John Hughes, Jr died he was 59

John Hughes, Jr. died he was 59. Hughes was an American film director, producer and writer. He made some of the most successful films of the 1980s and 1990s, including National Lampoon's Vacation; Ferris Bueller's Day Off; Weird Science; The Breakfast Club; Some Kind of Wonderful; Sixteen Candles; Pretty in Pink; Planes, Trains and Automobiles; Uncle Buck; Home Alone and its sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

(February 18, 1950 – August 6, 2009)

Hughes was born in Lansing, Michigan, to a mother who volunteered in charity work and John Hughes, Sr., who worked in sales.^[1] A 1968 graduate of Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, Illinois, Hughes used Northbrook and the adjacent North Shore area for shooting locations and settings in many of his films, though he usually left the name of the town unsaid, or referred to it as "Shermer, Illinois", Shermerville being the original name of Northbrook. In high school, he met Nancy Ludwig, to whom he was married from 1970 until his death. They had two sons, John Hughes III, born in 1976, and James Hughes, born in 1979.

Hughes began his career as an advertising copywriter in Chicago in 1970 after dropping out of the University of Arizona.^[2] During this time, he created what became the famous Edge "Credit Card Shaving Test" ad campaign.

His first attempt at comedy writing was selling jokes to well-established performers such as Rodney Dangerfield and Joan Rivers. This led him to pen a story, inspired by his family trips as a child, that was to become his calling card and entry onto the staff of the National Lampoon Magazine. That story, "Vacation '58", became the basis for the film Vacation. Subsequent stories such as the April Fool's Day classics "My Vagina" and "My Penis" gave an early indication of Hughes' ear for the particular rhythm of teen speak, as well as the various indignities of teen life in general.

His first credited screenplay, Class Reunion, was written while still on staff at the magazine. The resulting film became the second disastrous attempt by the flagship to duplicate the runaway success of Animal House. It was Hughes' next screenplay for the imprint, National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), however, that would prove to be a major hit, putting the Lampoon back on the map.

His first directorial effort, Sixteen Candles, won almost unanimous praise when it was released in 1984, due in no small part to its more realistic depiction of middle-class high school life, which stood in stark contrast to the Porky's-inspired comedies being made at the time. It was also the first in a string of efforts set in or around high school, including The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Weird Science and Ferris Bueller's Day Off (See also Brat Pack).

To avoid being pigeonholed as a maker of teen comedies, Hughes branched out in 1987, directing Planes, Trains & Automobiles starring Steve Martin and John Candy. His later output would not be so critically well received, though films like Uncle Buck (one of the first films to display the changeover in a suburban teen's choice of music from rock to rap) proved popular. Hughes's greatest commercial success came with Home Alone, a film he wrote and produced about a child accidentally left behind when his family goes away for Christmas, forcing him to protect himself and his house from a pair of inept burglars. Home Alone was the top grossing film of 1990, and remains the most successful live-action comedy of all time. His last film as a director was 1991's Curly Sue.

He has been noted as an inspiration for many in the film industry, including Kevin Smith and Wes Anderson.^{[citation needed]} He also wrote screenplays using his pseudonym, Edmond Dantès (protagonist of Alexandre Dumas's novel The Count of Monte Cristo).

In 1994, Hughes retired from the public eye and moved to Wisconsin,^[3] rarely granting or giving interviews or photographs to the media save a select few interviews in 1999 to promote the soundtrack album to Reach the Rock, an independent film he wrote.^[4] The album was compiled by Hughes' son, John Hughes III, and released on his son's Chicago-based record label, Hefty Records.^[5] He also recorded an audio commentary for the 1999 DVD release of Ferris Bueller's Day Off.^[6] In the later years of his life, he was a farmer in Illinois.

Hughes died suddenly of a heart attack on August 6, 2009, while walking in Manhattan, where he was visiting his family.^[7][8] In addition to his widow and two sons, Hughes is survived by four grandchildren.^[9]

JFK's sister Eunice Shriver died she was 88

Eunice Shriver won widespread respect as a champion of the disabled

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the sister of President John F Kennedy and founder of the Special Olympics, has died aged 88.

