In 2024, we've experienced the loss of several luminaries in the world of entertainment. These beloved figures—actors, comedians, musicians, singers, and coaches—have touched our lives with their talent, passion, and dedication. They've left an indelible mark on our hearts and shaped the world of entertainment in ways that will continue to inspire and influence generations to come.
Among the incredible actors who bid farewell this year, we mourn the loss of a true chameleon who effortlessly.
Robert E. "Bob" Stupak[2] has died he was 67. Stupak was a Las Vegascasino owner and entrepreneur.
(April 6, 1942 – September 25, 2009)
Bob Stupak was the son of Chester and Florence Stupak. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Once the younger Stupak reached legal age, he moved to Las Vegas and started a coupon book venture. He sold books full of two-for-ones and other items. Stupak later moved to Australia to pursue a similar business venture, only to be asked to leave the country for questionable business practices.
While in Australia, Stupak was briefly married to Annette Suna, and they had a daughter, Nicole. From 1971 to 1985, Stupak was married to Sandra Joyce Wilkinson, and had two more children, Nevada and Summer.
Stupak moved to Las Vegas in 1971, eventually raising enough money to acquire a small, 1.5 acres (0.61 ha) parcel north of Sahara Avenue at Las Vegas Boulevard South. On March 31, 1974, Bob Stupak's World Famous Historic Gambling Museum opened for business. "The name was about 10 ft (3.0 m) longer than the casino," Stupak recalled years later. On May 21, an air conditioner caught fire and the building burned down.
In 1979 Stupak opened Vegas World, a casino known for its promotions and new twists on games. At its peak in the mid 1980's, Vegas World grossed $100 million per year.
In 1989, Stupak won a widely publicized million dollar wager on Super Bowl XXIII. Later that year, he won the Deuce to Seven Lowball championship bracelet at the World Series of Poker.
In 1995 Stupak suffered a motorcycle accident, breaking every bone in his face and going into a coma. Although the initial prognosis was that he would not survive, Stupak made a full recovery.
At the time of his motorcycle crash, Stupak was at work developing The Stratosphere, a massive observation tower that would be the largest sign in Las Vegas. The tower opened in late April 1996 at a cost of $550 million but was a financial disaster. Many came to see the tower, but few stopped long enough to gamble, dine or shop. The Stratosphere went bankrupt soon thereafter, was sold, and is now profitable.
Stupak continued to plan Vegas projects, including a purchase of the Moulin Rouge Hotel and a huge hotel shaped like the RMS Titanic, but these endeavors never bore fruit.
Stupak appeared in the first season of the GSN series High Stakes Poker. He also appeared at a final table during the first season of the World Poker Tour.
As of 2008, his total live tournament winnings exceeded $865,000.
Bob Stupak died after a long battle with leukemia on September 25, 2009. He was 67 years old.
Susan Denise Atkins has died she was 61. Atkin was a convicted American murderer who was a member of the "Manson family", led by Charles Manson. Manson and his followers committed a series of nine murders at four locations in California, over a period of five weeks in the summer of 1969. Atkins, known within the Manson family as Sadie Mae Glutz, was convicted for her participation in eight of these killings, including the most notorious, "Tate/LaBianca" murders. She was sentenced to death, which was subsequently commuted to life in prison. Atkins was incarcerated in California from October 1, 1969 until her death, having been denied parole 18 times. She had been the longest-incarcerated female inmate in the California penal system.[1]
(May 7, 1948 – September 24, 2009)
Born in San Gabriel, California, the second of three children, Atkins grew up in northern California. Both her parents, Edward John and Jeanette, were, according to her, alcoholics.[2] Her mother died of cancer in 1963. Over the next three years, Atkins' life was disrupted by the gradual breakup of her family, frequent moves, and her leaving home to live independently. Atkins and her family lived in a middle-class home[2] in the Cambrian Park area of San Jose, California, until she was 13. She was described by those who knew her as a quiet, self-conscious girl who belonged to her school's glee club and the local church choir. Two weeks before her mother was hospitalized for the final time, Atkins arranged for members of the church choir to sing Christmas carols under her bedroom window. After Jeanette Atkins' death, relatives were asked to help look after Atkins and her two brothers.
