Stars that died in 2011

Elmer B. Staats, American public servant, Comptroller General of the United States (1966–1981) died he was , 97

noreply@blogger.com (Jett) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 21:49:47 PST

Elmer Boyd Staats) was a public servant whose career from the late 1930s to the early 1980s was primarily associated with the Bureau of the Budget (BOB) (now the Office of Management and Budget, OMB) and the GAO. Staats was born June 6, 1914, in Richfield, Kansas, to Wesley F. and Maude (Goodall) Staats. Staats received his AB from McPherson College in 1935, his MA from the University of Kansas in 1936, and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1939 died he was , 97. Married on September 14, 1940, to Margaret S. Rich, the couple had three children: David, Deborah, and Catharine. In 1939, Staats became a staff member in the Executive Office of the President, U.S. Bureau of the Budget. He held increasingly responsible positions at BOB until 1947, when he was promoted to assistant to the Director of the Bureau, then executive assistant to the director (1949–1950), before he held the position of Deputy Director (1950–1953 and 1958–1966). In 1966, Staats became Comptroller General of the United States and head of the GAO, holding that position until 1981. Elmer Boyd Staats: An Inventory of His Personal Papers, 1961-1963 in the John F. Kennedy Library; National Archives and Records Administration (Papers at JFK library).

(June 6, 1914 – July 23, 2011)

Career Overview

In the period from the Second World War until the early 1980s, Staats was a public servant whose career was primarily associated with the Bureau of the Budget (BOB) (now the Office of Management and Budget, OMB) and GAO. Elmer B. Staats: Government Ethics in Practice by H. George Frederickson, p. 214-215
Staats joined BOB in 1939 during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Biography of Elmer Boyd Staats: Member of The Ohio State University Accounting Hall of Fame and rose progressively from management analyst to section chief, to assistant to the director, to executive assistant to the director, to assistant director, and, finally, to deputy director under four Presidents: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson. Ibid, p. 215
Staats left BOB for four years from 1953–1958, Bio at Ohio St when he served as the executive officer of the National Security Council, but returned to BOB in 1958 and was reappointed deputy director in 1959 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Ibid, p. 215
In 1966, he was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to head the General Accounting Office (now the Government Accountability Office) (GAO) as Comptroller General of the United States. He served his complete 15-year term as Comptroller General lasting through the administrations of Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter and into the early months of the Reagan administration. Ibid, p. 215

From 1984 to 1990, he was a member of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. He was the first chairman of the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board from 1990 to 1997. As of 2011, he is a trustee of the Committee for Economic Development, member and councilor of The Conference Board, and Senior Advisor, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Elmer Staats Short Bio at Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

Personal Background

Staats was born on June 6, 1914, in Richfield, Kansas, the son and one of eight children of Wesley Forrest and Maude Goodall Staats. Staats' early life was spent on a farm in the Kansas wheat belt. Ibid, p. 214 In 1940 he married Margaret Rich, the daughter of Congressman Robert Fleming Rich of Pennsylvania, a textile manufacturer and banker who had a distinctly conservative record in Congress.The GAO Review: Spring 1966, p. 5/72, from Feb. 20, 1966 article by Raymond P. Brandt, contributing editor, St. Louis-Post Dispatch The couple had three children: David, Deborah, and Catharine. Papers at JFK library Staats was a member of the Cosmos and Chevy Chase Clubs and the Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church of Washington, D.C.

Academic background

Staats was valedictorian of the 1931 graduating class of Sylvia High School in Sylvia, Kansas. Bio at Ohio St Staats attended McPherson College, operated by the Church of the Brethren in McPherson, Kansas, where he received a A.B. in 1935, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. He then went to the University of Kansas, where he received an M.A. in political science and economics in 1936. After this, he entered the University of Minnesota’s doctoral program in political economy, earning his by a Ph.D. in 1939. Bio at Ohio St

Career in government service

Early Public Service Before Joining Federal Government (BOB) in 1939

Staats first entered public service in 1936, after graduating with his masters degree from the University of Kansas, when he spent that summer as a research assistant for the Kansas Legislative Council of Topeka. He was a member of the staff of the Public Administration Service of Chicago during 1937-38 while working on his doctorate at the University of Minnesota. He was a Fellow of the Brookings Institution in Washington during 1938-1939.

Direct Service to Presidents while at BOB and NSC from 1939-1966

Staats joined BOB (now OMB) during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and was employed by the BOB from 1939 to 1953. At BOB, he served in the Division of Administrative Management (1939–43), in the War Agencies Section (1943–47); as its chief (1945–47). During the World War II period, Staats was responsible for organizing, financing, managing, and coordinating the principal civilian war agencies. After the war, Staats was promoted to assistant to the BOB director (1947), assistant director in charge of Legislative Reference (1947–49), executive assistant director (1949–50), and, following appointment by President Harry S. Truman, to the deputy director of the agency (1950–1953).
Staats left government service for a year after the Eisenhower Presidential transition, and during most of 1953 he served as research director for Marshall Field & Company. He returned to government service when he was appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to serve as Executive Officer of the Operations Coordinating Board of the National Security Council, which was responsible for coordinated implementation of United States foreign policies and operations in foreign countries. Staats served in this post from 1954-58.
In 1958, Staats returned to BOB and served as assistant director (September 1958-March 1959) before being reappointed deputy director by President Eisenhower (March 1959-61). Staats continued in the deputy director position under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

Appointment as 5th Comptroller General of the United States in 1966

Staats left BOB to become the 5th Comptroller General of the United States in 1966. On February 11, 1966, President Johnson nominated Staats for the position of Comptroller General, which also involves serving as head of the GAO. The United States Senate Committee on Government Operations held a hearing on March 2, 1966 on the President's nomination of Staats to be Comptroller General, endorsed it on the same date, and on March 4, 1966 the United States Senate officially confirmed the nomination of Staats to become Comptroller General. Staats was sworn in as Comptroller General by President Johnson on March 8, 1966, at a ceremony at the White House.

Highlights of Staats's Tenure as Comptroller General from 1966-1981

Staats served as Comptroller General from March 8, 1966 until the expiration of the position's 15-year statutory term expired on March 3, 1981. As Comptroller General, Staats drew on his many years of government experience, including as a former Deputy Director of the Bureau of the Budget under Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson, as he led GAO during a period of change and national turmoil. GAO: Working for Good Government Since 1921: Chapter 6, Elmer B. Staats: Broadening GAO's work, 1966-1981 by GAO Historian Maarju Krusten (GAO History 1966-1981)
In reflecting on Staats's tenure, a senior GAO manager referred to him in 1981 as "a pragmatic agent of good government," who viewed GAO's reports as "a way to achieve results rather than simply hitting someone over the head." Staats was a strong advocate of public service and constructive change, who worked to improve management throughout the government. Within GAO, he practiced a participatory management style, often relying on task forces to study job processes and organizational issues. GAO History 1966-1981 Staats focused on improving GAO's internal planning processes and on expanding its work and issue areas to more effectively serve the Congress. Not only did the Comptroller General broaden GAO's work, he also increased the agency's services to Congress. When Staats took charge of GAO in 1966, less than ten percent of the total effort of its professional staff went toward providing direct assistance to the Congress. By the time he left office in 1981, the number had risen to nearly 40 percent. GAO History 1966-1981
Under Staats, GAO worked on a number of issues of great national importance. Before the Federal Elections Commission assumed oversight of campaign expenditures in 1974, GAO's Office of Federal Elections undertook a number of reviews, some of which touched on Watergate. GAO also did important work on energy issues, consumer protection, the economy, and New York City's fiscal crisis. As the Vietnam War intensified and defense spending rose, Staats in 1966 opened an office in Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. GAO's auditors worked in the field as well as in Saigon. Some of the fieldwork was done under hazardous circumstances. In 1969, six auditors narrowly escaped injury during a rocket attack on the United States base at Da Nang in Vietnam. GAO's Saigon office remained operational until the signing of peace accords in 1973. GAO History 1966-1981
During his tenure, Staats worked to improve governmental accountability. He revitalized GAO's work with the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program. Under Staats, GAO took a lead role in issuing auditing guidance. In 1970, the Bureau of the Budget and GAO agreed on the formation of a government auditing standards task force, which undertook a lengthy research and drafting process. As a result of the work of the task force, the Comptroller General issued in 1972 the first edition of the Standards for Audit of Governmental Organizations, Programs, Activities & Functions, which came to be known as the "Yellow Book." In later years, GAO gave the book a more concise title, Government Auditing Standards, and updated its guidance periodically. In addition to issuing guidance to help state and local auditors, the Comptroller General played a key role in establishing intergovernmental audit forums in the 1970s. GAO History 1966-1981
As comptroller general, he served as the first chairman (1970–81) of the Cost Accounting Standards Board, and as a member of a number of Presidential and Governmental Advisory Bodies, including the Commission on Government Procurement (1971–73); President's Commission on Budget Concepts (1967–68); Commission on Federal Paperwork (1976–78); Treasury Department's Advisory Committee on Federal Consolidated Financial Statements (1976–79); National Advisory Committee for the Work in America, Inc. (1979–80); Chrysler Loan Guarantee Board (1980–81); Board of Governors, International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (1969–81), Technology Assessment Advisory Council (1972–81); Joint Financial Management Improvement Program (1966–81); and the President's Management Improvement Council (1979–80). Bio at Ohio St GAO changed radically during the Staats period. These changes generally reflected the shift to program evaluation, the emergence of a host of new foreign and domestic problems, and the Congress’s increasing assertiveness in its relationships with the executive branch. Staats provided effective leadership as GAO strove to meet the new challenges, as he was widely respected in the Congress and in the government as a whole. GAO History 1921- 1991, Roger R. Trask, GAO History Program, Nov. 1991

[edit] Service after GAO

After serving as Comptroller General, Staats became the president and later chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, a position he continues to hold as of 2011.

Other Professional Activities and Associations

In addition to his government service, Staats made contributions though his numerous professional activities and associations. Staats has held membership on the Board of Trustees of the National Institute of Public Affairs (1969–77) and the Public Administration Service, Chicago (1967–74). He was chairman of the Conference on the Public Service, Brookings Institution (1958–60), and during 1979-80 he was a member of the Committee for the National Congress on Church-Related Colleges and Universities. He also served on

· the Board of Directors of the Eisenhower Foundation;

· the Board of Trustees of the Kerr Foundation

· the Board of Trustees of the George C. Marshall Foundation; and

· the Board of Overseers of the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award Program.

He also has served on the board of directors of several corporations.
Over the years Staats has maintained a close relationship with educational institutions. He has served as a lecturer at American University (1941–43) and George Washington University (1944–46). During the period 1947-53, he was on the Advisory Council of the Department of Politics at Princeton University. During 1974-80 he was on the Visiting Committee of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
In addition, Staats served on the Board of Trustees of McPherson College (1969–79) and the American University (1966–80). He has also been a member of the visiting committees of several universities.
Staats was an honorary member of the faculty of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (1973; member, Board of Advisors 1974-77), and he has been a member of the Board of Visitors of the National Defense University since 1981.
Staats has also been active in numerous professional organizations, including:

· The American Society for Public Administration (ASPA): Staats was a founding member of the organization in 1939, served as as president of ASPA's Washington, D.C. chapter (1948-49), and as ASPA's national president (1961-62) and vice president (1959-61).

· American Academy of Political and Social Science (AAPSS): Staats has been a member of the Board of Directors (1966-present).

· National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA): Staat was a founding member of the organization in 1967, and has served as a member of the NAPA Board of Trustees (1967-85; chairman, 1985).

· The Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council (FASAC) member (1977-81)

· Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) member since its formation in 1984.

· He has also been active for many years in the Conference Board, the American Management Association (AMA), and the Association of Government Accountants (AGA).

Staats has written many articles for professional journals and has made numerous speeches to professional organizations. Stasts holds membership in Phi Beta Kappa (1936), Pi Sigma Alpha (1936), Beta Alpha Psi (1966), Alpha Kappa Psi (1971), and Beta Gamma Sigma (1973).

Honors and awards

Staats held honorary degrees from eight universities and distinguished service awards from the University of Kansas and the University of Minnesota. Other honors include Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Kappa Psi, the Rockefeller Public Service Award, the Productivity Award of the American Productivity Center, the Medal of Honor of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Presidential Citizens Medal, the Hubert H. Humphrey Medal, and the Public Service Achievement Award of Common Cause. Staats also received the Public Service Medal of the Holland Society of New York, the Executive Government Award of the Opportunities Industrial Corporation of America, and the Public Service Award of the General Accounting Office. Staats was named an honorary member of the National Security Industrial Association and elected to the Accounting Hall of Fame in 1981.
Among the many honors bestowed upon him were the Rockefeller Public Service Award (1961); Alumni Achievement Award, University of Minnesota (1964); Distinguished Service Citation, University of Kansas (1966); Distinguished Service Award, University of Hartford Center for Study of Professional Accounting (1973); Warner W. Stockberger Achievement Award (1973); Person of the Year Award, Washington Chapter of the Institute of Internal Auditors (1975); Abraham 0. Smoot Public Service Award, Brigham Young University (1975); American Association for Budget and Program Analysis Award (1976); Evaluation Research Society Federal Executive Award (1980); Productivity Award, American Productivity Center (1980); Medal of Honor, AICPA (1980); Engineer of the Year Award, San Fernando Valley Engineers Council (1980); and the Thurston Award, International Institute of Internal Auditors (1988).
Staats was an honorary member of the International City Management Association (1976), Society of Manufacturing Engineers (1978), National Security Industrial Association (1981), and an honorary life member of the Municipal Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (1980).

John M. Shalikashvili
June 27, 1936 – July 23, 2011 (aged 75)
General John Shalikashvili, US Army (Ret.)
Nickname	General Shali
Place of birth	Warsaw, Poland
Place of death	Joint Base Lewis-McChord
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1958–1997
Rank	General
Commands held	Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Battles/wars	Vietnam War
Awards	Defense Distinguished Service Medal (4) Army Distinguished Service Medal Legion of Merit (3) Bronze Star (with "V" Device) Meritorious Service Medal (4) Air Medal
Relations	Joan (Zimpelman) Shalikashvili (wife), Brant Shalikashvili (son) Gunhild Bartsch (wife, died 1965)
Other work	Visiting professor, Stanford University Director, Frank Russell Trust Company Director, L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. Director, Plug Power Inc. Director, United Defense Industries, Inc.

