attacked."

Three of the men in the first raising never saw their photos. They were among the more than 6,800 U.S. servicemen killed in the five-week battle for the island.

By Lindberg's account, his commander ordered the first flag replaced and safeguarded because he worried someone would take it as a souvenir. Lindberg was back in combat when six men raised the second, larger flag about four hours later.

Rosenthal's photo of the second flag-raising became one of the most enduring images of the war and the model for the U.S. Marine Corps memorial in Washington.

Rosenthal, who died last year, always denied accusations that he staged the photo, and he never claimed it depicted the first raising of a flag over the island.

Lindberg was shot through the arm on March 1 and evacuated.

There remained lingering disputes over the identity of at least one man in the first flag-raising. A California veteran of Iwo Jima, Raymond Jacobs, has said he believes he is the man with a radio on his back who had usually been identified as Pfc. Gene Marshall, a radio operator with the 5th Marine Division who died in 1987. The other men involved in the raising all have died.

Last year's film "Flags of Our Fathers," based on the book, features a character named Lindberg played by Alessandro Mastrobuono, according to the Internet Movie Database.

After his discharge in January 1946, Lindberg - no relation to Charles Lindbergh the aviator - went home to Grand Forks, N.D. He moved to Richfield in 1951 and became an electrician.

No one, he said, believed him when he said he raised the first flag at Iwo Jima. "I was called a liar," he said. In 1954, Lindberg was invited to Washington for the dedication of the Marine memorial. It carried the names of the second group of flag-raisers, but not the first.

He spent his final years trying to raise awareness of the first flag-raising, speaking to veterans groups and at schools. He sold autographed copies of Lowery's photos through catalogs.

A back room in his neat house was filled with souvenirs of the battle, including a huge mural based on one of Lowery's photos. Prints of the photos were kept handy for visitors, and Lindberg's Silver Star and Purple Heart were in little boxes on a side table.

The Minnesota Legislature passed a resolution in Lindberg's honor in 1995. His face appears on a huge mural in Long Prairie of the battle for Iwo Jima, and his likeness is etched into the black granite walls of Soldiers Field in Rochester.

 

[Willie Stroker]

Lion Sleeps Tonight lead singer dies

HANK MEDRESS, 1938-2007

NEW YORK — Hank Medress, whose vocals with the doo-wop group the Tokens helped propel their irrepressible single The Lion Sleeps Tonight to the top of the charts, has died in Manhattan of lung cancer.

He was 68.

He was a teenager at Brooklyn's Lincoln High School when he launched his vocal quartet, the Linc-Tones, in 1955 that included Neil Sedaka. When Sedaka departed for a solo career, they became the Tokens.

It wasn't until 1961 that the group scored its singular smash, its hypnotic Wimowehs derived from a traditional Zulu melody. The Weavers had made the song a folk staple in the '50s, but the Tokens brought their version to No. 1 on the pop charts.

The band had other minor Top 40 hits, but never recaptured the success of its enduring single.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Broadway and Rock Singer Pattie Darcy Jones, 54, Is Found Dead

23 Jun 2007

Pattie Darcy Jones, an actress in Broadway musical revues and a backup singer for artists like Cher and Bette Midler, was found unresponsive on the floor of her home in Hopatcong, NJ, on the night of June 16. She was 54.

Police are still investigating the cause of death.

Ms. Jones was a member of the cast of the long-running Leiber and Stoller musical Smokey Joe's Cafe, which ran for five years on Broadway from 1995 to 2000. She appeared in another Broadway revue, Leader of the Pack in 1985, billed as Pattie Darcy. Off-Broadway, she sang in Beehive

She was known to the music world as a regular back-up singer for high-octane female vocalists like Cher, Darlene Love, Petula Clark, Ronnie Spector and Bette Midler. She toured extensively with Cher, working with the singer for 18 years, and was seen in the Midler film "For the Boys." She was also seen in the television specials "Cher: Live in Concert From Las Vegas" and "Cher: The Farewell Tour."

Born in Orange, NJ, Ms. Jones lived in New York City and Los Angeles before moving to Hopatcong in 1992. At the time of her death, she was working as a hair stylist in Rockaway.