By some accounts, the family's circumstances deteriorated further as her father continued drinking and drifted around the country in search of work, which resulted in Atkins' being uprooted, frequently changing homes and schools. Her father told a different story; one of a stable home, loving environment, and happy family life.[citation needed]
Edward Atkins eventually moved to Los Banos, California, with Susan and her younger brother Steven. When he found work on the San Luis Dam construction project, he left the two children behind to fend for themselves. Atkins took a job during her junior year in school to support herself and Steven. Atkins had been an average student in Leigh High School in San Jose, but her grades deteriorated when she entered Los Banos High School. During this time, she lived with various relatives.[3]
Her older brother, Michael, had previously left home to join the Navy. Susan Atkins dropped out of high school at the age of 18 and went to San Francisco, where she supported herself as a secretary, an office gopher and topless dancer. During her time as a stripper, Atkins met Church of Satan founder Anton Szandor LaVey when she was hired for a stage production which featured her as a vampire.
During this time, she also had contact with local law enforcement authorities. In 1966, she was arrested and charged with possession of a concealed weapon and receiving stolen property.[citation needed]
In 1967, Atkins met Charles Manson when he played guitar at the house where she was living with several friends. When the house was raided several weeks later by the police and she was left homeless, Manson invited her to join his group, who were embarking on a summer road trip in a converted school bus painted completely black. She was nicknamed "Sadie Mae Glutz" by Manson and a man who was creating a fake ID for her at the time. Atkins later claimed to have believed Manson to be Jesus. The growing "Manson Family" settled at the Spahn Ranch in the San Fernando Valley in Southern California, where on October 7, 1968, she bore a son, by Bruce White, whom Manson named Zezozose Zadfrack Glutz. Atkins' parental rights were terminated once she was convicted of the murders and no one in her family would assume responsibility for the child. Her son was adopted and renamed from the time of her incarceration in 1969.[4] She had no further contact with him.
During the summer of 1969, Manson and his commune at Spahn's Ranch were attracting the attention of the police, who suspected them of auto thefts and were suspicious of the high number of underage runaways. In an attempt to raise money to move away to the desert, Manson encouraged drug dealing. Purportedly, a botched drug scam by Family member Charles "Tex" Watson led Manson to confront and shoot a man by the name of Bernard "Lotsapapa" Crowe. Manson believed he had killed Crowe, and he further believed Crowe to be a Black Panther. Neither was true.[5] Nonetheless, Manson feared retaliation from the Black Panthers and pressured his followers for more money. During this time someone suggested that an old friend, Gary Hinman, had just inherited a large sum of money. Manson hoped Hinman could be induced into joining the commune and contributing his purported new inheritance.
Manson sent Atkins, Bobby Beausoleil and Mary Brunner to Hinman's home on July 25, 1969. Atkins claimed she didn’t know a crime was going to take place, a claim she made when she pleaded guilty to the murder, although she wrote in her 1977 book that she went to Hinman's home to get money and knew that it was possible they were going to kill Hinman.[citation needed]
When Hinman insisted he had not inherited any money, Beausoleil beat him severely. When this didn't change Hinman's story, Manson himself showed up, and swung at his head with a sword, slicing his face and severely cutting his ear. Manson directed Atkins and Brunner to stay behind and tend to Hinman's wounds. Two days later, and after a phone call from Manson, Beausoleil had Hinman sign over the registrations to his cars and then killed him. Beausoleil left a bloody handprint on the wall along with vaguely revolutionary words that were reportedly placed there in hope of implicating the Black Panthers. Beausoleil was arrested on August 7, 1969, when he was found asleep in one of Hinman's vehicles. He was still wearing the blood stained clothing he wore during the crime. The murder weapon was hidden in the tire well of the car's trunk.
