Fred Mills, Grammy nominated trumpeter, died he was 74

MONROE, Ga. - -- University of Georgia music professor Fred Mills, a Grammy nominee who made numerous records as a trumpeter with the Canadian Brass quintet and performed with numerous orchestras, has died after a highway accident.

University officials say Mr. Mills, 74, died from injuries he received while in a wreck in Walton County between Atlanta and Athens as he returned home from a trip performing overseas. He was driving from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to his home in Athens, university officials said.


He joined the university's faculty in 1996. Besides teaching trumpet, he coached a graduate brass quintet, The Bulldog Brass Society.

As a trumpeter, the Canada native performed across the globe.

In 1961, he was a founding member of the American Symphony Orchestra in New York. He also was principal trumpet for the New York City Opera, and played with the National Art Centre Orchestra in Canada and the New York City Ballet Orchestra.

A member of the Canadian Brass for 24 years, Mr. Mills recorded more than 40 albums for RCA, Sony, Philips and BMG. Mills was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1992.

A statement on the Canadian Brass Web site calls Mr. Mills a "Canadian treasure who changed the world's musical perspective."

"Fred lofted the piccolo trumpet into an indispensable role in the brass quintet, brought a new level of musical quality to the brass quintet repertoire through his arrangements, many of which are now considered absolute standard repertoire, and spent over fifty years helping establish the trumpet as a beautiful, lyrical voice amongst solo orchestral instruments," the statement reads.

Mr. Mills was born in Guelph, Canada, and attended the Julliard School of Music, where he got his first job offer even before he graduated.

UGA officials called Mr. Mills an "inspiration to all who knew him."

"One of the finest performers and teachers of his generation, he was at the same time a warm and generous colleague and a dear friend." said Dale Monson, director of the music school. "We have already begun hearing from friends around the world expressing their support and condolences. We will miss him greatly."

Frank Batten, Weather Channel founder, dies at 82

Frank Batten Sr., who built a communications empire that spanned newspapers and cable television and created The Weather Channel, died he was 82.

Batten, the retired chairman of privately held Landmark Communications and a former chairman of the board of the Associated Press, died in Norfolk after a prolonged illness, Landmark Vice Chairman Richard F. Barry III said.

A visionary executive who earned a reputation for spotting media trends, Batten was at the forefront of development of cable television in the 1960s.

He developed The Weather Channel in the 1980s while other media leaders scoffed at the idea that people would watch programming devoted solely to weather. In 2008, Landmark sold the channel to NBC Universal and two private equity firms for $3.5 billion.

The company had put its other businesses up for sale but suspended those plans amid the faltering economic conditions.

With a fortune estimated at $2.3 billion, Batten ranked 190th on Forbes magazine's 2008 list of the 400 richest Americans.

"I think that most accomplishments in organizations are officially the result of teamwork rather than a brilliant performance by one person," Batten said in a 2005 Associated Press oral history interview.

"Accomplishing teamwork is another matter," he added. "That's not easy, I think. And again it gets down to creating an environment in which people work successfully in teams, and are recognized for it."

He served as AP board chairman from 1982-87.

"Frank was both an inspirational and innovative leader, who was a willing mentor to many," said AP President and CEO Tom Curley. "He played a pivotal role in helping AP transition to a modern organization for a more competitive, global era of news-gathering."

Retired AP president and chief executive officer Louis D. Boccardi said Batten "came into AP's life at a critical time and started us on the road to modernize our systems, our management, and indeed our thinking while keeping true to our journalistic heritage."

Batten's uncle, Samuel L. Slover, had sowed the seeds of Norfolk-based Landmark in the early 1900s by acquiring a succession of local newspapers.

Slover helped raise Batten after Batten's father died when he was 1. Batten began his career as a reporter and advertising salesman for the Norfolk newspapers.

In 1954, the 27-year-old Batten was appointed publisher of the now-defunct Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch and The Virginian-Pilot. The company consisted of the two newspapers and a radio and TV station.

In the late 1950s, when Norfolk closed its schools rather than integrate them, Batten and other community leaders ran a full-page newspaper advertisement urging city officials to reopen them. Virginian-Pilot editor Lenoir Chambers won a Pulitzer Prize in 1960 for a series of editorials on the situation.

Slover died in 1959, and in 1964 Batten launched TeleCable and expanded in North Carolina and West Virginia with the first of 20 cable television systems in 15 states. TeleCable was sold to Tele-Communications Inc. in 1995 for $1 billion.

Meanwhile, Norfolk Newspapers Inc. became Landmark Communications Inc. in 1967, and Batten became chairman. He turned over that position to his son, Frank Batten Jr., in 1998.

