/ Stars that died in 2023

Friday, March 22, 2013

Charles Brooks, American editorial cartoonist, died he was 90.

Charles G. Brooks was a editorial cartoonist for The Birmingham News in Birmingham, Alabama, United States.

(November 22, 1920 – September 29, 2011) 

Early life

Brooks was born in Hopewell, near Andalusia in Covington County, Alabama. After high school he moved to Birmingham and studied at Birmingham-Southern College for two years, and then transferred to the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts where he was instructed by Vaughn Shoemaker (Chicago Daily News) and Don Ulsh. While in Chicago, Brooks met his future wife, Virginia. They had a daughter, Barbara, and son, Charles G. Brooks, Jr.
In 1942 Brooks enlisted in the United States Army. After training he was enrolled in Officers Candidate School and was commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to the 531st Engineer Shore Regiment. His unit participated in the D-Day landing at Utah Beach on June 6, 1944, mainly helping to establish a supply port at the beachhead. Later that winter the unit, re-commissioned as the 3053rd Engineer Combat Battalion, which deployed from Liège deep into Germany with the 9th Army and saw action in the Battle of the Bulge. During his army service Brooks drew several cartoons which appeared in Stars and Stripes.

Professional life

After his discharge in 1945 Brooks returned to his wife and new daughter in Chicago. He worked for Brach's Candy Company and as a bank guard before he found representation at the Fred Zaner Advertising Cartoon Syndicate. Hopeful that he could become an editorial cartoonist he wrote to friends in Birmingham and received mild interest from the Birmingham News. He took a gamble and made the trip to meet with News officials and was offered the position beginning in 1948.
Brooks' cartoons were immediately popular in Birmingham. He used the platform to express great faith in the character of the American people and harsh criticism of anyone or anything that attacked or insulted that character. He did not withhold criticism of the Ku Klux Klan, a group which is believed to have counted many of the city's powerful men among its members. In addition to cartooning, the News lent Brooks out to work with police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to create sketches of suspects from eyewitness descriptions.

Honors

Brooks won the Sigma Delta Chi Award for the most outstanding editorial cartoon of 1959. His winning panel, entitled "Two Deadly Weapons" depicted a hand holding a revolver and a second hand holding an automobile in the same manner, labeled "reckless speeding driver." Another cartoon on the same subject, which appeared during the holiday season, showed the Biblical Magi on camels following the Star of Bethlehem in the top panel and two colliding cars in the lower panel with the caption "Then...Bethlehem. Today...Mayhem." The Texas Highway Patrol distributed copies of the cartoon instead of warnings in 1960 and partially credited Brooks with a drop in the number of fatalities during the Christmas season.
Brooks' farewell to Walt Disney in 1966 showed dozens of Disney's cartoon characters gathered mournfully at his grave. Thousands of copies were requested from across the country and the original hands at Disney Studios. A 1975 cartoon lambasting Vice President Nelson Rockefeller for ignoring parliamentary procedure during debate of an anti-filibuster bill was passed around the Senate floor. A 1973 "The Wizard of Id" strip, drawn by Brooks' friend Brant Parker, shows an editorial catroonist named "Charles" being punished by the King for lampooning him. Parker sent a personally inscribed copy to Brooks. A 1976 editorial in The Wall Street Journal referenced a Brooks cartoon entitled "All Things to All People" which showed presidential candidate Jimmy Carter standing at a church pulpit with a Bible in one hand and a copy of Playboy in the other.
Brooks was invited to the White House in 1982 and presented an original of a cartoon making fun of Democratic House Speaker Tip O'Neill to President Ronald Reagan in the Oval Office. Senator John Glenn's wife, Annie, requested the original of another cartoon showing Glenn rowing alone in the center of a river while a donkey leads Walter Mondale, Gary Hart, George McGovern and Jesse Jackson in a larger boat on "the left". Glenn wrote Brooks that it was the best gift his wife had given him and that it was the only cartoon he hung in his office. Former head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, also requested a Brooks original cartoon, which he hung in his office.
He served as president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists in 1969 and edited an annual volume of the Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year since 1972 for Pelican Books. He retired from the News in 1985. Since 1982 the University of Alabama at Birmingham's School of Community and Allied Health has presented a "Charles Brooks Award" annually to a graduating senior who made a creative contribution to the school.
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Eddie Bockman, American baseball player, manager and scout (Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees), died he was 91.

