Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Merv Conn

Accordionist -- via the Washington Post.

Joe Bodolai

Comedy writer and producer -- via Huffington Post.

Ted Markland

Actor -- via westernboothill.blogspot.com. May be best remembered for playing Reno in the TV Western series "High Chaparral."

Helen Frankenthaler

Painter -- via the New York Times.

Satyadev Dubey

Director, actor and writer for stage and screen -- via the Times of India.

Bob Hare

Proprietor of the Insomniac, a key coffeehouse in early West Coast counterculture -- via the L.A. Times.

Walt Ketchum

Did a lot of things to make a living, but he loved to play the trumpet -- via the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

John Geddes Lawrence Jr.

Medical technologist; a plaintiff in a landmark gay-rights legal case -- via San Diego Gay and Lesbian News.

Ed Roman

Luthier -- via the Washington Post.

Jacob Goldman

Physicist who established Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center, vital to the development of the personal computer -- via the New York Times.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Bill Morrison

Playwright and writer for radio -- via the Guardian.

Ernest Mehew

World's foremost expert on Robert Louis Stevenson -- via the Telegraph.

Maurice Huggett

Proprietor of the Phoenix Artist Club - via the Telegraph.

Hugh Carless

Career diplomat who accompanied Eric Newby to Afghanistan in 1956, an expedition that formed the substance of the classic travel memoir, Newby's "A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush" -- via the Telegraph.

David Spancer

Script coordinator, video editor -- via legacy.com.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Yoshimitsu Morita

Film director -- via the Chicago Tribune. Directed such well-regarded works as "The Family Game," "And Then" and "Paradise Lost."

Don Sharp

Film director -- via the New York Times. Best known for his efforts for Hammer films, including "The Kiss of the Vampire" and "The Face of Fu Manchu."

Warren Hellman

Financial whiz, civic leader, philanthropist, amateur athlete, bluegrass lover and musician, and founder of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival -- via the New York Times.

Heidi Helen Davis

Director, actress and teacher -- via the L.A. Times.

Ronnie Wolfe aka Harvey Ronald Wolfe-Luberoff

Comedy writer for stage, radio and TV -- via the Telegraph.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Frances Melrose

Journalist and historian -- via the Denver Post.

John Higgins

Actor, director and dialect coach -- via the Hollywood Reporter.

Marilyn O'Connor Davis

Actress, singer and dancer -- via the Ventura County Star.

Paula Hyman

Historian -- via the Jewish Daily Forward.

Graham Brown

Actor -- via Playbill.

Rating the dead: is it wrong? I say yes, but what do you think?

Got this message in my inbox today -- I think it's interesting but misconceived, and I would love to hear what you think of it. My whole point with Obit Patrol is to focus on lives well-lived, of engaging personalities or those who made lasting contributions to those around them. This does not correlate with fame, necessarily -- although I am tracking obituaries through already-published sources, which indicates a modicum of notoriety on the part of the deceased. (There is a limitless number of "anonymous" lives that deserve similar attention here; unfortunately, I don't have the time or resources to give them the spotlight they deserve.)

My problem with this and all other "top-ranked" deaths of the year stories and posts is that it indicates that we value a person's visibility status -- the celebrity quantum of simply being knowable by the broadest base of people possible -- as the primary criterion for being remembered. I don't list people who I feel are already well-covered by the mainstream media (politicians, some sports figures, celebrities) or those who I feel were a blight on the planet rather than a boon (Ghaddafi, bin Laden, Kim Jong-Il). What do you think? Would love to hear from you on this.

"Dear Jayde Member,
With so many famous deaths in 2011 (Steve Jobs, Andy Rooney,
Osama Bin Laden, etc.), it's hard to determine who is the most
famous. Well FamousDead.com has put together a very intuitive
application that allows you to rank the most famous deaths of 2011,
by simply dragging and dropping them in order. After you submit your
choices, you can see the global top 10 list:
http://www.famousdead.com/top10/
Keep on Promoting!
Jayde Admin"

Dan Frazer

Character actor -- via the New York Times. Best remembered as Captain McNeil on "Kojak"; also known informally as the Mayor of 43rd Street for his long residence in the neighborhood of his brith -- Hell's Kitchen, aka Clinton.

Rahim Ghamzada

Singer -- via Ariana News.

Marvin Saul

The genius behind the wonderful Junior's deli in Westwood -- via the L.A. Times.

Billie Jo Spears

Country singer -- via the New York Times.

Khadzhimurat Kamalov

Journalist -- via the New York Times. Murdered in the course of duty.