/ Stars that died in 2023

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Andy Tielman, Dutch Indorock musician, died he was 75.

Andy Tielman  was an influential Indo (Eurasian) artist. He was recognised as frontman of Indorock, a musical style, for which he received the nickname "Godfather of Indorock" died he was 75..[3] He is considered one of the most important figures in Dutch Pop music.[4]
He was known for his wide vocal range (5 octaves) and virtuoso guitar playing as well as his showmanship. Many Dutch musicians, including Jan Akkerman of Focus and Barry Hay of Golden Earring have cited him as an major influence.[5][6]

(30 May 1936 – 10 November 2011)[1][2]


He has been acknowledged as having made the first Dutch Rock and Roll single in 1958 and leading the first Dutch rock band with international appeal. He led the Timor Brothers, the Four T's, the Tielman Brothers, and Andy Tielman and the Tielman Brothers. His career spanned from the 1950s to his death in 2011. During Tielman's heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, his band the Tielman Brothers was hailed as the best live act in Europe and received the highest fees.[7]
In 2005 he was awarded a Royal decoration in the Order of Orange Nassau.[8] In 2011 Tielman died of gastric cancer.[9]

Dutch East Indies

Andy Tielman was born in Makassar, Celebes, Dutch East Indies on 30 May 1936. Both his father, a KNIL captain named Herman Tielman, and his mother, Flora Laurentine Hess, were Indo-European. Aside from Andy, the couple had 5 children: Reggy, Phonton, Loulou (Lawrence), and Jane (Janette Loraine). When the Japanese invaded the Indies, the elder Tielman was imprisoned; Andy and his siblings were taken care of by his mother. He later recalled "When war came the world was broken. My whole world just fell apart."[10]
After the Japanese surrendered in 1945, the family was reunited. By that time, Andy and his siblings were performing jazz standards at private functions using the musical training their father had given them. Within half a year they were performing throughout nascent Indonesia, which had proclaimed its independence after the Japanese surrender. The siblings' repertoire included both American and traditional Indonesian music.
By the time the Netherlands formally recognised Indonesia's independence in 1949, the Tielman siblings had become a household name; they even performed for President Sukarno at his palace in Jakarta. In 1951 they were introduced to the song "Guitar Boogie" by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith. In an interview Tielman recalled: "This was the first song which my brothers and I converted into rock ‘n roll by adding drums to it." The band began playing rock and roll music by Les Paul, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Bill Haley, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry and Gene Vincent. Aside from the family band, Andy also played with Dolf de Vries' band The Starlights in Jakarta, as well as Freddy Wehner's Hawaiian band in Sumatra.[11]
In the late 1950s anti-Dutch rules and regulations increased, leading up to an escalation of the Dutch New Guinea conflict; it was feared that the Bersiap violence would be repeated. Dutch businesses and other properties were seized, Dutch social services were stopped, Dutch schools were banned and the last Dutch nationals were expelled.[12] Anti-Dutch sentiments also affected Indo celebrities, including the Tielman siblings, and when they were pressured into forgoing their Dutch nationality the family repatriated to the Netherlands.[11]

Europe

In 1957 the Tielman family moved to the Netherlands, first to a boarding house in Breda and later to The Hague. Their initial years in the Netherlands were difficult. Tielman later recalled that their first boarding house was "really sad" and said that music was the only thing that kept them going. The siblings, who required new instruments, went into a music shop to replace Andy's broken guitar. The owner forbid him to touch anything, until the siblings played some Elvis tunes for the owner and his family. Afterwards, Tielman received a guitar at a discount and only a small down payment.[13]
Andy and his brothers began playing at a hotel for only 2,50 guilders a week. They were able to slowly acquire a fan base among rebellious youth and fellow musicians; however, they were not appreciated by the Dutch establishment or mainstream press.[14] On national radio and television influential opinion makers such as Mies Bouwman and Willem Duys criticised and dismissed the brothers' music.[15]
After a successful show at the World Exhibition in Brussels, Belgium, in 1958, the Tielman Brothers were signed by a Belgian company to record the first Dutch rock 'n' roll single, "Rock Little Baby Of Mine".[16] The band's flamboyant showmanship, acrobatic stage antics and rowdy sound were unheard of in the Netherlands. The band soon began performing internationally.[17] Tielman later recalled "In the Netherlands we did not feel accepted. It seemed like Rock and Roll was forbidden here. On television we were totally torn apart publicly [...]. They [even] called us music rapists."[7]
In Germany the band found popularity and recorded some German-language songs. They played many live venues in the Reeperbahn area of Hamburg, a city with many American GIs and a lively music scene. Andy Tielman made an impression on both the German and British musicians playing there. In a later interview with Rolling Stone, George Harrison reflected on his Hamburg period, enthusiastically referring to "Andy, the Indo man".[citation needed] Tielman and his band enjoyed a successful musical career throughout Europe until the emergence of British beat music headed by The Beatles.[17]

