/ Stars that died in 2023

Monday, May 23, 2011

Edward Stobart, British haulage contractor and entrepreneur , died he was 56.

Edward Stobart was a British haulage company owner who first became involved with his father's company aged 15 in 1969, and subsequently expanded it into one of the UK's most well known multimodal logistics companies, Stobart Group.Stobart died on 31 March 2011 in a Coventry hospital of what was termed 'heart problems'.

(21 November 1954 – 31 March 2011) 

Stobart initially took over his father Eddie's company that had started in Cumbria as a local company that delivered fertilizer and grew it into a road transport and warehousing company. In 2004 he sold the company to his brother William[6] and took over a Midlands-based company that built lorry trailers[7] but that company failed in 2009.
Stobart's funeral service took place on 9 April at Carlisle Cathedral, followed by a private burial.[8][9]
He is survived by his second wife Mandy and their two children, Stobart also had 4 adopted children from his first marriage to Sylvia.[10]

Bosko "The Yugo" Radonjich (Serbian: Бошко Радоњић, Boško Radonjić; 17 May 1943 – 31 March 2011) was a Serbian nationalist and later leader of the Westies, a predominantly Irish-American gang based in New York's Hell's Kitchen.

Early life

Radonjich was born in 1943 in Užice. Bosko's father Dragomir, a teacher, was captured and executed during World War II by the Josip Broz Tito's Partisans for his belonging to the Chetniks led by general Draža Mihailović. Stigmatized as a son of a royalist Chetnik soldier, Radonjich grew up in communist Yugoslavia under Tito.
In his late twenties, Radonjich fled the country and immigrated to the United States in 1970. Physically leaving Yugoslavia was no easy task for a person of his family background and he used a friendship with Red Star Belgrade footballer Milovan Đorić (also a son of a fallen Chetnik) to achieve this. Đorić snuck Radonjich onto the team bus headed for Graz, which allowed him to get across the border.[1] After some time in Austria, Radonjich went to Italy before immigrating to the United States.

American years

Once in America, Radonjich settled in Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. He also joined the Serbian Homeland Liberation Movement (SOPO), an anti-communist and terrorist organization headed by Nikola Kavaja. Sharing royalist and anti-communist views, the two men became life-long friends.[2] Already known to Yugoslav state security UDBA, Radonjich's activities began to be monitored even more closely by its agents.
In 1975, Radonjich took part in a bombing at the Yugoslav mission to the United Nations in which no one was hurt. In 1978, he pled guilty to conspiracy charges in the 1975 bombing of a Yugoslavian consul's home and for plotting to bomb a Yugoslav social club, both in Chicago.
Upon his release in 1982, Radonjich moved back to New York's West Side and began working as a minor associate of Jimmy Coonan. Radonjich was able to seize control of the gang following the imprisonment of many of the Westies leadership during the late 1980s. Under his leadership, he was able to reestablish the Westies' former working relationship with the Gambino crime family under John Gotti, and was involved in the jury tampering during Gotti's original 1986 trial for racketeering.
He supervised Westie underling Brian Bentley's highly successful burglary ring using two Hispanic gang members until the arrest of Bentley and his group in the early 1990s. Later investigations under Michael G. Cherkasky, chief of the Investigations Division of the District Attorney's Office, would eventually force Radonjich to flee the United States for good in 1992 to avoid prosecution.

Back in Serbia

Since 1990 Radonjich had already spent a lot of time in Serbia, mostly dividing his time between Belgrade where he owned a night club named Lotos in Zmaj Jovina Street and Mount Zlatibor where he owned a casino named Palisade and where he also later built a casino named Club Boss located at Kraljeve Vode.
As the Bosnian War broke out, Radonjich became a close adviser to Radovan Karadžić, the Bosnian Serb leader charged with war crimes (on the run from 1996 until 2008), whom Radonjich described in a 1997 Esquire article penned by Daniel Voll as: "My angel, my saint." Due to Zlatibor's close proximity to the Bosnian border, Radonjich also helped the Serbian war effort by providing funds for weapons and equipement as well as by arranging for soldiers to rehabilitate and rest. Throughout this time Radonjich maintained links with Serbian state security service (renamed from UDBA to SDB after the dissolution of SFR Yugoslavia) and its chief Jovica Stanišić with whom he shared a friendship. During autmn 1995, Radonjich was involved in the release operation of two French pilots who were shot down over Bosnia by the Republika Srpska Army and held captive for more than a month.[3]