Landmark now owns three metro daily newspapers — The Virginian-Pilot, the News & Record in Greensboro, N.C., and The Roanoke Times — plus more than 50 smaller community papers, free newspapers and specialty classified publications. It also owns television stations KLAS-TV in Las Vegas and NewsChannel 5 Network in Nashville, both CBS affiliates.

But Batten was always especially proud of The Weather Channel, launched in 1982.

"It was Landmark's first national venture, with all the complexities of marketing and distribution a national enterprise must consider," he said. "The staff prevailed over a chorus from skeptics in the press and trade to build one of the most loyal consumer audiences in television."

In 2009, Batten received the Virginia Press Association Lifetime Achievement Award.

Over the years, Batten donated more than $223 million to schools and other educational organizations. They included a 2007 gift of $100 million to his alma mater, the University of Virginia, to establish the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and a $60 million gift in 1999 to the university's Darden Graduate School of Business Administration.

Batten had cancer that required removal of his larynx in 1979. The surgery forced him to learn a new way of speaking that left his voice gravelly, but it didn't keep him from working and speaking in public.

Sandra Mims Rowe, editor of The Oregonian who worked on The Virginian-Pilot, Landmark's flagship newspaper, from 1970 to 1993, recalled the first Landmark annual meeting after the surgery. Rowe said Batten began the meeting as always, by introducing every executive without notes, and didn't miss a name or title.

"Everyone cheered but some of us wept," Rowe said. "It took a long time to go through 80 people, and you knew he was doing it to show us he was OK and to really give us confidence. It was the most courageous, generous and inspirational thing I ever saw."

Batten earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia in 1950 and a master's degree in business administration from Harvard University two years later. He served in the Merchant Marine during World War II and later as a Navy reserve officer.

In addition to Frank Jr., Batten is survived by his wife, Jane, and two daughters.

Keith Waterhouse, British Playwright, Dies at 80‎

Keith Spencer Waterhouse CBE died he was 80.^[1] Waterhouse was a novelist, newspaper columnist, and the writer of many television series.(6 February 1929 – 4 September 2009)

Keith Waterhouse was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. He did two years of national service in the Royal Air Force.

His credits, many with life-long friend and collaborator Willis Hall, include satires such as That Was The Week That Was, BBC-3 and The Frost Report during the 1960s, the book for the 1975 musical The Card, Budgie, Worzel Gummidge, and Andy Capp (an adaptation of the comic strip).

His 1959 book Billy Liar was subsequently filmed by John Schlesinger with Tom Courtenay in the part of Billy. It was nominated in six categories of the 1964 BAFTA awards, including Best Screenplay, and was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1963; in the early 1970s a sitcom based on the character was quite popular and ran to 25 episodes—a respectable run for a British sitcom, although it has seldom been seen since.

Waterhouse's first screenplay was the film Whistle Down the Wind (1961). Without receiving screen credit, Waterhouse and Hall did extensive rewrites on the original script for Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain (1966). Waterhouse is also the author of the play Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell (1989; Old Vic premiere, 1999), based on the life of journalist Jeffrey Bernard.

His career began at the Yorkshire Evening Post and he also wrote regularly for Punch, the Daily Mirror, and for the Daily Mail. His extended style book for the Daily Mirror, Waterhouse On Newspaper Style,^[2] is regarded as a classic textbook for modern journalism. This was followed by a pocket book on English usage intended for a wider audience entitled English Our English (And How To Sing It).

He fought long crusades to highlight what he perceived to be a decline in the standards of modern English; for example, he founded the Association for the Abolition of the Aberrant Apostrophe, whose members attempt to stem the tide of such solecisms as "pound's of apple's and orange's" in greengrocers' shops.^[3]

In February 2004 he was voted Britain's most admired contemporary columnist by the British Journalism Review.

On 4 September 2009, a statement released by his family announced that Waterhouse had died quietly in his sleep at his home in London; he was 80.^[1]

Christian Poveda, was murdered he was 52

(CNN) -- A French filmmaker who recently finished a documentary about a violent street gang in El Salvador was found shot dead in the town of Tonacatepeque, about 10 miles northeast of the capital city of San Salvador, authorities said.

French documentary filmmaker Christian Poveda was found shot dead 10 miles northeast of San Salvador.

Christian Poveda, 52, was shot at least four times in the face, according to local reports.

Poveda's documentary, "La Vida Loca," which follows the lives of members of the Mara 18 street gang, had been screened at a handful of film festivals and is slated for wider release later this month. His body was found in an area controlled by that same gang, local reports said.

A motive of Poveda's murder Wednesday was being investigated, National Civil Police Director Carlos Ascencio Giron said in a statement. Citing the pending investigation, police did not immediately give any details, but Ascencio Giron said that the homicide and organized crime divisions of his department were handling the case jointly with the attorney general's office.

Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes said he was "very shocked" by the news of the murder.

