J.B. Steane, British music critic died he was , 83

John Barry Steane  was an English music critic, musicologist, literary scholar and teacher, with a particular interest in singing and the human voice died he was , 83. His 36-year career as a schoolmaster overlapped with his career as a music critic and author of books on Elizabethan drama, and opera and concert singers.
Among Steane's works are critical studies of Christopher Marlowe and Tennyson, and a series of books on music, concentrating on singing and singers. He contributed to a range of musical journals, including Gramophone and The Musical Times, and wrote articles for the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

(12 April 1928 – 17 March 2011)

Life and career

Early years

Steane was born in Coventry, the son of William John Steane and his wife, Winifred.^[1] He was educated at King Henry VIII School, Coventry. ^[2] While there, he became a member of the Coventry Cathedral choir. When the cathedral was destroyed by bombing in 1940, Steane moved to the neighbouring Holy Trinity Church. After leaving school and before going up to the University of Cambridge, he undertook his national service, where among those he met was Sergeant Edward Greenfield, who became a lifelong friend and later a colleague of Steane in music criticism.^[2]
From 1948 to 1952 Steane attended Jesus College, Cambridge, where he studied English under A. P. Rossiter from 1948 to 1952. Among the other influences on him at Cambridge was the controversial scholar F. R. Leavis.^[2] After graduating he joined the staff of Merchant Taylors' school Northwood, Middlesex, where he became a housemaster and head of English.^[2] An obituarist wrote in 2011 that Steane influenced many aspects of the school's life, including not only English, but also sport, music and drama, and "the breadth of his intellect and the warmth of his personality made him an inspirational guide for generations of students".^[2]

English literature

In 1964, the Cambridge University Press published Steane's first book, Marlowe: A Critical Study, giving a short (23 page) biographical study of the Elizabethan playwright, Christopher Marlowe, together with a comprehensive (350 page) study of his works. Reviewing the book, The Times said of Steane, "He possesses the authority which derives from intimate knowledge … creative criticism of the highest quality."^[3] The Times Literary Supplement (TLS) wrote, "He has turned an acute and sensitive mind upon Christopher Marlowe and both the author and ourselves should be thankful to him."^[4] For the same publisher, Steane edited and introduced Thomas Dekker's The Shoemaker's Holiday in an edition published in 1965,^[5] and Ben Jonson's The Alchemist, in 1967.^[1]
Steane's literary interests were not confined to the Elizabethans; in 1966 he wrote a volume on Tennyson for a new series, "Literature in Perspective", to which his fellow contributors included Margaret Drabble, Norman Sherry and Fred Inglis; the TLS thought Steane's book "brilliant, informative and admirably written", and much the best of the four.^[6] In 1969 he edited, and wrote the introduction to, the Penguin edition of Marlowe's plays.^[7] In 1972 he published his last contribution to English literary scholarship, an edition of Thomas Nashe's, The Unfortunate Traveller and other works.^[1]