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Amy Winehouse, British singer-songwriter died she was , 27

noreply@blogger.com (Jett) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 21:42:41 PST

Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocalsand her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz died she was , 27.Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Her 2006 follow-up album, Back to Black, led to six Grammy Award nominations and five wins, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night, and made Winehouse the first British female to win five Grammys,including three of the "Big Four": Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

(14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011)

On 14 February 2007, she won a BRIT Award for Best British Female Artist; she had also been nominated for Best British Album. She won the Ivor Novello Award three times, one in 2004 for Best Contemporary Song (musically and lyrically) for "Stronger Than Me", one in 2007 for Best Contemporary Song for "Rehab", and one in 2008 for Best Song Musically and Lyrically for "Love Is a Losing Game", among other distinctions. The album is the biggest seller of the 2000s in the United Kingdom.^[5] Winehouse is credited as an influence in the rise in popularity of female musicians and soul music, and also for revitalising British music.
Winehouse was found dead on 23 July 2011, at her home in London.^[6]^[7] Police have said that the cause of her death is "as yet unexplained"^[8]^[9]^[10] and that the death was "non-suspicious".^[11] Winehouse's family and friends attended her funeral on 26 July 2011. In August 2011 her album Back to Black became the UK's best selling album of the 21st century.^[12]

Early life

Winehouse was born in the Southgate area of North London to a Jewish family, with Russian ancestry on her mother's side,^[13]^[14] who influenced her interest in jazz.^[15] Winehouse was the daughter of Mitchell (Mitch) Winehouse, a taxi driver, and Janis Winehouse (née Seaton), a pharmacist.^[16] Her grandmother had once been engaged to Ronnie Scott.^[17] Her brother, Alex, is four years older.^[18] Mitch often sang Frank Sinatra songs to young Amy, who also took to a constant habit of singing to the point that teachers found it difficult keeping her quiet in class.^[19] Winehouse's parents separated when she was nine.^[20]
When Winehouse was nine years old, her grandmother, Cynthia, suggested she attend the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School for further training.^[21] At age ten, Winehouse founded a short-lived rap group called Sweet 'n' Sour with childhood friend Juliette Ashby.^[22] She stayed at the Earnshaw school for four years before seeking full-time training at Sylvia Young Theatre School, but was allegedly expelled at 14 for "not applying herself" and for piercing her nose.^[18]^[23] (Sylvia Young herself has denied this – "She changed schools at 15 – I've heard it said she was expelled; she wasn't. I'd never have expelled Amy.") ^[24] With other children from the Sylvia Young School, she appeared in an episode of The Fast Show in 1997.^[25] She later attended The Mount School, Mill Hill, the BRIT School in Selhurst, Croydon, Southgate School and Ashmole School.^[26]^[27]^[28]^[29]

Music career

Early career

After toying with her brother's guitar, Winehouse received her first guitar when she was 13, and began writing music a year later. She began working soon after, including as a showbiz journalist for the World Entertainment News Network, in addition to singing with local group the Bolsha Band.^[18]^[30] Her boyfriend at the time, soul singer Tyler James, sent her demo tape to an A&R person.^[15] Winehouse signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002. While being developed by the management company, the artist was kept an industry secret.^[31] Her future A&R representative at Island/Universal, Darcus Beese, heard her by accident when the manager of The Lewinson Brothers showed him some productions of his clients on which Winehouse featured as vocalist. When he asked who the singer was the manager told him he was not allowed to say. Having decided that he wanted to sign her it took several months of asking around for Beese to eventually discover who the singer was. By this time Winehouse had already recorded a number of songs and signed a publishing deal with EMI. Through the publishers she formed a working relationship with the producer Salaam Remi.^[31]
Beese introduced Winehouse to his boss, Nick Gatfield, and the Island head shared his enthusiasm in signing the young artist. Winehouse was signed to Island/Universal as rival interest in Winehouse had started to build, with representatives at EMI and Virgin also starting to make moves. Beese told HitQuarters that he felt the reason behind the excitement over an artist who was an atypical pop star for the time was due to a backlash against reality TV music shows with audiences becoming starved for genuine young talent.^[31]
Winehouse's greatest love was 1960s girl groups.^[32] Her stylist Alex Foden borrowed her "instantly recognisable" beehive hairdo (a weave ^[33]^[34]) and she borrowed her Cleopatra makeup from The Ronettes.^[32] Her imitation was so successful, the Village Voice reports: "Ronnie Spector—who, it could be argued, all but invented Winehouse's style in the first place when she took the stage at the Brooklyn Fox Theater with her fellow Ronettes more than 40 years ago—was so taken aback at a picture of Winehouse in the New York Post that she exclaimed, "I don't know her, I never met her, and when I saw that pic, I thought, 'That's me!' But then I found out, no, it's Amy! I didn't have on my glasses."^[35]
The New York Times reporter, Guy Trebay, discussed the multiplicity of influences on Winehouse's style. Trebay notes: "her stylish husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, may have influenced her look." Additionally, Trebay observes:

Major label success and Frank

Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released on 20 October 2003. Produced mainly by Salaam Remi, many songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, every song was co-written by Winehouse. The album received positive reviews^[37]^[38] with compliments over the "cool, critical gaze" in its lyrics^[2] and brought comparisons of her voice to Sarah Vaughan,^[39] Macy Gray and others.^[2]
The album entered the upper levels of the UK album chart in 2004 when it was nominated for BRIT Awards in the categories of "British Female Solo Artist" and "British Urban Act". It went on to achieve platinum sales.^[40] Later in 2004, she won the Ivor Novello (songwriting) Award for Best Contemporary Song, alongside Salaam Remi, with her contribution to the first single, "Stronger Than Me".^[41] The album also made the short list for the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. In the same year, she performed at the Glastonbury Festival, the V Festival, the Montreal International Jazz Festival (7 July 2004, at the Club Soda), and on the Jazzworld stage. After the release of the album, Winehouse commented that she was "only 80 percent behind [the] album" because of the inclusion by her record label of certain songs and mixes she disliked.^[15] Additional singles from the album were "Take the Box", "In My Bed"/"You Sent Me Flying" and "Pumps"/"Help Yourself".

International success and Back to Black

In contrast to her jazz-influenced former album, Winehouse's focus shifted to the girl groups of the 1950s and 1960s. Winehouse hired New York singer Sharon Jones's longtime band, the Dap-Kings to back her up in the studio and on tour.^[42] In May 2006, Winehouse's demonstration tracks such as "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" appeared on Mark Ronson's New York radio show on East Village Radio. These were some of the first new songs played on the radio after the release of "Pumps" and both were slated to appear on her second album. The 11-track album was produced entirely by Salaam Remi and Ronson, with the production credits being split between them. Ronson said in a 2010 interview that he liked working with Winehouse because she was blunt when she did not like his work.^[43] Promotion of Back to Black soon began and, in early October 2006, Winehouse's official website was relaunched with a new layout and clips of previously unreleased songs.^[40] Back to Black was released in the UK on 30 October 2006. It went to number one on the UK Albums Chart numerous times, and entered at number seven on the Billboard 200 in the US. It was the best-selling album in the UK in 2007, selling 1.85 million copies over the course of the year.^[44]

The album spawned a number of singles. The first single released from the album was the Ronson-produced "Rehab". The song reached the top ten in the UK and the US.^[45] Time magazine named "Rehab" the Best Song of 2007. Writer Josh Tyrangiel praised Winehouse for her confidence, saying, "What she is is mouthy, funny, sultry, and quite possibly crazy" and "It's impossible not to be seduced by her originality. Combine it with production by Mark Ronson that references four decades worth of soul music without once ripping it off, and you've got the best song of 2007."^[46] The album's second single and lead single in the US, "You Know I'm No Good", was released in January 2007 with a remix featuring rap vocals by Ghostface Killah. It ultimately reached number 18 on the UK singles chart. The title track, "Back to Black", was released in the UK in April 2007 and peaked at number 25, but was more successful across mainland Europe.^[47] "Tears Dry on Their Own", "Love Is a Losing Game" and "Just Friends" were also released as singles, but failed to achieve the same level of success.^[48]
A deluxe edition of Back to Black was also released on 5 November 2007 in the UK. The bonus disc features B-sides, rare, and live tracks, as well as "Valerie". Winehouse's debut DVD I Told You I Was Trouble: Live in London was released the same day in the UK and 13 November in the US. It includes a live set recorded at London's Shepherds Bush Empire and a 50-minute documentary charting the singer's career over the previous four years.^[49] Frank was released in the United States on 20 November 2007 to positive reviews.^[50]^[51] The album debuted at number 61 on the Billboard 200 chart.^[52]
In addition to her own album, she collaborated with other artists on singles. Winehouse was a vocalist on the song "Valerie" on Ronson's solo album Version. The song peaked at number two in the UK, upon its October single release. The song was nominated for a 2008 Brit Award for "Best British Single".^[53]^[54]^[55] Her work with ex-Sugababe Mutya Buena, "B Boy Baby", was released on 17 December 2007. It served as the fourth single from Buena's solo debut album, Real Girl.^[56]

Continued success and acclaim

By year's end, Winehouse had garnered numerous accolades and awards. The singer won 2008 Grammy Awards in the categories of Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Rehab", while her album Back to Black was nominated for Album of the Year and won the Best Pop Vocal Album award.^[57]^[58] Producer Mark Ronson's work with her won the award in the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical category.^[59] The singer also earned a Grammy in the Best New Artist category. This earned Winehouse an entry in the 2009 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records for Most Grammy Awards won by a British Female Act.^[60] She performed "You Know I’m No Good" and "Rehab" at the awards ceremony via satellite, as her visa approval came through too late for her to travel to the US. She said "This is for London because Camden town is burning down", in reference to the Camden Market fire.^[61] After the Grammy Awards, the album's sales increased catapulting Back to Black to number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 after initially peaking at number seven.^[62] On 13 January 2008, Back to Black held the number one position on the Billboard Pan European charts for the third straight week.^[63] In January 2008, Universal Music International said it believed that there was a correlation between number of albums sold and the extensive media coverage the singer had received.^[64]
A special deluxe edition of Back to Black topped the UK album charts on 2 March 2008. The original edition of the album resided at the number 30 position, in its 68th week on the charts, while "Frank" charted at number 35.^[65] By 12 March, the album had sold a total of 2,467,575 copies, 318,350 of those in the previous 10 weeks, putting the album on the UK's top 10 best-selling albums of the 21st century for the first time.^[66] On 7 April, Back to Black was residing at the top position on the pan-European charts for the sixth consecutive and thirteenth aggregate week.^[67] Back to Black was the world's seventh biggest selling album for 2008.^[68] These sales helped keep Universal Music's recorded music division from dropping to levels experienced by the overall music market.^[69]
At the 2008 Ivor Novello Awards, Winehouse became the first artist to receive two nominations for the top award, best song, musically and lyrically. She won the award for "Love Is a Losing Game" and was nominated for "You Know I'm No Good".^[70] "Rehab", a Novello winner for best contemporary song in 2006, also received a 2008 nomination for best-selling British song.^[71] Winehouse was nominated for a MTV Europe Award in the Act of The Year category.^[72] Amy Winehouse – The Girl Done Good: A Documentary Review, a 78-minute DVD, was released on 14 April 2008. The documentary features interviews with those who knew her at a young age, helped her gain success, jazz music experts, as well as music and pop culture specialists.^[73]^[74] A clip of Winehouse's music was included in the "Roots and Influences" area that looked at connections between different artists at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC, which opened in December 2008. One thread started with Billie Holiday continued with Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige and finished with Winehouse.^[75] In a poll of United States residents conducted for VisitBritain by Harris Interactive that was released in March 2009, one fifth of those polled indicated they had listened to Winehouse's music during the previous year.^[76] Winehouse performed with Rhythms del Mundo on their cover of the Sam Cooke song "Cupid" for an Artists Project Earth benefit album that was released on 13 July 2009.^[77]^[78]
On the week of July 26, after Winehouse's death, Frank, Back To Black, and the Back To Black EP re-entered the Billboard 200 at number 57, number 9, and number 152 respectively with the album climbing to number 4 the following week.^[79]^[80] Back To Black also topped the Billboard Digital Albums chart on the same week and was the second best seller at iTunes.^[81] "Rehab" re-entered and topped the Billboard Digital Songs chart as well, selling up to 38,000 more digital downloads.^[82] As of August 2011 "Back to Black" was the best selling album in the United Kingdom in the 21st Century.^[83]

Final projects

Winehouse and Mark Ronson contributed a cover of Lesley Gore's "It's My Party" to the Quincy Jones tribute album Q Soul Bossa Nostra released 9 November 2010.^[84] Winehouse and drummer ?uestlove of the Roots had agreed to form a group. Winehouse's problems obtaining a visa delayed the still unnamed group from working together. Producer Salaam Remi had already created some material with Winehouse as part of the project.^[85] According to a newspaper report, Universal Music pressed her regarding new material in 2008. According to that same report Winehouse as of 2 September had not been near a recording studio. It was noted that she had touring obligations during the summer and also that if an album was quickly recorded, it would be at least a year before an album could be released.^[69] In late October, Winehouse's spokesman was quoted as saying that Winehouse had not been given a deadline to complete her third album, for which she was learning to play drums.^[86]
During her 2009 stay in Saint Lucia, Winehouse worked on new music with producer Salaam Remi. Island claimed that a new album would be due in 2010; Island co-president Darcus Beese said, "I've heard a couple of song demos that have absolutely floored me".^[87] In July 2010 Winehouse was quoted as saying her next album would be released no later than January 2011, saying "It’s going to be very much the same as my second album, where there's a lot of jukebox stuff and songs that are... just jukebox, really." Mark Ronson said in July 2010 that he had not started to record the album.^[88]
American singer Tony Bennett recorded a song with Winehouse for his forthcoming album, Duets II, which is scheduled for release on 20 September 2011.^[89] Following her death Winehouse's spokesperson said the singer left behind “plenty” of material but no discussions had taken place in regards to releasing it. It is uncertain how far along she had gotten in the recording process.^[90] The proceeds from the single will go to a charity set up in Winehouse's name.^[91]

Artistry

Influence

British singer Adele has credited Winehouse's success in the United States for making her and fellow British singer Duffy's journey to the United States "a bit smoother".^[92] American singer Lady Gaga credited Winehouse with paving the way for her rise to the top of the charts. She appeared to be using a metaphorical analogy to explain that Winehouse made it easier for unconventional women to have mainstream pop success.^[93] The "Winehouse phenomenon" has been credited by Sebastian Danchin, author of Encyclopedia of Rhythm & Blues and Soul, with kick-starting a revival of soul music that has been ongoing since 2000. Danchin quoting Raphael Saadiq, Anthony Hamilton, and John Legend said "Amy Winehouse was produced by people who wanted to create a marketing coup. The positive side is that it reacquainted an audience with this music and played an introductory role for others. This reinvigorated the genre by overcoming the vintage aspect".^[94]
The release of Back to Black and the emergence of Lily Allen has been credited by The Sunday Times as directly creating the market for the media proclaimed "the year of the women" in 2009 which has seen five female artists nominated for the Mercury Prize. After the album was released, record companies sought out female artists with a similar sound and fearless and experimental female musicians in general. Adele and Duffy were the second wave of artists with a sound similar to Winehouse's. A third wave of female musicians that has emerged since the album was released are led by VV Brown, Florence and the Machine, La Roux and Little Boots.^[95] In February 2010, rapper Jay-Z credited Winehouse with revitalising British music, saying, "There's a strong push coming out of London right now, which is great. It's been coming ever since I guess Amy (Winehouse). I mean always, but I think Amy, this resurgence was ushered in by Amy."^[96] In March 2011 the New York Daily News ran an article attributing the continuing wave of British female artists that have been successful in the United States to Winehouse and her absence. Spin magazine music editor Charles Aaron was quoted as saying "Amy Winehouse was the Nirvana moment for all these women," "They can all be traced back to her in terms of attitude, musical styles or fashion". According to Keith Caulfield, chart manager for Billboard, "Because of Amy, or the lack thereof, the marketplace was able to get singers like Adele and Duffy," "Now those ladies have brought on the new ones, like Eliza Doolittle, Rumer and Ellie."^[97]

