Phillip Cottrell, Scottish journalist (BBC Scotland, Radio New Zealand), died when he was assaulted he was 43

Phillip Cottrell  was a British-born journalist died when he was assaulted he was 43. Phillip was born in Enfield, United Kingdom, but he grew up in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, where he was a pupil at Cheshunt School. From 1986 to 1989, Phillip studied for a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Media Studies, at what was the Polytechnic of Central London, currently the University of Westminster.

Phillip worked as a broadcast radio journalist for BBC Scotland based in Glasgow,^[1] having previously worked in London. In 2006, Phillip left the United Kingdom, and immigrated to New Zealand, where he took a position at Radio New Zealand. In 2011, he was a news bulletin editor.^[2]
He was one of the founding members of a gay immigrant group, "Queers Gone Kiwi.".^[3]
Phillip was assaulted in a street attack on Boulcott Street in central Wellington, New Zealand, on 10 December 2011, less than 15 minutes after leaving the Radio New Zealand studios, where he had finished an overnight shift.^[1][4] He died from his injuries at Wellington Hospital on 11 December 2011, at the age of 43 without regaining consciousness.^[1] Although Phillip suffered from a degenerative bone disorder, this did not contribute to his death.^[5] Two teenagers were charged in connection with his murder.^[6]
Phillip's funeral took place on 16 December 2011, in Wellington, New Zealand. On 21 January 2012, a memorial service was held for Phillip in Long Sutton, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom.
The two men charged with his murder went on trial in December 2012, and both pleaded not guilty.^[7] A number of Radio New Zealand staff were due to give evidence.^[8] In December 2012 Nicho Allan Waipuka was found guilty of manslaughter while Manuel Renera Robinson was acquitted ^[9] Only at sentencing did Waipuka's violent history and the fact that he had almost sentenced to an intensive supervision sentence for charges including assault and threatening to kill just 17 days prior to his assault on Phillip Cottrell come out. ^[10] Sue Hollow's (Phillip Cottrell's sister) made a victim impact statement ^[11]
Phillip Cottrell's family, Wellington Central Baptist Church, other local residents, churches & businesses, the Gay & Lesbian community and representatives of Wellington Maori Iwi joined to dedicate a memorial bench & garden in Boulcott Street near where Phillip was assaulted as a tribute and to clearly say that the entire community abhors what happened ^[12]


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Ernst Specker, Swiss mathematician (Kochen–Specker theorem), died he was 91.

Ernst Paul Specker  was a Swiss mathematician died he was 91.. Much of his most influential work was on Quine’s New Foundations, a set theory with a universal set, but he is most famous for the Kochen–Specker theorem in quantum mechanics, showing that certain types of hidden variable theories are impossible. He also proved the ordinal partition relation ω²→(ω²,3)², thereby solving a problem of Erdős.

(11 February 1920 in Zürich, Switzerland – 10 December 2011 in Zürich, Switzerland)

Specker received his Ph.D. in 1949 from ETH Zurich,^[1] where he remained throughout his professional career.
See also: Specker sequence.

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Stephen Schlossberg, American union leader, died he was 90

Stephen Isaac Schlossberg was a union organizer who later became general counsel of the United Auto Workers and served as undersecretary for labor-management relations under Secretary of Labor Bill Brock during the Reagan administration  died he was 90.^[1]

^{(May 18, 1921 – December 10, 2011)}

Background

Schlossberg was born on May 18, 1921 in Roanoke, Virginia, his father a Jewish emigrant from Russia. He graduated from high school in 1938. He started college at the University of Virginia, but dropped out to enlist in the U.S. Army the day after the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941. After World War II and a stint working in his family's retail business, he became an organizer for the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. He went back to college after four years' organizing work and got his undergraduate degree from Virginia in 1955, followed by a law degree in 1957.
After working in a labor law firm in Washington, D.C, he went to work for the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in 1961, and spent much time on the labor dispute that became the 1962–63 New York City newspaper strike.^[1]
He joined United Auto Workers as counsel in 1963, and served as general counsel until 1982, working under UAW presidents Walter Reuther, Leonard Woodcock, and Douglas A. Fraser. By the early 1970s, he was also put in charge of the UAW's Washington office.^[2][3]
When named undersecretary for labor-management relations in 1985, he drew criticism from conservatives because of his union ties, although Secretary of Labor Brock saw Schlossberg as a good opportunity to communicate with labor.^[4] His liberal/labor background was not hidden, however, as he hung photos ofr Woody Guthrie, Joe Hill, and George Meany in his office. In 1987, he left to become the Washington director of the United Nations' International Labour Organization.^[5]
Schlossberg died of congestive heart failure at his home in Sarasota, Florida on December 10, 2011.