Music criticism

Music was a lifelong passion with Steane. During his years at Merchant Taylor's he regularly played the organ for chapel services. An obituary in The Times, noting that choral music, and particularly the music of the Anglican liturgy, remained one of his greatest loves,^[8] observes, "his beautifully observed and straightforwardly expressed views about the art of singing brought him to the attention of the EMI record producer Walter Legge, who suggested to the editors of Gramophone magazine that he would be a useful adornment to its panel of contributors."^[8]
Steane began writing for Gramophone in 1972. In 1974 he took over from Desmond Shawe-Taylor the long-running quarterly feature, "The Gramophone and the Voice", giving a second opinion on vocal issues reviewed in recent issues of the magazine. An editor of the magazine commented that Steane's views were "beautifully judged, invariably generous and always elegantly crafted".^[9] In 1999, the magazine published in book form a collection of these articles from the previous 25 years.^[1]
In 1974 Steane published his book The Grand Tradition: Seventy Years of Singing on Record, 1900-1970 which covered the history of recorded singing. It was enthusiastically received by the critics. The TLS wrote that singers had found in Steane "their Keats or Baudelaire, the poet of the sensations they create." The reviewer praised his ability to characterise a singer with phrases of "poetic refinement", though not eschewing humour, quoting his description of Nellie Melba changing in the course of one song "from Juliet at the ball to a knees-up-mother-Brown pearly-queen".^[10] In The Musical Times, Harold Rosenthal vigorously dissented from some of Steane's opinions, but he too praised his gift for the "apt choice of a word or phrase to sum up a singer's art or voice".^[11] Music & Letters called it "a book for the connoisseur".^[12] American Record Guide called Steane's erudition "formidable" and the book "essential".^[1]
In the 1980s Steane began writing articles and reviews in The Musical Times. Many of his contributions were about famous singers of the past, or reviews of books about them. These included Claudia Muzio, Beniamino Gigli, Lauritz Melchior, Enrico Caruso, and Margaret Burke-Sheridan.^[13] His literary expertise was employed in a piece about the poets whose music Britten chose to set.^[14] Other articles drew on his long and wide experience of opera and song, from Puccini to Hugo Wolf.^[15] He also contributed many reviews and articles to Opera (from 1981), Opera Now (from 1989), and Classic Record Collector.^[1]
Steane contributed numerous entries in the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and the New Grove Dictionary of Opera. The online combined edition of Grove at May 2011 listed 359 articles by him, mostly about singers, but with some about other subjects such as the conductor Tullio Serafin and the pianist Graham Johnson.^[16] He wrote the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography articles on Roy Henderson and Nellie Melba.^[17] Steane's Voices, Singers and Critics was published in 1992, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf: A Career on Record (with Alan Sanders) in 1995, and his three-volume Singers of the Century appeared between 1996 and 2000.^[1]
Steane retired from Merchant Taylor's in 1988.^[1] In 2008 he was honoured by the Worshipful Company of Musicians, on the occasion of his 80th birthday.^[2] He died at the age of 82. His final contribution to Gramophone, an appreciation of a vintage recording of The Barber of Seville with Maria Callas and Tito Gobbi, was published posthumously in May 2011.^[9]

Bibliography

Author

• Marlowe: A Critical Study, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, England), 1964, second edition, 1970.
• Tennyson, Evans Brothers (London), 1966, Arco (New York, NY), 1969.
• The Grand Tradition: Seventy Years of Singing on Record, Scribner (New York, NY), 1974, reprinted, Amadeus Press (Portland, OR), 1993.
• Voices, Singers and Critics, Amadeus Press, 1992.
• Elisabeth Schwarzkopf: A Career on Record (with Alan Sanders and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf), Amadeus Press, 1995.
• Singers of the Century, Amadeus Press, Volume 1, 1996, Volume 2, 1999 , Volume 3, 2000.
• The Gramophone and the Voice: 25 Years of Quarterly Writings from the Pages of Gramophone, Gramophone, 1999.

Editor

• Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker's Holiday, Cambridge University Press, 1965.
• Ben Jonson, The Alchemist, Cambridge University Press, 1967.
• Christopher Marlowe, The Complete Plays, Penguin (Harmondsworth), 1969.
• Thomas Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveller and Other Works, Penguin, 1972.

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Carel Boshoff, South African religious and cultural activist, died from cancer he was , 83.

