Brian Curvis, Welsh boxer, died from leukaemia he was 74. (death announced on this date).

Brian Nancurvis, who fought under the name Brian Curvis as a professional, was a boxer from Swansea, Wales who was active from 1959 to 1966  died from leukaemia he was 74. (death announced on this date).. He fought as a Welterweight, becoming British welterweight champion in 1960. He retired as undefeated champion and is the only welterweight to have won two Lonsdale Belts outright. The four defeats in his professional career were all to foreign boxers; he was never beaten by a British boxer.

(14 August 1937 – 9 January 2012)

Amateur career

Curvis was the fourth son of Dai Nancurvis, who had been a bantamweight fighter in the British Army, and had opened a gym in Swansea on leaving the forces. All of Curvis' brothers were fighters, most notably Cliff Curvis who became British and Commonwealth welterweight champion. He began his amateur career during his National Service and while representing the army Curvis won the A.B.A. welterweight title. In 1958, while still an amateur in the Armed Forces, he was selected to represent England in the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, which that year was held in Cardiff, Wales. Fighting under his birth name of Brian Nancurvis he was beaten in the semi-finals securing a bronze medal.

Professional career

He had his first professional fight on 2 June 1959 at the Empire Pool, Wembley, winning by technical knockout against Harry Haydock.
He won all of his first thirteen fights, and then fought the Australian, George Barnes for the Commonwealth welterweight title that he held. The fight was held at the Vetch Field, Swansea in May 1960, and Curvis won on points over fifteen rounds.
Three fights later in November 1960, he fought Wally Swift holder of the British welterweight title, at the same time defending his own Commonwealth title. The fight was in Nottingham, and Curvis continued his winning run by taking a fifteen-round points decision.
In May 1961, he had a re-match with Swift in Nottingham for the two titles, and again won on points.
In October 1961, he defended both titles against Mick Leahy at the old Empire Pool, winning by a knockout in the eighth round.
In February 1962, he defended his titles against Tony Mancini at the Royal Albert Hall, winning by a technical knockout in the fifth round.
In his next fight, his twenty-fourth, Curvis suffered his first defeat, losing to the American, Guy Sumlin by a technical knockout in the eighth round. However he gained revenge over Sumlin with a points victory two fights later.
In February 1963, he defended his titles against Tony Smith, at the Royal Albert Hall, scoring a technical knockout in the ninth round.
In July 1964, he defended his titles against Johnny Cook, at Porthcawl, and won by a technical knockout in the fifth round.

World title attempt

In September 1964, Curvis, who had only been beaten once, fought the WBA and WBC, world welterweight champion, American, Emile Griffith, for his title. The fight was held at the Empire Pool, Wembley. Although it went the full distance, Curvis was knocked down in the sixth, tenth and thirteenth rounds by body punches, and lost a unanimous points decision.

Remaining career

Curvis continued to fight, suffering a defeat against Willie Ludick in Johannesburg
In November 1965, he defended his British and Commonwealth titles for the sixth time, against the Scot, Sammy McSpadden in Cardiff, winning by a technical knockout in the twelfth round.
In April 1966, he challenged for the vacant European welterweight title, fighting the Frenchman, Jean Josselin in the Palais des Sports, Paris. He was forced to retire in the fourteenth round.
Curvis fought one more fight defeating Des Rea in Carmarthen in September 1966, before retiring from the ring as undefeated British and Commonwealth welterweight champion. For his six successful title defences he won two Lonsdale Belts outright, the only welterweight to do so.
In 1960, he was named as BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year.


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Ron Caron, Canadian ice hockey administrator, General Manager of the St. Louis Blues (1983–1993, 1996), died he was 82.

Ronald Caron was a Canadian executive in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Montreal Canadiens and St. Louis Blues  died he was 82.. A fiery and intense competitor, he was well known for his legendary emotional outbursts.