1999 arrest in Miami

Though based in the Balkans, Radonjich frequently travelled abroad, especially to Caribbean and South American destinations. During one such trip in late December 1999 after almost a decade spent in the former Yugoslavia, Radonjich was arrested by U.S. custom officials in Miami, Florida. Actually, he was on a plane from Europe to Cuba for New Year's celebration, but after learning that Radonjich is on the passanger list, FBI got the plane to be re-routed to Miami where he got arrested in spectacular manner as the entire aiport got shut down.
Held without bail, he was tried under a 1992 indictment for jury tampering in Gotti's racketeering trial. The charges against Radonjich were dropped shortly after because the key witness in his case, Gotti's former Underboss turned FBI-informant Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, was charged with drug related offenses while in the Witness Protection Program. Radonjich was freed in March 2001. He immediately left the United States and went back to former Yugoslavia. In subsequent interviews Radonjich claimed FBI had ulterior motives for persecuting and harrasing him:
“
In the late 1980s I found out through my sources that FBI along with the Justice Department is preparing to arrest and put on trial the boss of bosses John Gotti. Unfortunatelly for me, only three people in America at that moment were allowed to have this piece of information - the federal prosecutor, the FBI director, and the US Attorney General. In order to protect this classified information, FBI decided to arrest me, so I had to leave America and seek refuge in Yugoslavia. Because of this they issued an arrest warrant for me based on which they organized my kidnapping on 31 December 1999 in Miami.[4]
”
During spring 2003 following the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić, Radonjich was arrested and questioned as part of Operation Sablja, a wide-sweeping police action initiated by the Serbian authorities under the state of emergency. After spending three days in prison, Radonjich was released. He died following a brief illness in Belgrade, Serbia on 31 March 2011.[5]

In popular culture

  • In the 1998 made-for-TV movie Witness to the Mob, a very loose depiction of the life of Sammy the Bull, Radonjich is played by Stephen Payne.
  • Niko Bellic, the main character of Grand Theft Auto IV, may have been inspired by Radonjich - both are Serbian criminals with ties to Italian and Irish mafias.

 

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

at No comments:

Harley Allen American bluegrass and country singer, died from cancer he was , 55,.

Harley Lee Allen was an American bluegrass and country singer and songwriter.

(January 23, 1956 – March 30, 2011) 


He was the son of the bluegrass performer Red Allen, and was married to the singer Debbie Nims.
Allen appeared on several 1970s albums with his brothers as The Allen Brothers. He recorded three solo albums, "Across the Blueridge Mountains" (Folkways Records 1983), "Another River" (1996) and "Live at the Bluebird" (2001).
He was most known for providing background vocals on the song "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow" from the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" Soundtrack. He won two Grammy Awards for that recording in 2002, in the Best Country Collaboration with Vocals and Album of the Year categories.
The singles/songs written or co-written by Allen are, among others, performed by:

 

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

at No comments:

Jacques Amir, Israeli politician died he was , 78.

Ya'akov Jacques Amir  was a former Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Alignment between 1974 and 1988 died he was , 78..