Asia Pacific

Although he enjoyed success in Europe, Tielman became upset over hysterical actions by fans, which included cases where women slit their wrists in front of the stage to get his attention. In the 1990 TV interview with Sonja Barend Tielman said: "That’s nothing to be proud of. [...] It’s just very, very sad. [...] I just could not stand it anymore. [...] Maybe the Beatles could deal with that kind of thing. Not me."[18]
In the late 1970s Tielman abruptly ended his music career and left his family and property to live as a hermit in the jungles of Kalimantan among the Dayak people. In the Tv interview with Sonja Barend he recalls: "The Dayak hunted monkeys for food. I just hunted wild chicken." For over 2 years he lived a low profile and meditated until a female fan tracked him down in the Bali backwoods. For over a year the young German woman, who later became his wife, Carmen Tielman, stayed with him there until he decided to return to the "civilised" world and resume his career.[19]
Tielman then moved to Australia and lived there for 5 years. In the 1980s he toured Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii. Occasionally he would return to the Netherlands, where he gradually restarted his recording career. After the influential book Rockin Ramona was published in 1989, the Netherlands was re-discovering and rehabilitating its musical pioneers and Tielman was getting more and more recognition as a founding father of Dutch pop music.[5]

Netherlands

Tielman eventually returned to the Netherlands full time. In 1990 he played in a reunion concert with the Tielman Brothers.[citation needed] The same year he releases a solo album, entitled Now And Forever, followed in 1994 and 1995 by tours to the Caribbean and North America. In 1997 he released the album Loraine Jane, named after his only daughter.[17] That year he also headlined a festival commemorating Elvis Presley at the Amsterdam RAI Convention Centre.[7]
In 1998 the album Loraine Jane was presented at the Pasar Malam Besar in the Hague. On 31 October 1998 Tielman celebrated his 50th anniversary as an artist with a show at The Hague Houtrusthallen.[17] Leading up to this anniversary Andy Tielman received much publicity in the Dutch media; Established Dutch artists like Herman Brood and Wally Tax expressed their admiration for his musical legacy.[20] In 1999 Andy Tielman toured the USA.[7]
In 2003 Andy Tielman recorded a new album in Amsterdam. In 2004 he recorded a live DVD at the Kurhaus in Scheveningen called It's My Life. In 2005 the DVD was officially presented at the Pasar Malam Besar in The Hague.[17]
In 2005 Tielman was named to the Order of Orange-Nassau.[17] Following the tsunami off Aceh in 2004, he made an appearance at the Dutch national benefit for the victims with two other Indo artists, Dinand Woesthoff (of Kane) and René van Barneveld (formerly of Urban Dance Squad), performing the traditional Indonesian songs "Rayuan Pulau Kelapa" and "Ole sio sayang e".[21] In 2007 Tielman played with Chris Latul (formerly of Massada) in Utrecht, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Pelita Foundation, the longest running social service organisation for Dutch Indos.[22]