She died at Cape Cod hospital in Massachusetts on Tuesday morning, her family said in a statement.

Mrs Shriver organised the first Special Olympic Games in 1968, partly inspired by her mentally disabled sister, Rosemary Kennedy.

She is credited with helping to transform views of the mentally disabled through her campaigns.

President Barack Obama said he was saddened at the death of Mrs Shriver, calling her a "champion" for disabled people.

Mrs Shriver had been in critical condition at Cape Cod hospital since last week.

Her diagnosis was not given, but she had suffered a series of strokes in recent years.

Mrs Shriver is the mother of TV host Maria Shriver, who is married to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Mrs Shriver's brother, Sen Edward Kennedy, is battling brain cancer that was diagnosed last year.

'Moral force'

Mrs Shriver was the fifth of nine children of Joseph P Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy.

After earning a degree in sociology from Stanford University in 1943, she became a social worker at a women's prison before taking a job at the Chicago juvenile court.

She was the light of our lives
Shriver family statement

In 1957 she took over the Joseph P Kennedy Jr Foundation for the mentally disabled.

The Special Olympics grew from a summer camp at Mrs Shriver's home in Maryland in 1962.

They were designed to give opportunities to people with mental disabilities to be considered athletes in their own right.

The first Games were held in 1968 in Chicago. Lasting two days, they attracted more than 1,000 participants from 26 US states and Canada.

Recent summer Games have drawn thousands of athletes from more than 160 countries.

Peter Collier, who wrote The Kennedys, an American Drama, described Eunice Shriver as the "moral force" of the Kennedy family.

Her family said: "She was the light of our lives... who taught us by example and with passion what it means to live a faith-driven life of love and service to others.

"We have always been honoured to share our mother with people of goodwill the world over who believe, as she did, that there is no limit to the human spirit."

Mrs Shriver is survived by her husband Sargent Shriver - who served as JFK's first director of the Peace Corps and was George McGovern's vice-presidential running mate in 1972 - and her five children.

Bobby Robson died he was 76

Sir Robert William "Bobby" Robson CBE ^[1] was an English footballer and, after retirement, manager of several European clubs and the England national football team.

(18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009)

His professional playing career as an inside-forward spanned nearly 20 years, during which he played for three clubs: Fulham, West Bromwich Albion, and, briefly, Vancouver. He also made 20 appearances for England, scoring four goals.

After his playing career he found success as both a club and international manager, winning league championships in both the Netherlands and Portugal, earning trophies in England and Spain, and taking England to the semi-final of the 1990 World Cup. His last management role was as a mentor to the manager of the Irish national football team.

Robson was created a Knight Bachelor in 2002, was inducted as a member of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2003, and was the honorary president of Ipswich Town. From 1991 onwards he suffered recurrent medical problems with cancer, and in March 2008, put his name and efforts into the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, a cancer research charity. In August 2008, his lung cancer was confirmed to be terminal; he said: "My condition is described as static and has not altered since my last bout of chemotherapy...I am going to die sooner rather than later. But then everyone has to go sometime and I have enjoyed every minute". He died just under a year later.

Born in Sacriston, County Durham, Robson was the fourth of five sons of Philip and Lilian Robson (née Watt).^[2] When he was a few months old, Robson's family moved to the nearby village of Langley Park where his father was a coal miner. As a boy, he was often taken by his father to watch Newcastle United at St James' Park, requiring a bus ride or a walk of several miles.^[3][4][5] Robson describes Jackie Milburn and Len Shackleton as his childhood heroes.^[4] Both played for Newcastle in the inside-forward position, the position Robson would later assume during his playing career.