(December 19, 1929 – January 9, 2012) 

Early life

Caron was born in Hull, Quebec on December 19, 1929. He was a graduate of the University of Ottawa.^[1]

Hockey career

Montreal Canadiens

Caron began his career in professional ice hockey as a part-time scout with the Montreal Junior Canadiens in 1959. The team promoted him to head scout in 1968.^[1] He succeeded Al MacNeil as head coach of the Montreal Voyageurs for the 1970–71 campaign, but was replaced by Floyd Curry during the season.^[2] He was appointed the Voyageurs' general manager the following year.
He joined the Montreal Canadiens as head scout in 1973. Within the next ten campaigns, he would served the team as assistant general manager and director of recruitment and player personnel.^[1]

St. Louis Blues

Caron was the GM of the St. Louis Blues from 1983 until 1993.^[3] During his tenure, he was involved in bringing players like Doug Gilmour, Brett Hull, and Adam Oates to St. Louis. Before he was hired by St. Louis, he worked for the Montreal Canadiens as their head scout. He won six Stanley Cup rings with Montreal during the 1970s as the assistant general manager. He was nicknamed The Old Professor for his remarkable memory of hockey events.

Death

Caron died on January 9, 2012 at 82.^[4]

Awards

• Stanley Cup Champions 1971, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979

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Louis Boekhout, Dutch-born Canadian painter, died he was 92.

Louis Boekhout - was a painter born in the Netherlands who later immigrated to Québec Canada died he was 92..^[1]

^{(1 March 1919 Netherlands - 9 January 2012 Québec )} 

Biography

Born in Bergen-op-Zoom, raised for the most part in Indonesia, he begun his training at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp at the age of 19 where he studied under Floris de Cuyper and later perfected his training in France.
The onset of World War II forced Boekhout to momentarily put his painting career on hold.
After the War, he immigrated to Québec, where he got acquainted with Marc-Aurèle Fortin (1888–1970).
He finally settled in Chénéville, Quebec circa 1970 where he bought a small cottage. The surroundings and peacefulness of the country were an endless source of inspiration. He also thought painting classes and gave French lessons. He had a talent for finding water and was a well known healer.

Work

Boekhout is a master in both oils and water colors. His art lies somewhere in between the Dutch School, the Barbizon school and Impressionism. He enjoys painting outdoors where his inspiration are his surroundings; and indoors where his inspiration are his memories and his imagination. He never paints from photographs nor from illustrations.
His philosophy and spirituality transcend his works and give them a very peculiar lightness.
Boekhout is also a master at detecting colors and nuances in his surroundings and renders these splendidly in his art.

Collections

Boekhout's art work can be found in public collections like at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, as well as in private collections worldwide such as Collection Le Portal Art Tour, and even at the White House.


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Alexis Weissenberg, Bulgarian-born French pianist, died he was 82

Alexis Weissenberg  was a Bulgarian-born French pianist died he was 82.^[3]

^{(July 26, 1929 – January 8, 2012[1][2])}

Early life and career

Born into a Jewish family in Bulgaria, Sofia, Weissenberg began taking piano lessons at the age of three from Pancho Vladigerov, a Bulgarian composer.^[4] He gave his first public performance at the age of eight.
In 1941, he and his mother tried to escape from German-occupied Bulgaria for Turkey, but they were caught and imprisoned in a makeshift concentration camp in Bulgaria for three months. One day, a German guard - who had enjoyed hearing Alexis play Schubert on the accordion - hurriedly took him and his mother to the train station, throwing the accordion to him through the window. The guard told them, "Good luck," and the next day, they safely arrived in Istanbul.^[5]
In 1945, they emigrated to Palestine, where he studied under Leo Kestenberg and performed Beethoven with the Israel Philharmonic under the direction of Leonard Bernstein. In 1946, Weissenberg went to the Juilliard School to study with Olga Samaroff. He also consulted Artur Schnabel and Wanda Landowska.
In 1947 he made his New York debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of George Szell playing Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3. Between 1957 and 1966 he took an extended sabbatical for the purpose of studying and teaching.
Weissenberg resumed his career in 1966 by giving a recital in Paris; later that year he played Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in Berlin conducted by Herbert von Karajan, who praised him as "one of the best pianists of our time".