On the evening of August 8, 1969, Manson gathered Atkins, Linda Kasabian and Patricia Krenwinkel in front of Spahn's Ranch and told them to go with Charles "Tex" Watson and do as they were told.[6] In Atkins' grand jury testimony, she stated that while in the car, Watson told the group they were going to a home to get money from the people who lived there and to kill them.[7]
Five people were murdered at the Beverly Hills home where Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate lived: Tate (who was eight months pregnant), Steven Parent, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski and Abigail Folger. Polanski, Tate's husband, was in Europe finishing work on a film project. Forensic evidence indicated that the murders were brutal. Just prior to leaving the residence, Atkins wrote "PIG" on the front door in Sharon Tate's blood.[8]
The following night, August 9, 1969, Manson commented that the murders at the Tate residence had been too messy, and announced he'd have to take his followers out and "show them how it's done". Manson called Atkins, Krenwinkel, Watson, Kasabian, Leslie Van Houten and Steve "Clem" Grogan, and they left Spahn's Ranch. Driving most of the night, he eventually found the home of grocery store owner Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary in Los Feliz, a section of north-eastern Los Angeles. Manson and Watson entered the home and tied the couple up at gunpoint, winning their compliance by convincing them they were only going to be robbed.[9] He then went back to the car and sent Krenwinkel and Van Houten inside to do as Tex said, once again directing them to leave writings in blood, and to hitchhike back to Spahn's Ranch. Manson then drove Atkins, Kasabian, and Grogan to Venice Beach where Kasabian said she knew an actor named Saladin Nader. Manson dropped them off and told them to kill the actor, and hitchhike back to the ranch. But when Kasabian deliberately[citation needed] went to the wrong apartment, the three aborted the plan. Grogan allegedly threw the gun away.[citation needed] As the group abandoned the murder plan and left, Susan Atkins defecated in the stairwell.
At trial, the prosecution stated Manson's desire to start "Helter Skelter" (an apocalypticrace war) was the motive for the crimes. Initially, Manson told the group that during this war, they would hide in a hole in the desert, and would emerge when the war was over. He said the blacks would win the war, but would be unable to govern and would turn to Manson. In the weeks prior to the murders, Manson began to say that the war wasn't starting fast enough and the group would have to start it by murdering wealthy white people. As evidence for this motive, several witnesses testified to Manson's statements regarding "Helter Skelter" and his obsession with the Beatles' music, and the individuals convicted for the murders have testified at various parole hearings that this was the motive (e.g., Leslie Van Houten testified to this at her 1993 parole hearing).[10] During Beausoleil's trial for the murder of Hinman, the defense, in order to discredit the prosecution's case, argued that the crimes were copycat murders made to misdirect police suspicion away from Beausoleil. The prosecution discounted this claim.
In later years, prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi stated that he believed the murders had numerous, disparate motives, all of which served to benefit Manson.[11] The home where Tate and Polanski were living with friends was known to Manson and Watson, who had been there once and knew where it was, and Manson knew that wealthy, famous people lived there.[12] One former tenant of the home was Terry Melcher, Doris Day's son, a record producer who Manson believed had made promises to him which had never materialized. Prosecutor Bugliosi suggested Manson may have very briefly encountered the eventual murder victims when he went to the home looking for Melcher and was reportedly turned away by Sharon Tate's photographer.[13]
On August 16, 1969, Spahn's Ranch was raided by the police in connection with auto thefts. The charges were later dropped and everyone was released. Soon after their release, Manson and his followers left Spahn Ranch for Barker Ranch, another isolated location. However, the authorities were still suspicious of the group and the new location was raided in October 1969 with the outcome that the group was arrested again on auto theft charges. It would be the last time many of them would be free. Just after this arrest, another member of the group implicated Atkins in the Hinman murder and she was charged with that crime.[14]
While in jail, Atkins befriended two middle-aged career criminals, Virginia Graham and Veronica "Ronnie" Howard, to whom she confessed her participation in the Tate/LaBianca murders, for example telling the women that she stabbed Tate and that she had tasted Tate's blood. They subsequently reported her statements to the authorities.[15] This, combined with information from other sources, led to the arrest of Atkins and others involved in the Tate/LaBianca murders (Van Houten, Krenwinkel, Kasabian and Watson).
Atkins agreed to testify for the prosecution in exchange for dropping the death penalty, and she then testified before the grand jury as to what had transpired on the nights of August 8 and 9, 1969.[16] When asked if she was willing to testify knowing that she was not being given immunity, was not being freed of any of the charges, and that she might incriminate herself in her trial testimony, she responded, "I understand this, and my life doesn't mean that much to me, I just want to see what is taken care of."[17]
Atkins told the grand jury that she stabbed Frykowski in the legs and that she held Tate down while Watson stabbed her. She also testified that Tate had pleaded for her life and that of her unborn child, to which Atkins replied, "Woman, I have no mercy for you." Her explanation to the grand jury was that this was talking to (convince) herself, and not addressed to Sharon as "I was told before we even got there no matter what they beg don't give them any leeway". She also denied her earlier statement to Howard and Graham that she had tasted Tate's blood.[7]
Prior to the trial, Atkins discontinued her cooperation with the prosecution and repudiated her grand jury testimony. From the early 1970s onward however, Atkins told Parole Boards that her original grand jury testimony was truthful and accurate as to what transpired in the Tate home.