Robson attended Waterhouses Secondary Modern School but the headmaster did not allow the school football team to join a league.^[6] Instead, he began to play for Langley Park Juniors on Saturday mornings at the age of eleven, and by the time he was 15, he was representing the club at Under-18 level.^[7] Robson played football whenever he possibly could but also worked as an electrician's apprentice for the National Coal Board in the Langley Park colliery.^[8] In May 1950, Bill Dodgin, the Fulham manager made a personal visit to the Robson household to offer Bobby a professional contract. Despite being offered a contract by nearby Middlesbrough, the offer made by Dodgin was too attractive to turn down, so he signed for Fulham and moved to London,^[9][10][11] playing as a wing-half and inside-forward.^[12] Robson had also interested his beloved Newcastle, but he opted to join Fulham as, in his opinion, "Newcastle made no appreciable effort to secure [my] signature".^[10]

Bobby Robson was awarded a number of honours for his contributions to football. In 1990, at the end of his eight-year reign as England manager, he was awarded a CBE and in 2002, he was knighted; both awards were for services to football.^[135][136]

In 2002 (during his time as Newcastle manager), the 69-year-old Robson was awarded the freedom of Newcastle upon Tyne and the UEFA President's Award for 'services to football'.^[11][20] He was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2003 in recognition of his impact as a manager.^[137] Following his time as Newcastle United manager in 2005, Robson was made an Honorary Freeman of Newcastle,^[105] which, in his autobiography, he described as being "the proudest moment of my life".^[138]

Robson also won the 1992 Football Writers' Association Tribute Award for an outstanding contribution to the national game,^[139] and the 2001 British Sports Writers' Association Pat Besford Trophy for Outstanding Achievement.^[136] In 2005 he received a lifetime achievement award from the Sports Coach UK Awards,^[140] and was also awarded the Eircom International Personality of the Year in 2006.^[135] On 9 December 2007, Robson (74) was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year show in recognition of "his contribution as both player and manager in a career spanning more than half a century".^[141]

On 5 May 2008, during the 30th anniversary celebrations of Ipswich Town's 1978 FA Cup win, Robson was granted the Freedom of Ipswich by the Lady Mayor.^[142] On 8 December 2008, he earned another such accolade when he was given the Freedom of the City of Durham.^[143]

In March 2009, UEFA awarded Robson the Emerald UEFA Order of Merit award, awarded to "individuals who have dedicated their talents to the good of the game".^[144] The award was presented to Sir Bobby at St James' Park on 26 July 2009, prior to the Sir Bobby Robson Trophy match, and just five days before his death. ^[145]

Naomi Ruth Sims died she was 61

Naomi Ruth Sims was an African American model, Naomi Sims, the first black supermodel, died of cancer Saturday in Newark at age 61, the New York Times reports.

Sims broke barriers when she made the cover of Ladies Home Journal in 1968 — becoming the first black model to do so on a mainstream women’s magazine

(March 30, 1948 - August 1, 2009)

Born in Oxford, Mississippi, the youngest of three daughters born to John and Elizabeth Sims. Her father was reportedly a porter. Her parents divorced shortly after she was born. Sims moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where she attended Westinghouse High School. Due to her height, she was ostracized by many of her classmates. Sims credited her upbringing as a Catholic for helping to get her through adolescence.^{[citation needed]}

Sims began college at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. She became one of the first successful black models while still in her teens, and achieved worldwide recognition from the late 1960s into the early 1970s, appearing on the covers of prestigious fashion and popular magazines. In 1968 she was the first black model to appear on the cover of Ladies' Home Journal ^[2]. She also appeared on the cover of the October 17, 1969 issue of Life magazine.^[3]

By 1972, Hollywood took an interest in her as a potential actress and offered her the title role in the movie Cleopatra Jones, but when Sims read the script, she was appalled by the racist portrayal of blacks in the movie and turned it down. Sims ultimately decided to go into the beauty business for herself. In 1973, she retired from modeling to start her own business which created a successful wig collection fashioned after the texture of relaxed black hair.

She authored several books on modeling, health, and beauty, including All About Health and Beauty for the Black Woman, How to Be a Top Model and All About Success for the Black Woman, as well as an advice column for teenage girls in Right On! magazine.