According to a statement by the president's office, Poveda first arrived in El Salvador in the 1980s to cover the civil war as a photojournalist. He left to report from other war zones, but returned to research and film the gangs in El Salvador.

Poveda on Wednesday was traveling in his car after filming in a town called Soyapango when unknown assailants intercepted him and then shot him, according to the statement.

The homicide sector chief for the National Civil Police, Marco Tulio Lima, told the newspaper El Diario de Hoy that police detained one person in connection to the killing, but did not say if the person was a suspect.

"Christian Poveda's recent film about El Salvador's street gangs provided a powerful inside look into youth violence in one of Central America's most dangerous regions," said Carlos Lauria of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

"We urge the authorities to conduct a prompt and exhaustive inquiry into his murder and bring all those responsible to justice."

In March, "La Vida Loca" was a hit with audiences at the Guadalajara International Film Festival in Mexico, the organization told CNN through a spokesman.

Poveda gave himself fully to his work and spent years following the Mara 18, the festival spokesman said.

"Creating documentary implies working for the love of the profession, and that was what our friend Christian showed us in the short time that we had the opportunity to know him," the Film Festival said in a statement.

The producer of Poveda's documentary, Carole Solive, told The Guardian newspaper that, "He went out alone . . . to get back in touch with the gang whose story he had filmed."

"But their boss was in prison and he found himself in the middle of very restless young capos who, for the first time, asked him for money," she said

Sheila Lukins died she was 66

Sheila Lukins died she was 66. Lukins was an American cook and food writer. She was most famous as the co-author, with Julee Rosso, of the The Silver Palate series of cookbooks, and The New Basics Cookbook, a very popular set of food guides which introduced many Americans to French, Southern and Eastern European cooking techniques and ingredients and popularized a richer and very boldly seasoned style of cooking to Americans in sharp contrast to the health-food movements of the 1970s. Together, their books sold more than seven million copies. She was also the co-founder and owner of the popular Silver Palate gourmet shop in New York City and, for 23 years, the food editor and columnist for Parade, a position previously held by Julia Child.

(1942 – August 30, 2009)

Born Sheila Gail Block in Philadelphia, she grew up in Norwalk and Westport, Connecticut.^[1] She studied art at the Tyler School of Fine Arts, the School of Visual Arts and New York University, where she earned a bachelor's degree with honor in Art Education. After graduation, she attended Le Cordon Bleu in London, England, while working in graphic design. Her culinary education continued in France, where she worked alongside Michelin-starred chefs in Bordeaux.

In 1977 she returned to New York City and, with friend Julee Rosso, opened and ran a gourmet food shop in New York City called The Silver Palate at the corner of Columbus Avenue and 73rd Street. In the 1980s they wrote, with Michael McLaughlin, The Silver Palate Cookbook, which broke cookbook records by selling 250,000 copies in its first year and went on to sell 2.5-million copies, followed by The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook, and others. In 1986, she replaced Julia Child as the food editor for Parade.

After 11 years working together, Rosso and Lukins split up in the 1990s in a widely-reported feud. The Silver Palate shop, which had been sold to new owners in 1988, closed its doors in 1993, although a brand of sauces and condiments bearing its name continues to be sold. During this period Lukins published her own successful series of books including Sheila Lukins' All Round the World Cookbook and Celebrate! In 2007 she reunited with Rosso to publish a new 25th-anniversary edition of The New Basics Cookbook.

In June of 2009, she was diagnosed with brain cancer, and died of the disease on August 30, 2009, at her home in Manhattan, at age 66, surrounded by her children.^[1]

Books

with Julee Rosso

• The Silver Palate Cookbook, 1979
• The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook, 1984 (Winner of the James Beard award in the "Entertaining" category in 1986)^[2]
• The New Basics Cookbook, 1989
• Silver Palate Desserts, 1995

[edit] By Sheila Lukins

• Sheila Lukins' All Round the World Cookbook, 1994
• USA Cookbook, 1997
• Celebrate!, 2003

Dominick John Dunne died he was 83

Dominick John Dunne^{[1] [2]} was an American writer and investigative journalist whose subjects frequently hinged on the ways high society interacts with the judicial system. He was a producer in Hollywood and was also known for his frequent appearances on television. He was the brother of author John Gregory Dunne; the writer Joan Didion was his sister-in-law. He was the father of Alexander Dunne, and of the actors Griffin Dunne and Dominique Dunne as well as two daughters who died in infancy.

