Tony Stevens, American choreographer, dancer and actor, died from Hodgkin's lymphoma he was , 63.

Tony Stevens (born Anthony Pusateri; )was an American choreographer, dancer and director who worked with, danced with and directed many of Broadway's and Hollywood's best theatrecentric actors and actresses, including Chita Rivera, Martin Short, Robert Redford and Gene Kelly died from Hodgkin's lymphoma he was , 63..



(May 2, 1948 – July 12, 2011)

Early life and career

Stevens was born in Herculaneum, Mo. to a factory worker father and a mother who owned and operated a country store. He debuted on Broadway in 1969, dancing in "The Fig Leaves Are Falling" (book and lyrics by Allan Sherman and music by Albert Hague). This was followed by roles in the 1970s productions of "The Boyfriend", and "Irene" amongst others. Stevens quickly rose to prominence in his field, becomming assistant choreographer on the original production of Bob Fosse's "Chicago". Perhaps his most important contribution during this time however, was a series of taped workshop sessions with Michon Peacock in which dancers laid their life stories bare. Those tapes eventually led to the text and subject matter of the internationally famous musical "A Chorus Line".

Broadway and Hollywood

As well as performing in "Hello, Dolly!" and "Seesaw", Stevens was co-choreographer with Gower Champion on "Rockabye Hamlet" in 1976, choreographed the Frank Loesser revue "Perfectly Frank" in 1980, , Stevens also did choreography for the films "The Great Gatsby" with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" with Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton, "Johnny Dangerously" with Michael Keaton and "She's Having A Baby" with Kevin Bacon^[2], among others. Some television credits include specials for Mary Tyler Moore, Cheryl Ladd, Disneyland's 30th Anniversary, and the People's Choice Awards. He also performed in the film "Tommy".

Modern Broadway

Always in demand, Stevens worked steadily on Broadway as trends and tastes changed. Off-Broadway he choreographed "Zombie Prom", "The Body Shop", and directed and choreographed "Sheba". He also did the National tours of "Dreamgirls" 1997 and 1998, and the 20th Anniversary Tour of "Jesus Christ Superstar". Other cutting edge work included "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare", the recreation of Bob Fosse's original choreography for "Chita River; A Dancers Life on Broadway", staging numbers for Martin Short and Nathan Lane on "Late Night with David Letterman," and was currently developing the new musical "La Familglia".^[3]

Death

Stevens died in 2011 after battling Hodgkin's lymphoma.

 

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Zdeněk Sýkora, Czech abstract painter died he was , 91.

Zdeněk Sýkora was a Czechoslovakian modern abstract painter and sculptor, and a pioneer of using computers in art died he was , 91.

(February 3, 1920 – July 12, 2011)

Early life

Sýkora was born and died in Louny, Czechoslovakia. His style changed from landscape paintings in the late 1940s to geometrical abstract structures into the 50s. Influenced by cubism and surrealism, in the 1960s, he became one of the first artists in the world to use computers to help him create geometric abstract paintings.^[1] During the Soviet occupations of many countries after World War II, including Czechoslovakia, Sýkora was unable to hold many exhibitions, and some of the only pieces that can be seen from the late 1960s are government building projects.^[2] During this period,the artist spent a great deal of time working in Prague.

Later career

Sýkora's style eventually turned to a less strict system of line paintings with lines of color moving across large canvasses in random directions.
Also in the 1960s, Sýkora was member of the art group Crossroad (Skupina Křižovatka). While in this group, he created his first structures and realizations for architecture in the Prague neighborhood of Letná on Jindřišká Street). In 1985, he began collaborating on paintings with his wife, Lenka Sýkora. Their most recent realization for architecture can be found in the building of flight operation in Jeneč near Prague. Sýkora had his second retrospective exhibition in 1995, 25 years after his first one, which had been held in Špála Gallery in 1970, and was not authorized by the occupying Russians. In 1995, it was the Prague City Gallery that held the exhibition in the Municipal Library and was a cross-section of his work. Sykora remained mostly active up until his death at the age of 91.