Andy Tielman, age 71, with Chris Latul in 2007.
For the 50th anniversary of the single "Rock Little Baby Of Mine" in 2008, the 50 Years of Nederpop Foundation in Groningen held a weekend long festival. On 3 October he performed at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam during the 50 Years of Nederpop Live festival. He headlined the national 5 May Liberation Day celebrations in The Hague in 2008. With Indorock band Tjendol Sunrise, he recorded the album 21st Century Rock which includes new versions of hits from the Tielman Brothers, several new songs, as well as a new version of "Rock Little Baby Of Mine". At the Tong Tong Fair he teamed with guitarist Jan Akkerman for a one off concert.[citation needed]
By the fall of 2009, Tielman had fallen ill and canceled a scheduled tour when he was diagnosed with cancer. In November he was operated on. By 19 December he had recovered enough to give a short performance in Drachten,[17] and in March 2010 played a show at the Benidorm Palace in Spain, supported by other acts such as Riem de Wolff of the Blue Diamonds.[23] During the 2011 edition of Indo festival the Tong Tong Fair, Tielman celebrated his 75th birthday and held a sold-out farewell concert at the Bintang Theatre.[24][25] On 10 November 2011 Tielman died of cancer.[2][1]

Line up

The Timor Rhythm Brothers (1945–1957)
Reggy Tielman (Reginald)(banjo, guitar, vocal)- Surabaya, 20 May 1933
Ponthon Tielman (double bass, guitar, vocal)- 4 August 1934 - 29 April 2000
Andy Tielman (Herman Hendrik Aadrian) (guitar, vocal)– 30 May 1936
Loulou Tielman (Herman Lawrence)(drum, vocal)– 30 October 1938 - 4 August 1994
Jane Tielman (Janette Loraine)(vocal)- 17 August 1940 - 25 juni 1993.

The Four Tielman Brothers — The 4 T's (1957–1959)
Andy Tielman (lead guitar, vocal)
Reggy Tielman (2nd lead guitar, vocal)
Ponthon Tielman (double bass, vocal)
Loulou Tielman (drums, vocal).

The Tielman Brothers (1960–1963)
Andy Tielman (lead guitar, vocal)
Reggy Tielman (2nd lead guitar, vocal)
Franky Luyten (rhythm guitar, vocal)
Ponthon Tielman (bass guitar, 6 string bass, vocal)
Loulou Tielman (drum, vocal)

The Tielman Brothers (1963–1964)
Andy Tielman (lead guitar, vocal)
Alphonse Faverey (lead guitar) ex-stringers to The Four Beat Breakers > The Time Breakers
Reggy Tielman (2nd lead guitar, 6 string bass, vocal)
Franky Luyten (rhythm guitar, vocal) to The Four Beat Breakers > The Time Breakers
Ponthon Tielman (bass guitar, 6 string bass, vocal)to Tielman Royal; afterwards back to Indonesia
Loulou Tielman (drum, vocal)
Jane Tielman (vocal)

The Tielman Brothers (1964–1969)
Andy Tielman (lead guitar, vocal)
Reggy Tielman (2nd lead guitar, 6 string bass,vocal)
Robby Latuperisa (bass, guitar, 6 string bass)
Hans Bax (rhythm guitar, vocal)
Loulou Tielman (drum, vocal)
Jane Tielman (vocal)

Andy Tielman and his Indonesians (1969-1971)
Andy Tielman (lead guitar, vocal)
Reggy Tielman (2nd lead guitar, 6 string bass, vocal)
Rob Latuperisa (bass guitar, 6 string bass)
Loulou Tielman (drum, vocal)
Benny Heynen (tenor saxophone, rhythm guitar)
Maurice de la Croix (bariton/tenor saxophone)
Leo Masengi (tenor saxophone, rhythm guitar)ex-The High Five
Jane Tielman (vocal)
Ilse Uchtman (vocal)

Andy Tielman & The Tielman Brothers (1975–1981)
Andy Tielman (lead guitar, vocal)
Reggy Tielman (2nd lead guitar, rhythm guitar)
Loulou Tielman (drum, vocal).
Rob Latuperisa (bass guitar)
Maurice de la Croix (bariton/tenor saxophone)
Leo Masengi (alt/tenor saxophone, rhythm guitar)
Benny Heynen (tenor saxophone, clarinet, guitar)

To see more of who died in 2011 click here

Petar Kralj, Serbian actor, died he was 70.

Petar Kralj was a Serbian film and television actor  died he was 70..