(October 29, 1925 - August 26, 2009)

Dunne, the second of six children, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of Dorothy Frances (née Burns) and Richard Edwin Dunne, a hospital chief of staff and prominent heart surgeon.^[3][4] His Irish Catholic family was wealthy (his maternal grandfather founded the Park Street Trust), but from his earliest days Dunne recalled feeling like an outsider in the predominantly WASPish West Hartford.^[3]

After Dunne's studies at the Kingswood School and Canterbury School in New Milford, Connecticut^[5] 'Nicky' Dunne – as he was known during his boyhood – attended Williams College and then served in World War II, including the battle of Metz. Afterward he moved to New York, then to Hollywood, where he directed Playhouse 90 and became vice-president of Four Star Television. He hobnobbed with the rich and the famous of those days. In 1979, beset with addictions, Dunne left Hollywood and moved to rural Oregon, where he says he dealt with his personal demons and wrote his first book, The Winners.

In November 1982, his daughter, Dominique Dunne, best known for her part in the film Poltergeist, was murdered. Dunne attended the trial of her murderer (John Thomas Sweeney) and wrote the article "Justice: A Father's Account of the Trial of his Daughter's Killer" for Vanity Fair.

Dunne went on to write for Vanity Fair regularly and fictionalized several real-life events, such as the murders of Alfred Bloomingdale's mistress Vicki Morgan and banking heir William Woodward, Jr., for best-selling books. He eventually hosted the TV series Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justice on CourtTV (later truTV), in which he discussed justice and injustice and their intersection with celebrities. Famous trials he covered include those of O.J. Simpson, Claus von Bulow, Michael Skakel, William Kennedy Smith, and the Menendez brothers.

In 2005, Gary Condit won an undisclosed amount of money and an apology from Dunne, who had earlier implicated him in the disappearance of Chandra Levy, an intern from his district with whom he had been carrying on an affair. In November 2006, he was sued again by Condit for comments made about the former politician on Larry King Live on CNN^[6] but the suit was tossed out of court.

While it was rumored in early 2006 that he intended to cease writing for Vanity Fair, Dunne stated the opposite in a February 4, 2006 interview with talk show host Larry King. "Oh, I am at Vanity Fair. I'll be in the next issue and the issue after that. We went through, you know, a difficult period. That happens in long relationships and, you know, you either work your way through them or you get a divorce. And I didn't want a divorce and we've worked our way through and Graydon and I are close and he's a great editor and I'm thrilled to be there."^[7]

Dunne frequently socialized with, wrote about, and was photographed with celebrities. A Salon.com review of his memoir, The Way We Lived Then, recounted how Dunne appeared at a wedding reception for Dennis Hopper. Sean Elder, the author of the review, wrote: "But in the midst of it all there was one man who was getting what ceramic artist Ron Nagle would call 'the full cheese,' one guy everyone gravitated toward and paid obeisance to." That individual was Dunne, who mixed easily with artists, actors and writers present at the function. The final line of the review about Dunne quoted Dennis Hopper wishing he "had a picture of myself with Allen Ginsberg and Norman Mailer."^[8]

In 2008, at age 82, Dunne traveled from New York to Las Vegas to cover O.J. Simpson's trial on charges of kidnapping and armed robbery for Vanity Fair magazine, claiming it would be his last. During the trial, an unidentified woman approached and kissed him, causing her to be ejected from the courtroom. When he collapsed and was rushed to the hospital, he expressed amazement[1]at how fast the word spread at his fan site, DominicksDiary.com.[2]

Dunne's adventures in Hollywood as an outcast, top-selling author and reporter, were catalogued in the release of Dominick Dunne: After the Party. This film documents his successes and tribulations as a big name in the entertainment industry. In the film, Dunne reflects on his past as a World War II veteran, falling in love and raising a family, his climb and fall as a Hollywood producer, and his epic comeback as a writer.

In September 2008, Dunne disclosed that he was being treated for bladder cancer.^[9] He was working on Too Much Money, his final book, at the time of his death.^[10] On September 22, 2008, Dunne complained of intense pain and was taken by ambulance to Valley Hospital.^[11] Dunne died on August 26, 2009 at his home in Manhattan from bladder cancer.^[12] However news of his death was minimal, as Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy had died the day before.^[13]

Brenda Joyce died she was 92

Brenda Joyce died she 92. Joyce was an American film actress. She was born as Betty Graffina Leabo in Excelsior Springs, Missouri.

Although she appeared in many B-movies of the 1940s, she is best-remembered as the seventh actress to play Jane in the Tarzan series of films. She succeeded Maureen O'Sullivan in the series and appeared in the role five times.

Her first four appearances as Jane were opposite Johnny Weissmuller. However, her last performance as Jane, in Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949), was with Lex Barker as Tarzan. Joyce and Karla Schramm from the silent era were the only two actresses to play Jane opposite two different actors playing Tarzan.

(February 25, 1917^[1] – July 4, 2009^[2])

She retired from acting in 1949.

She was married to Owen Ward from 1941 until their divorce in 1949; they had three children, Pamela Ann, Timothy Owen and Beth Victoria.

Brenda Joyce died on July 4, 2009 in a nursing home in Santa Monica, California.^[2]