Legacy

Sýkora 's paintings are owned by galleries around the globe, including the Centre Georges Pompidou and the MUMOK in Vienna.

Awards

• Vladimír Boudnik Award - 2008 - Czech Republic
• Ordre des Arts et des Lettres – France
• Herbert-Boeckl-Preis - Austria

Exhibitions

Sýkora had hundreds of exhibitions internationally over his lifetime. A partial list is found on Prague Art & Design.

Skupina Křižovatka

Vladimír Burda (*25.1.1934) Richard Fremund (*9.4.1928) Josef Hlaváček (*13.5.1934) Jiří Kolář (*24.9.1914)

 

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Michael Evans, British Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of East Anglia (since 2003), died from prostate cancer he was , 59.

Michael Charles Evans was the third Roman Catholic Bishop of East Anglia, in the Ecclesiastical Province of Westminster died from  prostate cancer he was , 59.
.
(10 August 1951 – 11 July 2011),

Biography

Ordained as a Priest at Southwark on 22 June 1975, Michael Evans spent some time as an assistant priest, then studied for a Master of Theology degree at the University of London for four years (1975 to 1979) subsequently returning to St. John's Seminary,^[1] Wonersh, near Guildford for eight years as lecturer in Doctrine. During his time within the Roman Catholic Church, he held many posts, ranging from the chaplain of a convent school to chairman of the Archdiocese of Southwark's Justice and Peace Coordinating Committee. From 1995 until 2003, he served as Parish Priest at St. Augustine's church in Tunbridge Wells.
On 14 February 2003 Pope John Paul II appointed Canon Evans as the third Bishop of East Anglia. He succeeded the Most Reverend Peter Smith, who is now Archbishop of Southwark. Canon Michael was ordained as the third Bishop of East Anglia at the Cathedral Church of St John the Baptist, Norwich on 19 March 2003.
On his appointment as the new bishop, Evans said: 'I was astonished to be appointed as Bishop of East Anglia, and have a real sense of my unworthiness for this responsibility, but I accepted this new ministry with a joyful though nervous 'yes'. I look forward to getting to know the diocesan family of East Anglia, and to working with my brother priests and deacons as a team dedicated to the ministry of Christ. As I prepare for my ordination, I ask everyone to keep me in their prayers.'^[2]

Illness

In November 2006 Bishop Michael announced through the Diocesan office in Norwich that he was suffering from prostate cancer and undergoing radiotherapy to treat the condition.^[3]
He said he has been helped through the illness by the radiotherapy team at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, support from the community and his faith in God.^[3]
"I am in the recovery period at the moment", the bishop said. "I have finished the radiotherapy sessions but I have no idea what the long term effects are. I will not find that out until at least next month when I have more tests ... I am much more tired than I was when I was having treatment and have had to rest a great deal. This is meant to be the worst time for side-effects and I am really feeling it ... It has been a real battle but I have had a lot of support from everyone and at no time did I even consider giving up. It is one of those things that you have to just keep fighting."^[3]

Progression of cancer

On Sunday, 2 January 2011, Bishop Michael issued a statement through all the Catholic churches in the East Anglia Diocese. The following is an excerpt from this statement:
"In the last few weeks, the cancer has rather quickly taken control. My oncology and palliative care consultants informed me openly and honestly just before Christmas that I now probably have only weeks to live, and I am prepared for that as I can be, accepting it with faith as a gift of God's grace ... Rather than resign, I would like to continue among you as your bishop and the father of our diocesan family until this stage of my life ends. I do not know how long that will be. I am most grateful for the ways you have cared for and so prayerfully supported me in recent years. You remain very much in my thoughts and care. As I am sure you understand, I am able to do very little, and will need to rely on others. Please can I ask you to limit any expressions of care to prayer for now, rather than anything else to which I cannot respond."^[4]
The statement was issued to all Catholics in the East Anglia Diocese and received by all those who attended masses across the whole of the Eastern Region of England. Bishop Michael concluded the statement as follows:
"As I live now under the shadow of death, my prayer is very much that of St. Paul that I may know something of the power of Christ's resurrection and a share in his sufferings, trusting that the Lord is with me. I pray that even now, I can joyfully witness something of the good news we are all called to proclaim."^[5]

Death

Bishop Evans died in the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital at 7.10pm on 11 July 2011, aged 59, of prostate cancer.^[6]

 

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Tom Gehrels, Dutch-born American astronomer died he was , 86

Tom Gehrels was an American astronomer, Professor Planetary Sciences, and Astronomer at the University of Arizona, Tucson died he was , 86.