She is survived by her husband Courtney.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Former Giants closer Rod Beck

Resilient closer used guts, guile 38-year-old found dead at home

Sunday, June 24, 2007
Former Giants closer Rod Beck, whose spirit flowed as freely as his long hair, and who intimidated hitters with a Fu Manchu mustache and an even more menacing split-finger fastball, was found dead in his Phoenix home Saturday. He was 38.

The Giants were notified in a phone call Saturday night from Beck's agent. The cause of death was not known, and the Arizona Republic reported that police are investigating because Beck was alone when he died. The authorities do not suspect foul play.

"This is a bad day for baseball," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy, who managed Beck with the Padres in 2003 and 2004, his final two years in the big leagues. "To lose a guy who has done so much for the game, so much for the Giants' organization, that's why this is such a tragedy."

Beck saved 286 games over 13 major-league seasons, including 199 for the Giants from 1991 through '97. That stood as the franchise record until Robb Nen broke it in 2002. Moments after Nen earned the milestone save, Beck phoned the Giants' media-relations department to make sure they relayed a message of congratulations.

Beck was a three-time National League All-Star and the 1994 Rolaids Relief Award winner.

Beck was drafted by the A's in 1986 and after a trade with the Giants in 1988, he made his big-league debut with San Francisco in 1991. He was a vital member of the 1993 team that won 103 games and the 1997 team that won San Francisco's first division title in eight seasons. He later pitched for the Cubs, Red Sox and Padres, retiring after San Diego released him in 2004.

That spring, Beck took an extended leave of absence for what was described as personal reasons. Insiders knew he had gone into rehab for substance abuse.

"It's so sad when you see such a healthy player go at such a young age," Bochy said. "A lot of times, you can't fight your demons. That's what makes it even sadder. Even though you do all you can to help some of these athletes, they can't beat it. I don't know what the story with Rod was (about his death), but it's tough to take."

With a beer belly and the Fu Manchu, Beck had the look of an old-time ballplayer and the fortitude to be a closer, although he did not possess the brute force of a Goose Gossage. Although he threw hard early in his career, his fastball rarely hit 90 mph during his later years with the Giants. But his splitter was unhittable. He stood on the mound, staring at the batter, bent at the waist with his right arm dangling before he delivered the ball.

Beck looked like a gunslinger, which made his nickname of "Shooter" so appropriate.

"When I was playing for the Indians and we would go to Milwaukee, when they brought in a reliever, they'd be brought in on a Harley-Davidson," Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper said. "I always thought Rod would be the perfect guy to ride in on a Harley every time he came in, because that's how he looked and that's how he pitched.

"I broadcast a lot of games when he got the final out. Half of those times, he did it on guts."

He was known as a great teammate and an even better person. In an era when players distance themselves from fans, Beck embraced them. He often held court in the Giants' hotel bar buying round after round for ordinary people who would chat with him about baseball.

In 2003, when Beck was trying to make a comeback with the Cubs and was assigned to their Triple-A Iowa team, he lived in a motor home beyond the center-field fence and invited fans to have a postgame beer.

"He was just a regular person," Giants general manager Brian Sabean said. "He loved cowboy boots, he loved country music, he loved kids, he smoked cigarettes. He was an offbeat personality, but he loved the game, respected the game and loved the Giants."

Beck and his wife, Stacey, had two daughters, Kayla and Kelsey, now 13 and 12. While in San Francisco, the Becks helped raise money for children with AIDS.

Beck saved 48 games for the 1993 Giants team that fell one game short of reaching the playoffs and 37 games for the 1997 division-winning team. His most memorable moment came on Sept. 18 that season, the famous Brian Johnson home-run game that propelled the Giants to the title.

The Giants issued a statement from owner Peter Magowan on Sunday saying, "When our partnership group took over the Giants in 1993, all of San Francisco was treated to a wonderful 103-win year. Nobody who was a part of that will forget Rod's 48 saves. When we reached our dream of the playoffs in 1997, it was only fitting that Rod was on the mound for the final out that clinched the National League West."

The next season, having gone to the Cubs as a free agent, he saved a career-high 51 games, including Chicago's 5-3 victory over the Giants in a one-game play-in for the National League wild card.

Beck's velocity declined over the years, especially after he underwent "Tommy John" elbow surgery in 2002. By the time he signed with the Padres in 2003, he barely hit 83 mph with his fastball. However, when closer Trevor Hoffman went down with a shoulder injury, Beck converted 20 consecutive save opportunities.