Eddie Bockman was a third baseman in Major League Baseball who played from 1946 through 1949 for the New York Yankees (1946), Cleveland Indians (1947) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1948–1949). Listed at 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m), 175 lb. he batted and threw right-handed.[1]
Born in Santa Ana, California, Bockman was a triple-threat back for Woodrow Wilson Classical High School in Long Beach, California, in 1937.[2]

(July 26, 1920 – September 29, 2011) 


While playing at second base, Bockman hit a home run for the Fullerton, California All-Stars to help lead them to a 16–4 victory over Fort Rosecrans, in August 1943.[3] He also played third base for a Pacific Coast League All-Star team which featured Cleveland Indians pitcher Bob Feller. The All-Stars opposed the Kansas City Monarchs in an exhibition game at Wrigley Field (Los Angeles), on October 2, 1945, with Satchel Paige pitching for the Monarchs.
Bockman missed 1943 to 1946 due to military service during World War II conflict. He joined the Yankees in September 1946, and later spent parts of the next three years with the Indians and Pirates.
His most productive seasons came with Pittsburgh, when he collected career numbers with a .239 batting average and 23 runs batted in in 1948. Then, in 1949 he posted career-highs in games (79) and home runs (9), driving in 19 runs while scoring 21 times. In April of that year, he belted two home runs in a single game to give the Pirates a 3–1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at Forbes Field. His two-run homer in the fourth inning scored Danny Murtaugh, who had walked previously.[1][4]
Bockman was a .230 hitter with 11 home runs and 56 RBI in 199 games.[1] Following his majors stint, he became a Minor league player-manager for the Albuquerque Dukes (1955), Visalia Cubs (1956) and Amarillo Gold Sox (1957–1958).[5]
He later scouted for the Indians, Phillies, Pirates and Yankees organizations, being credited for signing Bob Boone, Larry Bowa, Joe Charboneau, Buck Martinez, Ricky Jordan, Randy Lerch, Dick Ruthven, John Vukovich and Bob Walk, among others.[6]
Brockman died in Millbrae, California, at the age of 91.[6]

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Vesta Williams, American R&B singer, died she was 53.


Mary Vesta Williams was an American recording artist and songwriter, who performed across genres such as pop, jazz, adult contemporary and R&B. Originally credited as Vesta Williams, she was sometimes simply billed as Vesta beginning in the 1990s.[3] She was known for her four-octave vocal range.[4][5] Although Williams never had any albums certified gold nor any Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, she scored six Top 10 hits on the United States Billboard R&B chart from the mid 1980s to the early 1990s. Williams was known for the hits "Once Bitten, Twice Shy", "Sweet Sweet Love", "Special", and her 1989 #1 hit and signature song,[6] "Congratulations".[7]

(December 1, 1957 – September 22, 2011[2])