(February 21, 1925 – July 11, 2011),

Gehrels, who was born at Haarlemmermeer, the Netherlands, pioneered the first photometric system of asteroids in the 50s, and wavelength dependence of polarization of stars and planets in the 60s, each resulting in an extended sequence of papers in the Astronomical Journal.
He discovered, jointly with the husband and wife team of Cornelis Johannes van Houten and Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld, over 4000 asteroids, including Apollo asteroids, Amor asteroids, as well as dozens of Trojan asteroids. That was done in a sky survey using the 48-inch Schmidt telescope at Palomar Observatory and shipping the plates to the two Dutch astronomers at Leiden Observatory, who analyzed them for new asteroids. The trio are jointly credited with several thousand discoveries. Gehrels also discovered a number of comets.
He was Principal Investigator for the Imaging Photopolarimeter experiment on the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 first flybys of Jupiter and Saturn in the 1970s.

Comets discovered, for example:

64P/Swift-Gehrels*

78P/Gehrels 2

82P/Gehrels 3

90P/Gehrels 1

* in 1889 by Swift, rediscovered

Gehrels initiated the Space Science Series of textbooks, which are at the most advanced level, was General Editor for the first 30 volumes of the University of Arizona Press, and set the style by participating in the editing of six of them. He also initiated the Spacewatch program and was its Principal Investigator (PI) for electronic surveying to obtain statistics of asteroids and comets, including near-Earth asteroids. Bob McMillan was co-investigator and manager, and became the PI in 1997.
Gehrels taught an undergraduate course for non-science majors in Tucson in the Fall, and lectured a brief version of that in the Spring at the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad, India, where he was a lifetime Fellow. That is in a UN Course for graduate students from countries as Uzbekistan and North Korea, for example.
His recent research was on universal evolution, which was woven in as the guiding thread through these courses. He was the named winner of the 2007 Harold Masursky Award for his outstanding service to planetary science.
During World War II Gehrels was, as a teenager, active in the Dutch Resistance. After he escaped to England, he was sent back by parachute as an organizer for Special Operations Executive SOE.
Gehrels was requested by the Journal Nature to write a review on a book regarding Wernher von Braun, in which he quotes inmates of concentration camp Dora. He has therefore charged that von Braun was there regularly and much in charge, and that von Braun bears greater responsibility and guilt than his official biography would imply.^[1] Towards the end of the book review it reads: Von Braun needs no phony defense, for he was a great man in his own scientific specialization... What is needed is a more sophisticated historical perspective....
Tom Gehrels was the father of Neil Gehrels, George Gehrels and Jo-Ann Gehrels. He died in Tucson, Arizona.

Career

• Special airborne services in Europe and Far East, 1944-1948.
• B.Sc. astronomy and physics, Leiden University 1951.
• Ph.D. astronomy and astrophysics, Univ. of Chicago, 1956.
• Professor of Planetary Sciences and Astronomy, Univ. of Arizona, 1961–2011.