Atkins alleged that the reason that she repudiated her grand jury testimony was that "Manson sent his followers to suggest that it might be better for me and my son if I decided not to testify against him".[18] She told her 1985 parole board that her son was legally adopted in either 1972 or 1973.[19]
Atkins claimed over the years that her participation in the crimes led by Manson was passive and that she did not actually kill anyone. In his 1978 memoir, Watson declared himself responsible for all of Tate's injuries,[20] characterizing Atkins' initial confessions as exaggeration, jail house bragging, and a bid for attention.
Manson, Krenwinkel, Van Houten and Atkins went on trial on June 15, 1970. Watson was later tried separately as he was at the time in Texas fighting extradition. Kasabian was offered, and accepted, immunity. As Kasabian had not played a direct part in any of the murders[citation needed] and never entered either residence, and by several accounts had challenged Manson over the killings, the offer of immunity to her was less bitterly contested, particularly by the prosecutor, Vincent Bugliosi, who commented that he was relieved the offer was withdrawn from Atkins.
During the sentencing phase of the trial, Atkins testified that she stabbed Tate. She stated that she had stabbed Tate because she was "sick of listening to her, pleading and begging, begging and pleading". She also denied that Manson had any role in orchestrating the murders.[citation needed] Little credibility was given to Atkins's testimony in general, as it frequently contradicted known facts. Atkins claimed that "(Manson) told us that we were going to have to get on the stand and claim we had deliberately and remorselessly, and with no direction from him at all, committed all the murders ourselves".[18]
Throughout the trial, Atkins and her co-defendants attempted to disrupt proceedings and were noted for both their lack of remorse for their victims and lack of concern for their own fate. They sang Manson-penned songs while being led to the courtroom. All four defendants were sentenced to death on March 29, 1971. Atkins was transferred to California's new women's death row in April 1971.
After the Tate/LaBianca trial, Atkins was convicted for the Hinman murder. She pleaded guilty to the charges against her. She testified she had not known Hinman was to be robbed or killed, although she subsequently contradicted herself on this point in her 1977 autobiography.
Susan Atkins in 2001.
Atkins' death sentence was automatically commuted to life in prison the following year after the California Supreme Court's People v. Anderson decision invalidated all death sentences imposed in California prior to 1972.[21]
In 1977, Atkins published her autobiography, Child of Satan, Child of God, in which she recounted the time she spent with Manson and the family, her religious conversion, and her prison experiences.
From 1974 onwards, Atkins stated she was a born-again Christian. She became active in prison programs, teaching classes and received two commendations for assisting in emergency health interventions with other inmates, one of which was a suicide attempt.[22] She was married on September 9, 1981[citation needed] to Donald Lee Laisure, a Texan claiming to be a multi-millionaire who would use his resources to help secure her freedom, but Atkins had the marriage annulled in 1982 when it was revealed that many of his claims were false. She married a second time, in 1987, to a man 15 years her junior, James W. Whitehouse, who earned a law degree and represented Atkins at her 2000 and 2005 parole hearings. He maintained a website dedicated to her legal representation.[23]
During her 2000 parole hearing, Tate's sister, Debra, read a statement written by their father, Paul, which said in part, "Thirty one years ago I sat in a courtroom with a jury and watched with others. I saw a young woman who giggled, snickered and shouted out insults, even while testifying about my daughter's last breath, she laughed. My family was ripped apart. If Susan Atkins is released to rejoin her family, where is the justice?"[24]
In April 2002, she told a reporter of her work to discourage teenagers from idolizing Manson and her hope of someday leaving prison to live in Laguna Beach, California.[25]
In 2002, Atkins filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming that she is a "political prisoner" due to the repeated denials of her parole requests regardless of her suitability.[26]
On June 1, 2005, Atkins had her 17th parole hearing. This hearing was attended by various family members of the victims, such as Debra Tate and members of the Sebring family, and they requested that her parole be denied. She received a four-year denial.[22]
In April 2008, it was revealed that Atkins had been hospitalized for more than a month with an undisclosed illness, which was subsequently reported to be terminal brain cancer, and one leg had been amputated. Atkins was given less than six months to live and subsequently requested a "compassionate release" from prison. In June, Atkins' attorney, Eric P. Lampel stated that Atkins' condition had deteriorated to the point that she was paralyzed on one side, could only talk "a little bit" and couldn't sit up in bed without assistance.[27]