(Serbian Cyrillic: Петар Краљ; 4 April 1941 – 10 November 2011)

Kralj was born in Zagreb and appeared on stage about 3,000 times, and starred in over 200 films, TV series and TV dramas. In December 2000 he was ranked eighth in the Serbian newspaper Večernje novosti in the Best Serbian Actors and Actresses of the 20th Century list. In 2005 he played lead role in first Serbian science fiction television series The Collector.
He died in Belgrade, aged 70.[1]

To see more of who died in 2011 click here

Killer Karl Kox, American professional wrestler, died he was 80.


Herb Gerwig was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name of Killer Karl Kox, who competed in the National Wrestling Alliance as well as international promotions such as All Japan Pro Wrestling, the International Wrestling Alliance and World Championship Wrestling during the 1960s and 70s died he was 80..

(April 26, 1931 – November 10, 2011) 

Career

Killer Karl Kox was one of the biggest stars in the WCW promotion in Australia during the 1960s and 1970s. As a singles heel through the sixties, he was a top-of-card fixture battling well-established crowd favourites such as Mark Lewin, Spiros Arion, Tex McKenzie, Dominic Denucci and Mario Milano. Enormous numbers from Australia's nascent ethnic community turned out to support Arion, Denucci and Milano, and Kox risked riots at every appearance. His brainbuster finisher was as famous as his chronic rule breaking and surreptitious use of foreign objects. Fans longed to see the brainbuster deployed on the side of good, and this boon was granted in 1971 when the Killer turned into a good guy in a nationally televised mea culpa - he pledged to change his ways on a solemn promise to his dying mother.
This created much heat in the already booming Australian wrestling promotion, where the fixture was an ongoing television "war" between the good guys referred to as "The People's Army" (Lewin, Curtis, Arion, Milano and visiting faces from overseas) and the "mercenary soldiers" managed by Kentucky biker / preacher Big Bad John. The turning of the tables saw the erstwhile Killer create great excitement in tag matches against his former heel comrades Abdullah the Butcher, Brute Bernard, Dick "The Bulldog" Brower, Tiger Singh, Waldo Von Ehrich and Japanese badboys like Mr Fuiji and the Tojo Brothers.
In the wrestling profession, Killer Karl Kox was always a popular figure for his humour, behind-the-scenes practical jokes and inventiveness in furthering the promotion ("the greatest gimmicks man in the business" said one admiring colleague). His grudge matches were well-calibrated and exciting, building through a series of disqualifications and non-decisions through run-in interference, and often climaxing in a conditional match in which "the loser packs his bags and leaves town." This saw off one or the other of the combatants as they travelled to fulfill other promotional runs in other countries; battle would be re-joined next season when the participants returned for another highly profitable run.
Among Killer Karl Kox's famous matches in Australia, his feuds with man-mountain Haystacks Calhoun usually involved the insinuation of foreign objects into the proceedings by Kox. At the end of one season, Kox "left Australia for medical treatment in the states" when, in a strap match with Bulldog Brower, his eye was nearly removed (the wound was unbandaged to show the television audience). A headline making event was when a television match for the Australian championship against Spiros Arion was declared ended due to time limit by well-loved commentator Jack Little. Kox responded by applying the Brain Buster to the unfortunate Little, who was hospitalized and required to call matches the following month in a neck brace. Kox made his final wrestling-related appearance at VCCW Quest for the Crown II in August 2011, taking part in a meet and greet as well as later presenting the championship to Scot Summers.
On November 10, 2011, Kox died at the age of 80 following a heart attack and a stroke he had suffered nearly three weeks prior.[1]

To see more of who died in 2011 click here

Alan Keen, British politician, MP for Feltham and Heston (since 1992), died from cancer he was 73.

David Alan Keen was a British Labour Co-operative politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Feltham and Heston from 1992 until his death in 2011 died from cancer he was 73..