Books

• Physical Studies of Minor Planets, edited by Tom Gehrels (1971), NASA SP-267
• Planets Stars and Nebulae Studied With Photopolarimetry, edited by Tom Gehrels (1974), ISBN 0-8165-0428-8
• Jupiter: Studies of the Interior, Atmosphere, Magnetosphere, and Satellites, edited by Tom Gehrels and Mildred Shapley Matthews (1976), ISBN 0-8165-0530-6
• Protostars & Planets: Studies of Star Formation and of the Origin of the Solar System, edited by Tom Gehrels and Mildred Shapley Matthews (1978), ISBN 0-8165-0674-4
• Asteroids, edited by Tom Gehrels and Mildred Shapley Matthews (1979), ISBN 0-8165-0695-7
• Saturn, edited by Tom Gehrels and Mildred Shapley Matthews (1984), ISBN 0-8165-0829-1
• Asteroids II, edited by Richard P. Binzel, Tom Gehrels, and Mildred Shapely Matthews (1989), ISBN 0-8165-1123-3
• Hazards Due to Comets and Asteroids, edited by Tom Gehrels, Mildred Shapley Matthews, and A. M. Schumann (1994), ISBN 0-8165-1505-0
• On the Glassy Sea, in Search of a Worldview, Tom Gehrels (2007, originally published in 1988), ISBN 1-4196-8247-4
• Survival Through Evolution: From Multiverse to Modern Society, Tom Gehrels (2007), ISBN 1-4196-7055-7

 

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Rob Grill, American singer and songwriter (The Grass Roots) died he was , 67.

 Robert Frank "Rob" Grill was an American lead singer, songwriter and bass guitarist of the rock and roll band, The Grass Roots died he was , 67.

(November 30, 1943 – July 11, 2011)

Career

Rob was a native of Hollywood, California where he attended Hollywood High School. Soon after graduation, Rob began working at American Recording Studios with musician friends Cory Wells and John Kay (who later formed Three Dog Night and Steppenwolf, respectively). Inspired to become a member of a successful band, Grill eventually was asked to join The Grass Roots.
The Grass Roots grew out of a project originating from Dunhill Records. Writer/producers P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri (The Mamas & the Papas, Tommy Roe, Four Tops and Dusty Springfield) were asked by Dunhill to write songs that would capitalize on the growing interest in the folk-rock movement.
When their song “Where Were You When I Needed You”, recorded as a demo with P.F. Sloan as lead singer and released under the name “The Grass Roots” started to get airplay in San Francisco Bay area, they searched for an existing band to become The Grass Roots. They enlisted a San Francisco group, "The Bedouins", who recorded the first Grass Roots album, titled “Where Were You When I Needed You” with Willie Fulton singing lead on a re-recorded version of the title song. After several months, the Bedouins’ partnership with Sloan and Barri broke up as the band was more interested in performing their own more blues rock-oriented material (which Sloan and Barri were not willing to allow them to do).
Subsequently, a Los Angeles band, The 13th Floor (not to be confused with the 13th Floor Elevators), composed of Creed Bratton, Rick Coonce, Warren Entner, and Kenny Fukomoto, was recruited to become the new Grass Roots. When Kenny Fukumoto was drafted into the army, Rob Grill was brought in as his replacement. With Grill as lead singer, they recorded a third version of "Where Were You When I Needed You." Grill became the band’s longest serving member, appearing with them for more than four decades. The Grass Roots went on to chart twenty nine singles, thirteen of which went gold followed by two gold albums and two platinum albums.^[2]

The Grass Roots played at the Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival on Sunday June 11, 1967 in the "summer of love" as their top ten hit "Let's Live For Today" was hitting the airwaves. This music festival is important because it occurred before the Monterey Pop Festival but did not have a movie to document it for the ages (see List of electronic music festivals). On Sunday October 27, 1968 they played at the San Francisco Pop Festival and then played at the Los Angeles Pop Festival and Miami Pop Festival in December of that year as their top ten hit "Midnight Confessions" was hitting the airwaves.
The Grass Roots played at Newport Pop Festival 1969 at Devonshire Downs which was a racetrack at the time but now is part of the North Campus for California State University at Northridge. They played on Sunday June 22 which was the final day of the festival as their top twenty hit "Wait A Million Years" was hitting the airwaves. In Canada, they played at the Vancouver Pop Festival at the Paradise Valley Resort in British Columbia in August 1969 (see List of electronic music festivals).
Grill launched a solo career in 1979, assisted on his solo album by several members of Fleetwood Mac. Responding to 60s nostalgia, Grill then reformed The Grass Roots (billed "The Grass Roots Starring Rob Grill") and had toured the United States with the reunited outfit since the 1980s.
In 2006, former manager Marty Angelo published a book entitled, Once Life Matters: A New Beginning which has numerous stories about his life on the road with Rob Grill and the Grass Roots back in the early 1970s.
In 2008, The Grass Roots Starring Rob Grill released a live album chronicling their 14 top forty Billboard hits titled Live Gold.