Live performances

Winehouse toured in conjunction with the Back to Black album's release. She performed headlining gigs in September and November 2006, including one of the Little Noise Sessions charity concerts at the Union Chapel, Islington. On 31 December 2006, Winehouse appeared on Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny and performed a cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" along with Paul Weller and Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. She also performed Toots & the Maytals' "Monkey Man". She began a run of another 14 gigs beginning in February 2007. At his request, Bruce Willis introduced Winehouse before her performance of "Rehab" at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards. Winehouse made awards organizers nervous when she went on a Las Vegas jaunt in the hours before the show.^[98] During the summer of 2007, Winehouse performed at various festivals, including UK's Glastonbury Festival,^[99] Chicago's Lollapalooza festival, Rock Werchter and Baltimore's Virgin Music Festival.
Winehouse's tour, however, did not go as well. In November 2007, the opening night of a 17-date tour was marred by booing and walkouts at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. A music critic for the Birmingham Mail said it was "one of the saddest nights of my life...I saw a supremely talented artist reduced to tears, stumbling around the stage and, unforgivably, swearing at the audience."^[100] Other concerts ended similarly, with, for example, fans at her Hammersmith Apollo performance saying that she "looked highly intoxicated throughout",^[101] until she announced on 27 November 2007, that her performances and public appearances were cancelled for the remainder of 2007, citing doctor advice to take a complete rest. A statement issued by concert promoter Live Nation blamed "the rigours involved in touring and the intense emotional strain that Amy has been under in recent weeks" for the decision.^[102]
On 20 February 2008, Winehouse performed at the 2008 BRIT Awards, performing "Valerie" with Mark Ronson, followed by "Love Is a Losing Game". She urged the crowd to "make some noise for my Blake."^[103] In Paris, she performed what was described as a "well-executed 40 minute" set at the opening of a Fendi boutique.^[104] Although her father, manager and various members of her touring team reportedly tried to dissuade her, Winehouse performed at the Rock in Rio Lisboa festival in Portugal in May 2008.^[21] Although the set was plagued by a late arrival and problems with her voice, the crowd warmed to her. In addition to her own material she performed two Specials covers.^[105] Winehouse performed at Nelson Mandela's 90th Birthday Party concert at London's Hyde Park on the 27 June,^[106] and the next day at the Glastonbury Festival.^[107] On 12 July at the Oxegen Festival she performed a well-received 50 minute set^[108] which was followed the next day by a 14 song set at T in the Park.^[109] On 16 August she played at the Staffordshire leg of the V Festival, and the following day played the Chelmsford leg of the festival. Organizers said that Winehouse attracted the biggest crowds of the festival. Audience reaction was reported as mixed.^[110] On 6 September she was the headliner at Bestival. She performed what was described as a polished set which ended with her storming off the stage. Her hour late arrival caused her set to be cut off at the halfway point due to a curfew.^[111]
In May 2009, Winehouse returned to performing at a jazz festival in Saint Lucia amid torrential downpours and technical difficulties. During her hour long set it was reported she was unsteady on her feet and had trouble remembering lyrics. She apologised to the crowd for being "bored" and ended her set by walking off the stage in the middle of a song.^[112]^[113] To a cheering crowd on 23 August at the V festival, Winehouse sang with The Specials on their songs "You're Wondering Now" and "Ghost Town".^[114]
In July 2010, she performed "Valerie" with Mark Ronson at a movie premiere. She sang lead but forgot some of the song's lyrics.^[88] In October Winehouse performed a four song set to promote her fashion line. In December 2010 Winehouse played a 40 minute concert at a Russian oligarch's party in Moscow. Guests included other Russian tycoons and Russian show business stars. The tycoon hand picked the songs she played.^[115]
During January 2011, she played five dates in Brazil, with opening acts of Janelle Monáe and Mayer Hawthorne.^[116]^[117] On 11 February 2011, Winehouse cut short a performance in Dubai following booing from the audience. Winehouse was reported to be tired, distracted and "tipsy" during the performance.^[118]
On 18 June 2011, Winehouse started her 12-leg 2011 European tour in Belgrade. Local media described her performance as a scandal and disaster, and she was booed off the stage due to her apparently being too drunk to perform. It was reported that she was unable to remember the city she was in, the lyrics of her songs or – when trying to introduce them – the names of the members of her band.^[119]^[120] The local press also claimed that Winehouse was forced to perform by her bodyguards, who didn't allow her to leave the stage when she tried to do so.^[121] She then pulled out of performances in Istanbul and Athens which had been scheduled for the following week.^[122] On 21 June it was announced that she had cancelled all shows of her European tour and would be given "as long as it takes" to sort herself out.^[123]
Winehouse's last public appearance took place at Camden's Roundhouse, London on 20 July 2011, when she made a surprise guest appearance on stage to support her goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield, who was singing "Mama Said" with The Wanted.^[124]

Club nights

On 10 July 2008, Winehouse launched her own club night, Snakehips at the Monarch, in the Camden Monarch venue in London. Although billed as a DJ battle between her and another DJ, she stayed behind the decks swaying as another person actually played 1960s music.^[125] She appeared at another Snakehips event at the Monarch on the night of 11 September. After reportedly arriving two hours late, she spun music and played a short acoustic set.^[126]

Other ventures

Winehouse joined a campaign to stop a block of flats being built beside the George Tavern, a famous London East End music venue. Campaign supporters feared the residential development would end the spot's lucrative sideline as a film and photo location, on which it relies to survive.^[127] As part of a breast cancer awareness campaign, Winehouse appeared in a revealing photograph for the April 2008 issue of Easy Living magazine.^[128] Winehouse had an estimated £10m fortune, tying her for tenth place in the 2008 Sunday Times listing of the wealth of musicians under age 30.^[129] The following year her fortune had dropped to an estimated £5m.^[130] Her finances are run by Mitch and Janis Winehouse.^[131] It was reported she earned about £1m singing at two private parties during Paris Fashion Week.^[132] as well as another £1m to perform at a Moscow Art Gallery for Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.^[133] Winehouse loaned a vintage dress used in her video for "Tears Dry on Their Own" as well as a DVD to the British Music Experience, a new museum dedicated to the history of British pop music.^[134] The museum, located in The O2, opened on 9 March 2009.^[135]^[136]
In January 2009, Winehouse announced that she was launching her own record label. The first act on her Lioness Records is Winehouse's 13-year-old goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield. Her first album, featuring covers of classic soul records, was released on 12 October 2009.^[137] Winehouse is the backing singer on several tracks on the album and she performed backing vocals for Bromfield on the television programme Strictly Come Dancing on 10 October.^[138]
Winehouse and her family are the subject of a 2009 documentary shot by Daphne Barak titled Saving Amy.^[139]
Winehouse entered into a joint venture in 2009 with EMI to launch a range of wrapping paper and gift cards containing song lyrics from her album Back to Black.^[140]
On 8 January 2010, a television documentary, My Daughter Amy, aired on Channel 4.^[141]
Saving Amy was released as a paperback book in January 2010.^[142]
Winehouse collaborated on a 17 piece fashion collection with the Fred Perry label. It was released for sale in October 2010. According to Fred Perry's marketing director "We had three major design meetings where she was closely involved in product style selection and the application of fabric, colour and styling details,” and gave "crucial input on proportion, colour and fit”. The collection consists of "vintage-inspired looks including Capri pants, a bowling dress, a trench coat, pencil skirts, a longline argyle sweater and a pink-and-black checkerboard-printed collared shirt".^[143]^[144] At the behest her family three forthcoming collections up to and including autumn/winter 2012 that she had designed prior to her death will be released.^[145]

Personal life

With the paparazzi taking photographs of her wherever they could, Winehouse obtained an injunction against a leading paparazzi agency (Big Pictures) under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, the resultant court order banning them from following her.^[146] Photographers were also banned from following her within 100 metres of her home and photographing Winehouse in her home or the home of her friends and family. According to a newspaper report, sources close to the singer said legal action was taken out of concern for the safety of Winehouse and those close to her.^[146]

Relationships

Winehouse dated chef-musician Alex Clare (sometimes referred to as Alex Claire) in 2006, while on the outs with her on-off boyfriend and future husband, Blake Fielder-Civil. Clare famously sold his story to the News of the World, which published it under the headline “Bondage Crazed Amy Just Can’t Beehive in Bed”.^[147]^[148]
She married Fielder-Civil (born August 1978), a former video production assistant,^[149]^[150] on 18 May 2007, in Miami Beach, Florida. Fielder-Civil was a "dropout" of Bourne Grammar School, who moved to London at aged 16 from his native Lincolnshire.^[21] In a June 2007 interview, Winehouse admitted she was sometimes violent towards him when she had been drinking, stating "if he says one thing I don't like then I'll chin him".^[151] In August 2007, they were photographed, bloodied and bruised, in the streets of London after an alleged fight, although she contended her injuries were self-inflicted.^[152] Equality campaigner Glenn Sacks criticised Winehouse for "bragging" about abusing her husband, noting how a male abuser would have been "locked up, stigmatised, and vilified".^[153]
Winehouse's parents and in-laws publicly reported their numerous concerns, citing fears that the two might commit suicide, with Fielder-Civil's father encouraging fans to boycott her music.^[154] Fielder-Civil was quoted in a British tabloid as saying he introduced her to crack cocaine and heroin.^[155] During a visit with Mitch Winehouse at the prison in July 2008, Fielder-Civil reportedly said that they would cut themselves to ease the pain of withdrawal.^[21]
From 21 July 2008 to 25 February 2009, Fielder-Civil was imprisoned following his guilty plea on charges of trying to pervert the course of justice as well as a charge of grievous bodily harm with intent.^[156]^[157]^[158] The incident, in July 2007, involved an assault on a pub landlord that resulted in a broken cheek.^[159] According to the prosecution the landlord accepted £200,000 as part of a deal to "effectively throw the [court] case and not turn up". The prosecution testified that the money used to pay off the landlord belonged to Winehouse,^[160] but that Winehouse pulled out of a meeting with the men involved in the plot, because she had to attend an awards ceremony.^[161]
Winehouse was spotted with aspiring actor Josh Bowman on holiday in Saint Lucia in early January 2009, saying she was "in love again, and I don't need drugs."^[162] She commented that the "whole marriage was based on doing drugs" and that "for the time being I've just forgotten I'm even married."^[162] On 12 January, Winehouse's spokesman confirmed that "papers have been received" for what Fielder-Civil's solicitor has said are divorce proceedings based on a claim of adultery.^[163]^[164] On 25 February, Blake Fielder-Civil was quoted as saying that he planned to continue divorce proceedings to give himself a drug-free fresh start.^[158] In March, Winehouse was quoted in a magazine as saying, "I still love Blake and I want him to move into my new house with me – that was my plan all along ... I won't let him divorce me. He's the male version of me and we're perfect for each other."^[165] Uncontested,^[166] the divorce was granted on 16 July 2009 and became final on 28 August 2009.^[166] Upon his request Fielder-Civil received no money in the settlement.^[167] She is believed to have been dating director Reg Traviss shortly before her death.^[168]

Substance abuse and mental health issues

Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In various interviews, she admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression and eating disorders.^[18]^[169] In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, violent mood swings and weight loss.^[21] People who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of Back to Black.^[21] Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction.^[21] In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol.^[170]
Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then."^[171] Soon after, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems, he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her.^[172] In an interview with The Album Chart Show on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial".^[173] A U.S. reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness".^[174]
On 2 December 2007, images of the singer outside her home in the early morning hours, barefoot and wearing only a bra and jeans, appeared on the internet and in tabloid newspapers. In a statement, her spokesman blamed paparazzi harassment for the incident.^[175] The spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music.^[176] The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her,^[177] and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf.^[178] In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program.^[179]
On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police,^[178] who questioned her on 5 February.^[180] No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well" and denied a published report in a British tabloid that consideration was being given to having her return to rehab.^[181] Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile.^[182] By late April 2008, her erratic behaviour, including an allegation of assault, caused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts have been unsuccessful,^[183] leading to efforts by Winehouse's father and manager to seek assistance in having her sectioned.^[184] Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September sparked new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her legs and arms.^[126]
In an interview released in June 2009, Winehouse's father said the singer was in a drug replacement programme. He said she was gradually recovering but that heavy drinking was causing "slight backward steps". A documentary shot early in 2009 shows Winehouse apparently intoxicated according to a newspaper report.^[185] Pictures published by a magazine in July 2009 upon her return to the United Kingdom from her extended stay in Saint Lucia appeared to show that Winehouse had gained weight and that her complexion was improved.^[186] In an October 2010 interview, Winehouse said she had been drug-free for three years, saying "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don’t want to do this any more.'”^[187]
Winehouse entered the Priory Clinic on 25 May 2011, where she stayed for one week.^[188]

Violence and legal difficulties

In 2006, Winehouse admitted punching a fan in the face for criticising her having taken Blake Fielder-Civil as a husband. She then attacked her spouse as he attempted to calm her down, kneeing him in the crotch.^[189]
In October 2007, Winehouse and her then-husband were arrested in Bergen, Norway for possession of seven grams of marijuana. The couple were later released and fined 3850 kroner (around £350).^[190] Winehouse first appealed the fines, claiming she was "duped" into confessing,^[190]^[191] but later dropped the appeal.^[192]
On 26 April 2008, Winehouse was cautioned after she admitted to police she slapped a 38 year-old man in the face, a "common assault" offence. She voluntarily turned herself in and was held overnight. Police said, at her arrival she was "in no fit state" to be interviewed.^[193] Winehouse was arrested on 7 May 2008 on suspicion of possessing drugs after a video of her apparently smoking crack cocaine was passed to the police in January,^[194] but was released on bail a few hours later because they could not confirm, from the video, what she was smoking.^[170]^[195] The Crown Prosecution Service considered charging her with possessing a controlled drug and allowing her premises to be used for the supply by others of a controlled drug, but she was cleared when the service could not establish that the substance in the video was a controlled drug.^[196] In reaction to the decision, former police commander John O’Connor said it is an "absolute scandal that nothing could be done" about Winehouse "cocking a snook at the law".^[197] Some members of Parliament also reacted negatively.^[197]^[198] Two London residents were subsequently charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine and ecstasy to Winehouse.^[199] One of the pair was sentenced to two years in prison on 13 December 2008, while the other received a two-year community order.^[200]
On 5 March 2009, Winehouse was arrested and charged with common assault following a claim by a woman that Winehouse hit her in the eye at a September 2008 Prince's Trust charity ball.^[201] At the same time, she was reported to have spat at the English socialite Pippa Middleton and to have headbutted a photographer.^[202] Winehouse's spokesperson announced the singer cancelled a scheduled United States Coachella Festival appearance in "light of current legal issues".^[203] Swearing in under her legal name of Amy Jade Civil, Winehouse appeared in court on 17 March to enter her plea of not guilty.^[204] On 23 July her assault trial began with prosecutor Lyall Thompson charging that Winehouse acted with "deliberate and unjustifiable violence" while appearing to be under the influence of alcohol or another substance. The woman, Sharene Flash, testified that Winehouse "punched me forcefully in my right eye. She used a fist, her right one.” Winehouse testified that she did not punch Flash, but tried to push Flash away from her because she was scared of Flash. Winehouse cited her worry that Flash would sell her story to a tabloid, Flash's height advantage, and Flash's "rude" behaviour as reasons for her fear of Flash.^[205]^[206] On the 24 July, District Judge Timothy Workman ruled that Winehouse was not guilty of the charge. Workman cited the facts that all but two of the witnesses were intoxicated at the time of the incident and that medical evidence did not show "the sort of injury that often occurs when there is a forceful punch to the eye".^[207]
On 19 December 2009, Winehouse was arrested again on charges of common assault, plus another charge of public order offence. Winehouse assaulted the front-of-house manager of the Milton Keynes Theatre after he asked her to move from her seat.^[208] On 20 January 2010, she admitted common assault and disorderly behaviour. She was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £85 court costs and £100 compensation to the man she attacked.^[209]

Respiratory problems

On 23 June 2008, Winehouse's publicist corrected earlier misstatements by Mitch Winehouse that his daughter had early stage emphysema, instead claiming she had signs of what could lead to early-stage emphysema.^[210] Mitch Winehouse had also stated that his daughter's lungs were operating at 70 percent capacity and that she had an irregular heartbeat. Mitch Winehouse said that these problems had been caused by her chain smoking and crack cocaine use. The singer’s father also reported that doctors had warned Winehouse that, if she continued smoking crack cocaine, she would have to wear an oxygen mask and would eventually die.^[211] In a radio interview, Mitch Winehouse said the singer was responding "fabulously" to treatment, which included being covered with nicotine patches.^[212] British Lung Foundation spokesman Keith Prowse noted this type of condition could be managed with treatment. Prowse also said the condition was not normal for a person her age but "heavy smoking and inhaling other substances like drugs can age the lungs prematurely".^[213] Norman H. Edelman of the American Lung Association explained that if she stopped smoking, her lung functions would decline at the rate of a normal person, but continued smoking would lead to a more rapid decline in lung function.^[214] Photographs of the singer with a cigarette in her mouth, taken 23 June 2008, were widely published.^[215]
Winehouse was released from The London Clinic 24 hours after returning from a temporary leave to perform at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday and at a concert in Glastonbury, and continued receiving treatment as an outpatient.^[216] In July, 2008 Winehouse stated that she had been diagnosed with "some areas of emphysema" and said she is getting herself together by "eating loads of healthy food, sleeping loads, playing my guitar, making music and writing letters to my husband every day".^[217] She also kept a vertical tanning bed in her apartment.^[34] Winehouse began precautionary testing on her lungs and chest on 25 October 2008^[218] at the London Clinic for what was reported as a chest infection. Winehouse was in and out of the facility and was granted permission to set her own schedule regarding home leave.^[86] She returned to the hospital on 23 November 2008 for a reported reaction to her medication.^[219]