Recorded works

Bryce Morrison, in "Gramophone", described his early 1970s recording of the Liszt Sonata in B minor as one of the most exciting and also lyrical renditions of the work.^{[citation needed]} His readings of Schumann, Rachmaninoff, and many works by Frédéric Chopin (including his complete works for piano and orchestra, Piano Sonatas No. 2 & 3, nocturnes, and waltzes) are also very well known.
Among his other notable interpretations were those of Johannes Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 1, with Carlo Maria Giulini and Riccardo Muti, ("Les Introuvables d'Alexis Weissenberg", 2004), Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic, as well as his Piano Concerto No. 3 with Georges Prêtre and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Seiji Ozawa with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (also with Leonard Bernstein and the Orchestre National de France).
His film recording of Stravinsky's Three Movements from Petrushka was also highly praised (January 1965, directed by Åke Falck). In fact, this movie is amongst the most ingenious of classical music film adaptions); when Karajan watched the movie, he immediately called for Mr. Weissenberg to step in for the planned Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2 production, made instead of Sviatoslav Richter).

Teaching

Weissenberg gave piano master classes all over the world. With his Piano Master Class in Engelberg (Switzerland), he had as students many pianists of the new generation: Kirill Gerstein, Simon Mulligan, Mehmet Okonsar [1], Nazzareno Carusi, Andrey Ponochevny, Loris Karpell, and Roberto Carnevale among them.^[6]
He was also a composer of much piano music and a musical, Nostalgie, that was premiered at the State Theatre of Darmstadt on October 17, 1992.^[1]

Selected discography

Audio

• Bach: Goldberg Variations
• Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2 with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra on RCA Red Seal
• Beethoven: The Five Piano Concertos with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra on EMI (3 CDs)
• Beethoven: Piano Sonatas: "Pathétique, Moonlight and Appassionata"
• Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 (two recordings, with Carlo Maria Giulini and Riccardo Muti, both on the EMI label)
• Brahms: Sonatas for violin & piano Nos. 1-3, with Anne-Sophie Mutter. EMI (CD)
• Chopin: Works for piano and orchestra. EMI (2 CDs)
• Chopin: The Nocturnes. EMI
• Chopin: Piano Sonata Nos. 2 and 3 EMI
• Debussy: Estampes, Suite Bergamasque, Children's Corner, L'Isle Joyeuse, etc. on Deutsche Grammophon
• Debussy: Piano works. Deutsche Grammophon (CD)
• Franck: Symphonic Variations for piano and orchestra (with Herbert von Karajan and The Berlin Philharmonic)
• Liszt: Piano sonata in B minor. Einsatz Records, Japan
• Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 9 and 21 with Giulini and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra
• Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition EMI
• Prokofiev: Piano concerto No.3 - Seiji Ozawa, Orchestre de Paris
• Rachmaninoff: Complete Preludes. RCA Gold Seal (CD)
• Rachmaninoff: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1, 2. Deutsche Grammophon (CD)
• Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 (with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, 1972)
• Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 (three different recordings, with Georges Pretre, Seiji Ozawa and Leonard Bernstein)
• Ravel - Piano concerto - Seiji Ozawa, Orchestre de Paris
• Scarlatti: Sonatas (A selection of 15) on Deutsche Grammophon
• Schumann: "Kinderszenen", Op. 15 (Toshiba-EMI)

Video

• Alexis Weissenberg DVD: Classic Archive 2008 - Bach, Brahms, Chopin, Prokofiev, Stravinsky.

Books

• Gustl Breuer/Henno Lohmeyer (Hrsg.): »Alexis Weissenberg. Ein kaleidoskopisches Porträt«. Rembrandt Verlag, Berlin 1977.
• Lettre d'Alexis Weissenberg à Bernard Gavoty, 1966
• Weissenberg - Drei Interviews - 2012, Sofia

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John Madin, English architect, died he was 87.