Vincent Bugliosi, who prosecuted Atkins, said he was not opposed to her release given her current condition, adding that she had paid "substantially, though not completely, for her horrendous crimes. Paying completely would mean imposing the death penalty."[28] Bugliosi also stated that he supported her release in order to save the state money. The cost for Atkins' medical care since she was hospitalized on March 18, 2008, has reportedly surpassed $1.15 million with additional cost of over $300,000 to guard her hospital room."[27] Bugliosi stated that he was challenging the notion that "just because Susan Atkins showed no mercy to her victims, we therefore are duty-bound to follow her inhumanity and show no mercy to her."[29]
Former prosecutor Stephen R. Kay, who also prosecuted Manson supporters, opposed Atkins' release, stating:
“
Atkins married twice while in prison. For a long time, she got conjugal visits and Sharon Tate and the others were dead and buried long ago. So I think it's a matter of principle that she should not be granted clemency.
”
Kay also stated that he had attended about 60 parole hearings related to the murders and spent considerable time with the victims' families, witnessing their suffering.[29]
Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley stated that he was strongly opposed to the release, saying in a letter to the board it would be "an affront to people of this state, the California criminal justice system and the next of kin of many murder victims." Cooley wrote that Atkins' "horrific crimes alone warrant a denial of her request" and that she "failed to demonstrate genuine remorse and lacks insight and understanding of the gravity of her crimes."[29] Suzan Hubbard, director of adult prisons in California, also recommended against granting Atkins' request. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also opposed Atkins' release, stating that: "I don't believe in [compassionate release]. I think that they have to stay in, they have to serve their time ... [T]hose kinds of crimes are just so unbelievable that I'm not for the compassionate release."[27]
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas also opposed Atkins' release, stating that "It would be a grave miscarriage of justice to burden the citizens of Orange County by paroling her to Orange County, where she can enjoy the comforts of her husband, home and mercy she did not show Sharon Tate [or] her unborn baby."[29]
Atkins' release hearing took place on July 15, 2008. During the 90-minute hearing, emotional pleas were made by both supporters and opponents of Atkins' release. The public hearing limited speakers to five minutes each for comment. After the board heard the case (as well as other agenda items) it retired to closed session for final deliberations. Due to her failing health, Atkins did not attend the hearing.
Debra Tate, the only surviving immediate relative of murder victim Sharon Tate, spoke in opposition to a compassionate release for Atkins, stating that "She will be set free when judged by God. It's important that she die in incarceration."[27] Pam Turner, a cousin of Sharon Tate, also opposed Atkins' release, stating that "If she were capable of comprehending what our family's been through, she would be ashamed to come before this parole board and ask such a request." Anthony DiMaria, the nephew of murder victim Thomas Jay Sebring, also opposed Atkins' release stating that "You will hear various opinions with respect to this today, but you will hear nothing from the nine people who lie in their graves and suffered horrendous deaths at the hands of Susan Atkins."[30]
Gloria Goodwin Killian, director of ACWIP (Action Committee for Women in Prison) and a Pasadena legal researcher and prisoner advocate, spoke in support for Atkins' compassionate release, arguing "Susan has been punished all that she can be. Short of going out to the hospital and physically torturing her, there is nothing left anyone can do to her. The people who are suffering are the people you see in this room today." In July 2008 Atkins' husband, James W. Whitehouse, told the board "They tell me we're lucky if we have three months. It's not going to be fun. It's not going to be pretty."[30]
The 11 members of the California Board of Parole Hearings ultimately denied Atkins' request in a unanimous decision after final deliberations. The decision — posted on its Web site — meant the Atkins' request would not be forwarded to the Los Angeles Superior Court that sentenced her, which would have had the final say as to whether she would be released.[27]
Atkins, reportedly paralyzed over 85 percent of her body, unable to sit up or be transferred to a wheelchair, according to a Web site maintained by her husband,[32] was denied parole at a parole hearing on September 2, 2009.[33]
Atkins died of natural causes on September 24, 2009, at the Central California Women's facility in Chowchilla.[2][34] Her husband, James Whitehouse, subsequently released the following statement: "Susan passed away peacefully surrounded by friends and loved ones and the incredible staff at the Skilled Nursing Facility at the Central California Women's Facility ... Her last whispered word was 'Amen.' No one (on) the face of the Earth worked as hard as Susan did to right an unrightable wrong."[35]
In 1965, Kunzel began the country's first winter pops series, the "8 O'Clock Pops". When the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra board of trustees created the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra in 1977, Kunzel was named conductor. The Pops became the larger of Cincinnati's two orchestras, as all of Max Rudolf's symphony orchestra also played for the Pops year-round. At the invitation of Arthur Fiedler in 1970, Kunzel guest-conducted over 100 concerts with the Boston Pops Orchestra.[3] He remained active with symphony, leading the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra from 1982 to 2002.