Personal

In June 1963, he married Nancy Kamin, with whom he had two children, a son and a daughter.^[1]

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Albert Overhauser, American physicist, died he was 86.

Albert W. Overhauser was an American physicist and a member of the National Academy of Sciences died he was 86.. He is best known for his theory of dynamic nuclear polarization, also known as the Overhauser Effect.^[1]
Born in San Diego, California, Overhauser attended high school in San Francisco at Lick-Wilmerding High School and began his undergraduate work at the University of California, Berkeley in 1942. He interrupted his studies during World War II for a two year stint in the U.S. Navy Reserve, then returned to Berkeley to complete his education. In 1948 he received undergraduate degrees in physics and mathematics, and in 1951 he received a Ph.D. in physics.

(August 17, 1925 – December 10, 2011) 

From 1951 to 1953, he was a post-doctoral student at the University of Illinois, where he developed an important theory on the transfer of spin polarization; once the theory had been confirmed and demonstrated by other scientists, it became known as the Overhauser Effect. He was on the faculty at Cornell University from 1953 to 1958, and then left to join the research staff at Ford Motor Company. Overhauser remained at Ford until 1973, when he joined the faculty at Purdue University. He remained at Purdue as the Stuart Distinguished Professor of Physics for the rest of his career. Overhauser died in 2011 in West Lafayette, Indiana. He was 86.

Honors and awards

• Received National Medal of Science, 1994
• Elected to the National Academy of Sciences, 1976
• Oliver E. Buckley Solid State Physics Prize, 1975
• Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Simon Fraser University, 1998
• Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Chicago, 1979
• Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from Purdue University, 2005

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Sum Ying Fung, Canadian supercentenarian, oldest person in Canada at time of death, died from natural causes she was 112.

Sum Ying Fung , claimed to be a Canadian supercentenarian who may have been oldest person in Canada from 2009 until her death in 2011, if her age was correct died from natural causes she was 112.. She attained this title at the claimed age of 110 years 266 days, after the death of 113-year old fellow Canadian Margaret Fitzgerald on 20 October 2009. Fung died of natural causes at the claimed age of 112 at Burnaby General Hospital in British Columbia on 6 December 2011.

(27 January 1899? – 6 December 2011)

She was born in China^[1] and emigrated to Canada in 1954 under the sponsorship of her husband with whom she had three children. She visited China in 1989, and was in Beijing during the Tiananmen Square protests. At the time of her death she was survived by two of her three children, 14 grandchildren, 25 great-grand children, and 2 great-great-grand children.^[2][3] She submitted no documents to support her claimed age,so she has not been verified by the Gerontology Research Group.


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Vida Jerman, Croatian actress, died from lung cancer she was 72.

Vida Jerman was a Croatian theatre, film and television actress died from lung cancer she was 72.. She was also prominent in theatre for Esperanto-speaking community around the world.

(28 May 1939 – 10 December 2011)

Selected filmography

• One Song a Day Takes Mischief Away (1970)
• Sophie's Choice (1982)
• Officer with a Rose (1987)
• Sokol Did Not Love Him (1988)
• The Golden Years (1993)
• Vukovar: The Way Home (1994)
• Četverored (1999)
• Remembrance of Georgia (2002)
• Sleep Sweet, My Darling (2005)
• Just Between Us (2010)

Selected television work

• Smogovci (1982)
• ' (2004–2005)
• Zabranjena ljubav (2005–2007)
• Bibin svijet (2006)
• Ponos Ratkajevih (2008)
• Dolina sunca (2009–2010)
• Stipe u gostima (2011)

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Myra Taylor, American jazz singer, died she was 94.