(25 November 1937 – 10 November 2011)[1] 

Early life

Although born in London, Alan Keen was brought up in the Grangetown and Redcar area in the present day unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland in the north east of England. He went to the Sir William Turner's Grammar School in Redcar.[2] He joined the British Army in 1960 and after nearly three years of service, in 1963, he started his career with the Fire Protection Industry where he remained until his election to the House of Commons.[3] He also worked as a tactical scout for Middlesbrough F.C. for eighteen years.[4]

Parliamentary career

He served as a member of Hounslow Borough Council from 1986–90 and was elected to Parliament at the 1992 general election when he unseated the sitting Conservative MP Patrick Ground.[5] In Parliament he has served on both the Education (1995–96) and the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committees (1997–99 and since 2001).[6]

Policies

Heathrow Airport expansion

On 28 January 2009, Keen voted against a motion in Parliament calling on the government to review a decision to add a third runway to Heathrow Airport.[7] Keen had claimed to be opposed to expansion at Heathrow for many years;[8] stating in his consultation publication on the issue he is "opposed to an additional runway" and although he was in favour of expansion up to the present boundaries "there has to be a limit" and he believed "that limit has been reached".[9][dead link] However at a House of Commons debate in January 2009, Keen voted in favour of the third runway.[8] Conservative Councillor Barbara Reid of Hounslow Council, said the Keens were “completely ignoring their constituents and letting them down.”, noting that "90 per cent of people in every survey we have done do not support the third runway".[8] Further controversy arose when Keen suggested the third runway would "hardly affect my constituents at all".[8]

Expenses

Together with his MP wife Ann Keen, the couple used their combined second homes allowances to buy an apartment in an up-market development at Waterloo on the South Bank of the River Thames, claiming £175,000 over five years. The Waterloo apartment is nine miles from their constituency home in Brentford, a 30-minute drive from Westminster.[10][11] MPs who reside near the Keens in Brentford, such as Home Office Minister Phil Woolas who lives in the next street, are able to commute from there to Westminster.[12] The couple claimed for both the interest payments on the Waterloo flat and the cost of re-mortgaging their Brentford home. The Fees Office agreed with the couple's argument that this was claimable because it was used to raise equity for the flat. The mortgage also included the cost of "compulsory" life insurance attached to the mortgages, a practice which is now banned.[10][13] In total the Keens have claimed almost £1.7 million in expenses over seven years.[12]
In 2009, their Brentford home was occupied by squatters[14] after it was unoccupied for 9–12 months following a dispute with a building firm undertaking renovation work.[15] The squatters' declared aim was to turn the house into a centre for war refugees, in response to Mrs Keen's support for the British invasion of Iraq.[15]
In defending their part in the expenses scandal the Keen's stated "we have advocated, strongly supported, and voted for the introduction of Freedom of Information legislation. We are pleased that the point has been reached when full details of MPs' expenses are being published on a regular basis for everyone to see".[16] However, in November 2009, arsonists repeatedly attacked an office block containing Mrs Keen's constituency offices in reaction to the revelations over their expense claims.[17] Keen voted against the reform of MP's expenses in 2008.[18]
A formal investigation into the Keens' expenses by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards ruled in March that the Keens had breached the expenses rules and that he regarded the breach of the rules as "serious", and involving "significant public funds". He suggested that the Keens should pay back four months worth of their claims - some £5,678. However, The Commons Standards and Privileges Committee of MPs disagreed with his findings and reduced the repayment to £1,500.[19]

Personal life

Keen's wife Ann Keen, whom he married in 1980, joined him in the Commons at the 1997 general election when she was elected for the neighbouring seat of Brentford and Isleworth.[20] Ann held the seat until she was defeated in the 2010 general election.[21] His sister-in-law, Sylvia Heal was an MP from 1997–2010 and Deputy Speakers of the House of Commons before retiring at the 2010 election.[22] He and his wife lived in his wife's former constituency at Brentford.
Keen employed son David for at least 8 years as his constituency manager and senior caseworker.[23][24] He also had a further son and a daughter from a previous marriage.[3] He died on 10 November 2011 from cancer, aged 73.[1][25]


To see more of who died in 2011 click here

Ivan Martin Jirous, Czech poet and dissident, died he was 67.

Ivan Martin Jirous  was a Czech poet, best known for being the artistic director of the Czech psychedelic rock group The Plastic People of the Universe and later one of the organizers of the Czech underground during the communist regime died he was 67.. He is also known more frequently as Magor, which can be roughly translated as "loony" or "blockhead" and is supposedly derived from "phantasmagoria". This nickname was given to him by the "experimental" poet Eugen Brikcius.[1] His wife, Věra Jirousová, wrote a good deal of the Plastics' early lyrics.

