/ Stars that died in 2023

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Margaret Olley, Australian painter died he was , 88.


Margaret Hannah Olley AC was an Australian painter , 88. She was the subject of more than 90 solo exhibitions.

(24 June 1923 – 26 July 2011)

Margaret Olley was born in Lismore, New South Wales. She attended Somerville House in Brisbane during her high school years. She was so focused on art that she dropped one French class in order to take another art lesson.
Her work concentrated on still life. In 1997 a major retrospective of her work was organised by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. She received the inaugural Mosman Art Prize in 1947.
On 13 July 2006 she donated more works to the Art Gallery of New South Wales; her donations included more than 130 works worth $7 million.[1]
Olley died at her home in Paddington in July 2011, aged 88.[2] She never married and had no children.

Tributes and Honours

Olley was twice the subject of an Archibald Prize winning painting; the first by William Dobell in 1948 and the other by Ben Quilty in 2011.[3] She was also the subject of paintings by many of her artist friends, including Russell Drysdale.[4]
On 10 June 1991, in the Queen's Birthday Honours list, Olley was made a Member of the Order of Australia 'for service as an artist and to the promotion of art'. On 12 June 2006, she was awarded Australia's highest civilian honour, the Companion of the Order, 'for service as one of Australia's most distinguished artists, for support and philanthropy to the visual and performing arts, and for encouragement of young and emerging artists'.

 

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Monday, February 13, 2012

John Read, British documentary producer died he was , 88.

John Read was a documentary film maker for the BBC from 1951 to 1983 died he was , 88..

(1923 – 26 July 2011)

Biography

John Read was born in Purley, Surrey, in 1923, the son of the art critic Herbert Read and Evelyn Roff. [1]The family moved to Scotland in 1931 when Herbert took up the position of Watson Gordon Professor of Fine Art at the University of Edinburgh. The marriage of John's parents had been on shaky ground for several years, and they finally split in acrimonious and somewhat scandalous circumstances in 1933. Herbert Read moved to London while Evelyn and John remained in Edinburgh. As his mother became increasingly ill with a debilitating form of paranoia, John spent much of his youth in the city's cinemas, and his desire to become a film maker himself was apparent by the time he was 18.[2]
When he was called up for military service in 1941 his father tried unsuccessfully to get him a position in the RAF Film Unit. But he did persuade the Hungarian film maker, George Hollering, to let John work as a camera assistant on his film Message of Canterbury, made for the British Council in 1942.[3]
In 1948 John began working for the Scottish documentary maker John Grierson, who had been placed in charge of the Film Unit at the government's Central Office of Information. He then moved into the BBC, and in 1951 he directed the BBC's first ever film about a living artist, Henry Moore. This half hour film followed the creation of Moore's sculpture Reclining Figure as it was made for the Festival of Britain. It was followed by 12 more films on contemporary artists for the BBC over the next six years, and in 1960 John began a pioneering series of films on artists called The Artists Speaks. This series was the first to allow artists to talk about their work directly on camera.[4]
John remained a producer at the BBC until retirement in 1983. As fellow film maker Philip Bonham Carter has said of him: 'His films were truly about the artists and not about himself.' The motivation for this approach, John said at his retirement, was simple: 'you’ve got to stand up for the imaginative world.'[5]
He died in London in 2011.

 

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Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Howard Stein, American financier, died from complications from a stroke he was , 84.

Howard Mathew Stein was an American financier who is widely considered one of the fathers of the mutual fund industry died from complications from a stroke he was , 84.. He was featured on the cover of TIME Magazine on August 24, 1970 Stein invented the first "no load" money market fund and created the first tax-free municipal bond fund.