Myra Taylor was an American jazz singer and songwriter died she was 94. She began performing as a teenager and continued performing into her nineties.

(February 24, 1917 – December 9, 2011)

Biography

Early life

Myra Jardine Taylor was born in Bonner Springs, Kansas, but her family moved to Kansas City, Missouri's historic 18th and Vine area when she was a child.^[1] Working as a housekeeper at age 14, she began dancing at the Sunset and Reno clubs on 12th street.^[2] Being underage, she entered some clubs by sneaking in through a rear window ^[3] and eventually attracted attention singing.

Acting career

Taylor appeared as the character Pearl in three episodes of the US television program The Jeffersons^[4] - The Arrival (Part 1) and The Arrival (Part 2)^[5] in 1980 and Men of the Cloth in 1982^[6]
She was the lead in the 1979 women's professional basketball comedy Scoring,^[7] as well as supporting roles in Suspect,^[8] Crossing Delancey,^[9] Lasse Hallström's Once Around,^[10] and Ron Howard's The Paper.^[11]

Music career

In the 1930s, she toured the Midwest with Clarence Love's band. She moved to Chicago in 1937 and worked with Warren “Baby” Dodds, Lonnie Johnson, Roy Eldridge and Lil Hardin Armstrong.^[12] She returned to Kansas City in 1940 and Harlan Leonard hired Taylor as the featured singer for his new band Harlan Leonard and His Rockets. The band had a lengthy engagement at Harlem's Golden Gate Ballroom. The band recorded I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire on RCA's Bluebird Records label. Taylor wrote the song Dig It, and Leonard claimed co-writing credit, later omitting her name and denying her royalties.^[3]
Taylor and Leonard parted company, and she join Eubie Blake's band for a USO tour. She then returned to Kansas City to sing with the Jimmy Keith Orchestra, and in 1946 they had a hit with Spider and the Fly on Mercury Records. The Billboard review said of her performance "Miss Taylor sings with a subtle sob and a real 'blues' vibrato that adds up to a stellar performance".^[13] but was denied royalties by publisher Blasco Music, who claimed that despite the record being a "smash"^[14] there were no profits.^[3]
Frustrated at the American music business, she spent most of the 1950s in Juarez, Mexico.^[12] She began touring in Europe, and in 1965 moved to Frankfurt, Germany and opened her own club named Down by the Riverside. She performed in USO shows during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War,^[15] performing in 32 different countries.^[16] In 1977, she moved back to the United States and settled in Los Angeles, California to work in film and television, and in 1994 relocated back to her native Kansas City.
In 2000, she recorded My Night to Dream for Analogue Production Originals records and released it on the very inauspicious date of September 11, 2001. It was re-released on SACD in 2010.^[17]
Taylor has continued singing, performing with the group Wild Women of Kansas City^[18] but the only recording with the group was at the Pilgrim Chapel on September 26, 2010.^[19] A CD is available from the venue, featuring tracks including Sentimental Journey, What a Wonderful World, and Minnie the Moocher.
She celebrated her 94th birthday with a concert at Knuckleheads Saloon with Samantha Fish and Mike Zito.^[20]
Taylor's final performance was July 24, 2011 with the Wild Women of Kansas City at Jardine's nightclub in Kansas City.^[12] Her health declined in the last half of 2011 following a fall and she was no longer able to live at her own home.^[21] She spent the final three months of her life at Kansas City's Swope Ridge Geriatric Center.^[12]

Death

She died December 9, 2011 at the Swope Ridge Geriatric Center in Kansas City, Missouri, aged 94.^[12]

Discography

Albums

• Kansas City Jump: Swingin Small Combos - Blue Moon Imports (2007)
• My Night To Dream - Analogue Production Originals (2001)

Singles

• Move Out/Quit Barking In My Rhubarb (Mercury 8068)
• Clinging Vine/It's A Sin To Tell A Lie (Mercury 8081)
• I'm In My Sins This Morning/Booted (Mercury 8117)

Compilations

• Thorens 125th Anniversary LP - Spider and the Fly (2008)^[22]
• Radio Radio: Theme Time Radio Hour Volume Two - Still Blue Water (2009)^[23]

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