Compositions and musical release performance

Grill composed sixteen songs for The Grass Roots and his solo album. One of these appeared as a single "A" side. It is "Come On And Say It". His other fifteen compositions appeared on single "B" sides and albums. He wrote frequently with Warren Entner and they were considered a songwriting team. Grill played with The Grass Roots on sixteen albums, seven of which charted. He took part in thirty two Grass Roots singles released, twenty one of which charted.^[3]

Death

Grill died July 11, 2011 in an Orlando, Florida hospital. He had been in a coma since sustaining a head injury several weeks earlier when he fell after suffering a stroke in Lake County, FL. He was 67.^[1][4]

Discography

Singles

Release date	Title	Flip side	Record Label	Chart Positions
				US Billboard	US Cashbox	UK
1967	Let's Live for Today	Depressed Feeling	Dunhill	8	5
	Things I Should Have Said	Tip Of My Tongue	Dunhill	23	36
	Wake Up, Wake Up	No Exit	Dunhill	68	61
1968	Melody For You	Hey Friend	Dunhill	123
	Feelings	Here's Where You Belong	Dunhill
	Midnight Confessions++	Who Will You Be Tomorrow	Dunhill	5	5
1969	Bella Linda+++	Hot Bright Lights	Dunhill	28	20
	Melody For You	All Good Things Come To An End	Dunhill
	Lovin' Things	You And Love Are The Same	Dunhill	49	35
	River Is Wide, The	(You Gotta) Live For Love	Dunhill	31	16
	I'd Wait A Million Years	Fly Me To Havana	Dunhill	15	12
	Heaven Knows	Don't Remind Me	Dunhill	24	13
1970	Walking Through The Country	Truck Drivin' Man	Dunhill	44	30
	Baby Hold On	Get It Together	Dunhill	35	25
	Come On And Say It	Something's Comin' Over Me	Dunhill	61	39
	Temptation Eyes	Keepin' Me Down	Dunhill	15	16
1971	Sooner Or Later	I Can Turn Off The Rain	Dunhill	9	12
	Two Divided By Love	Let It Go	Dunhill	16	8
1972	Glory Bound	Only One	Dunhill	34	22
	Runway, The	Move Along	Dunhill	39	29
	Anyway The Wind Blows	Monday Love	Dunhill	107
1973	Love Is What You Make It	Someone To Love	Dunhill	55
	Where There's Smoke There's Fire	Look But Don't Touch	Dunhill
	We Can't Dance To Your Music	Look But Don't Touch	Dunhill
	Stealin' Love (In The Night)	We Almost Made It Together	Dunhill
1975	Mamacita	Last Time Around, The	Haven	71
	Naked Man	Nothing Good Comes Easy	Haven
1976	Out In The Open	Optical Illusion	Haven
1979	Rock Sugar	Have Mercy	Mercury
1982	Here Comes That Feeling Again	Temptation Eye	MCA
	She Don't Know Me	Keep On Burning	MCA
	Powers Of The Night	Powers Of The Night	MCA

++ - Gold Record - RIAA Certification
+++ - Composed by Italian superstar Lucio Battisti)

Albums

(All albums are with the Grass Roots, unless otherwise noted)

Release date	Title	Record Label	Chart Positions
			US Billboard	US Cashbox	UK
1967	Let's Live for Today	Dunhill	75
1968	Feelings	Dunhill
	Golden Grass ++	Dunhill	25
1969	Lovin' Things	Dunhill	73
	Leavin' It All Behind	Dunhill	36
1970	More Golden Grass	Dunhill	152
1971	Their 16 Greatest Hits ++	Dunhill	58
1972	Move Along	Dunhill	86
1973	Alotta' Mileage	Dunhill
1976	The ABC Collection	ABC
1978	14 Greatest	Gusto
1979	Uprooted (solo album)	Mercury
1982	Powers Of The Night	MCA
2000	Live At Last	RFG
2001	Symphonic Hits	Cleopatra
2008	Live Gold	RFG