From the beginning, Kunzel's strove to expand the Cincinnati Pops' reach worldwide, with nearly 90 recordings on the Telarc label,[3] most of which became bestsellers. His popular recordings of classical music, Broadway musicals, and movie scores topped worldwide crossover charts more than any other conductor or orchestra in the world. Some of Kunzel's mentees at the Cincinnati Pops would later become notable in their own right, including Keith Lockhart of the Boston Pops and Steven Reineke of The New York Pops.[4]
The Cincinnati Pops were especially popular in Asia. The group toured Japan several times. In 1998, Kunzel became the first American pops conductor to perform in China. Ten years later, he and the Cincinnati Pops were invited back to perform at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; they were the only American orchestra to play at the event.[5]
The conductor had a large influence on Cincinnati's local music scene. In addition to conducting almost weekly subscription concerts with the Cincinnati Pops, he expanded the Pops program in 1984 to include a summer concert series at the newly-built Riverbend Music Center on the banks of the Ohio River. He pushed for a new campus to house the city's public School for Creative and Performing Arts. He invited many local performers, including children's choruses and College-Conservatory students, to share the stage with the Pops.[4]
In April 2009, Kunzel was diagnosed with pancreatic, liver and colon cancer and received chemotherapy treatments in Cincinnati.[6] He performed a final concert at Riverbend on August 1, 2009. He died a month later at Bar Harbor, Maine, near his home at Swan's Island.[4] That day, the CSO board of trustees posthumously named him "Founder and Conductor Emeritus" of the Pops.[4]
Donald George Fisher has died he was 81. Fisher was an Americanbusinessman who founded The Gapclothing stores and he was collector of contemporary Western art.
Named 2007 Alumnus of the Year, Fisher had a robust college experience at Berkeley where his nickname was ‘Horny Fish’ and where he was caught cheating by then-Professor Clark Kerr. Kerr gave Fisher an F, but did not have him expelled. Had he been expelled, he writes, [it] “would have changed my life completely.” Fisher says he still thinks about his cheating and Kerr's response today.[1]
According to Forbes magazine, his net worth was estimated to be US$3.3 billion. Fisher was a Republican, active in San Francisco politics. He was a founding Board Member of the Presidio Trust (the public corporation that runs the Presidio of San Francisco), a post nominated by the President of the United States.[2] He was married to Doris Fisher.
Fisher has been active in several public education causes, including being a major contributor to KIPP charter schools—a national network of low-income, high-achieving college preparatory public charter schools: he is the chairman of the board of trustees of the KIPP Foundation, the non-profit central organization of the KIPP network. He is also a contributor to Teach For America, GreatSchools.net, and EdVoice, a state-wide coalition of California business leaders and others who support education reform. Fisher also serves on the California State Board of Education. Fisher and his family donated a generous sum of money to Princeton University in 2006, and the Fisher Hall dormitory at Princeton's new residential college Whitman College is named for him. [3]. He has also donated to charter schools and museums in San Francisco, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and paid for public sculptures in San Francisco.[2] In 2007, Fisher was honored as the Alumnus of the Year by the California Alumni Association at the University of California, Berkeley. [4].