She died of breast cancer on August 1, 2009, aged 61, in Newark, New Jersey. Her 1973 marriage to Michael Findlay ended in divorce in 1991. She is survived by her son, Bob Findlay, a granddaughter, and her elder sister, Betty Sims. Her eldest sister, Doris, died in 2008.^[1]

Corazon Aquino Former Philippine President died she was76

Maria Corazon "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco Aquino was the 11th President of the Philippines, serving from 1986 to 1992. She was the first female president of the Philippines and Asia.

A self-proclaimed "plain housewife",^[2] Aquino was married to Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. (1932–1983), a leading figure in the political opposition against the autocratic rule of President Ferdinand Marcos. After her husband was assassinated upon his return from exile in the United States on August 21, 1983, Aquino, who had no prior political experience, became a focal point and unifying force of the opposition against Marcos. She was drafted to run against Marcos in the 1986 snap presidential elections. After Marcos was proclaimed the winner despite widespread reports of electoral fraud, Aquino was installed as President by the peaceful 1986 People Power Revolution.

(January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009)

Aquino's presidency saw the restoration of democratic institutions in the Philippines, through the enactment of a new Constitution which limited the powers of the presidency, restored the bicameral Congress, and renewed emphasis on civil liberties. Her administration was likewise hampered by several military coup attempts by disaffected members of the Philippine military which derailed a return to full political stability and economic development.

Aquino died on August 1, 2009 from colon cancer.

Maria Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco was born to Jose Cojuangco of Tarlac and Demetria Sumulong of Antipolo, Rizal. She was the sixth of eight children in what was considered to be one of the richest Chinese-Mestizo families in the Philippines,^[3][4] in Tarlac.^[5] Her ancestry was one-eighth Tagalog from her maternal side, one-eighth Kapampangan and one-fourth Spanish from her paternal side, and half-Chinese from both maternal and paternal sides.^{[citation needed]}

She was sent to St. Scholastica's College in Manila where she finished grade school as class valedictorian in 1943. In 1946, she enrolled for a year in high school at the Assumption Convent in Manila. Later, she was sent to the United States to study in Kuba at the Ravenhill Academy in Philadelphia, the Notre Dame Convent School in New York, and the College of Mount Saint Vincent, also in New York.^[3] Meanwhile, she worked as a volunteer in the 1948 United States presidential campaign of Republican Thomas Dewey against President Harry Truman.^[5] She studied Liberal Arts and graduated in 1953 with a Bachelor of Arts in French Language, with a minor in Mathematics. She intended to become a math teacher and a language interpreter.

Aquino returned to the Philippines to study law at the Far Eastern University, owned by the family of the late Nicanor Reyes, Sr., who had been the father-in-law of her older sister Josephine. She gave up her law studies^[6] when in 1954, she married Benigno Servillano "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr., the son of a former Speaker of the National Assembly. They had five children together: a son, Benigno Simeon Aquino III, who was elected to the Philippine Senate in 2007, and four daughters, Maria Elena A. Cruz, Aurora Corazon A. Abellada, Victoria Eliza A. Dee, and actress-television host Kristina Bernadette A. Yap. Aquino had initial difficulty adjusting to provincial life when she and her husband moved to Concepcion, Tarlac, in 1955, after her husband had been elected the town's mayor at the age of 22. The American-educated Aquino found herself bored in Concepcion, and welcomed the opportunity to have dinner with her husband inside the American military facility at nearby Clark Field.^[7]

A member of the Liberal Party, Aquino's husband rose to be governor of Tarlac, and was elected to the Philippine Senate in 1967. During her husband's political career, Aquino remained a housewife who helped raise the children and played hostess to her spouse's political allies who would frequent their Quezon City home.^[4] She would decline to join her husband on stage during campaign rallies, preferring instead to stand at the back of the audience in order to listen to him.^[7] Nonetheless, she was consulted upon on political matters by her husband, who valued her judgments enormously.^[4]