++ - Gold Record - RIAA Certification

 

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Jaroslav Jiřík, Czech hockey player (St. Louis Blues), died from a plane crash he was , 71

Jaroslav Jiřík was a Czech former professional ice hockey right winger died from a plane crash he was , 71. He became the first player that an Eastern Bloc country released to play in the National Hockey League when he appeared in three games with the St. Louis Blues in the 1969–70 season.
Jiřík played seventeen seasons in the Czechoslovak Extraliga, scoring 300 goals in 450 games.^[3] Jiřík was named an all-star at the 1965 World Ice Hockey Championships,^[6] and he was a member of the Czechoslovak national team that won the bronze medal at the 1964 Winter Olympics and the silver medal at the 1968 Winter Olympics.^[5][7] He scored 83 goals in 134 international games for Czechoslovakia.^[5]

(December 10, 1939 - July 11, 2011)

Jiřík was first noticed by St. Louis Blues assistant general manager Cliff Fletcher in 1969. Fletcher actually signed three Czechoslovak players: Jiřík, Jan Havel, and Josef Horešovský, all of whom were given permission to transfer to North America by the Czechoslovak government. However, the government changed its mind about Havel and Horesovský, because they were still in their twenties. Jiřík, 30 at the time, was the only player allowed to go.^[4]
Jiřík spent most of the 1969–70 season with St. Louis's minor-league affiliate, the Kansas City Blues of the Central Hockey League.^[5] He played well in Kansas City, scoring 35 points in 53 games.^[1] St. Louis called him up late in the season, and he played three games with the club, going scoreless. He was invited to remain with the organization for the 1970–71 season; however, Jiřík decided to return to Czechoslovakia instead.^[4]
On 11 July, 2011, Jiřík, an experienced pilot, died in a plane crash near Medlánky Airfield at the notrthern suburb of Brno.^[5][2] Prior to his death Jaroslav Jirik was the last prominent Czech expartriate in the United states.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1957–58	HC Kladno	CZE
1958–59	HC Kladno	CZE		22	16
1959–60	HC Kladno	CZE
1960–61	HC Kladno	CZE
1961–62	Rudá hvězda Brno	CZE		32	28
1962–63	ZKL Brno	CZE		32	23
1963–64	ZKL Brno	CZE
1964–65	ZKL Brno	CZE		32	23
1965–66	ZKL Brno	CZE
1966–67	ZKL Brno	CZE
1967–68	ZKL Brno	CZE		32	25	12	37
1968–69	ZKL Brno	CZE		36	36	7	43
1969–70	Kansas City Blues	CHL		53	19	16	35	11		—	—	—	—	—
1969–70	St. Louis Blues	NHL		3	0	0	0	0		—	—	—	—	—
1970–71	ZKL Brno	CZE		36	26	12	28
1971–72	ZKL Brno	CZE
1972–73	ZKL Brno	CZE
1973–74	ZKL Brno	CZE			8	7	15
1974–75	ZKL Brno	CZE
NHL totals				3	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0

International

Year	Team	Comp		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1959	Czechoslovakia	WC		8	6	2	8
1960	Czechoslovakia	Oly		5	1	3	4	2
1963	Czechoslovakia	WC		7	4	3	7	9
1964	Czechoslovakia	Oly		7	3	1	4	6
1965	Czechoslovakia	WC		7	8	4	12	5
1966	Czechoslovakia	WC		7	4	1	5	2
1967	Czechoslovakia	WC		6	5	3	8	2
1968	Czechoslovakia	Oly		4	3	3	6	0
1969	Czechoslovakia	WC		5	2	3	5	0

Note: Statistics are incomplete. Jiřík scored 300 goals in 450 Czechoslovak league games, and 83 goals in 134 international games.

 

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