Carel Willem Hendrik Boshoff  was an Afrikaner religious figure and cultural activist  died from cancer he was , 83..
Boshoff was the second child of Willem Sterrenberg Boshoff and Anna Maria "Annie" Boshoff.^[2] Annie was Willem's second wife and together they had 7 children. With his first wife, Willem had six children.^[1] Boshoff was educated at the University of Pretoria to doctorate level in Missionary science and has done missionary work in the old Transvaal Provence. He spoke fluent iSipedi (Northern Sotho) and served as Secretary of Missions for the Dutch Reformed Church.
Boshoff's wife, also named Anna, whom he married in 1954, was the daughter of Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (former prime minister of South Africa, mainly known as the architect of Apartheid).^[3] They had 7 children. She died in 2007. Boshoff was leader of the Voortrekker movement from 1981-89.^[4] Further, he was chairman of the Afrikaner Broederbond from 1980-83. He chaired the Freedom Front in Northern Cape since 1994. In 1988 he founded AVSTIG or Afrikaner Vryheidstigting, although he is mainly known as the founder in 1990 of Orania, an Afrikaner settlement. Intended as the beginning of a volkstaat, Boshoff admitted his disappointment that it has only 810 residents, rather than the 60,000 he had anticipated.^[5] Orania recently got its own currency, the Ora and is famous for its Koeksister monument. Boshoff was the president of the Orania movement ('Orania beweging') until 2007. All the above positions were taken over by his son, Carel Boshoff IV, after Boshoff was disabled by his illness.

(9 November 1927 – 16 March 2011)

Death

Boshoff died aged 83 from cancer at his home on 16 March 2011. ^[6]

Chairmanships

Position	Organisation	Appointed	Concluded
Chair	Orania Bestuurdienste (Pty) Ltd	1990
Executive Chair	Afrikaner Vryheidstigting	1988
Chair	Afrikaanse Gereformeerde Bond	1987
Chair	Die Afrikaner Volkswag (Cultural Organisation)	1984	1999
Chair	Die Afrikaner Broederbond	1979	1983
Founder & Chair	Institute for Missiological Research, UP	1979	1988
Chair	SABRA	1972	1999
Member	Council Rand College of Education	1963	1979
Chair	NG Kerkboekhandel		1988

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Betty Lowman Carey, American rower died she was , 96.

 Betty Lowman Carey  became the first woman to singlehandedly row the Inside Passage of British Columbia in 1937died she was , 96.  At the age of 22, having graduated from the University of Washington, she traveled in a traditional dugout canoe converted to include oars and named in an acronym of her brothers first names (Bill, Jack, Bob, and Jim), Bijaboji. She celebrated her 23rd birthday in Butedale on the east side of Princess Royal Island during her trip.

(July 31, 1914 – March 16, 2011)

The trip

Bijaboji is a traditional Alaska native dugout canoe, carved from red cedar. In 1931 the United States Coast Guard found the canoe floating in the vicinity of the San Juan Islands, Washington. After no owner claimed it, Lowman’s father, Ray, acquired it, her brothers painted it red, strengthened it with four oak ribs, fitted it with oarlocks, and Ray gave it to Betty on her 18th birthday. Four years later she departed with a friend on June 15, 1937, from the north beach on Guemes Island, Washington, against her father’s wishes, and arrived solo in Ketchikan on August 19, 66 days later.
Her friend, Florence Steele, returned home after a week when her smallpox vaccination resulted in a strong reaction. Lowman continued on alone, in a trip which featured several swampings of the canoe, frequent side trips and tows from friendly boaters, and almost daily contact, and bacon and egg breakfasts, with friendly locals. While a lost Amelia Earhart garnered international coverage during the same weeks, the “co-ed canoeist” generated significant media attention along the British Columbia coast.

Later years

After the adventure, for several years Lowman toured the US giving lectures of the adventure, during which time she met and later married Neil Carey, eventually moving to Sandspit, Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, where the couple resides as of 2010. In 1963, Lowman, aged 49, repeated the trip in the opposite direction, rowing Bijaboji from Ketchikan to Anacortes, Washington. From 1999 to 2007, Bijaboji was displayed at the Queen Charlotte Airport, and now is a permanent exhibit at the Anacortes History Museum, Washington. At age 90, Lowman wrote a memoir of her the trip, published in 2004 as Bijaboji: North to Alaska by Oar (ISBN 1-55017-340-5). She died at age 96 on March 16, 2011 in Queen Charlotte City, Haida Gwaii, BC ^[2].

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Tom Dunbar, American baseball player (Texas Rangers) died he was , 51

Thomas Jerome Dunbar was a professional baseball player who played as outfielder in Major League Baseball for three seasons with the Texas Rangers from 1983 until 1985. He was 6'2", 192 pounds, and he threw and batted left-handed died he was , 51. The college he chose to attend was Middle Georgia College.