Death

During his eulogy, Mitch Winehouse who was in New York at the time of his daughter's death said that his daughter had gone to a routine appointment at her doctor's the night before her death. According to her father's account of events following the appointment, she went home then sang and played the drums into the early hours of her last day before being told by her security guard to keep the noise level down. Mitch Winehouse further stated that the security guard checked on her at about 8 a.m. and saw her apparently asleep, but when he made his second check in the afternoon he realized that Winehouse had died.^[220]^[221] At 3:54 p.m. BST on 23 July 2011, two ambulances were called to Winehouse's home in Camden, London.^[222]^[223] Winehouse was pronounced dead at the scene.^[224] Shortly afterwards, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that she had died.^[225]^[226] After her death was announced, media and camera crews appeared, as crowds gathered near Winehouse’s residence to pay their respects. Forensic investigators entered the flat as police cordoned off the street outside.
Winehouse's record label, Universal Republic, released a statement that read in part: "We are deeply saddened at the sudden loss of such a gifted musician, artist and performer."^[227]^[228] Many musical artists have since paid tribute to Winehouse including U2, Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, George Michael, Adele, Kelly Clarkson,^[229] and Courtney Love.^[230]
Family and friends attended Winehouse's funeral on 26 July 2011 at Edgwarebury Lane cemetery in north London.^[231]^[232]^[233] Her mother and father, Janis and Mitch Winehouse, close friend Kelly Osbourne, producer Mark Ronson and her boyfriend Reg Traviss were among those in attendance at the private service led by Rabbi Frank Hellner.^[231]^[232] Her father delivered the eulogy, saying "Goodnight, my angel, sleep tight. Mummy and Daddy love you ever so much."^[231] Carole King's "So Far Away" closed the service with mourners singing along.^[234] She was later cremated at Golders Green Crematorium.^[235] The family planned to sit a two-day shiva.^[235] Winehouse's parents intend to set up a foundation in her name, to help those affected by drug addiction.^[236]
A post mortem was carried out on 25 July. The results were inconclusive and no cause of death could be established.^[237] The coroner stated that a "Section 20" postmortem had been done on Winehouse,^[11] which implies that the coroner believes "there is reasonable cause to suspect that a person has died a violent or unnatural death or in any other way which would require an inquest."^[11] An inquest was adjourned until 26 October, and results of further toxicology tests took about four weeks.^[223]^[237]
On August 23, the Winehouse family released a short statement about the results of toxicology tests returned to them by authorities: there were "no illegal drugs" and "alcohol was present" in Winehouse's system at the time of her death, but a cause of death still could not be determined. The statement concluded, "The family would like to thank the police and coroner for their continuing thorough investigations and for keeping them informed throughout the process. They await the outcome of the inquest in October."^[238]

Controversy

Winehouse's dichotomous public image of critical and commercial success versus personal turmoil proved to be controversial. The New Statesman magazine called Winehouse "a filthy-mouthed, down-to-earth diva,"^[239] while Newsweek magazine called her "a perfect storm of sex kitten, raw talent and poor impulse control."^[240] Karen Heller with The Philadelphia Inquirer summarised the maelstrom this way:
She's only 24 with six Grammy nods, crashing headfirst into success and despair, with a codependent husband in jail, exhibitionist parents with questionable judgement, and the paparazzi documenting her emotional and physical distress. Meanwhile, a haute designer Karl Lagerfeld appropriates her dishevelled style and eating issues to market to the elite while proclaiming her the new Bardot.^[241]
By 2008, her continued drug problems threatened her career. Even as Nick Gatfield, the president of Island Records, toyed with the idea of releasing Winehouse "to deal with her problems", he remarked on her talent, saying, "It’s a reflection of her status [in the U.S.] that when you flick through the TV coverage [of the Grammys] it’s her image they use."^[178] Post-Grammys, some questioned whether Winehouse should have been honoured with the awards given her recent personal and drug problems,^[242]^[243]^[244] including Natalie Cole, who introduced Winehouse at the ceremony. Cole (who battled her own substance-abuse problems while winning a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1975^[245]) remarked, "I think the girl is talented, gifted, but it's not right for her to be able to have her cake and eat it too. She needs to get herself together."^[245] In an opinion newspaper commentary, Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said that the alleged drug habits of Winehouse and other celebrities send a bad message "to others who are vulnerable to addiction" and undermine the efforts of other celebrities trying to raise awareness of problems in Africa, now that more cocaine used in Europe passes through Africa.^[246] Winehouse's spokesperson called Costa a "ludicrous man" and noted that "Amy has never given a quote about drugs or flaunted it in any way. She's had some problems and is trying to get better. The U.N. should get its own house in order."^[247] Following Winehouse's death William Bennett a former director of the United States Office of National Drug Control Policy criticised the Grammy Awards nominating committee along similar lines.^[248] Graeme Pearson, the former head of Scotland's drug enforcement agency, criticised Winehouse and Kate Moss for making going to rehab a badge of honour, thus giving the false impression that quitting drugs is easy, because many cannot afford to go to clinics.^[249]
Winehouse became a staple in popularity polls. The 2008 NME Awards nominated Winehouse in the categories of "Villain of the Year", "Best Solo Artist", and "Best Music DVD"; Winehouse won for "Worst Dressed Performer".^[250]^[251] In its third annual list, Glamour magazine named Winehouse the third worst dressed British Woman.^[252] Winehouse was ranked number two on Richard Blackwell's 48th annual "Ten Worst Dressed Women" list, behind Victoria Beckham.^[253] In an April 2008 poll conducted by Sky News, Winehouse was named the second greatest "ultimate heroine" by the UK population at large, topping the voting for that category of those polled under 25 years old.^[254] Psychologist Donna Dawson commented that the results demonstrate women like Winehouse who have "a certain sense of vulnerability or have had to fight against some adversity in their lives” receive recognition.^[254] Winehouse was voted the second most hated personality in the United Kingdom in a poll conducted one month later by Marketing magazine.^[255]
June 2008 brought a report that Winehouse, singing a disparaging chant about blacks, the disabled, and homosexuals, and containing racial epithets about Pakistanis and Indians, was taped by her husband Fielder-Civil, despite assurances to her that he was not filming.^[256] Winehouse denied allegations that she was a racist, saying "I don't want to play anything down, but I'm the least racist person going."^[256] Winehouse added that the film was taken during "really, really happy times."^[256] Speaking at a discussion entitled Winehouse or White House?: Do we go too big on showbiz news? Jeff Zycinski, head of BBC Radio Scotland, said the BBC and media in general were complicit in the destruction of celebrities like Winehouse. He said that public interest in the singer's lifestyle does not make her lifestyle newsworthy. Rod McKenzie editor of the BBC Radio One program Newsbeat replied that "If you play [Amy Winehouse's] music to a certain demographic, those same people want to know what's happening in her private life. If you don't cover it, you're insulting young license fee payers."^[257] The British artist M.I.A., credited with paving the way for Winehouse and Lily Allen to emerge during her absence, was quoted in The Guardian in 2007 as saying she found Winehouse "really interesting" continuing "I once saw her in the street and she was really out of it, so I guess she is really living it out. I think Amy's thing is feeling really weird about what she does and dealing with that."^[258] British singer and songwriter Lily Allen was quoted in a Scottish newspaper as saying
I know Amy Winehouse very well. And she is very different to what people portray her as being. Yes, she does get out of her mind on drugs sometimes, but she is also a very clever, intelligent, witty, funny person who can hold it together. You just don't see that side.^[259]

Artistic impressions

London's Mall Galleries opened an exhibition in May 2008 that included a sculpture of Winehouse, entitled Excess. The piece, created by Guy Portelli, had a miniature of the singer lying on top of a cracked champagne bottle, with a pool of spilled liquid underneath. The body was covered with what appeared to be tiny pills, while one outstretched hand held a glass.^[260] Another piece, a print entitled "Celebrity 1" by artist Charlotte Suckling, was exhibited in the same exhibition.^[260] A wax sculpture of Winehouse went on display at the London Madame Tussauds on 23 July 2008. The singer did not attend the unveiling, although her parents did.^[261] A sculpture by Marco Perego, entitled "The Only Good Rock Star Is a Dead Rock Star", that depicts Winehouse lying in a pool of blood with an apple and a bullet hole in her head after being shot by American novelist and beat poet William S. Burroughs (in a recreation of the accidental killing of his wife Joan Vollmer),^[262] was scheduled to go on display in New York’s Half Gallery on 14 November 2008. The sale price for the sculpture is listed at US $100,000. Perego said of the sculpture "Rock stars are the sacrificial animals of society." Winehouse’s spokesperson said "It’s a funny kind of tribute. The artist seems in thrall to a tabloid persona that is not the real Amy. People often use her image to sell their work."^[262]

Discography

Main article: Amy Winehouse discography

Frank (2003)
Back to Black (2006)

Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Amy Winehouse

Among the awards and recognitions for Frank, Winehouse earned an Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song ("Stronger Than Me"),^[263] a BRIT Award nomination for Best Female Solo Artist,^[264] and an inclusion in Robert Dimery's 2006 book, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.^[265] Back to Black produced numerous nominations, including two from the BRIT Awards (Best Female Solo Artist and Best British Album), six from the Grammy Awards (including five wins),^[3] four from the Ivor Novello Awards, four from the MTV Europe Music Awards, three from the MTV Video Music Awards, three from the World Music Awards, and one each from the Mercury Prize (Album of the Year) and MOBO Awards (Best UK Female). During her career, Winehouse received 23 awards from 60 nominations.

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Tom Aldredge, American actor (The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire), died from lymphoma he was , 83.

noreply@blogger.com (Jett) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 08:05:35 PST

Thomas Ernest "Tom" Aldredge was an American television, film and stage actor died from lymphoma he was , 83.

(February 28, 1928 – July 22, 2011)

Life and career

Aldredge was born in Dayton, Ohio, the son of Lucienne Juliet (née Marcillat) and W. J. Aldredge, a colonel in the United States Army Air Corps.^[1] He originally planned to become a lawyer and was a Pre-Law student at the University of Dayton in the late 1940s. In 1947 he decided to pursue a career as an actor after attending a performance of the original Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire.^[2]
Aldredge carved out a respected career on the Broadway stage that spanned five decades. He made his Broadway debut as Danny in the 1959 musical The Nervous Set. In 1972 he won a Drama Desk Award for his portrayal of Ozzie, the father of a blinded Vietnam veteran, in David Rabe's Sticks and Bones. He originated the role of Norman Thayer Jr. in On Golden Pond in 1978, earning the first of three Tony Award nominations. His best known role however was that of the Narrator/Mysterious Man in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Into The Woods, a role he later repeated in the PBS Great Performances production. He also created the role of the doctor in another Sondhiem/Lapine collaboration, Passion.
He was part of the 1997 all-star revival of Inherit the Wind produced by Tony Randall, playing Rev. Brown in an ensemble that also included George C. Scott, Charles Durning, and Anthony Heald.
He had a 50 year long career working as a character actor on television and film. He won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1978 for his portrayal of William Shakespeare in the episode Henry Winkler Meets William Shakespeare on the program The CBS Festival of Lively Arts for Young People.

Family

He was married to stage and screen costume designer Theoni V. Aldredge from 1953 until her death on January 21, 2011.^[2]

Death

Aldredge died July 22, 2011 in a hospice in Tampa, Florida from lymphoma, aged 83.^[3]^[2]

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Linda Christian, Mexican-born American actress, first Bond girl (1954 television adaptation of Casino Royale) died she was , 87.

noreply@blogger.com (Jett) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 08:00:59 PST

Linda Christian was a Mexican movie actress, who appeared in Mexican and Hollywood films died she was , 87.. Her career reached its peak in the 1940s and 1950s. She played Mara in the last Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan film Tarzan and The Mermaids (1948). She is also noted for being the first Bond girl, appearing in a 1954 TV adaptation of the James Bond novel Casino Royale. In 1963 she starred in an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, "An Out for Oscar".

(November 13, 1923 – July 22, 2011)

Early life

Christian was born as Blanca Rosa Welter in Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico, a daughter of Dutch engineer and Royal Dutch Shell executive, Gerardus Jacob Welter (1904–1981),^[7]^[8] and his Mexican-born wife, the former Blanca Rosa Vorhauer (born 1901), who was of Spanish, German and French descent.^[9]^[10] The Welter family moved a great deal during Christian's youth, living everywhere from South America and Europe, to the Middle East and Africa.^[5] As a result of this nomadic lifestyle, Christian became an accomplished polyglot with the ability to speak fluent French, German, Dutch, Spanish, English, Italian, and even a bit of haphazard Arabic and Russian.^[5]
Christian had three younger siblings, a sister, actress Ariadna Gloria Welter (1930–1998), and two brothers, Gerardus Jacob Welter (b. 1924) and Edward Albert Welter (b. 1932).^[11]^[12]

Career

In her youth Christian's only aspiration was to become a physician.^[13] After she graduated from secondary school she had a fortuitous meeting with her screen idol Errol Flynn, who became her lover, and she was persuaded by him to give up her hopes of joining the medical profession, move to Hollywood, and pursue an acting career.^[13] Not long after arriving in Hollywood she was spotted by Louis B. Mayer's secretary at a fashion show in Beverly Hills. He offered, and she accepted, a seven year contract with MGM.^[14]
Her stage name was invented by Flynn, who gave her the surname of his character in Mutiny on the Bounty.^[15]
She made her film debut in the 1944 musical comedy Up In Arms, co-starring Danny Kaye and Dinah Shore. This movie also happened to be Danny Kaye's own first film.^[14] This film was followed by Holiday In Mexico (1946), Green Dolphin Street (1947), and what was perhaps her best-known film, Tarzan and the Mermaids^[14] (1948). She was the subject of a well-known photograph published in the January 1, 1949, issue of Vogue.

Marriages and relationships

Christian's fame, however, was largely derived from having married (and divorced) the popular movie actor Tyrone Power ^[5] from 1949 to 1956. The couple married in Rome, Italy, at Santa Francesca Romana church; Christian wore a formfitting gold-damask gown, and the church was decorated with two thousand 'Esther' carnations. [1] She and Power were the parents of singer Romina Power and actress Taryn Power.^[16] Romina was one half of the Italian singing duo Al Bano and Romina Power.
A month after she divorced Tyrone Power, Christian was seen with Spanish athlete Alfonso de Portago, who was married to American Carroll de Portago (later Carroll Petrie). Carroll had recently given birth to "Fon's" second child Anthony. De Portago was also dating model Dorian Leigh, mother of his recently born illegitimate son Kim. Linda was photographed with de Portago at the 1957 Mille Miglia car race. The photo shows Christian leaning in to kiss Fon before he drove off and crashed his Ferrari, killing himself, his navigator Ed Nelson and at least ten spectators in the process. The press labeled the photo, "The Kiss of Death." De Portago was 28 years old. Her ex-husband, Tyrone Power, died the following year of a heart attack at the age of 44.
Christian was later married to the Rome-based British actor (and movie heartthrob) Edmund Purdom.^[4]
On several occasions Christian and Power were offered the opportunity to work together, but for various reasons each offer was refused or rescinded.^[16] The most notable opportunity to co-star together came in 1953, when they were offered leading roles in From Here to Eternity. Power did not wish to do the film,^[16] rejected the offer, and the roles went to Donna Reed and Montgomery Clift.

Bibliography

Christian, Linda. Linda, My Own Story. New York: Crown Publishers (1962).

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Charles Taylor Manatt, American lawyer and banker, Chair of Democratic National Committee (1981–1985), Ambassador to Dominican Republic (1999–2001), died from a stroke he was , 75.

noreply@blogger.com (Jett) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 07:54:49 PST

Charles Taylor Manatt was a U.S. Democratic Party political figure died from a stroke he was , 75.. He was an American lawyer, politician and businessman.