"What a job he did for us," Bochy said. "We were desperate to find a closer, and Rod came in and did a terrific job for us. He saved us that year."

Beck returned from his 2004 leave of absence "in great shape, determined to come back," Bochy said. But Beck's performance declined and the Padres released him.

Last August, Beck sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh-inning stretch of a Giants-Cubs game at Wrigley Field. He said in an interview he was doing "a whole lot of nothing" but was excited about the prospect of acting as a mob hit man in a film being produced by the relative of a friend.

Asked if he had acted before, Beck said, "Sure, every time I went out to the mound. It was all an act."

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Fashion designer Liz Claiborne dies

NEW YORK - Fashion designer Liz Claiborne revolutionized the way working women put together their wardrobes because she was one of them. She made it easy for them as they pioneered up corporate ladders in the 1970s and 1980s, offering coordinated outfits at once serious and stylish, but also affordable. Claiborne died Tuesday, June 26th, at the New York Presbyterian Hospital after suffering from cancer for a number of years, said Gwen Satterfield, personal assistant to Claiborne. She was 78.

The new approach to dressing revolutionized the department store industry, which had focused on stocking pants in one department and skirts in another.

The clothes became an instant hit, and the company went public in 1981. By 1985, Liz Claiborne Inc. was the first company founded by a woman to be listed in the Fortune 500, according to the company‘s Web site.

"She was proof that licensing could be done well," Arbuckle said.

"The concept was to dress the American working woman because I, as a working woman with a child (from her previous marriage) didn‘t want to spend hours shopping. Things should be easy. You don‘t have to dress in that little navy blue suit with a tie," Claiborne told trade paper Women‘s Wear Daily in 2006. "I wanted to dress her in sportier clothes and colors."

Elisabeth Claiborne was born March 31, 1929 in Brussels, Belgium. She moved to New York in the 1940s to pursue a career in fashion. She married Ortenberg in 1957 after divorcing her first husband, Ben Schultz. She and Schultz had a son, Alexander.

"She was perhaps the beginning of the great designer-stylists of our time," Herman said. "She was a trained designer but, more than that, she had a vision of how women should dress. ... She suddenly understood the shape of women and the emancipation of shape and the change of a woman‘s shape."

Claiborne founded the Liz Claiborne Foundation in 1981 to serve as a center for charitable activities, focusing on ending domestic violence, and promoting economic self-sufficiency for women and positive development for girls.

Until her death, she was involved in the day-to-day activities of the Liz Claiborne Art Ortenberg Foundation, dedicated to wildlife conservation.

Meanwhile, after Claiborne and Ortenberg left the company, Chazen became Liz Claiborne Inc.‘s chairman in 1989.

Paul R. Charron succeeded Chazen in the mid-1990s, and spearheaded an aggressive campaign to acquire different labels to diversify beyond the company‘s namesake brands, which struggled with increased competition.

Last November, Bill McComb joined the company as CEO, succeeding Charron, and is overhauling the business again to meet the demands of the consolidated department store industry.

"In losing Liz Claiborne, we have not only lost the founder of our company, but an inspirational woman who revolutionized the fashion industry 30 years ago," said McComb in a statement. "Her commitment to style and design is ever present in our thinking and the way we work. We will remember Liz for her vision, her entrepreneurial spirit and her enduring compassion and generosity."

 

[phrodeau]

The Benoit family - RIP.

 

[linuxgeek]

Beverly Sills

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19572218/

Opera legend Beverly Sills has died at 78
Brooklyn-born diva was global icon of can-do American culture

NEW YORK - Beverly Sills, the Brooklyn-born opera diva who was a global icon of can-do American culture with her dazzling voice, bubbly personality and management moxie in the arts world, died Monday of cancer, her manager said. She was 78.

It had been revealed just last month that Sills was gravely ill with inoperable lung cancer. Sills, who never smoked, died about 9 p.m. Monday at her Manhattan home with her family and doctor at her side, said her manager, Edgar Vincent.

Beyond the music world, Sills gained fans worldwide with a style that matched her childhood nickname, Bubbles. The relaxed, red-haired diva appeared frequently on “The Tonight Show,” “The Muppet Show” and in televised performances with her friend Carol Burnett.