( 15 March 1933 – 30 March 2011)

Biography

Born in Essaouira in Morocco, Amir was educated in a vocational high school in Casablanca and was a member of the Pioneer youth movement. In 1952 he made aliyah to Israel, where he joined kibbutz Ein Gev and the Ahdut HaAvoda party. The following year he moved to kibbutz Ginosar, where he lived until moving to Dimona in 1958. From 1959 until 1974 he worked at the Dead Sea Works, becoming senior foreman of the metal section, and first secretary and chairman of the workers council. He also served on Dimona Workers Council between 1959 and 1964, and as a member of the Histadrut executive committee from 1965 until 1973.
In 1965 he became deputy mayor of Dimona, serving until 1968, and again from 1973 until 1976. He won a place on the Alignment list (an alliance of the Labor Party (which Ahdut HaAvoda had merged into in 1968) and Mapam) for the 1973 Knesset elections, but failed to win a seat. However, he entered the Knesset on 10 June 1974 as a replacement for former Prime Minister Golda Meir.[1] He was re-elected in 1977, and the following year became mayor of Dimona, a post he held until 1984. He was re-elected to the Knesset again in 1981 and 1984, before losing his seat in the 1988 elections.
Outside politics, Amir was also a member of the world presidium of the Sephardi Federation and in 1986 was appointed chairman of the Israeli Alcoholism Prevention Society.

 

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

at No comments:

Jorge Camacho, Cuban painter died he was , 77.

Jorge R. Camacho Lazo was a Cuban painter died he was , 77.

(January 5, 1934 – March 30, 2011)

Born in Havana in 1934, in 1952, he left law studies to dedicate himself to painting. In 1959, he met his colleague José Luis Cuevas and they both investigated the sources of Mayan culture.
Camacho arrived in Paris in 1959 where he met his friend Augustín Cárdenas. In 1961, he met the poet André Breton, and his work quickly began to take on surrealism as its point of departure .
His pictures deal with grief-stricken worlds where the most sophisticated esotericism includes an outstanding charm.
Camacho lived in Paris from 1975 until his death in 2011.

Notable Quote

Todo el mundo habla de surrealismo, pero son muy pocos los que lo comprenden (Everybody talks about surrealism, but it is only understood by very few people)- Jorge Camacho.

Prizes

  • São Paulo honourable mention, 1959

Bibliography

  • Christian Nicaise, Jorge Camacho, les livres illustrés, L'Instant perpétuel, Rouen, 2009

 

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

at No comments:

Jack Fulk, American businessman, co-founder of Bojangles' Famous Chicken 'n Biscuits died he was , 78.

Jack Z. Fulk  was an American businessman who co-founded the Bojangles' Famous Chicken 'n Biscuits fast food restaurant chain in 1977 in Charlotte, North Carolina died he was , 78..

(November 30, 1932 - March 30, 2011)

Fulk was born to Charles and Lucille Hunter Fulk in Davidson County, North Carolina, on November 30, 1932.
Fulk initially operated a Hardee's franchise in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.[1] While still working with Hardee's, Fulk began experimenting with recipes for biscuits during the mid-1970s.[1][3] Fulk and his business partner, Richard Thomas, to open a chicken restaurant that became the first Bojangles' Famous Chicken 'n Biscuits in 1977 on West Boulevard in Charlotte, North Carolina.[1][3] The first restaurant was a walk-in with no seating,[2] but it specialized in chicken that was spicier than its competitors.[3] Fulk also added his biscuits to the restaurant's menu, which increased increased sales approximately 60%.[3] Fulk and Thomas opended a second Bojangles' Famous Chicken 'n Biscuits in 1978.[3]
Fulk retired from Bojangles in 1985, when the chain had reached 350 locations (there are now more than 500 locations in eleven states, as of 2011).[3] He eventually sold his stake in Bojangles, but continued to operate a franchise in Jonesville, North Carolina.[1]
Jack Fulk, a resident of Charlotte, died on March 30, 2011, at the age of 78.[1]

 

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

at No comments:

Ângelo de Sousa, Portuguese artist died he was , 73.