(June 9, 1936 - July 22, 2011)

Manatt was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1981 to 1985. In those years, he supervised and directed the 1984 democratic national convention. He is now a delegate, sometimes categorized as a super delegate. He also served as Ambassador to the Dominican Republic from 1999 to 2001. He was the founder of the law firm Manatt, Phelps, and Phillips LLP, where his practice focused on international, administrative, and corporate law. Manatt served until June 2008 as chairman of the Board of Trustees at the George Washington University. His widow is Kathleen K. Manatt.
Manatt was a former Chair of the International Foundation of Election Systems Board of Director. He and his wife Kathleen established the Manatt Democracy Studies Fellowship Program in 1998.
Manatt died on July 22, 2011 at the age of 75.

Early life

Family

Manatt was born on June 9, 1936 in Chicago, Illinois. Son of William Price Manatt, and Lucille Taylor Manatt, the youngest of two boys alongside Richard P. Manatt. Although born in Chicago, he grew up in Audubon, Iowa, helping his father, a farmer, care for the family farm. His mother was a school teacher and later a stay-at-home mom. He attended primary, middle and high school in Audubon. In his sophomore year, he began dating Kathy Klinkefus, who later became his wife.

Education

In 1954, Manatt began studying at Iowa State College (later University). He and Kathy Klinkefus, who also attended Iowa State, graduated in early 1958. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Washington D.C., he began studying at the George Washington University School of Law. He served as President of the San Fernando Valley Bar Association, in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. From xxx until June 2008, Manatt served as chairman of the Board of Trustees at George Washington University. Manatt sat on the Council on American Politics, which brings together leaders from across the nation to address issues facing the growth and enrichment of the Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University.

Personal life

Marriage and children

Manatt married Kathleen (Kathy) Klinkefus on December 29, 1957 in Audubon, Iowa. They then moved to Washington, D.C. where they had their first child, Michele. Then, the family moved to Los Angeles, where they had two boys, Timothy and Daniel. The boys went to public school, while their daughter studied at a combination of public and private schools. She is a graduate of the Westlake School for Girls in West Los Angeles, now known as Harvard-Westlake. While Michele was attending the University of California at Berkeley, the family moved back to Washington D.C, where the two boys attended and graduated from Sidwell Friends School. Manatt continued expanding the Law Firm, where it grew to have offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, Washington, D.C, Orange County, CA, Palo Alto, CA,

Foundation of the law firm

In 1965, while living in Los Angeles he founded the Manatt law firm with his long-time friend and colleague Thomas Phelps, a banking and finance attorney. He began his legal career focusing on banking and financial services. In 1976, Mickey Kantor joined the firm and his name was added to the letterhead, until his departure in 1993. L. Lee Phillips, an entertainment lawyer, joined the firm in 1977, and became a named partner soon after. For its founding location, the firm headquarters are in Los Angeles. Over time, offices were opened in 8 different cities, primarily in California, but also in New York and Washington D.C.. In 2007, the law firm was employing 380 attorneys. It was founded as a general practice, now incorporating litigation, Corporate Finance, Entertainment, Health Care, Real Estate, Advertising, and lobbying. Some of their notable clients are: In advertising, Coca Cola Company, and Yahoo!; In entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and The Eagles, and in consumer services, AT&T, Hilton Hotels Corporation, and Time Warner. Their internal revenue in 2007 was $242 million

Chairman of the California State Democratic Party

National political life

In 1981, Manatt became the national chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and oversaw and executed the 1984 party convention, nominating former Vice President Walter Mondale of Minnesota for President, and New York congresswoman Geraldine A. Ferraro, making history as that marked the first time a woman was a major party nominee. The convention took place from July 16–19, 1984 in Moscone Center, San Francisco. The permanent chairman that year was Martha Layne Collins of Kentucky. Mondale was chosen on the first ballot. That year, the keynote speaker on the first evening of the convention was Governor Mario Cuomo of New York. Although the convention was considered a great success, the Mondale-Ferraro ticket could not get traction against the popularity of then-president and Republican Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush.
In 1987, he chaired Illinois Sen. Paul Simon's presidential campaign and in 1992 he co-chaired the Clinton/Gore presidential campaign.^[2]

Later Life

At the time of his death Manatt resided in Washington, D.C. where he helped run and work at his law firm, and was engaged in numerous civic activities. He had a granddaugther and grandson, Victoria and Patrick, the children of his daughter Michele Manatt, a former U.S. State Department and White House Drug Policy Office official, and her husband Wolfram Anders, an investment professional with the International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank Group. In 2010, their second granddaughter was born to Daniel and his wife Nikole Manatt.

Death

Charles Manatt died at age 75 on the evening of July 22, 2011 in Richmond, Virginia.^[3]

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Ifti Nasim, Pakistani-born American poet and radio host, died from a heart attack he was , 64

noreply@blogger.com (Jett) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 07:50:51 PST

Ifti Nasim was a gay Pakistani American poet died from a heart attack he was , 64. Having moved to the US to escape persecution for his sexual orientation, he became known locally for establishing Sangat, an organization to support LGBT south-Asian youths, and internationally for publishing Narman, a poetry collection that was the first open expression of homosexual themes in the Urdu language.

(1946 – July 22, 2011)

Personal life

Nasim was born in Lyallpur, British India (now Faisalabad, Pakistan) shortly before independence, a middle child in a large family. As a teenager he felt ostracized and alone, and was unable to live as openly gay; at the age of 21 he emigrated from Pakistan to the US, inspired in part by an article in Life magazine that he recalls describing the US as "the place for gays to be in".^[2]^[3] Several of his siblings later followed him to the US, and he eventually naturalized as a US citizen.
Ifti Nasim died in hospital in Chicago on July 22, 2011 following a heart attack, at the age of 64.

Poetry

The publication for which Ifti Nasim was best known was a book of poetry entitled Narman, a word meaning "hermaphrodite" or "half-man, half-woman" in Persian. It met immediate controversy in Pakistan and had to be distributed underground; even the printer of the book, belatedly realizing its contents, was reported to shout, "Take these unholy and dirty books away from me, or I'll set them on fire!” However, its frankness inspired a younger generation of Pakistani poets to write "honest" poetry, a genre becoming known as "narmani" poetry. ^[4]
He later released Myrmecophile in 2000,^[4] and Abdoz in 2005.^[1]

Ifti Nasim,2010

Ifti Nasim

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Franz Alt, Austrian-born American mathematician died he was , 100.

noreply@blogger.com (Jett) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 07:42:48 PST

Franz Leopold Alt was an Austrian-born American mathematician who made major contributions to computer science in its early days died he was , 100.. He was best known as one of the founders of the Association for Computing Machinery, and served as its president from 1950 to 1952.

(November 30, 1910 – July 21, 2011)

Vienna

Alt was born in Vienna, Austria on November 30, 1910 to a secular Jewish family. He received a PhD in mathematics in 1932 from the University of Vienna, where his principal teachers were Hans Hahn and Karl Menger. He was one of the regular participants in, and contributors to, Menger’s “Mathematisches Kolloquium.” [Afterword, Karl Menger, Ergebnisse eines Mathematischen Kolloquiums, Springer-Verlag/Wien, 1998] Alt engaged in research in set-theoretic topology and logical foundations of geometry.
In addition, in the next few years he became interested in econometrics, stimulated by Oskar Morgenstern, then professor of economics at the University of Vienna, later at Princeton University. In 1936, Alt developed an axiomatic foundation for economic concepts, described in “Ueber die Messbarkeit des Nutzens,” which he presented at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Oslo.[Zeitschrift fuer Nationaloekonomie, VII/2, 1936; in German] This paper was also published as “On the Measurability of Utility” in Preferences, Utility, and Demand: A Minnesota Symposium (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1971).

New York

Alt left Austria at the time of its occupation by Nazi Germany in 1938 and came to New York with his wife Alice Modern, whom he married just before leaving Vienna. In the next few years it was their highest priority to save relatives and friends endangered by the Nazi terror in Austria or Germany. This involved finding Americans willing to serve as sponsors for immigration visas, and they were successful in helping about 30 adults and children to escape.
Between 1938 and 1946 Alt worked for six years at the Econometric Institute in New York City, interrupted by two years of service in the United States Army. At the Econometric Institute he served successively as Research Principal and Assistant Director of Research engaged in the analysis of economic time series by methods such as multiple correlation, used for business forecasting. He was concerned with the use of mathematical and statistical methods for the study and forecasting of business conditions in the economy as a whole and in a number of industries, commodity and security markets. One of the clients advised by Alt was the General Motors Corporation.

Army - 10th Mountain Division to Aberdeen

When the United States entered World War II, he volunteered for military service but was at first rejected as an alien; he was drafted into the Army in 1943. (Citizenship was granted in 1944.) He then served in the elite 10th Mountain Division, trained for skiing, rock climbing and mountain fighting. Toward the end of the war he graduated from officers’ training as a Second Lieutenant.
While in military service he was assigned to the Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground in 1945, in charge of planning for electronic computation. On discharge from the Army, he returned to the Econometric Institute for one year. As a civilian he returned to Aberdeen in 1946-48, and was Deputy Chief of the Computing Laboratory, which was a general-purpose mathematical service organization operating large digital and analog computing machines, punched card installation, and data reduction facility.

National Bureau of Standards, Washington, DC

As Deputy Chief of the Computation Laboratory (1948–52), then of the Applied Mathematics Division (1952–67), he directed the early use of computers throughout the National Bureau of Standards and elsewhere in the federal government, as well as research in numerical analysis, statistical engineering and some other branches of applied mathematics. From 1959 to 1961, he was one of the editors of the NBS Journal of Research.
For several years he also served as administrator of the Bureau of Standards’ program to award research grants in physics and chemistry in India, Pakistan and Israel, where foreign currency (PL 480) available for such purposes had been allocated to the Bureau.
Also during this time, he became interested in the use of computers for automatic translation of languages. This led to the founding of the Association for Computational Linguistics and to the organization of two international meetings jointly with a similar group in Japan, one in Washington, D.C., the other in Tokyo.

ACM – Association for Computing Machinery

Alt has a long history with the Association for Computing Machinery, known as ACM. He was one of its founders and served as its third president (1950–52). He was editor of its Journal (1954–58). Alt was the first recipient of its Distinguished Service Award (1970). In 1994, he was in the first group to be inducted as a Fellow of the ACM. Alt represented ACM on the National Research Council from 1961 to 1964. He is also a member of the American Mathematical Society, and formerly a member of the American Statistical Association, Institute of Mathematical Statistics, Econometric Society, and Association for Computational Linguistics.
Alt has written and been interviewed about the history of ACM several times. He wrote “Fifteen Years ACM: The development years of ACM, as recounted in 1962 by founding member and former president Franz L. Alt, depicts the players and progress of an organization committed to sharing computing knowledge and skills” (Communications of the ACM, June 1962, Vol.5 #6; reprinted October 1987, Vol. 30 #10).
Alt was interviewed in 1969 by Uta C. Merzbach for the Computer Oral History Collection at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History(http://invention.smithsonian.org/downloads/fa_cohc_tr_alt690224.pdf). Oral History Transcript at Niels Bohr Archives, American Institute of Physics, 24 Feb. And 13 March 1969.
For the 25th anniversary of the founding of ACM, Alt wrote “Archeology of Computers: Reminiscences, 1945-47" (Communications of the ACM, July 1972, Vol. 15 #7).
We had succeeded in obtaining John von Neumann as keynote speaker [for the first national meeting of the ACM]. He discussed the need for, and likely impact of, electronic computing. He mentioned the “new programming method” for ENIAC and explained that its seemingly small vocabulary was in fact ample; that future computers, then in the design stage, would get along on a dozen instruction types, and this was known to be adequate for expressing all of mathematics. . . Von Neumann went on to say that one need not be surprised at this small number, since about 1,000 words were known to be adequate for most situations of real life, and mathematics was only a small part of life, and a very simple part at that. This caused some hilarity in the audience, which provoked von Neumann to say: “If people do not believe that mathematics is simple, it is only because they do not realize how complicated life is."
Alt was interviewed in 1995 by Janet Benton (excerpted as “Franz Alt Remembers the Early Years of Computing and the Creation of ACM,” ACMMemberNet Supplement to Communications of the ACM, Feb. 1996, Vol. 39 #2).
For JACM’s 50th Anniversary, he contributed “Journal of the ACM–The Beginnings” (Journal

American Institute of Physics, New York

In 1967, distressed by the war in Vietnam, he left the United States Government for the position of Deputy Director of the Information Division of the American Institute of Physics in New York. There he was instrumental in establishing a computerized information system on papers in the physics journal literature, including hierarchical classification, subject indexing and a citation index.

Retirement

After his retirement in 1973, he did volunteer work for peace and justice organizations, with an emphasis on work for peace in Southeast Asia and anti-nuclear work, particularly for Clergy and Laity Concerned About Vietnam (1976–91) [Sheila Collins, “A Man for All Seasons: A Tribute to Franz Alt,” CALC Report, October 1988]. Throughout he continued to pursue his lifelong hobbies of hiking, climbing and skiing, as well as playing violin and viola in chamber music. He turned 100 in November 2010.^[1]

Recognitions

Alt was interviewed by Reinhard Siegmund-Schultze for his history of German and Austrian mathematicians who fled from Hitler. Mathematiker auf der Flucht vor Hitler: Quellen und Studien zur Emigration einer Wissenschaft, (Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung, 1998). Expanded and translated into English as Mathematicians Fleeing from Nazi Germany: Individual Fates and Global Impact (Princeton University Press, 2009).
In 1998, Alt attended the International Congress of Mathematicians in Berlin as the guest of the Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung (German Mathematical Society) in connection with its exhibition “Terror and Exile: Persecution and Expulsion of Mathematicians from Berlin between 1933-1945."
Die Oesterreichische Mathematische Gesellschaft (the Austrian Mathematical Society) invited him to attend the 2001 joint meeting in Vienna of the German and Austrian mathematical societies in conjunction with the exhibition “Vienna 1938 and the Exodus of Mathematicians.” At the opening of the exhibition, he spoke of his recollections [“Personliche Erinnerungen an 1938," Internationale Mathematische Nachrichten, Nr. 188 (2001), 1-7 www.oemg.ac.at/IMN/imn188.pdf]
In May 2007, Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer conferred on Alt the “Ehrenkreuz fuer Wissenschaft und Kunst I. Klasse,” the highest distinction for science and art in Austria. In a symposium in the University Dr. Karl Sigmund, professor of mathematics of the University of Vienna, spoke of Alt’s place in the history of mathematics in Vienna between the wars. Dr. Walter Schachermayer, then of the Vienna University of Technology, spoke about Alt’s paper “On the Measurement of Utility,” presented at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Oslo in 1936, and its relation to the work of John von Neumann, Oscar Morgenstern and Kenneth Arrow, and recent developments in the notion of coherent risk measures. [SAA [Standards Alumni Association] Newsletter, June 2007, p. 19].
While he was in Vienna in May 2007, Alt spoke to students of his old gymnasium, the Stubenbastei. The school established the Franz Alt Preis in his honor. The prize is awarded in two categories, Science and Mathematics and Human Rights and Justice, for papers written by graduating students, and has been awarded annually since 2008.

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Elliot Handler, American businessman, co-founder of Mattel, namer of the Barbie doll, creator of Hot Wheels, died from a heart failure he was , 95

noreply@blogger.com (Jett) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:53:44 PST

Elliot Handler was the co-founder of Mattel. With his wife, he was a developer of some of the biggest-selling toys in American history, including Barbie dolls, Chatty Cathy, Creepy Crawlers and Hot Wheels.