Biography

Born in Coshocton, Ohio, United States,[1][3] Williams' father was a disc jockey. Her family moved from Ohio to Los Angeles in the 1960s. While there, Williams and her three sisters, Margaret, Marte and Marlena, appeared on the television show Jack and Jill as "The Williams Sisters".[8] Later, she returned to Ohio but decided to go back to Los Angeles in order to launch a solo career.[3] Former Fifth Dimension member Ron Townson put Williams in his band Wild Honey.[8] Following that stint, Williams found work as a backup singer, working with artists such as Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Sting, Stephanie Mills, Anita Baker and Gordon Lightfoot. Williams sang on the original version of Joe Sample's "The Survivor",[8] and met producer David Crawford while working with his group Klique. After doing session work, she landed a recording contract with A&M Records and her debut album, Vesta, was released in 1986.[8] The album featured her first Top 10 R&B hit "Once Bitten, Twice Shy", which became her only UK hit and performed modestly on the US R&B charts.[3]
Her 1988 release, Vesta 4 U, produced the Top 10 R&B hits "Sweet Sweet Love", "4 U", and "Congratulations", with the latter peaking at #55 on the Hot 100 chart and #5 on the R&B chart.[citation needed] The album would become her most successful,[citation needed] and her only album to appear on the US Billboard 200, peaking at #131. In 1991, Williams released her third album entitled Special, with the title track as a single. "Special" became her highest charting song on the R&B chart at #2, but sales of the album were less than that of Vesta 4 U. Her next album, 1993's Everything-N-More, produced only a minor R&B hit, "Always".[9]
In 1989, Polygram Records purchased A&M Records. Williams' 1998 album Relationships was released under the Polygram name, and it became a modest seller, appearing on the R&B charts. Following the release of Relationships, A&M/Polygram did not renew her contract. Williams continued to work as a session singer, landing spots on albums by such artists as Phil Perry, Howard Hewett, and George Duke. Her voice could be heard by radio listeners in jingles for advertisers that included McDonald's, Nike, Baskin-Robbins, Diet Coke, Revlon and Exxon.[10] That same year, she performed the opening theme to the ABC miniseries, The Women of Brewster Place.[11]
Williams portrayed a saloon singer in the 1993 film Posse, directed by Mario Van Peebles.[12] During this time period she had a hit with the SWV song, "Rain", recorded alongside smooth jazz musician, Norman Brown.[citation needed] Williams had a recurring role as "Monica", Jackee Harry's best friend, in the television series Sister, Sister in the 1998-99 season. Her singing voice is featured during the opening theme song of UPN's Malcolm and Eddie.[13]
In 2000, Polygram released a compilation album, featuring songs from Williams and Polygram artist, CeCe Peniston. In 2007, Williams released an album of R&B songs on Shanachie Records entitled Distant Lover. Produced by Chris "Big Dog" Davis, Distant Lover was a cover album featuring songs originally recorded by Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Sade, and Deniece Williams. Her last recording was the song "Dedicated", released on 7 December 2010 on Stimuli Music.[14]
By 2002, Williams became a radio personality and was co-hosting a morning show on KRNB, a radio station based in Dallas/Fort Worth.[15] In recent years, Williams lost 100 pounds, going from size 26 to a size 6.[16] It was at this time that Williams became an advocate for the prevention of childhood obesity and juvenile diabetes.[17]
Her final performance was on September 17, 2011 in Portsmouth, Virginia, performing at the Autumn Jazz Explosion, just five days before her death.[13]
Williams was scheduled to perform at the 21st annual "DIVAS Simply Singing!" in Los Angeles on October 22. Shanice performed "Congratulations" in the show as a tribute to Williams; there also was a tribute to the late singer, Teena Marie.[18] Williams was taping TV One's "Unsung" at the time of her death. The episode aired January 2, 2012.[19]

Death

On September 22, 2011, Williams was found dead in a hotel room in El Segundo, California, a suburb of Los Angeles.[1][20][21] According to the county coroner's office, Williams was found dead at 6:15 p.m. A Los Angeles County Coroner's Office spokesperson stated that the following autopsy did not yield a cause of death. In late December 2011, the family released this statement, through a family friend singer/producer Norwood Young, reporting her official cause of death: "Following three months of intensive coroner's autopsy and toxicology research, it has been definitively determined that the cause of death for our beloved Vesta was 'natural death' from 'hypertensive heart disease,'" adding: "An enlarged heart can remain undetected for many years."[22][23][24]
Vesta Williams was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) on Octoder 4th, 2011 following the memorial service at West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles, California.[25] Attendees included notable friends Wanda Dee, singer Peggi Blu, Freda Payne, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine, Kellita Smith, Norwood Young, Michael Collier (author), Miki Howard, Karel Bouley, Kiki Shepard, Jackee’, Luenell and renowned Blues singer, Linda Hopkins. A private reception was held following the interment. [26]
She is survived by her mother, daughter, three sisters, a brother and three grandchildren as well as many cousins, friends and fans.[27]