John Hardcastle Dalton Madin  was an English architect died he was 87.. His company, known as John H D Madin & Partners from 1962 and the John Madin Design Group from 1968, were active in Birmingham for over 30 years. Some of the buildings his company designed have now been demolished. Societies such as the 20th Century Society have campaigned to have some of his buildings listed, but have not achieved this. English Heritage has twice recommended the Central Library for listing but without success.^[2]

^{(23 March 1924 – 8 January 2012)}

Biography

He was born in Moseley, Birmingham on 23 March 1924^[3] and died on 8 January 2012.^[4]
He served in Egypt with the Royal Engineers in World War II.
Madin was the indisputable giant of post-war Birmingham architecture. Although dismissed as derivative,^{[citation needed]} Madin's reinterpretations of contemporary styles can now be regarded as significant works in their own right.^{[according to whom?]} Madin's work has been much neglected and is not highly regarded by the current political leadership within Birmingham. Clive Dutton, the city's former Director of Planning and Regeneration, has described Madin's Central Library as a “concrete monstrosity” (Madin's original plans were for the building to be clad in marble; the city, however, was unwilling to foot the bill so a concrete finish was used instead).^[5] A replacement, The Library of Birmingham is currently being built in Centenary Square, which will result in the current building being demolished.
John Madin Design Group were also responsible for the early designs for Dawley New Town, which later became Telford. During the 1970s, Madin became increasingly involved in master-planning projects in the Middle East.
Since Madin's period of dominance in Birmingham there have been very few architectural practices able to match his commercial success at home and abroad. Only Associated Architects and more recently Glenn Howells have approached Madin in this respect.



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Edarem, American television presenter and internet celebrity, died he was 79.

Edward Muscare , also known by his pseudonyms of Edarem and Uncle Ed, was an American television presenter and internet celebrity  died he was 79..^[1] He gained success in the latter field through his eccentric and comedic posts on the website YouTube, uploaded from 2006 through to 2009.

(September 27, 1932 – January 8, 2012)

Born into a working-class Sicilian immigrant family in Queens, New York, Muscare moved to Hialeah, Miami, as a teenager, before joining the army. He became a presenter for local programming in Kansas City, but his career ended following a conviction for sexual battery in 1987. In 2006, he began posting videos of himself to Youtube, where he achieved widespread popularity. However, probation requirements relating to his 1987 conviction stipulated that he was forbidden to own a computer, and by doing so, he was put on trial in 2010, and sentenced to five years in prison. A campaign was organized by his friends and supporters claiming that his imprisonment was unjust, but he died prior to being released.

Early life

Muscare was born in 1932 in Queens, New York. His mother had been born in 1896 in Caltanisetta, Sicily, and had married his father before the couple emigrated to New York in 1916.^[2] Trying to earn a living in their new home, his father worked as a tailor whilst his mother worked as a seamstress.^[2] Edward was the youngest of seven children, although shortly after his birth, his father left his mother to have a relationship with another woman.^[2] He was raised nominally Roman Catholic, and underwent Holy Communion and Confirmation, but noted that his family rarely followed the moral teachings of the faith.^[2]
In 1945, the family moved to Florida, where he attended high school, particularly enjoying Speech class, English class and the Glee club. It was here that he got his first girlfriend and bought his first car, a 1929 Essex.^[2] He was voted "Best Personality" in his school's 1951 Year Book. Upon graduation, he moved to New York for a while, where he worked in a dress factory, until returning to Florida.^[2] After getting into trouble with the law, Muscare joined the United States Army. He was stationed in Fort Jackson, South Carolina and then West Germany, where he worked as a Morse code operator.^[2]
As a television presenter in Kansas City during the 1970s, he went by the stage name "Uncle Ed", and hosted both a late night show (for which he wore a vampire costume), and a children's program.^[3][4]
In 1986, Muscare had sexual contact with a 14 year old male. His actions were reported to the police, and the following year he was charged with sexual battery. He was sentenced to imprisonment for 18 months and placed on probation for ten years.^[2][3][4] Muscare never reoffended, commenting that "I would never sexually offend again, but we can't help but sin. We're all human beings".^[4][5]