(November 24, 1959 – March 16, 2011) 

Dunbar was originally drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 11th round, 286th overall, of the 1979 draft. Deciding not to sign that year, he was drafted by the Rangers in the 1st round, 25th overall, of the 1980 draft, after which he signed.
Dunbar played a total of 91 major league games, making his debut on September 7, 1983, at the age of 23. He hit .231 with three home runs and 18 RBI, striking out 32 times and walking 23. In the field, he committed four errors for a .929 fielding percentage, below average for an outfielder. He played his final game on July 13, 1985, though continued to play in the minors until 1991. His most notable game was most likely Mike Witt's perfect game in the 1984 season finale. He went 0 for 3 including a strikeout leading off the bottom of the ninth. He could apparently hit the knuckleball however, going 3 for 7 lifetime against Phil Niekro, one of three Hall of Famers he would face in his career. Rollie Fingers and newly elected Bert Blyleven were the others.
After retirement he worked in the Cincinnati Reds organization as a minor league coach and manager.^[1]
He died at the age of 51 on March 16, 2011, in Aiken, South Carolina, while recuperating from prostate cancer surgery.^[2]

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James Pritchett, American actor (The Doctors) died he was , 88.

James Pritchett  was an American actor, best known for his role as Dr. Matt Powers on the long-running soap opera The Doctors died he was , 88.

(October 27, 1922 – March 16, 2011)

He was born in Lenoir, North Carolina in 1922. He appeared in the serial for its duration, from 1963 to 1982, and was the soap's central cast member.
Before creating his role on "The Doctors," James played the role of Bruce Elliott on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns a not-so-popular character who was having an affair with married vixen, Lisa Hughes (Eileen Fulton). After "The Doctors," Pritchett did a short term role on another CBS soap, Guiding Light.
Pritchett was given an audience with then-President Jimmy Carter in 1978 along with a few other select soap opera actors, such as Eileen Fulton, Susan Lucci, and Dorothy Malone.
Pritchett died on March 16, 2011 at the age of 88 in New York City, New York.

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Lorenda Starfelt, American producer, died from cancer she was , 56.

Lorenda Starfelt was an award-winning ^[1] independent film producer, as well as a committed political activist and blogger died from cancer she was , 56..

(January 11, 1955 – March 16, 2011)

Career

Lorenda (Lori) Starfelt was the producer of the independent feature film comedy The Watermelon, which premiered at the 2008 San Diego Film Festival.^[2] Directed by Brad Mays, The Watermelon was written by Michael Hemmingson and stars Will Beinbrink, Kiersten Morgan, Elyse Ashton, Julia Aks, Steven Shields and Mike Ivy.

In 2000, Ms. Starfelt produced, in conjunction with Turman-Morrissey Productions, an independent feature film adaptation of Euripides' The Bacchae. ^[3] Her next project was an adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, entitled Shakespeare's Merchant, directed by Paul Wagar. She followed up that particular project with Schooled, a drama written & directed by Brooks Elms, which portrays the unique difficulties facing both students and teachers engaged in alternative education. Ms. Starfelt's next film project was the documentary feature SING*ularity (2008), which examines the cutting-edge training of student and professional-level vocalists at Ann Baltz's world-renowned OperaWorks program in Northridge, California. ^[4]
In 2009, Starfelt's feature-length political documentary film The Audacity of Democracy was released. The film offered an inside view of the 2008 race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, focusing in particular on the notorious PUMA movement. In multiple Blog-Radio interviews,^[5] Lorenda Starfelt spoke candidly about her commitment to Hillary Clinton's presidential run, and the misogyny she personally encountered in various liberal political circles. ^[6][7]
In addition to her film work, Ms. Starfelt has also produced for the Los Angeles stage, most notably The Bacchae ^{[8][9][10][11]} in 1997 at the Complex, Marat/Sade in 2000 for the Theatre of N.O.T.E..^[12][13] and a multi-media production of Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange which was nominated for Best Direction, Best Revival Production, and Best Actress by the 2004 LA Weekly Theater Awards.^[14] Vanessa Claire Smith won Best Actress for her gender-bending portrayal of Alex, the story's music-loving teenaged sociopath.^[15][16] In a 2011 web radio interview with Priscilla Leona, ^[17] Ms. Starfelt discussed a new comedy web series, Customer Diss-Service, ^[18] that she and her husband Brad Mays were currently engaged in. Stressing the need for strong scripts and experienced, well-trained actors, she asserted that working within small budgets enables creative freedom, thus affording experienced artists a change to present their work in a completely unfettered form. ^[19] Starfelt also discussed a number of new projects in the works, including the musical feature film Beginnging Blue, which she co-wrote, and the Los Angeles premiere of Doraine Perez's dramatic fantasia Anais Nin: Woman Of The Dream, which she is producing for the Los Angeles stage.