(September 23, 1944[1] – November 10, 2011[2])

Trained as an art historian but unable to work as such under the Communist regime in then Czechoslovakia, Magor/Jirous was a member of the dissident subculture there. His particular contribution to Czech dissidence was his work on the concept of the "Parallel Polis," or "Second Culture." Magor believed that simply expressing oneself through art could ultimately undermine the totalitarian system.
He was friends with Václav Havel, and is mentioned several times in Havel's Letters to Olga.

To see more of who died in 2011 click here

Barbara Grier, American publisher (Naiad Press) and writer, died from cancer he was 78.

Barbara Grier was an American writer and publisher most widely known for co-founding Naiad Press and writing and editing The Ladder under the pseudonym Gene Damon  died from cancer he was 78..

(November 4, 1933 – November 10, 2011) 

Early life

Born in Cincinnati to Dorothy Vernon Black, a secretary, and Philip Strang Grier, a doctor, Grier grew up in several midwestern US cities. She claims she came out as a lesbian at 12 years old and spent her life finding as much information about female homosexuality as she could.[1] Her parents divorced when she was 13 years old. Grier went to the library to discover more about lesbians after noticing her own behavior patterns were different from her friends. She told her mother that she was homosexual, and her mother replied, "No, because you're a woman, you're a lesbian. And since 12 years old is too young to make such a decision, let's wait six months before we tell the newspapers."[2] She began collecting books when her mother gave her a copy of The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall when she was 16 years old.[3] She describes her collection of lesbian-themed books as Lesbiana, a collection that was fueled by a "love affair with lesbian publishing."
Shortly after Grier graduated high school in 1951, she met Helen Bennett in a public library. They spent 20 years together living in Denver, Colorado while Bennett went to library school, then moving to Kansas City where both worked in public libraries.[2]

The Ladder

Grier began writing book reviews in The Ladder, a magazine edited by members of the Daughters of Bilitis, soon after subscribing to it in 1957. She used multiple pen names in her writings including Gene Damon, Lennox Strong, Vern Niven, most often writing to review literature in which lesbians were characters or a plot device.
Grier took over editing The Ladder in 1968 with the goal of expanding the magazine to include more feminist ideals. The magazine gained a more professional and sleeker layout and increased to more than 40 pages from the 25 average under previous editors and tripled in subscriptions. She described her roles in editing the magazine, ""In 1968, I became editor of The Ladder, and I had to write three hundred letters a week, edit the magazine, run a staff of fifteen people spread all over the world, work a part-time job, keep house, read the books, and write my 'Lesbiana' column."[4] Grier also removed the word "lesbian" from the front cover, after being placed there in 1963, in an attempt to reach more women. Grier's tenure took place at a time when the Daughters of Bilitis were in conflict about the direction of the organization. DOB founders tended to encourage a more assimilationist stance for the organization and came in direct conflict from more radical separatist lesbians, including Grier. When the DOB folded in 1970, Grier, who was editing the magazine from Kansas City, planned with DOB president Rita LaPorte to take the only two copies of the subscription list from the printer and the DOB headquarters in order to keep The Ladder alive. LaPorte took both copies to the ignorance of DOB founders Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, and relocated the magazine to Reno, causing an uproar. The Ladder ran for two more years before it outgrew its finances and folded in September 1972. Said Grier about her role in the controversy, "You have to understand that none of these things were done with malice aforethought or with intention to damage. I mean I was just as much a light-eyed maniac then as I am now in terms of the mission. The mission is that the lesbians shall inherit the earth, you see."[5]