Discography

Albums

Year Album Chart Positions[28] Record Label
US US
R&B
1986 Vesta — 43 A&M
1988 Vesta 4 U 131 26
1991 Special — 15
1993 Everything-N-More — 65
1998 Relationships — 55 I.E. / PolyGram
2000 Winning Combinations (a compilation) with CeCe Peniston — — A&M/Universal
2007 Distant Lover — — Shanachie
2012 Seven [29] — — Bronx Bridge Entertainment
"—" denotes the album failed to chart

Singles

Year Single Chart Positions[30]
US US
R&B		 US
Dance		 Dutch Single Top 100 UK[31]
1986 "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" — 9 45 20 14
1987 "Something About You" — 46 21 — —
"Don't Blow a Good Thing" — 17 5 — 89
"Suddenly It's Magic" — — — — 88
"You Make Me Want To (Love Again)" — 90 — — —
1988 "Sweet, Sweet Love" — 4 — — —
1989 "4 U" — 9 — — —
"Congratulations" 55 5 — — —
"How You Feel" — 70 — — —
1990 "I'll Be Good to You" (with Najee) — 9 — — —
1991 "Special" — 2 — — —
"Do Ya" — 43 — — —
1993 "Always" — 44 — — —
1998 "Somebody For Me" — — — — —
2010 "Dedicated" — — — — —
"—" denotes the single failed to chart or was not released

Music videos

  • "Once Bitten, Twice Shy"
  • "Somebody For Me"
  • "Don't Blow a Good Thing"
  • "Sweet Sweet Love"
  • "4 U"
  • "Congratulations"
  • "How You Feel"
  • "Special"
  • "Do Ya"
  • "Somebody For Me"
  • "Dedicated"

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Sissy Löwinger , Austrian actress, daughter of Paul Löwinger, died she was 70.


Sissy Löwinger  was an Austrian actress, director and theatre manager. She was the daughter of Austrian actor and director Paul Löwinger. She worked in public relations and dramaturgy for the family theatre "Löwinger Bühne" together with her brother, Paul. Later she also directed plays. After her father's death she became manager of the theatre, again with her brother Paul. She directed and edited television comedies and also wrote eight plays. She appeared in the role of Walpurga in the Franz Josef Gottlieb directed German production of Saison in Salzburg (1961).
She was married to the very popular Austrian television presenter Peter Rapp, and later to Peter Blechinger, with whom she lived in a house in Neulengbach in Austria. Löwinger had a daughter from her first marriage.
Löwinger died on 25 September 2011 in Altlengbach, Lower Austria.[1] She was 70.

(22 June 1941 – 25 September 2011)

Director

  • 1983: Ein Mann für zwei Frauen
  • 1985: Der keusche Joseph

Films

  • 1961: Saison in Salzburg (Season in Salzburg)
  • 1965: Das ist mein Wien
  • 1968: Immer Ärger mit den Paukern (Always Trouble with the Teachers)
  • 1969: Liebe durch die Hintertür (Wild, Willing & Sexy)
  • 1969: Frau Wirtin hat auch eine Nichte (House of Pleasure)
  • 1969: Komm, liebe Maid und mache (Sex Is a Pleasure aka The Brazen Women of Balzac)
  • 1970: Frau Wirtin treibt es jetzt noch toller (The Hostess Exceeds All Bounds)
  • 1974: Auf der Alm, da gibt’s koa Sünd’ (Bottoms aka Bouncing Boobs)

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Bob Cassilly, American sculptor, founder of City Museum, died from a bulldozer accident he was 61.