Benigno Aquino soon emerged as a leading critic of the government of President Ferdinand Marcos of the Nacionalista Party, and there was wide speculation that he would run in the 1973 presidential elections, Marcos then being term limited. However, Marcos declared martial law on September 21, 1972, and later abolished the 1935 Constitution, allowing him to remain in office. Aquino's husband was among those arrested at the onset of martial law, later being sentenced to death. During his incarceration, Aquino drew strength from prayer, attending daily mass and saying three rosaries a day.^[7] As a measure of sacrifice, she enjoined her children from attending parties, and she herself stopped going to the beauty salon or buying new clothes, until a priest advised her and her children to instead live as normal lives as possible.^[7]

In 1978, despite her initial opposition, Aquino's imprisoned husband decided to run the 1978 Batasang Pambansa elections. Aquino campaigned in behalf of her imprisoned husband and for the first time in her life, delivered a political speech,^[2][7] though she willingly relinquished having to speak in public when it emerged that her six-year old daughter Kris was more than willing to speak on stage.^[7]

In 1980, upon the intervention of United States President Jimmy Carter,^[2] Marcos allowed Senator Aquino and his family to leave for exile in the United States, where he sought medical treatment.^[3] The family settled in Boston, and Aquino would later call the next three years as the happiest days of her marriage.^[2] He returned without his family to the Philippines on August 21, 1983, only to be assassinated on a staircase leading to the tarmac of the Manila International Airport, which was later renamed in his honor. Corazon Aquino returned to the Philippines a few days later and led her husband's funeral rites, where more than two million people were estimated to have participated, the biggest funeral ever in Philippine history.^[2]

On March 24, 2008, the Aquino family announced that the former President had been diagnosed with colon cancer.^[54] While she had initially been informed by her doctors that she had only three months to live,^[55] Aquino pursued chemotherapy. In public remarks made on May 13, 2008, she announced that blood tests indicated that she was responding positively to the medical treatment.^[56]

By July 2009, Aquino was reported to be in a very serious condition and confined to Makati Medical Center due to loss of appetite.^[57] It was announced that Aquino and her family had decided to cease chemotherapy and other medical interventions.^[58][59]

pulmonary arrest after complications of colon cancer^[60] at the age of 76 on August 1, 2009, 3:18 a.m., at the Makati Medical Center.^[61] Aquino was diagnosed with the disease in March 2008 but kept up public appearances in 2009. A devout Catholic, she was a regular at weekend Catholic mass until shortly before being admitted to hospital in late June 2009.

"Our mother peacefully passed away at 3:18 a.m. (19:18 GMT Friday) of cardio-respiratory arrest," her son, Senator Benigno Aquino III, told reporters in Manila.^[62]

The Aquino children declined Malacañang Palace's offer of a state funeral after the government pulled out Aquino's security detail in July 2009 as her illness worsened. Every living Philippine president is entitled to a security detail. The government responded to the political fallout claiming that the pullout was a mere "bureaucratic lapse," where the tour of duty of the bodyguards "expired."^[63]

Reverend Ike died he was 74.

Reverend Ike, formally the Right Reverend Dr. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II , Th.B., D.Sc.L., Ph.D., founder and pastor of the Christ United Church, was an American minister and electronic evangelist based in New York City. Reverend Ike was of African American and Indonesian descent.

(June 1, 1935, Ridgeland, South Carolina - July 28, 2009, Los Angeles, California^[1])

He began his career as a teenage preacher and became assistant pastor at Bible Way Church in Ridgeland, South Carolina. After serving a stint in the Air Force as a Chaplain Service Specialist (a non-commissioned officer assigned to assist chaplains), he founded, successively, the United Church of Jesus Christ for All People in South Carolina, the United Christian Evangelistic Association in Boston, Massachusetts (which is still his main corporate entity), and the Christ Community United Church in New York City.

Reverend Ike's ministry reached its peak in the mid 1970s, when his weekly radio sermons were carried by hundreds of stations across the United States. He was still active as of 2007, with a presence on the Internet and a syndicated television program.