In 2000, Fisher, an investor in Edison Schools (a for-profit educational management organization), was found to be funneling "soft money" into the campaigns of pro-Edison board members during San Francisco's school board election on whether to break contract with Edison. The consulting firm Barnes, Mosher, Whitehurst, Lauter and Partners funded approximately $47,100 to a group called "San Franciscans for Sensible Government" that was distributing campaign flyers for Mary Hernandez, Stephen Herman, and Robert Varni. The pro-Edison campaign was not successful in preventing a new anti-privatization majority of four to three in the San Francisco Unified School Board.[5]
On August 8, 2007, Fisher announced plans to build a 100,000-square-foot (9,300 m2) museum in the San Francisco Presidio, tentatively named the Contemporary Art Museum of the Presidio, to house his art collection. The museum, if it had been built, would have been larger than the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA).[2] However, the plan engendered widespread skepticism and even outright antagonism among some historic preservationists in San Francisco.[6]
In July 2009, Fisher announced that he and his wife were abandoning their efforts to build the museum at San Francisco's Presidio, stating "Doris and I will take some time to consider the future of our collection and other possible locations for a museum, which could include other sites within the Presidio and elsewhere." [7] In September 2009, Donald and Doris Fisher decided to enter into a partnership with SFMOMA to display the world famous collection. [8]
One day after the San Francisco Chronicle article on the SFMOMA partnership, the Chronicle reported that Fisher died of cancer at home on Sunday morning, September 27, 2009.[9]
Alicia de Larrocha y de la Calle has died she was 86 . Calle was a SpanishCatalanpianist. Reuters referred to her as "the greatest Spanish pianist in history"[1] and Time called her "one of the world's most outstanding pianists".[2]The Guardian called her "the leading Spanish pianist of her time".[3]
Born in Barcelona,[4] she began studying piano with Frank Marshall at the age of three. Both her parents were pianists and she was also the niece of pianists.[2][4] Beginning her career at the age of three, she publicly debuted at the age of five at the International Exposition in Barcelona.[2] She performed her first concert at the age of six at the World's Fair in Seville in 1929, and had her orchestral debut at the age of 11. By 1943, she was selling out in Spain.[2] She began touring internationally in 1947, and in 1954 toured North America with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
De Larrocha made numerous recordings of solo piano repertoire and in particular the works of composers of her native Spain. She is best known for her recordings of the music of Manuel de Falla, Enrique Granados and Isaac Albéniz, as well as her 1967 recordings of Antonio Soler's keyboard sonatas. She has recorded for Hispavox, CBS/Columbia/Epic, BMG/RCA and London/Decca, winning her first Grammy Award in 1975 and again, as recently as 1992, at the age of almost seventy. She received the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts in 1994.[2]
Less than five feet tall and with small hands for a pianist,[1][2] in her younger years she was nonetheless able to tackle all the big concertos (all five by Beethoven, Liszt's No. 1, Brahms's No. 2, Rachmaninoff's Nos. 2 and 3, both by Ravel, Prokofiev's No. 3, those by Bliss and Khachaturian, and many more) as well as the wide spans demanded by the music of Granados, Albéniz, and de Falla. She had a "long fifth finger" and a "wide stretch between thumb and index finger" which helped make her more technically gifted.[3]
As she grew older she began to play a different style of music; more Mozart and Beethoven were featured in her recitals and she became a regular guest at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts's Mostly Mozart Festival in New York. In 2001, she was named Honorary Member of the Foundation for Iberian Music at The City University of New York. De Larrocha retired from public performing in October 2003, aged 80, following a 76-year career.[2][4]
Alicia de Larrocha died on 25 September 2009 in Quiron Hospital, Barcelona, aged 86. She had been in declining health since breaking her hip two years previously.[5] Her husband, the pianist Juan Torro, with whom she had two children, died in 1982.[2][3]
Robert E. "Bob" Stupak[2] has died he was 67. Stupak was a Las Vegas casino owner and entrepreneur. 
Stupak continued to plan Vegas projects, including a purchase of the Moulin Rouge Hotel and a huge hotel shaped like the RMS Titanic, but these endeavors never bore fruit.