(April 9, 1916 – July 21, 2011)

Family and education

Handler was born in Chicago, Illinois, on April 9, 1916, and grew up in Denver, Colorado.^[3] He studied industrial design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He married Ruth Moskowicz and they had a daughter who is the namesake of Barbie dolls and a son who died in 1994 of a brain tumor, but who was the namesake of Ken dolls.^[4]^[5]

Mattel

Mattel was named after business partners Harold Matson and Elliot Handler. Elliot's wife, Ruth, took over Matson's role when the Handlers bought out his share in the late 1940s. Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the Barbie doll that debuted in 1959 and which Ruth named after their daughter Barbara Handler. The Barbie doll is still one of the top-selling dolls. Mattel introduced the talking Chatty Cathy doll in 1960.
Later talking dolls included Chatty Baby, Charmin' Chatty, and toys made for cartoon favorites, such as Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig. Television characters, such as Herman Munster and Mr. Ed, were also transformed into Mattel talking toys. The pull string talking mechanism in these dolls and toys revolutionized the toy industry.
Elliot Handler had a direct hand in the production of two Mattel product lines. In 1966 Mattel introduced smaller dolls called Liddle Kiddles. Handler claimed he wanted them to resemble little children in neighborhoods across America. They were sculpted by doll artist Martha Armstrong-Hand. Kiddles were a great success and continued to be produced in different versions until the early 1970s. Another product line was Hot Wheels, introduced in 1968, which gave rise to 10,000 different models.^[5]

Later life

Originally called Mattel Creations, it has gone on to become the largest toy maker in the world. In April 2008, Handler was honored by Mattel with a 90th birthday party at its headquarters in El Segundo, California. Guests included his daughter Barbara Segal, after whom the Barbie doll was named.^[5]
Handler died of heart failure at home in Century City, a district of Los Angeles, California, at age 95 on July 21, 2011.^[5] Ruth Handler died in 2002.^[3] He was survived by his 70 year-old daughter Barbara.

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

William Hildenbrand, American government officer, Secretary of the United States Senate (1981–1985) died he was , 89

noreply@blogger.com (Jett) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:46:44 PST

William F. Hildenbrand was an American government officer who served as the Secretary of the United States Senate from 1981 to 1985 died he was , 89.

(November 28, 1921 - July 21, 2011)

Hildenbrand was born in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, on November 28, 1921.^[1] He enlisted in the United States Army in 1942 during World War II and was sent to Europe in the infantry.^[1] He returned to Philadelphia following the end of World War II, where he worked as a radio announcer.^[1] He was once again deployed by the Army during the Korean War.^[1]
Hildenbrand was hired as a congressional staffer by Rep. Harry Haskell, a Republican from Delaware, in 1957, based moved to Washington D.C.^[1] Haskell lost his bid for re-election in 1958, so Hildenbrand took a position with the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.^[1] In 1969, Hildenbrand returned to the Capitol when he was hired as a staff member for the Republican Minority Whip, Senator Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania.^[1]
Hildenbrand became the Secretary for the Minority of the Senate in 1974.^[1] Republicans won control of the United States Senate in the 1980 Senate elections and took control of the chamber in January 1981.^[1] Hildenbrand aided Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker in the the transition from Democratic control to Republican control, the first such transfer of party control in the Senate in twenty-six years.^[1]
The Republicans named Hildenbrand as the Secretary of the United States Senate in 1981.^[1] He served as Secretary until his retirement in 1985.^[1]
Hildenbrand released a memoir entitled, When the Senate Cared, in 2007.^[1] He also added his stories and history to the Senate's oral history archive for preservation.^[1]
Hildenbrand died on July 21, 2011, at the age of 89. The United States Senate passed a resolution honoring him for his service to the chamber.^[1]

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Bruce Sundlun, American politician, Governor of Rhode Island (1991–1995) died he was , 91.

noreply@blogger.com (Jett) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:27:51 PST

Bruce Sundlun (born Bruce George Sundlun) was an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as 71st Governor of Rhode Island from 1991 to 1995. He was Rhode Island's second Jewish governor, and the only Jewish governor in the United States during his two terms. In addition to politics, Sundlun had a varied career as a military pilot, federal attorney, practicing lawyer, corporate executive and university lecturer.

(January 19, 1920 – July 21, 2011),

Early life and education

Sundlun was born in Providence on January 19, 1920 to Walter Irving Sundlun and Jan Zelda (Colitz) Sundlun. His grandparents were Lithuanian Jewish immigrants.^[4] Sundlun attended the Gordon School, Providence Classical High School and Tabor Academy. In 1933 while attending boy scout camp at Camp Yawgoog he fell though ice on a pond and was rescued by a young John Chaffee, and while he was in high school he was track star, excelling in long jump events.^[5] Upon finishing college classes begun in 1938, he received a B.A. from Williams College in 1946 after serving during World War II in the United States Army Air Forces flying B-17 bombers in the 8th Air Force in England. He attended Harvard Law School, graduating with a Doctor of Laws degree in 1949.^[3]

Military service

While still in college, Bruce Sundlun volunteered for service in the U.S. Army Air Forces Aviation Cadet Program on December 8, 1941, at Westover Field. He was trained as a four-engine bomber pilot at Maxwell Field in Alabama, after basic flight training at the USAAC Southeast Training Center at Orangeburg, South Carolina, the Greenville Army Air Field at Greenville, Mississippi, and George Field in Lawrenceville, Illinois.
During overseas active duty beginning in June 1943, Sundlun served as a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot in the England-based 384th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force at Grafton-Underwood Air Base. His plane the Damn Yankee^[6] was shot down over Nazi-occupied Jabbeke, Belgium on 1 December 1943 after the plane was damaged by flak during the bombing of Solingen, Germany, on his 13th mission.^[7] He was named an honorary citizen of Jabbeke in 2009 because of the fact that his actions saved countless lives in the town center of Jabbeke.^[8] He and his copilot Lt. Andrew J. Boles banked the airplane hard to the left prior to bailing out, crashing it safely into a turnip field at Zomerweg 41, south of the Jabbeke town center.
After six months time cooperating with the French Resistance under the code name Salamander, he made several attempts to enter Spain near Biarritz, and later near Foix. But after a deciding that there was too much danger of capture or loss in the snowy Pyrenees, he made his way on stolen bicycles north-eastward across France and escaped into Switzerland on 5 May 1944 near Fêche-l'Église. Before escaping into Switzerland, he was engaged with the Maquis in acts of sabotage near Belfort against German Army units under the command of Russian defector General Andrey Vlasov.^[3]^[9] Later, he was recruited by Allen Dulles working out of the U.S. Embassy in Bern to reenter France under the auspices of the Office of Strategic Services to act as a bombardment spotter for the Allied invasion of Marseilles in August 1944. After a brief service as a pilot of C-54 Skymaster cargo planes into Karachi, and over "The Hump" to Kunming after VE Day, he ferried bombers (B-24 Liberators and B-29 Superfortresses) from the U.S. mainland to Tinian in the Mariana Islands and into other bases in the Pacific Theater of Operations.
In August 1945, Sundlun attained the rank of captain, and left active service at the end of the war. He received the Purple Heart, Distinguished Flying Cross, and Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters from the U.S. military, and in 1977 he received the Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur from the French government.^[10] Despite ending his active service in 1945, he remained in the U.S. Air Force Reserves and rose through the officer ranks until he retired as a Colonel in 1980 after serving with the 376th Troop Carrier Squadron at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts, and the 459th Troop Carrier Group, Medium at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland ^[11]
In September 1948 Sundlun flew surplus B-17 bombers from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona to the newly created state of Israel to help form the Israeli Air Force. Later on 27 November 1979, he was awarded the Prime Minister's Medal by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin for his services to the State of Israel.^[12]^[13]

[edit] Bruce Sundlun's Military Awards & Decorations

USAAF Command pilot

Distinguished Flying Cross

Purple Heart

Air Medal plus two oak leaf clusters

European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal

Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal

American Campaign Medal

World War II Victory Medal

Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur (France)

Legal and business career

From 1949 to 1972, Sundlun was a practicing attorney. In 1949, he was appointed by Attorney General J. Howard McGrath to serve as an Assistant U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C. and later served as a Special Assistant to the U.S. Attorney General. From 1954 to 1972, he was in private law practice in both Washington, D.C. and Providence, with the law firms of Amram, Hahn, and Sundlun, and Sundlun, Tirana and Scher.
Sundlun was active as a businessman from the 1960s through the 1990s. He was a pioneer in the jet charter industry in 1964 by being one of the founding members of the board of directors of Executive Jet Aviation (EJA), along with Air Force generals Curtis E. LeMay, and Paul Tibbetts, and entertainers James Stewart and Arthur Godfrey among others, with retired Air Force Brigadier General Olbert F. ("Dick") Lassiter as president and chairman of the board.^[14]^[15] Shortly after incorporation in Ohio, Sundlun arranged financing for EJA by engineering a stock purchase by American Contract Company of Wilmington, Delaware, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad. EJA initially began operations in 1964 with a fleet of ten Learjet 23 aircraft.^[16] A few years afterward, a number of financial and legal improprieties were made by Lassiter including the purchase of Boeing 707 and Boeing 727 aircraft in violation of federal law prohibiting railroad ownership of large aircraft. An order by the Civil Aeronautics Board for EJA to either dispose of the large airplanes or for the Penn Central Railroad to divest its $22 million investment led to the near collapse of EJA in 1970.^[17] The company's creditors reacted by demanding the removal of Lassiter as president.^[18] On July 2, 1970 Sundlun was installed as EJA president, and he set out to rebuild the company. Under his leadership, the big jets were sold and he brought the company into the black. In the process, Sundlun, Robert Lee Scott, Jr. and Joseph Samuels ("Dody") Sinclair, grandson of one of the founders of The Outlet Company of Providence, borrowed $1.25 million from the Industrial Trust Company of Providence to buy out Penn Central's interest in EJA. That purchase was completed in 1972 as part of the Penn Central Railroad's bankruptcy proceedings. When Paul Tibbetts became president of EJA in 1976, he said that the company's turn around, under Sundlun's guidance, was one of the nation's great business success stories of that decade.^[19] By the end of Sundlun's presidency, EJA was doing business with approximately 250 contract flying customers and logging more than three million miles per year. Sundlun remained on the Board of Directors of EJA until it was sold in 1984 to a group of investors led by Richard Santulli. The company is still in business with the name of NetJets as one of the holdings of Berkshire Hathaway.
From 1976 to 1988, Sundlun was president and chief executive officer of The Outlet Company, a department store and broadcast communications company in Providence. In close association with Dody Sinclair, he led the diversification of the corporation by expanding its radio and television broadcast communications portfolio in the 1970s and 1980s until it had 147 retail stores and 11 radio and television stations.^[20] He presided over the corporation during the 1981 sale of the company's flagship Providence department store, sale of several radio stations, the merger of The Outlet Company with the Rockefeller Group in 1984, and the renaming of the company to Outlet Communications.^[20] In 1986 after the Rockefeller family voted to not expand further into broadcast communications, a group of Outlet Communications executives, led by Sundlun, executed a leveraged buyout of the company.^[21] Remaining as president throughout the entire merger and leveraged buyout sequence, Sundlun led the doubling of Outlet Communications holdings of licensed television broadcast stations from 4 to 11 across the country. And in his last three years as president between 1986 and 1988, he led the sale of the Outlet Communications stations in Orlando, San Antonio and Sacramento.

Politics and public service

Sundlun ran twice but lost the Rhode Island governorship races in 1986 and 1988, but won it in his third try in 1990, defeating incumbent governor Edward D. DiPrete in a landslide victory 74%-26%,the largest majority for any Rhode Island governor. He won reelection in 1992, but in 1994, he failed to win the Democratic primary against Myrth York, and she was defeated in the general election.
Only one hour after Sundlun's inauguration as governor on January 1, 1991, he announced the closure of 45 banks and credit unions in the state due to the collapse of their private insurer, the Rhode Island Share and Deposit Indemnity Corporation (RISDIC).^[22] Resolution of the crisis was through Sundlun's creation of the Rhode Island Depositor's Economic Protection Corporation (DEPCO) to manage the assets of closed banks and assure depositor repayment. Sundlun served as the chairman of the DEPCO Board of Directors. Despite considerable political resistance and the permanent closure of several institutions due to their failure to acquire Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or National Credit Union Administration insurance, all depositor funds were repaid in full plus interest, after two and a half years.^[23]
During Sundlun's two terms as governor, he took particular interest in expanding Rhode Island as a destination for conventions and tourism. Noting that a shortage of hotels in Providence hindered the city's development as a convention destination by building the Rhode Island Convention Center. Later, he urged the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority to facilitate the building of a hotel that eventually became The Westin Providence.^[24]^[25] He created the Rhode Island Airport Corporation as an entity to revitalize and operate Rhode Island's state airports, and he was responsible for a complete redesign and rebuild of the passenger terminal and airport approach roads at T.F. Green Airport in Warwick.^[26]^[27] In 1992, he aided in the establishment of the Quonset Air Museum at the Quonset State Airport in North Kingstown.^[28] He was also was responsible for building the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge, and the Jamestown Expressway, as well as arranging the financing of Providence Place Mall, and the relocation of the Woonasquatucket River to permit the construction of Waterplace Park and the Citizens Bank Building in downtown Providence.^[29] The Bruce Sundlun Terminal at T.F. Green Airport is named in his honor, and the airport now generates over $2 billion in economic activity annually.^[30]
Sundlun served as a co-chairman of the inaugural parade committee for President John F. Kennedy in 1960 and 1961, and was appointed by President Kennedy in October, 1962 as an incorporating member of the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT), where he served for 30 years as a director.^[31] In 1978, President Jimmy Carter appointed him as a member of the Board of Visitors of the United States Air Force Academy where he served two four-year terms,^[32] and that same year, he was appointed by Governor J. Joseph Garrahy as a Rhode Island Commodore. He served a four-year term as a director of the National Security Education Board, appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993.^[33] Sundlun was a delegate to Democratic National Convention in 1964, 1968, 1980, 1988, and 2000, as well as to the Rhode Island Constitutional Convention of 1985. He was a member of the Providence School Board from 1984 to 1990. And from 1995 until his death, Sundlun had been teaching political science and Rhode Island history at the University of Rhode Island as Governor in Residence.^[34]

Personal life

From the 1950s to the late-1980s, Sundlun maintained a residence at Salamander Farm, a 130-acre (0.53 km²) estate in The Plains, Virginia, which he named after his wartime identity with the French Underground.^[35] From 2004 until his death in 2011, he lived in Jamestown, Rhode Island with his wife Susan, a professional photographer and owner of East Greenwich Photo.^[36]
Sundlun had been married five times and has four children. He was the father of WFSB news anchor Kara (Hewes) Sundlun and father-in-law to WFSB news anchor Dennis House.^[37] Sundlun admitted paternity after Hewes filed suit in 1993 alleging that Sundlun had fathered her in a relationship with her mother, Judith Vargo (Hewes). During the initial stages of the suit, Sundlun said that a payment to Judith Hewes of $35,000 in 1976 and Kara's adoption by Robert Hewes in the late 1970s had fully absolved him of financial responsibility in the matter.^[38] However, Sundlun accepted Kara Hewes fully as his daughter assuring that her college education was fully financed.^[39]
Sundlun also had 3 sons from his first marriage to Madeleine Gimbel: Tracy Walter Sundlun, Vice President of Competitor Group, a promoter and manager of marathon races who at 17 coached track at the 1972 Olympic Games and was the youngest ever Olympic coach;^[40]^[41] Stuart Arthur Sundlun, a financial services executive managing the New York operations of Triago;^[42] and Peter Bruce Sundlun, a commercial airline pilot with Dominion Aviation Services and Atlantic Southeast Airlines until 2009, becoming a Transportation Security Officer with the Transportation Security Administration.^[43] Tracy has a daughter named Felicity, Peter has a son named Hunter, and Kara has two children, Helena and Julian.^[3]
Sundlun died on 21 July 2011 at his home in Jamestown, Rhode Island.^[2]^[44] Sundlun was accorded full state and military honors prior to and at his funeral and burial on 24 July 2011.^[45] He was buried at Temple Beth El Cemetery in Cranston, Rhode Island.^[46]