Robert James Cassilly Jr. was an American sculptor, entrepreneur, and museum director. Based in St. Louis, Missouri, Cassilly was the founder of the idiosyncratic City Museum, which draws about 600,000 visitors a year and is one of the city's leading tourist attractions.[1][2]

(November 9, 1949 – September 26, 2011) 


Early life

Cassilly was born in Webster Groves, Missouri, to a homemaker and a building contractor.[1] He began skipping school by age 14 to work as an apprentice for a local sculptor.[1] Cassilly graduated from Vianney High School, then earned a bachelor's degree in art from Fontbonne University in St. Louis.[1]

Career and sculptures

Cassilly built and ran a restaurant after college. He sold the restaurant, which allowed him to move to Hawaii, where he carved wooden figures.[1] Cassilly reportedly grew tired of Hawaii and returned to his native St. Louis. While earning a master's degree in art at his alma mater, Fontbonne, he met his second wife, sculptor Gail Soliwoda. They remained business partners until their divorce in 2002.[1]
In May 1972, Cassilly was visiting St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City when Laszlo Toth attacked Michelangelo's The Pieta. Cassilly was the first to act and subdued Toth.[3]
During the mid-1970s, Cassilly renovated a townhouse in a dilapidated St. Louis neighborhood, a project that led to the construction of six new townhouses, for which he designed the archiectural flourishes.[1] The project led Cassilly to start making sculptures professionally.[1] He soon became known for his public pieces that depict animals, ranging from turtles to hippos.[1]
The City Museum was launched after he and Gail bought a 250,000-square-foot (23,000 m2) complex, which included the International Shoe Building, offices and a 10-story warehouse, for 69 cents per square foot in 1983.[1] They renovated the site and opened it in 1997 as the City Museum, helping to spark a renovation boom in downtown St. Louis.[4] The museum includes an aquarium, shoelace factory, a fire truck, two airplanes, and a Ferris wheel on the roof.[1] The Project for Public Spaces listed the museum among the "Great Public Spaces in the World" in 2005.[1][5] In 2002, financial obligations forced Cassilly to begin charging visitors a fee to park at the museum. Cassilly hung a sign in the museum's parking lot reading, "Greedy Bob’s Parking Lot."[1]

Cassilly's giraffe sculpture, which stands at the Dallas Zoo.
Cassilly's other works include hippopotamus statues installed at Hippo Playground in Manhattan's Riverside Park in 1993.[1] In 1997, Cassilly also contributed hippo sculptures to Central Park's Safari Playground near W. 91 Street.[1][2][6] He designed two turtles for Turtle Park in St. Louis.[4] A giant concrete butterfly, called the Mysterious Monarch, was unveiled in Faust Park outside the Butterfly House, Missouri Botanical Garden in 1997 in Chesterfield, Missouri.[2] Cassilly's giraffe statue, which stands at the entrance to the Dallas Zoo, is the tallest sculpture in Texas at 67½ feet tall.[1][7] His works for the St. Louis Zoo include the Sea Lion Fountains and a 45-foot squid statue.[1]
In 2000, Cassilly began work on Cementland, a repurposing of a former cement factory on a 54-acre (220,000 m2) site in north St. Louis.[1][4]
On September 26, 2011, Cassilly died at Cementland after the bulldozer he was driving flipped down a hill.[8][9] He was survived by his third wife, Melissa Giovanna Zompa, and their two children, Dylan and Robert III; and two children from his second marriage, Daisy and Max.[1] Cassilly's first wife was the former Cecilia Davidson and his second wife was Gail Soliwoda.[1]

Commissioned sculptures


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Sara Douglass, Australian fantasy author, died from ovarian cancer she was 54.


Sara Warneke, better known by her pen name Sara Douglass, was an Australian fantasy writer who lived in Hobart, Tasmania.

(2 June 1957 – 27 September 2011)

Biography

A great-grand-daughter of psychic Robert James Lees, Douglass was born in Penola, South Australia. She attended Annesley College, in Wayville, a suburb of Adelaide. She studied for her BA while working as a Registered Nurse, and later completed her PhD in early modern English History. She became a lecturer in medieval history at La Trobe University, Bendigo. While there she completed her first novel, BattleAxe, which launched her as a popular fantasy author in Australia, and later as an international success.
Until the mid-2000s, Douglass hosted a bulletin board on her website, with the aim of encouraging creative thinking and constructive criticism of others' work. She maintained an online blog about the restoration project of her house and garden entitled Notes from Nonsuch in Tasmania.[1]
In 2008, Douglass was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.[2] She underwent treatment, but in late 2010 the cancer returned.[3] She died on 27 September 2011, aged 54.[4]