YouTube fame

In 2006, he created an account on the popular web site Youtube, using the pseudonym Edarem, and posted 130 videos of himself online, featuring him undertaking "strange antics" and lipsynching to songs such as Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman".^[3] The uploaded videos became popular with viewers around the world, receiving hundreds of thousands of views, and turning Muscare into an "internet sensation".^[6]
In 2007, Muscare moved out of his home in Florida, claiming he had suffered harassment from neighbors who had learned he was on the sex offenders' registry. He relocated in South Carolina where, although he was legally required to inform the local authorities about his status as a former sex offender, he neglected to do so,^[2][3][6] fearing that he would be persecuted by angry neighbors if they found out about his criminal past.^[4] He then appeared on a television show in Orlando, in which he argued for sex offenders being given a second chance in society, and also stated that he refused to inform the local authorities about his former crime as he feared for his safety.^[7] Upon seeing this show, South Carolina police learned that he had moved into their state, and issued a warrant for his arrest.^[4][7] Officers came to his house on May 1, 2009, where they confiscated his alcohol and computer, using the justification that under South Carolina law anyone with a previous conviction for sex offences is forbidden from owning either of these.^[2] He agreed to allow his computer to be inspected without notice, and it was found to contain no illegal material.^[3][6] Rather than being sent to prison for not informing the authorities about his earlier conviction, he was placed on five-year probation, one of the conditions for which was that he was forbidden from owning a computer without permission.^[6]
No longer able to upload videos through his computer, Muscare instead got a friend to continue posting his videos on Youtube, believing that this would be permitted under the rules of his probation order.^[3] Nonetheless, prosecutors still saw this as a breach of his probation, and he was taken to court in Orlando, where he told the judge that "I'm frankly bewildered that I'm here, I don't think I've done anything wrong".^[6] He argued that he was not a threat to society, and was simply "an entertainer, and I've entertained all my life", with his videos simply being "done in fun and I'm sure that most of the people see it that way."^[4][5] The judge did not, however, accept Muscare's defense, and on January 6, 2010 sentenced him to five years in prison for violating his probation order.^[3]
Fans of Muscare's Youtube videos posted messages of support on the site, many criticizing the judge's decision as unfair.^[3][4] His neighbor also claimed that Muscare's imprisonment was unjust, describing him to reporters as "a helpful, warm, loving, kind, friendly neighbor who's always there when you need him".^[3] In late 2010, Edarem's YouTube page began being updated regularly by his partner, Marion.

Death

On the evening of Monday January 9, 2012, Muscare's partner Marion announced both on her Facebook page^[8] as well as in a video uploaded to his Youtube account^[9] that he had died the previous night.


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Herb Clarke, American television weatherman (WCAU-TV), NATAS Governor's Award winner (2007), died from Alzheimer's disease he was 84.

Herbert Spencer Clarke was an American weatherman and television journalist died from Alzheimer's disease he was 84.. Clarke spent thirty-nine years, from 1958 to 1997, as a reporter for WCAU-TV in Philadelphia.^[1] Under Clarke, WCAU became the first local television station in the Philadelphia media market to use radar in its weather coverage, beginning in 1982.^[1]

^{(July 10, 1927 – January 8, 2012)}

Clarke was born in 1927 and was a native of Eden, North Carolina.^[2] He received a bachelor's degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University.^[2] Clarke also served in the United States Navy.^[2] He began working in broadcasting in 1948 in Eden, North Carolina.^[2] Clarke then worked as a radio and television reporter at a Richmond, Virginia, station before joining WCAU-TV in 1958.^[2]
Clarke joined the staff of WCAU on November 24, 1958, as an on-air weatherman and reporter, using the nickname "Atlantic Weatherman."^[1] Though most known for weather reports, Clarke also co-hosted Philadelphia regional coverage of events, such as the Mummers Parade, and previously anchored WCAU's Sunday night news.^[1] He was also assigned the station's science and health stories as well.^[1] WCAU remained a CBS affiliate until 1995, when it switched affiliations to NBC.^[1]
Clarke retired from WCAU in 1997.^[1] He served as the President of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia from 1988 and 1989. Clarke was named the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia's Person of the Year in 1991 and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 1994. In 2007, Clarke was a recipient of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) Governor's Award.
Herb Clarke died on January 8, 2012, died at the Beaumont assisted living facility in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, of complications from Alzheimer's disease at the age of 84.^[2][3]
Clarke was survived by his wife, Barbara Cawthorne Clarke, whom he had been married to for 56 years;daughter, Ann Million; two sons, John and Robert; and three grandchildren.^[3] Clarke and his wife had been long term residents of Haverford, Pennsylvania, before moving to the Beaumont retirement community in 2004.^[3] His funeral was held at the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church.^[3]


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