Media reports and popular controversy

In July 1993, when he thought that three raccoons on his 4-acre (16,000 m²) Newport estate were rabid, Sundlun shot at them with a 12-gauge shotgun. Later the Providence Journal-Bulletin reported that the act was illegal according to state fish and game laws. The day of the publication, Sundlun turned himself in to the state police for arrest stating that ethics was the cornerstone of his administration. The state police reluctantly complied, so the case went to court and Sundlun pleaded guilty. But state officials and his own lawyer Robert Flanders, convinced Sundlun that his actions were not a crime because his estate did not constitute a "compact area" and because the threat of rabies that year had led the state to waive restrictions on shooting raccoons. His guilty plea was withdrawn and all charges were dropped.^[47]
In December 1997, in East Greenwich, Sundlun attempted to purchase some plastic forks from a nearby CVS/pharmacy convenience store for a Christmas party he was attending. Police were called after an argument over Sundlun and the teenaged employees for not complying with his requests. Sundlun eventually issued an apology to the workers and the pharmacy chain for his actions.^[48]
On February 24, 2009, Sundlun was involved in a dispute over place in line at branch of Citizens Bank in East Greenwich. Sundlun was pushed to the ground by Charles Machado, 59, of Warwick. Sundlun hit his head and was stunned, but he declined to press charges against Machado.^[49]
In recent years, Sundlun had been involved in some traffic accidents and traffic violations, which led two Rhode Island police departments, North Kingstown in 2007 and Jamestown in 2009, to convince the state Department of Motor Vehicles in evaluating Sundlun's ability to drive. In 2008, he was admonished by authorities of University of Rhode Island about his driving on the campus after separate incidents in which he drove on the sidewalk, nearly hit a professor who was walking with a cane, and allegedly bumped into a parked car. Sundlun passed the first driving test which was the result of the North Kingstown request. On April 30, 2009, Sundlun voluntarily surrendered his license.^[50]^[51]
On June 4, 2009, Sundlun was on a WPRO radio talk show in which he claimed that he flew a private plane owned by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Votolato, 79, from T.F. Green Airport to Hartford. Within days, Judge Votolato and Sundlun had issued a statement that the judge was in fact in full control of the aircraft. While Votolato's pilot's license had been maintained up to date, Sundlun's commercial pilot's license had expired in the late 1970s.^[52]

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Kazimierz Świątek, Estonian-born Belarusian Roman Catholic cardinal, Archbishop of Minsk-Mohilev (1991–2006) died he was , 96.

noreply@blogger.com (Jett) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:20:37 PST

Kazimierz Świątek (Belarusian: Казімір Свёнтак, Kazimir Sviontak) was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who was most known for his resistance to Cold War-era Soviet Communism and for his service in Minsk, Belarus died he was , 96.. Cardinal Swiatek was the former Metropolitan Archbishop of Minsk-Mohilev, and Apostolic Administrator of Pinsk. He was a distinguished member of the Polish community in Belarus.

(21 October 1914 – 21 July 2011)

Świątek was born to Polish parents in the municipality of Walk, in what was then the Russian Empire, and which is now the municipality of Valga, Estonia. His family were deported to Siberia during the Russian Revolution. His father then died fighting in the Polish-Soviet War. The future Cardinal lived in newly independent Poland from 1922. After completing his philosophical and theological studies at the seminary in Pinsk, Świątek was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1939, and then was sent to the parish of Prużany.^[1]^[2]
The Soviet Union occupied Pinsk after the Nazi-Soviet Pact divided Poland in 1939. Świątek was arrested by the NKVD in April 1941, and held on death row in Brest for two months.^[3] Father Świątek escaped from prison, taking advantage of the confusion caused by the Nazi German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, and returned to Pruzhany.
In December 1944, the NKVD arrested Swiatek for a second time. The following year he was sentenced to 10 years hard labor in a concentration camp, and spent nine years in Siberia and the north of the Soviet Union, working in the taiga and in the mines. After his release in June 1954, he returned to Pinsk.^[4]
In 1988, he was made a Monsignor- a Chaplain of His Holiness- by Pope John Paul II, who in 1991 appointed him Metropolitan Archbishop of Minsk-Mohilev and Apostolic Administrator of Pinsk, and on 26 November 1994 created and proclaimed him Cardinal-Priest of San Gerardo Maiella. He was elected as the first President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Belarus, which according to the church's website "underlines his leading role in the Church in Belarus."^[5]
In July 2006, Świątek, then aged 91, his resignation for reasons of age and declining health from the offices of Metropolitan Archbishop of Minsk-Mohilev was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI, but he remained Apostolic Administrator of Pinsk until 30 June 2011, when Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, his successor as Metropolitan Archbishop of Minsk-Mohilev, replaced him also as Apostolic Administrator of Pinsk. On 21 July 2011, Świątek died in Pinsk after a long illness. At the time of his death, he was the second oldest member of the Sacred College of Cardinals. Pope Benedict XVI sent a telegram to Archbishop Kondrusiewicz and the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Belarus expressing his condolences for the Cardinal's death and praising him for his lengthy service as Cardinal Archbishop and his continuing fidelity and loyalty to the Church and to Christ during his periods of imprisonment back in the early years of the Cold War, in the post-war period, when the Church in the Soviet Union had to be largely clandestine.

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Elwy Yost, Canadian television host and writer died he was , 86.

noreply@blogger.com (Jett) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:06:32 PST

Elwy McMurran Yost, CM a television host, best-known for hosting CBC's weekday Passport to Adventure series from 1965–67, and TVOntario's weekday Magic Shadows, from 1974 until the mid-1980s, and Saturday Night at the Movies from 1974–99 died he was , 86..

(July 10, 1925 – July 21, 2011) was

Early life

Born in Weston, Ontario, the son of pickle manufacturer Elwy Honderich Yost^[3] and Annie Josephine McMurran. In his youth, the senior Yost would give his son a dime a week to go see a movie on condition that he'd then recount the plot.^[4] Yost graduated from the Weston Collegiate and Vocational School in 1943.^[5]
He began studies at the University of Toronto in 1943, and studied engineering but left, in 1944, after failing his exams and joined the Canadian Infantry in 1944. He was honorably discharged in September 1945. After graduating from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology in 1948, he worked variously in construction, at the Canadian National Exhibition, made an independent film with a classmate and acted in summerstock theatre.^[3]^[4] In 1951, he was working in the circulation department of the Toronto Star where he met his future wife, Lila Melby. He also worked in the Avro Canada personnel department from 1953 until 1959 when he and most of the staff were laid off due to the cancellation of the Avro Arrow project. He then worked as an English and History teacher at Burnhamthorpe Collegiate in Etobicoke, Ontario.^[3]

Career in television

Through his acting connections, Yost learned that CBC was looking for quiz show panelist.^[4] Yost auditioned and, through the the 1960s, appeared intermittently on the CBC as a panelist on shows such as Live a Borrowed Life, The Superior Sex and Flashback. In the late 1960s he created and hosted Yost CBC's Passport to Adventure, featuring classic movie serials, and also assisted in the founding of the Metropolitan Educational Television Authority (META).^[3]
He joined the Ontario Educational Communications Authority (later TVOntario) in the early 1970s as a manager and, in 1974, was assisting with the establishment of its regional councils, when he was told OECA had acquired the broadcast rights to three Ingmar Bergmann films and was asked if he had any ideas on how the station could air them in an educational context. Yost packaged the shows as Three Films in Search of God adding educational content in the form of interviews, introductions, and discussions thus creating the model for what became Saturday Night at the Movies,^[3] which became the channel's longest-running, and one of its most popular shows.^[6] Yost also developed Magic Shadows, which showed classic serials in half-hour early evening installments with introductions providing background and interesting details by Yost, the movie review show Rough Cuts, Talking Film and The Moviemakers.^[3]
The format of Saturday Night at the Movies was that of two movies, separated by in-depth interviews conducted by Yost. In the early years the interviews were with local film experts, but the show's producers took the opportunity to interview visiting actors when they had engagements in Toronto. As the show grew in popularity, funds were found to send Yost and a crew to Hollywood to arrange interviews with film personalities. The library includes interviews with the stars of classic films, character actors, directors, screen-writers, composers, film-editors, special-effects people, and sometimes even their children.
Some regular viewers started to plan their Saturday nights so that they could catch just the interview section if they had already seen that night's films. When Yost retired from TVOntario in 1999, a copy of the library of interviews was donated to the Motion Picture Academy.
His son, Graham Yost, is a screenwriter whose most famous credit was the hit 1994 film Speed. Speed was the final movie Yost hosted before retiring from Saturday Night at the Movies in 1999.
Yost wrote four books: Magic Moments from the Movies, Secret of the Lost Empire, Billy and the Bubbleship (also known as Mad Queen of Mordra) and White Shadows.^[3]

Later life

Elwy Yost wrote a mystery novel, White Shadows, which was published in 2003.

Death

Yost recovered from "a serious operation" he had in 2005, according to his wife, Lila. He died in Vancouver, British Columbia on July 21, 2011, aged 86.^[2]

Honours

In 1999, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.^[7]

Bibliography

Magic Moments from the Movies (1978) ISBN 0-385-13691-9
The Mad Queen of Mordra (1987) ISBN 0-590-71787-1
Billy and the Bubbleship (1982) ISBN 0590710931*also published as The Mad Queen of Mordra
Secrets of the Lost Empire (1980) ISBN 0590710559

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Lucian Freud, German-born British painter died he was , 88.

noreply@blogger.com (Jett) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:01:44 PST

Lucian Michael Freud, OM, CH was a British painter died he was , 88.. Known chiefly for his thickly impasted portrait and figure paintings, he was widely considered the pre-eminent British artist of his time.His works are noted for their psychological penetration, and for their often discomfiting examination of the relationship between artist and model.

(8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011)

Early life and family

Born in Berlin, Freud was the son of an Austrian Jewish father, Ernst Ludwig Freud, an architect, and a German Jewish mother, Lucie née Brasch.^[4]^[5] He was a grandson of Sigmund Freud, the elder brother of the late broadcaster, writer and politician Clement Freud (thus uncle of Emma and Matthew Freud) and the younger brother of Stephan Gabriel Freud.
He moved with his family to St John's Wood, London, in 1933 to escape the rise of Nazism. He became a British citizen in 1939,^[4] having attended Dartington Hall School in Totnes, Devon, and later Bryanston School.^[6]

Early career

Freud briefly studied at the Central School of Art in London, and from 1939 with greater success at Cedric Morris' East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing in Dedham, relocated in 1940 at Benton End near Hadleigh. He also attended Goldsmiths, University of London from 1942–3.
He served as a merchant seaman in an Atlantic convoy in 1941 before being invalided out of service in 1942.
In 1943, Tambimuttu, the Sri Lankan editor, commissioned the young artist to illustrate a book of poems by Nicholas Moore entitled "The Glass Tower." It was published the following year by Editions Poetry London and comprised, among other drawings, a stuffed zebra (-cum-unicorn) and a palm tree. Both subjects reappeared in The Painter's Room on display at Freud's first solo exhibition in 1944 at the Alex Reid & Lefevre Gallery. In the summer of 1946, he travelled to Paris before continuing to Greece for several months. In the early fifties Freud was a frequent visitor to Dublin where he would share Patrick Swift's studio^[7] - during this period the artists also worked side by side in London when Swift would visit Freud. He otherwise lived and worked in London for the rest of his life.
Freud formed part of a group of figurative artists that the American artist, Ronald Kitaj, later named "The School of London".^[8] This was more a loose collection of individual artists who knew each other, some intimately, and were working in London at the same time in the figurative style (but during the boom years of abstract painting). The group was led by figures such as Francis Bacon and Freud, and included Frank Auerbach, Michael Andrews, Leon Kossoff, Robert Colquhoun, Robert MacBryde, Reginald Gray, and Kitaj himself. Most of these artists, including Freud, had been championed in, and contributed to, Patrick Swift's X magazine, which ran from 1959–62.
He was a visiting tutor at the Slade School of Fine Art of University College London from 1949–54.

Change in style

Freud's early paintings are often associated with surrealism and depict people, plants and animals in unusual juxtapositions. These works were usually created with thin layers of paint.
From the 1950s, he began to work in portraiture, often nudes, to the almost complete exclusion of everything else, employing impasto. With this technique, he would often clean his brush after each stroke. The colours in these paintings are typically muted.
Freud's portraits often depict only the sitter, sometimes sprawled naked on the floor or on a bed or alternatively juxtaposed with something else, as in Girl With a White Dog (1951–52) and Naked Man With Rat (1977–78).^[9] The use of animals in his compositions is widespread, and often features pet and owner. Other examples of portraits with both animals and people in Freud's work include Guy and Speck (1980–81), Eli and David (2005–06) and Double Portrait (1985–86).^[10] He had a special passion for horses, having enjoyed riding at school in Dartington, where he sometimes slept in the stables.^[11] His portraits solely of horses include Grey Gelding (2003), Skewbald Mare (2004), and Mare Eating Hay (2006).
Freud's subjects were often the people in his life; friends, family, fellow painters, lovers, children. He said, "The subject matter is autobiographical, it's all to do with hope and memory and sensuality and involvement, really.^[12] In the 1970s Freud spent 4,000 hours on a series of paintings of his mother, about which art historian Lawrence Gowing observed "it is more than 300 years since a painter showed as directly and as visually his relationship with his mother. And that was Rembrandt."^[13]
In art critic Martin Gayford's 2010 book, Man with a Blue Scarf: On Sitting for a Portrait by Lucian Freud, Gayford chronicled the forty days he spent with Lucian Freud while sitting for his portrait. Gayford surmised that Freud sought to capture his model's individuality by, as Gayford named it, his "omnivorous" gaze. Gayford also mentions that his final portrait seemed to "reveal secrets—ageing, ugliness, faults—that I imagine...I am hiding from the world..." – suggesting how sharp and penetrating Freud's gaze is.^[14]

Later career

"I paint people," Freud said, "not because of what they are like, not exactly in spite of what they are like, but how they happen to be."^[15] Freud painted fellow artists, including Frank Auerbach and Francis Bacon. He produced a series of portraits of the performance artist Leigh Bowery, and also painted Henrietta Moraes, a muse to many Soho artists. Towards the end of his life he did a nude portrait of model Kate Moss. Freud was one of the best known British artists working in a representational style, and was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 1989.^[16]^[17]^[18]
His painting After Cézanne, which is notable because of its unusual shape, was bought by the National Gallery of Australia for $7.4 million. The top left section of this painting has been 'grafted' on to the main section below, and closer inspection reveals a horizontal line where these two sections were joined.
In 1996, Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Kendal mounted a major exhibition of 27 paintings and thirteen etchings, covering the whole period of Freud's working life to date. The following year the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art presented "Lucian Freud: Early Works". The exhibition comprised around 30 drawings and paintings done between 1940 and 1945.^[19] This was followed by a large retrospective at Tate Britain in 2002. During a period from May 2000 to December 2001, Freud painted Queen Elizabeth II. There was criticism of this portrayal of the Queen in some sections of the British media. The highest selling tabloid newspaper, The Sun, was particularly condemnatory, describing the portrait as "a travesty".^[20] In 2005, a retrospective of Freud's work was held at the Museo Correr in Venice scheduled to coincide with the Biennale. In late 2007, a collection of Freud's etchings titled "Lucian Freud: The Painter's Etchings" went on display at the Museum of Modern Art.^[21]
In May 2008, his 1995 portrait Benefits Supervisor Sleeping was sold at auction by Christie's in New York City for $33.6 million, setting a world record for sale value of a painting by a living artist.^[22]
In November 2008, letters written by Freud were obtained by The Independent under the Freedom of Information Act. They detail his bitter dispute with some of the most powerful figures in the art world after he was asked to represent Britain at the 1954 Venice Biennale, the world's leading contemporary art exhibition. The publicity-shy portrait painter locked horns with gallery officials after a selection committee rebuffed his suggestions of works to show in Italy. The article includes a copy of the letter written by Freud to the British Council complaining about the selection process.^[23]