Ângelo César Cardoso de Sousa was a Portuguese painter, sculptor, draftsman and professor, better known for continuously experimenting new techniques in his works died he was , 73.. He was seen as a scholar of light and colour that explored minimalism in new radical ways

(February 2, 1938 – March 29, 2011) 

He was born in Lourenço Marques (nowadays Maputo) in 1938 and in 1955 he moved to Porto where he enrolled in the School of Fine Artes. It was there that he received his degree in painting with the highest mark, 20[1] . His academic excellence led him, along with Armando Alves, Jorge Pinheiro and José Rodrigues, to become parte of a group know as "Os Quatro Vintes" (Portuguese for "The Four Twenties").
Ângelo de Sousa lived and worked in Porto, where he lectured in the School of Fine Arts (nowadays the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto) from 1962 until 2000, when he retired as a Full Professor. Prior to teaching, Ângelo de Sousa had his first solo exhibition in 1959 and since then his works have been shown worldwide.
In 1975 he received the International Prize of the 13th São Paulo Art Biennial and in 2007 the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation presented him with the Gulbenkian Prize.
Some of his drawings illustrate books by Eugénio de Andrade, Maria Alzira Seixo, Mário Cláudio, Fiama Hasse Pais Brandão, amongst others.
He died in his home, at the age of 73, after battling with cancer for several months[2].

 

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

at No comments:

Tamar Golan, Israeli journalist and diplomat died she was , 76.

Tamar Golan was an Israeli journalist and diplomat, who was known especially for her work to promote relations between Israel and African nations, and for her effort to increase knowledge and awareness to African culture in Israel died she was , 76..

(December 18, 1933 ‎– March 30, 2011) 

Golan was born in Haifa in 1933.[1] As a youth she was active in Hashomer Hatzair. She did her compulsory army service at the Nahal brigade, and joined a group of soldiers who were sent to help in Kibbutz Lahav, north of Beersheba.[2] When she finished her army service, Golan became a member of the kibbutz. After earning a doctorate at Columbia University, she began her professional career.
She went to Africa for the first time in 1961 when she, with her husband, Aviyahu Golan, joined an Israeli delegation to Ethiopia and served there as a teacher. She returned to Kibbutz Lahav in 1958 following her husband's death in Ethiopia. She never remarried. She worked as a journalist in several Israeli media outlets, and in the BBC African department, but spent most of her career in Maariv, reporting from African and Arab countries. She was also worked as Maariv reporter in Paris. The fact that she had dual Israeli-French nationality, and therefore entitled to French passport, helped her enter countries hostile to Israel.[citation needed]
She built a network of contacts with influential figures in Africa and in France, and received requests from Israeli official to help maintaining contacts with African leaders, especially following the Six Day War, when many African countries cut their diplomatic relations with Israel. In 1994 Golan was named the Israeli ambassador to Angola.[3]
She served there from 1995 until 2002. She returned to Angola later on, upon the request of the Angolan president, in order to help establish a taskforce, under the auspices of the UN, for the removal of landmines. When she came back to Israel, Golan returned to Kibbutz Lahav and lived there for the rest of her life, though she did not renew her kibbutz membership. She became active in a foundation that helped Bedouin youths obtain higher education and established a center for African studies in the Ben Gurion University in Beersheba.[4]

Death

Tamar Golan took her own life on March 30, 2011, aged 77, at a hotel in her native Haifa. In a letter she left, which was made public by the Africa Center she established, she expresses frustration over recent political developments in Africa and the Middle East. She mentions "the downhill deterioration" in Côte d'Ivoire and that Angola was still "corruption stricken". About the situation in the Middle East she says in her letter "I am tired of feeling like Don Quixote who tries to tilt at the windmills of deteriorating reality in this country".[5] A close friend of Tamar Golan, who was with her among the first residents of Kibbutz Lahav, told Haaretz that Golan suffered from deteriorating health - "her body betrayed her, and she could not bear it anymore", she said.[6]

 

To see more of who died in 2010 click here

at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Dickey Betts died he was 80

Early Career Forrest Richard Betts was also known as Dickey Betts Betts collaborated with  Duane Allman , introducing melodic twin guitar ha...