Together, they did a show from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera called “Sills and Burnett at the Met,” singing rip-roaring duets with funny one-liners thrown in.

Long after the public stopped hearing her sing in 1980, Sills’ rich, infectious laughter filled the nation’s living rooms as she hosted live TV broadcasts. As recently as last season, she conducted backstage interviews for the Metropolitan Opera’s high-definition movie theater performances.

Sills first gained fame with a high-octane career that helped put Americans on the international map of opera stars.

From Belle to Bubbles to Beverly
Born Belle Miriam Silverman in Brooklyn, she quickly became Bubbles, an endearment coined by the doctor who delivered her, noting that she was born blowing a bubble of spit from her little mouth.

Fast-forward to 1947, when the same mouth produced vocal glory for her operatic stage debut in Philadelphia in a bit role in Bizet’s “Carmen.” Sills became a star with the New York City Opera, where she first performed in 1955 in Johann Strauss Jr.’s “Die Fledermaus.” She was acclaimed for performances in such operas as Douglas Moore’s “The Ballad of Baby Doe,” Massenet’s “Manon” and Handel’s “Giulio Cesare,” and the roles of three Tudor queens in works by Gaetano Donizetti.

Her 1958 appearances as Baby Doe would become among her best known, in a tale of a silver-mine millionaire who leaves his wife for Baby Doe and eventually dies penniless.

“I loved the role,” Sills wrote in her 1976 autobiography. “I read everything that had ever been written about her. ... I absorbed her so completely in those five weeks of studying the opera that I knew her inside and out. I was Baby Doe.”

Sills’ face once graced the covers of Time and Newsweek magazines as an American who had conquered the classical music world, even abroad — at the time a rarity.

But as a child star, she was not above singing radio commercials with lyrics such as: “Rinso White, Rinso Bright, happy little washday song.”

It was not until late in her career that she achieved the pinnacle, appearing at the Met, the nation’s premier opera house.

Her debut on that stage didn’t come until 1975, years after she became famous. In her memoir, she said longtime Met general manager Rudolf Bing “had a thing about American singers, especially those who had not been trained abroad: He did not think very much of them.”

Sills’ Met debut, arranged after Bing retired, was in “The Siege of Corinth,” and she recalled that “I was welcomed at the Met like a long-lost child.” (She also recalled having a couple of friendly encounters with Bing and found he “could not have been more charming.”)

Described by former Mayor Ed Koch as “an empire unto herself,” Sills sat on several corporate boards, including those of Macy’s and American Express.

The word around New York was that if anyone needed to raise several million dollars in one night, he could turn to Sills, whose name drew donors in droves.

Sills retired from the stage in 1980 at age 51 after a three-decade singing career and began a new life as an executive and leader of New York’s performing arts community. First, she became general director of the New York City Opera.

Under her stewardship, the City Opera, known as the “people’s opera company,” became the first in the nation to use English supertitles, translating operas for the audience by projecting lyrics onto a screen above the stage. The Met followed, later adopting its titles on the back of audience seats.

In 1994, Sills became chairwoman of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. She was the first woman and first former artist in that position.

After leading the nation’s largest arts complex through eight boom years and launching a redevelopment project, she retired in 2002, saying she wanted “to smell the flowers a little bit.”

After six months, she was back.

“So I smelled the roses and developed an allergy,” she joked as she accepted a position as chairwoman of the Met. “I need new mountains to climb, which is why roses don’t appeal to me.”

In a 2000 interview, she said, “It was never part of my plan to retire as a prima donna. I never thought the day I stopped singing would be the day I stopped working.”

Never lost her sense of humor
Sills was a master fundraiser, tapping her vast network of friends and colleagues for money that bolstered not only Lincoln Center but also non-artistic causes such as the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the March of Dimes, a job she called “one of the most rewarding in my life.”

She also lent her name and voice to the Multiple Sclerosis Society; her daughter, Muffy, has MS and was born deaf.

At a 2005 Manhattan benefit for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Sills told an audience that included her daughter: “One of the things that separates the two-legged creatures from the four-legged ones is compassion.”

Added the host for that evening, Barbara Walters: “She can go from doing a duet with Placido Domingo to doing a duet with a Muppet.”

Sills’ compassion extended to her autistic son and to her husband, who lived with her at their home as his Alzheimer’s disease progressed.