He fully restored and owned the Christ United Church "Palace Cathedral" in Manhattan's Washington Heights section, formerly the Loews 175th Street movie theatre (one of the grandest and most extravagant of the "Wonder Theaters" movie palaces of the 1920s; restoration included the seven-story high, twin chamber Robert Morton organ). The "Miracle Star of Faith," visible from the George Washington Bridge, now tops the cupola of the building. He was also the "chancellor" of the United Church Schools, which include the Science of Living Institute and Seminary (which awarded him the D.Sc.L.: Doctor of the Science of Living); the Business of Living Institute (home of Thinkonomics); and other educational projects. He also offered a large number of books, audio and video tapes and a magazine to followers.

The Reverend Mrs. Eula M. Dent Eikerenkoetter (“Rev. Mrs. Ike”), B.A., M.A., D.Sc.L., his wife, served as Senior Co-Pastor, and his son, The Right Reverend Xavier Frederick Eikerenkoetter (“Rev. Ike’s Son”), B.A., M.Sc.L, D.Sc.L., was his "Bishop Coadjutor."

Reverend Ike had his own personal style of “preaching prosperity” and it is purported that he influenced a succeeding generation of "prosperity teachers" such as E. Bernard Jordan and Neale Donald Walsch.

Ike also made a guest appearance on Hank Williams, Jr.'s late 1986 single "Mind Your Own Business", which was a Number One country hit.^[2]

Reverend Ike died on July 28, 2009 of a stroke. He was 74.

Merce Cunningham died he was 90

Mercier (Merce) Philip Cunningham died he 90. Cunningham was an American choreographer who was at the forefront of the American avant-garde for more than 50 years. Throughout much of his life, Cunningham was also considered one of the greatest American dancers. A constant collaborator who has influenced artists across disciplines—including musicians John Cage and David Tudor, artists Robert Rauschenberg and Bruce Nauman, designer Romeo Gigli, and architect Benedetta Tagliabue—Cunningham’s impact extends beyond the dance world to the arts as a whole.

(April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009)

As a choreographer, teacher, and leader of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Cunningham had a profound influence on modern dance. Many dancers who trained with Cunningham formed their own companies, and they include Paul Taylor, Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, Karole Armitage, Foofwa d’Immobilité, Kimberly Bartosik, and Jonah Bokaer.

In April 2009, Cunningham celebrated his 90th birthday with the premiere of a new work, Nearly Ninety, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. Also in 2009, the Cunningham Dance Foundation announced the Legacy Plan, a precedent-setting plan for the continuation of Cunningham’s work and the celebration and preservation of his artistic legacy.

Cunningham earned some of the highest honors bestowed in the arts, including the National Medal of Arts and the MacArthur Fellowship. He also received Japan's Praemium Imperiale, a British Laurence Olivier Award, and was named Officier of the Légion d'honneur in France.

Cunningham’s life and artistic vision have been the subject of numerous books, films, and exhibitions, and his works have been presented by groups including the Ballet of the Paris Opéra, New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, White Oak Dance Project, and London's

Merce Cunningham was born in Centralia, Washington in 1919, the second of three sons. Both his brothers followed their father into the legal profession. Cunningham initially asked to attend dance school when he was ten years old, and received his first formal dance and theater training at the Cornish School (now Cornish College of the Arts) in Seattle, which he attended from 1937-1939. During this time, Martha Graham saw Cunningham dance and invited him to join her company.^[1]

In the fall of 1939, Cunningham moved to New York and began a six year career as a soloist in the company of Martha Graham. He presented his first solo concert in New York in April 1944 with composer John Cage, who became his life partner and frequent collaborator until Cage's death in 1992.

In the summer of 1953, as a teacher in residence at Black Mountain College, Cunningham formed the Merce Cunningham Dance Company as a forum to explore his new ideas on dance and the performing arts.

Over the course of his career, Cunningham choreographed more than 200 dances and over 800 “Events,” which are site-specific choreographic works. In addition to his role as choreographer, Cunningham performed as a dancer in his company into the early 1990s.

He continued to lead his dance company until his death, and presented a new work, Nearly Ninety, in April 2009, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York, to mark his 90th birthday.^[2]

Cunningham lived in New York City, and was Artistic Director of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Cunningham died peacefully in his home on July 26, 2009.^[3]