Working process

Painting from life, Freud was apt to spend a great deal of time with one subject, and demanded the model's presence even while working on subsidiary elements. A nude completed in 2007 required sixteen months of work, with the model posing all but four evenings during that time; with each session averaging five hours, the painting took approximately 2,400 hours to complete.^[24] A rapport with his models was necessary, and while at work, Freud was characterised as "an outstanding raconteur and mimic".^[24] Regarding the difficulty in deciding when a painting is completed, Freud said that "he feels he's finished when he gets the impression he's working on somebody else's painting".^[24]
It was Freud's practice to begin a painting by first drawing in charcoal on the canvas. He then applied paint to a small area of the canvas, and gradually worked outward from that point. For a new sitter, he often started with the head as a means of "getting to know" the person, then painted the rest of the figure, eventually returning to the head as his comprehension of the model deepened.^[24] A section of canvas was intentionally left bare until the painting was finished, as a reminder that the work was in progress.^[24] The finished painting is an accumulation of richly worked layers of pigment, as well as months of intense observation.^[24]

Personal life

Freud is rumoured to have fathered as many as forty children^[25] although this number is generally accepted as an exaggeration, and thirteen can be accounted for below. After an affair with Lorna Garman, he went on to marry her niece Kitty (real name Kathleen), daughter of sculptor Jacob Epstein and socialite Kathleen Garman in 1948. After four years and the birth of two daughters, Annie and Annabel, their marriage ended.^[26]
He then began an affair with Lady Caroline Blackwood, a celebrated social figure and writer. They married in 1953. The marriage was dissolved in 1959.^[26]
Freud also had children by Bernardine Coverley (fashion designer Bella Freud and writer Esther Freud) ; Suzy Boyt (five children); and Katherine Margaret McAdam (four children: Paul Freud, Lucy Freud, David McAdam Freud and Jane McAdam Freud, who is also an artist).^[27]

Selected solo exhibitions

1994: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
2003: Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
2004: National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
2005: Museo Correr, Venice
2006: Acquavella Galleries, New York
2007: Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
2008: Museum of Modern Art, New York
2008: Gemeentemuseum Den Haag
2010: Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris

Elwy Yost

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Elwy Yost
Born	Elwy McMurran Yost July 10, 1925 Weston, Ontario, Canada
Died	July 21, 2011 (aged 86) West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Occupation	Television host
Years active	1952–1999
Known for	Host of the CBC's weekday Passport to Adventure, and TVOntario's weekday Magic Shadows and Saturday Night at the Movies
Spouse	Lila Ragnhild Melby
Children	Christopher and Graham

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan, New Zealand politician, longest-serving female member of the House of Representatives (1967–1996) died she was , 79.

noreply@blogger.com (Jett) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:54:02 PST

Tini "Whetu" Marama Tirikatene-Sullivan, ONZ was a New Zealand politician died she was , 79.. She was an MP from 1967 to 1996, representing the Labour Party. At the time of her retirement, she was the second longest-serving MP in Parliament, being in her tenth term of office. She was one of twenty holders of the Order of New Zealand, the highest honour of the country.

(9 January 1932 – 20 July 2011)

Early life

Whetu Marama Tirikatene excelled in dancing, winning the New Zealand Ballroom and Latin American Dancing Champion with her Australian partner Mr K. Mansfield, and was also accomplished in fencing, becoming one of the top four female fencers in the country. She studied for a Ph.D. in Political Science at the Australian National University, with a thesis ‘Contemporary Maori Political Involvement’. While there, she met and married Denis Sullivan, a Ph.D. physics student who later became an associate professor in physics and atrophysics at Victoria University of Wellington.^[1]

Member of Parliament

Parliament of New Zealand
Years	Term	Electorate	Party
1967–1969	35th	Southern Maori	Labour
1969–1972	36th	Southern Maori	Labour
1972–1975	37th	Southern Maori	Labour
1975–1978	38th	Southern Maori	Labour
1978–1981	39th	Southern Maori	Labour
1981–1984	40th	Southern Maori	Labour
1984–1987	41st	Southern Maori	Labour
1987–1990	42nd	Southern Maori	Labour
1990–1993	43rd	Southern Maori	Labour
1993–1996	44th	Southern Maori	Labour

Tirikatene-Sullivan was first elected to Parliament in the Southern Maori by-election of 1967, which was prompted by the death of the long-serving incumbent—her father Sir Eruera Tirikatene. ^[2] Between 1972–1975 she was the Minister of Tourism. She was re-elected by substantial majorities until the 1996 elections, when the Southern Maori electorate was abolished in the transition to MMP. Tirikatene-Sullivan then contested the new Te Tai Tonga electorate, which covered much of the same territory as the old Southern Maori electorate, but she was narrowly defeated by Tu Wyllie of New Zealand First. She subsequently retired from politics.
In 1993, Tirikatene-Sullivan was made a member of the Order of New Zealand, the highest award given by the New Zealand government. She died in Wellington on 20 July 2011.^[3]

Mary Michael Simpson was an American minister. In 1977, she became one of the first women to be ordained a priest by the American Episcopal Church and was the first woman to hold the office of canon.^[1]
(December 1, 1925 - July 20, 2011)

Life and career

Born in Evansville, Indiana, Simpson grew up in Texas City, Texas. She was raised a Methodist but in her senior year of college she converted to the Episcopal faith. She subsequently entered the New York School for Deaconesses and Other Church Workers in New York City from which she graduated in 1949. After graduation she spent six years as a missionary to Liberia. Upon her return to the United States, she became a religious sister and took her life vows with the Order of Saint Helena in Vails Gate, New York in 1956. She was soon after appointed the Head of a girls' school operated by the order, Margaret Hall in Versailles, Kentucky, where she remained for about a decade. She then returned to the convent in Vails Gate to become director of novices.^[2]
In 1973 Simpson became actively involved in the women's movement in the Episcopal Church for the first time after a proposal to allow women priests in the American Episcopal Church had been defeated. She had previously not been a vocal advocate for the role of women in the Church, although she had privately supported the ordination of women. In 1974 she was appointed a Deacon at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City and spent the next three years on the staff of that church working as a pastoral counselor.^[2]
In 1977, Simpson became one of the first women to be ordained a priest in the American Episcopal Church, the first religious sister to be ordained,^[1] and the first female canon.^[3] She was the first ordained woman to preach at Westminster Abbey when she visited London in April 1978.^[4]^[5] At that time, the Church of England Synod still refused to ordain women. Simpson's visit brought together Anglican groups in favor of women's ordination and led to the founding of the Movement for the Ordination of Women.^[6]
Simpson died in Augusta, GA in 2011 at the age of 85.^[1]

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Yoshio Harada, Japanese actor, died from pneumonia. he was , 71

noreply@blogger.com (Jett) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:49:52 PST

Yoshio Harada was a Japanese actor best known for playing rebels in a career that spanned six decades died from pneumonia. he was , 71.

29 February 1940 – 19 July 2011)

Career

Born in Tokyo, Harada joined the Haiyūza theater troupe in 1966 and made his television debut in 1967 with "Tenka no seinen"^[2] and his film debut in 1968 with Fukushū no uta ga kikoeru.^[3] He came to fame appearing in New Action films at Nikkatsu playing youthful rebels.^[4] Leaving the Haiyūza in 1971,^[2] he appeared in films made by many directors, including Seijun Suzuki, Shūji Terayama, Azuma Morisaki, Kihachi Okamoto, Rokurō Mochizuki, Jun Ichikawa, Hirokazu Koreeda and Koji Wakamatsu, but he was particularly favored by Kazuo Kuroki and Junji Sakamoto. He starred in many independent films, including those of the Art Theatre Guild.^[4] According to the critic Mark Schilling, Harada was "a favorite of generations of Japanese helmers for his rugged features, low, rumbling voice and distinctive presence, with shades of darkness and wildness that made him a natural for antihero roles in his youth."^[4] Harada also appeared in many television dramas.^[2]
He died of pneumonia on 19 July 2011 while battling cancer. His last starring film was Ōshika-mura sōdōki, and it was at a press conference for that film on July 11 that he made his last public appearance.^[2]

Awards

A veteran of over 80 films, Harada won the best actor award at the 1990 Blue Ribbon Awards for Ronin-gai and Ware ni utsu yōi ari.^[5] He had earlier won the Blue Ribbon best supporting actor prize in 1975 for Matsuri no junbi.^[6] He also won the best actor prize at the Mainichi Film Awards in 1997 for Onibi,^[7] and the Hochi Film Award for best supporting actor in 1989 for Dotsuitarunen.^[8] He was twice nominated for the Best Actor Japanese Academy Award and won the award for best supporting actor at the 11th Yokohama Film Festival for Dotsuitarunen and Kiss yori kantan.^[9]
He received a Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon from the Japanese government in 2003.^[10]

Partial filmography

1968: Fukushū no uta ga kikoeru
1970: Hangyaku no melody
1974: Pastoral: To Die in the Country
1976: Kimi yo funnu no kawa wo watare
1977: A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness
1978: Shogun's Samurai
1980: Zigeunerweisen
1981: Kagero-za
1983: Manji
1985: Farewell to the Ark
1989: Dotsuitarunen
1990: Ronin-gai
1991: Yumeji
1992: Netorare Sosuke
1995: The Hunted
1997: Onibi
1998: The Story of PuPu
2000: Suri
2003: Azumi
2004: Heaven's Bookstore (Tengoku no honya)
2004: The Face of Jizo (Chichi to Kuraseba)
2005: Drakengard 2 (video game)
2005: Azumi 2
2008: Still Walking
2011: Kokosei Restaurant
2011: Ōshika-mura sōdōki

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Brendan Kehoe, Irish software developer and author, died from acute myeloid leukemia he was, 40.

noreply@blogger.com (Jett) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 06:07:53 PST

Brendan Patrick Kehoe was an Irish-born software developer and author died from acute myeloid leukemia he was, 40.. Born in Dublin, he was raised in China, Maine in the United States. In his early teens, he was first exposed to computing when he was given a Commodore 64 computer and he used this machine to teach himself about computing and computer networks. On leaving high-school, he moved to Widener University where he continued his computer studies.

(December 3, 1970– July 19, 2011)

Career

He wrote two books and a number of technology articles in the specialist press (e.g., Boardwatch Magazine) on the topic of the Internet. His first book, Zen and the Art of the Internet: A Beginner's Guide, first published by Prentice Hall in July 1992^[1] was the first mass-published user's guide to the Internet. Written while still at Widener, he struck a bargain with the publishers to ensure that the original edition of the book would remain free-of-charge in the internet for everyone to access.^[1] In a survey^[2] taken by PC Magazine for the twentieth anniversary of the PC, Zen and the Art of the Internet was listed as one of the "top sci-fi/tech non-fiction book of the past twenty years" (1981–2001). It also appeared on Sergey Brin's "Favorite Booklist".^[3] As one of the first substantial books freely available for reuse on the Internet, Zen predated and helped to inspire the free culture movement. Parts of it were reworked into other works including the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Guide to the Internet.
Kehoe was a dedicated and detailed programmer, who, as a student, volunteered changes to one of the most complex pieces of free software in the world at the time, the GNU C++ Compiler and Library. His unusual skill at wrangling this code led to a fulltime job as a key employee of Cygnus Support in Silicon Valley in 1992, improving, supporting and documenting this code base. By 1995 he was managing the entire GNU C++ group at Cygnus.
Later in life he volunteered doing IT support for his local school, the Dalkey School Project. This led to positions as a member of its Board of Management, and from there to being Chairperson of the school.^[4] In 2010 he was appointed to the Board of Directors of Educate Together.^[5]
He was described by Eric S. Raymond after his death as, "a true hacker and a gentleman".^[6]

Personal life

On December 31, 1993, Kehoe and a friend, Sven Heinicke, were involved in a serious car accident that left Kehoe with brain injuries including aphasia. He subsequently made a full recovery. He was married on October 5, 1996. He lived in Dublin, Ireland with his wife and two children.
At the beginning of March 2011, Kehoe was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.^[7] He underwent chemotherapy to fight the disease but succumbed to it on July 19, 2011.^[8]^[9]

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

James T. Molloy, American government officer, last Doorkeeper of the House of Representatives (1974–1993), died from complications of diabetes he was , 75

noreply@blogger.com (Jett) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 06:02:32 PST

James Thomas Molloy was elected Doorkeeper of the House of Representatives during the 94th Congress in 1974 and served through the 103rd Congress died from complications of diabetes he was , 75. As Doorkeeper, he introduced six Presidents, several heads of state and other dignitaries in joint sessions and other congressional events. Mr. Molloy was the last Doorkeeper of the House of Representatives.

(June 3, 1936 – July 19, 2011)

Biography

Early life

James T. Molloy was born in South Buffalo, Buffalo, New York on June 3, 1936 to Matthew Molloy and Catherine Hayden Molloy. Educated in Buffalo's Catholic Schools, he worked in the grain elevators of Buffalo's waterfront and fought fires as a member of the city fire department. Through his labor, Molloy paid his own way through school at Canisius College, becoming a member of the AFL-CIO, the International Brotherhood of Longshoremen, and the International Association of Fire Fighters.

Career

Molloy worked as a schoolteacher in the New York cities of Buffalo and Lackawanna, and at the age of 27, became the youngest Democrat to serve as Party Zone Chairman in the State of New York.
Molloy went to Washington, D.C. in 1968 at the invitation of New York Congressman John Rooney to work in the House Finance Office. During his years of work in that office, he oversaw the growth of legislative appropriations for the House from $75 million to $126 million.
Molloy was elected Doorkeeper of the House in 1974, and remained at that post through the 103rd Congress, serving as a primary aide to Speakers Carl Albert, Tip O'Neill, James Wright, and Tom Foley. He was the last of 30 people to hold the position of Doorkeeper from its establishment in 1789 to its elimination in 1994. Within this capacity, he introduced Presidents and heads of state to Congress, and coordinated 71 joint sessions and many other events within the House chamber.

Terms served as the Doorkeeper of the House ^[1]
Term	Years	Start date
93rd	(1973–1975)	January 3, 1973
94th	(1975–1977)	January 14, 1975
95th	(1977–1979)	January 4, 1977
96th	(1979–1981)	January 15, 1979
97th	(1981–1983)	January 5, 1981
98th	(1983–1985)	January 3, 1983
99th	(1985–1987)	January 3, 1985
100th	(1987–1989)	January 6, 1987
101st	(1989–1991)	January 3, 1989
102nd	(1991–1993)	January 3, 1991
103rd	(1993–1995)	January 5, 1993

Legacy

Mr. Molloy continued to serve as Chairman of the Board of the Wright Patman Congressional Credit Union, a position he held for 30 years. Molloy is the recipient of numerous honors for his life's work in public service. He has received the Outstanding Citizen Award from the New York State AFL-CIO, the President's Award from the New York State Federation of Police, and the United States Senate Youth Alumni Association Outstanding Service Award. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws from his alma mater, Canisius College, as well as the Sid Yudain Congressional Staffer of the Year Award from Roll Call. Molloy died of complications of diabetes on July 19, 2011.^[2]^[3]

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

Sir Julian Oswald, British admiral died he was , 77.

noreply@blogger.com (Jett) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 05:57:56 PST

Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Julian Robertson Oswald GCB was a British naval officer who served as Chief of the Naval Staff and First Sea Lord died he was , 77..

(11 August 1933 – 19 July 2011)

Naval career

Educated at Beaudesert Park School and Britannia Royal Naval College, Oswald joined the Royal Navy in 1947. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1960 and then Lieutenant Commander in 1964. Next followed a number of staff and sea tours when he was promoted to Commander and then Captain. He commanded HMS Bacchante from 1971 to 1972.^[1]
Following his tours as Commanding Officer of HMS Newcastle, between 1977 and 1979 and Britannia Royal Naval College from 1980 to 1982, he was promoted to Rear Admiral and appointed an Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff in 1982.^[2]
He went on to become Flag Officer, Third Flotilla in 1985 and Commander-in-Chief Fleet from 1987 to 1989.^[2]
He was First Sea Lord from 1989 to 1993 when he left the Royal Navy.^[2]

Later career

In retirement he became Chairman of Sema Group plc^[3] and was also the president of T.S. Newfoundland (Wolverhampton Unit) Sea Cadet Corps. He was also an Honorary Vice-President of the Royal United Services Institute.

Family

In 1958 he married Veronica ('Roni') Thompson; they had two sons and three daughters.^[4]