Works

Fantasy fiction

Douglass mainly focused her efforts on fantasy writings. Her first trilogy, The Axis Trilogy, is set in the fantasy world of Tencendor and Escator. Of The Axis Trilogy, Enchanter and StarMan won the 1996 Aurealis Fantasy division award[5] and Battleaxe was nominated for the 1995 award.[6] Douglass's second series, The Wayfarer Redemption, two stand alone novels and her most recent series, Darkglass Mountain also focus on the fantasy world used in The Axis Trilogy. The Wayfarer Redemption also did well in the Aurealis Fantasy division with all three novels reaching the finals for their published years.[7][8][9]
In addition to the fantasy novels set in the world of Tencendor and Escator, Douglass wrote two unrelated historical fantasy series, The Crucible trilogy and The Troy Game. Some of these novels also reached the Aurealis Fantasy division finals with The Nameless Day and The Crippled Angel from The Crucible finishing as finalists[10][11] and The Wounded Hawk winning the award in 2001.[12] Hades' Daughter and Darkwitch Rising from The Troy Game also were finalists in the Fantasy division.[11][13]

Other works

Douglass also wrote a non-fiction book, The Betrayal of Arthur, and several short stories.

Bibliography

Note: In the USA, and most European countries, The Axis Trilogy and The Wayfarer Redemption have been combined into one six-book series, Wayfarer Redemption.

The Axis Trilogy

Main article: The Axis trilogy

The Wayfarer Redemption

Main article: The Wayfarer Redemption

The Crucible

Main article: The Crucible

The Troy Game

Main article: The Troy Game

Darkglass Mountain

Main article: Darkglass Mountain

Other

Short stories

Non-fiction

  • Images of the Educational Traveller in Early Modern England (E. J. Brill, 1995)
  • The Betrayal of Arthur (1998)

Awards and nominations

Aurealis Awards

Main article: Aurealis Awards
Fantasy division
  • Finalist: Battleaxe (1995)
  • Won: Enchanter and Starman (1996) tie with Jack Dann's The Memory Cathedral
  • Finalist: Sinner (1997)
  • Finalist: Pilgrim (1998)
  • Finalist: Crusader (1999)
  • Finalist: The Nameless Day (2000)
  • Won: The Wounded Hawk (2001)
  • Finalist: The Crippled Angel (2002)
  • Finalist: Hades' Daughter (2002)
  • Finalist: Darkwitch Rising (2005)

Australian Shadows Award

  • Finalist: "This Way to the Exit" (Dreaming Again, ed. Jack Dann, HarperVoyager 2008)[14]


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Ida Fink, Israeli Polish-language author, died she was 89.


Ida Fink  was an Israeli Polish-language Jewish author who wrote about the Holocaust.

(1 November 1921 – 27 September 2011)

Biography

Ida Fink was born in Zbaraż, Poland (now Zbarazh, Ukraine) in 1 November 1921. Her father was a physician, and her mother worked as a teacher in a local school. She was a student of music at Lwow Conservatory. In 1941-1942, she spent two years in the Zbaraz ghetto, before escaping with the help of Aryan papers. After the Holocaust she married and had a daughter. In 1957, Fink immigrated to Israel.[1] She settled in Holon, where she worked as a music librarian and an interviewer for Yad Vashem. She published her first story in 1971. She lived with her sister in Ramat Aviv.[2]

Literary career

Fink wrote in Polish, primarily on Holocaust themes. Her stories revolve around the terrible choices that the Jews had to make during the Nazi era and the hardships of Holocaust survivors after the war.[3]
A documentary about Ida Fink, The Garden that Floated Away, was produced by Israeli filmmaker Ruth Walk.[4]
The 2008 film Spring 1941, directed by Uri Barbash, was based on her work.[5]

Awards

In 2008, Fink was awarded the Israel Prize, for literature.[2][6][7]
She has also won the Anne Frank Prize, the Buchman Prize and the Sapir Prize.

Published work




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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...