Still, through harrowing personal times, she never lost her own sense of humor, accompanied by a billowing ripple of laughter that was all the more warming because it was born not of frivolity but of a survivor’s grit.

She spoke like she sang — with bravado. The words poured out of her like a force of nature, sprinkled with good-natured gossip and insights, cheeky jokes and probing questions.

She balanced the challenges of her private life with the joy of singing, stepping onstage and transforming herself into characters that made her forget her troubles.

Stage fright was foreign to her. Before curtain time, she would make phone calls or munch on an apple, then sweep on to deliver her roles with exuberance.

A coloratura soprano, Sills was for years the prima donna of the New York City Opera, achieving stardom with critically acclaimed performances in Verdi’s “La Traviata” and Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor,” among dozens of roles.

She is credited with reviving musical styles that had gathered dust, such as the Three Queens — the trio of heroines of Gaetano Donizetti’s “Anna Bolena,” “Maria Stuarda” and “Roberto Devereaux” — in which she starred as Elizabeth, a role she called her greatest artistic achievement.

Onstage, her style stressed the theatrical portrayal of the character, as well as the music.

“Opera is music AND drama,” she wrote in her 1976 memoir, “Bubbles: A Self-Portrait.” “I’m prepared to sacrifice the beautiful note for the meaningful sound any time. ... I can make a pretty tone as well as anyone, but there are times when the drama of a scene demands the opposite of a pretty sound.”

As chairwoman of the Met, she was instrumental in proposing Peter Gelb, now general manager, for that position, a move that brought a new leader who injected a dose of new moves that pushed up attendance and ticket sales.

Citing personal reasons, Sills bowed out as Metropolitan Opera chairwoman in January 2005, saying, “I know that I have achieved what I set out to do.” At the time, she had recently suffered a fall and was using a wheelchair.

In 2006, she presided over the inaugural Beverly Sills Artist Award at the Met, given to baritone Nathan Gunn.

Sills grew up in a “typical middle-class American Jewish family,” as she put it. She was first exposed to opera by listening to her mother’s record collection.

Long way from 'Uncle Bob's Rainbow Hour'
She began taking weekly voice, dance and elocution lessons as a young child and at age 4 appeared on a local radio show called “Uncle Bob’s Rainbow Hour.”

When she was 7, her name was changed to Beverly Sills — a friend of her mother’s thought it was a more suitable stage name — and she began 34 years of study with vocal coach Estelle Liebling.

After an audition arranged by Liebling, the young Sills won first place in the “Major Bowes Amateur Hour” and became a regular member of its “Capitol Family Hour show.” As a teenager, Sills made two repertory tours and finished high school by correspondence course at Manhattan’s Professional Children’s School.

Primped up in big bows and crisp pink dresses by her mother, she set off to sing on the radio, at ladies’ luncheons and at bar mitzvahs. At 16, billed as “the youngest prima donna in captivity,” she joined the touring J.J. Shubert operetta company, starring in Gilbert and Sullivan productions.

Her opera debut came in 1947, in the role of Frasquita in “Carmen” with the Philadelphia Civic Opera. For several years, Sills sang opera when she could, touring twice with the Wagner Company, while performing in the Catskills and at a Manhattan after-hours club.

She sang briefly with the San Francisco Opera Company, making her debut there in 1953 in a secondary role in Boito’s “Mefistofele.” In 1954, she sang the role of Verdi’s Aida in Salt Lake City before joining the New York City Opera in 1955.

In 1956, Sills married Peter Greenough, a journalist who later quit the news business to manage the family’s affairs as his wife’s career flourished. He died in 2006.

After a whirlwind of performances in the early 1960s, Sills hit her stride as Cleopatra in Handel’s “Julius Caesar” in 1966, when the New York City Opera officially opened its new home at Lincoln Center.

“When the performance was over, I knew that something extraordinary had taken place,” Sills wrote. “I knew that I had sung as I had never sung before, and I needed no newspapers the next day to reassure me.”

Abroad, Sills sang at such famed opera houses as La Scala and Teatro San Carlo in Italy, London’s Royal Opera at Covent Garden and the Berlin Opera.

Besides Greenough’s three children from a previous marriage, the couple had two children of their own, Peter Jr., known as “Bucky”, and Meredith, known as “Muffy.”