Filmography

Year	Film	Function	Notes
2002	The Bacchae	Producer	Screen adaptation of Euripides' classic play, filmed roughly two years after Mays' acclaimed Los Angeles stage production.
2004	Shakespeare's Merchant	Producer	Adaptation of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, adapted and directed by Los Angeles stage director Paul Wagar.
	The Trojan Women	Producer/Actress	Documentary Film of Brad Mays' 2003 Los Angeles stage production of Euripides' classic tragedy, produced by the ARK Theatre Company.
2007	Schooled	Co-Producer
2008	SING*ularity	Producer	Documentary about the world-famous OperaWorks training program for classical vocalists, filmed in the years 2006 - 2007.
	The Watermelon	Producer	Oddball romantic comedy, written by Michael Hemmingson. World premiere at the 2008 San Diego Film Festival. Released July 7, 2009. Received the California Film Awards 2010 Diamond Award.
	The Audacity of Democracy	Producer	Documentary Film of the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary, shot in Dallas, Princeton, Washington, D.C., and Denver. Released in 2009.
2011	Customer Diss-Service	Co-Producer	Web Series directed by Brad Mays and starring Frank Noon and Johnny D'Agostino.
2012	Beginning Blue	Producer, Writer	Feature film about an all-girl rock band determined not to trade on looks or gender appeal.

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James C. Tyree, American businessman, chairman and CEO of the Chicago Sun-Times, died from cancer he was , 53.

James C. Tyree  was a Chicago financier who was chairman and chief executive officer of Mesirow Financial since 1994. In 2009, he led a team of investors that took control of the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper, which he owned until his death he was , 53.

(October 30, 1957  – March 16, 2011)

Early life and education

Tyree grew up in the Beverly neighborhood on Chicago's South Side.
Tyree earned his bachelor's and MBA degrees from Illinois State University in 1978 and 1980, respectively.^[1][2]

Professional career

In 1980, Tyree joined Mesirow Financial fresh out of business school as a research analyst.^[3][1] In 1990, he became the firm's president, and in 1994, he became the firm's chairman and chief executive officer.^[1][3]
From 1990 until his death, Tyree oversaw 50 acquisitions by Mesirow.^[3]

Bid for the Sun-Times

In September 2009, Tyree and a group of investors he was leading placed a $5 million bid, which was accepted to purchase the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper and its bankrupt company, Sun-Times Media Group Inc.^[4] As part of their offer, Tyree and his group also had agreed to assume $20 million in liabilities. ^[5]

Personal

Tyree married his second wife, Eve, in 1996, after a first marriage had ended in divorce.^[3] Eve had been Mesirow's chief financial officer.^[3] They own a mansion on Chicago's Gold Coast and a lakefront summer house in Long Beach, Indiana.They also have children, one of them being a girl named Jessica. ^[3]
Tyree suffered from diabetes.^[3]
On October 20, 2010 his diagnosis with stomach cancer was revealed.^[6] On March 16, 2011, Tyree died of complications of cancer.^[7]

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