Naiad Press

Grier had been in a relationship with Helen Bennett for 20 years when librarian Donna McBride fell in love with her. Grier left Bennett for McBride and claims it was the only decision she ever agonized about.
Grier and partner Donna McBride began running Naiad Press at the support and urging of two editors of The Ladder, Anyda Marchant and Muriel Crawford in 1973.[3] Their first published work was The Latecomer written by Marchant under the pen name Sarah Aldridge. Naiad was run from Kansas City until 1980 when it relocated to Tallahassee, Florida. Both women continued to work full time until 1982 when they dedicated all their time to the publishing company.
Authors represented by Naiad include Valerie Taylor, Katherine V. Forrest, Jane Rule, Ann Bannon's reprinted Beebo Brinker Chronicles, and Gale Wilhelm, whom Grier spent several years attempting to locate to bring out of obscurity. One of the most controversial of these was Lesbian Nuns: Breaking Silence, a work of non-fiction that was banned in Boston and criticized by the Catholic Church.[6] Penthouse Forum ran a series from the book and it made Naiad an internationally-known publishing name.[1]
Grier used her extensive lesbian literature collection, what she termed "Lesbiana" at Naiad. By 1994, the company had a staff of 8 and projected sales of $1.8 million US. In 1992, Grier and McBride donated Naiad's entire collection to the San Francisco Public Library, which consisted of a tractor trailer full of 14,000 books estimated at $400,000 US.[7] What began as a search became a self-described obsession for Grier. She worked with Jeannette Howard Foster and Marion Zimmer Bradley to compile the largest collection of books with lesbian themes in the English language, they called The Lesbian in Literature.[2] Books were rated from A to D referencing how important lesbian characters were to the plot, or T, indicating the book was "trash".[4]
In 1985 Grier earned the President's Award for Lifetime Service from the Gay Academic Union. In 1991, Grier and McBride, representing Naiad Press, was given the Lambda Literary Award for Publisher's Service. Grier and McBride were given the Lambda Literary Pioneer Award in 2002. Grier and McBride sold the Naiad backlist to Bella Books in 2003.

Death

Barbara Grier died of cancer in Tallahassee on November 10, 2011.[8] She was 78.


To see more of who died in 2011 click here

Ana Grepo, Croatian model, died from carbon monoxide asphyxiation she was 36.

Ana Grepo was a business woman and former model from Split, Croatia died from carbon monoxide asphyxiation she was 36... In 1995 she was crowned Miss Dalmatia on the regional beauty pageant in Split. In the last years of her life she resided in Zagreb where she was an operating manager of her own modeling agency. She was one of the main figures for gathering young prospective models for the entire area of southeastern Europe, and ex Yugoslavia.[2]

 

(5 March 1975 – 10 November 2011[1])


She has previously been noted in a variety of business magazines as one of the most successful business-oriented women in Croatia with her fortune estimated up to 50 million Euro.[citation needed]

Early life

Her father Petar was a fisherman and mother Andja was a housewife. While still in high school, Grepo was drafted by the Midiken modeling agency from Zagreb. Finishing her last high school year in Zagreb, Grepo had already become one of the most wanted young models in Croatia.

Modelling career

In late 1995 Grepo moved to Milan working for different modeling agencies. In the nine-year period between 1996 and 2005 Grepo worked in various fashion capitals of the world, including Madrid, Paris, London, New York and Tokyo. While engaging herself as a full-time model, in late 2000 she started forming her own modelling agency which she based in Zagreb, Croatia.[3]

Post modelling career and personal life

Having dual Croatian and Italian citizenship, Ana relocated to Milan in 1995 and over the next decade was kept busy in such major cities as London, New York, Tokyo, and Paris. While briefly married to businessman Dragan Jurilj, she used the connections she had made and started accumulating great wealth and business notoriety by starting her own Zagreb-based modeling agency in 2000. Later, she acquired a soccer team and built a luxury casino.[4]
In 2002, she purchased property on the Croatian shore near Dubrovnik and the government agency granted her rights to build a five star casino resort on the Brioni Islands. In the summer of 2006 she entered a purchasing bid for a major Croatian basketball team Cibona, Zagreb but she eventually withdrew the offer. As a holder of a dual citizenship an Italian and Croatian passport, Grepo entered the Italian business market as well. In early 2007 she bought a small part of a holders share of an Italian soccer club A.C. Chievo from Verona, Italy. In March 2007 she reportedly paid 4.5 million Euro for a 16th century Italian traditional mansion in Verona, Italy.[4]

Death

While spending the majority of her time during the last period of her life at her estate in Zagreb, Ana died of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning while at home.[4]


To see more of who died in 2011 click here

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...