(October 6, 1926 – July 26, 2011)

Early life

Howard Mathew Stein was born in Brooklyn, New York on October 6, 1926. His parents were immigrants from Poland and also had another son and daughter, in addition to Stein. Stein initially planned to become a musician, beginning to learn the violin when he was 5. Stein attended the Straubenmuller Textile High School and the Juilliard School. However, Stein gave up on his music career and went into business. At the age of 23, he loaded steel on to trucks. He then became a trainee at Bache & Co.. in 1955, Stein left Bache and joined Dreyfus.[4]

Career

Stein joined the Dreyfus Corporation as an analyst in 1955. He was appointed President in 1965, and Chairman and CEO in 1970. Stein served as Chairman and CEO of Dreyfus for more than 30 years. When Stein started at Dreyfus in 1955 it had approximately 2 million dollars in assets. Before the sale in 1994 this had grown to 90 billion dollars. Dreyfus was sold to Mellon Bank Corporation in 1994 for $1.8 billion. Stein retired in 1996.[5]
Dreyfus Third Century Fund was one of the first funds to combine socially conscious objectives with financial criteria. Created by Stein in 1972 and named for the coming national bicentennial, the fund has been influential in shaping similar philosophically-oriented investments. In addition, in 1974, Dreyfus introduced the first direct marketed, no-load money market fund. Stein became even more focused on money-market and bond funds and succeeded in creating the first tax-free municipal funds, which Dreyfus launched in 1976.
Stein's progressive politics made him a target of Richard Nixon, and Stein was one of the people on Nixon's enemies list.
In 1988 Stein served on The Brady Commission, also known as the Presidential Task Force on Market Mechanisms, created by President Ronald Reagan to investigate the stock market crash of October 19, 1987, or Black Monday.[6]
In 1999 Stein started Joy of Giving Something, Inc. (JGS, Inc.), a not-for-profit philanthropic corporation dedicated to the photographic arts.

Death

Stein died on Tuesday July 26, 2011, at his home in Southampton, N.Y at the age of 84. The cause was complications of a stroke, his son-in-law Jamie Stokien said.

 

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Luis Ruiz Suarez, Spanish-born Macanese Jesuit priest died he was , 97

Luis Ruiz Suarez, S.J., was a Spanish-born Macanese Jesuit priest and missionary died he was , 97. Father Suarez, who founded the Caritas Macau charity, and focused much of his work in Macau and southern China. His work earned him several nicknames - "Luk Ngai" in Cantonese, "Father of the Poor" and "Angel of Macau."

(September 21, 1913 - July 26, 2011)

Luis Ruiz Suarez was born in Gijón, Asturias, Spain, on September 21, 1913.[4] Ruiz joined the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits, in 1930.[1] The Jesuits sent him from Spain to China in 1941 as a missionary.[3] He arrived in Beijing, where he studied Mandarin Chinese, and was then sent to Shanghai, where he studied philosophy.[3] He was forced to cease his work due to the escalation of World War II and the Japanese occupation of China.[1] Father Suarez resumed his work in 1945.[1] His superiors stationed him in Xian County in Hebei province.[3] He was arrested, briefly imprisoned and expelled from the newly formed People's Republic of China in 1949 following the Chinese Communist Revolution.[1] While in prison, Suarez contracted typhoid before his expulsion from China.[1] Father Suarez left China for Hong Kong, before settling in Macau in 1951.[3]
In 1951, Father Ruiz's Jesuit provincial sent him to Macau, a Portuguese colony along the southern Chinese coast, to recover from his typhoid.[1][3] He resided in Macau for the rest of his life. Suarez soon began working with refugees fleeing from the People's Republic of China after just a few months in Macau.[1][5] He used the official Jesuit residence in Macau, which was called Casa Ricci, as a temporary shelter for the mainland Chinese refugees.[3] This led to the establishment of Father Ruiz's first charity in Macau, the Ricci Centre for Social Services.[2][3] The center furnished refugees with housing, educational opportunities, documentation, child care and employment.[3]
Father Ruiz soon began work with other groups in Macau as the refugees were able to leave the Portuguese territory. He founded the first housing in Macau specifically established to house the elderly.[3] The Ricci Centre for Social Services later evolved into the Caritas Macau charitable organization during the 1970s.[2][3] Under Caritas, Suarez opened five centers throughout Macau which provided services for the mentally disabled.[2][3]
During the 1980s, Ruiz began working with lepers in Guangdong province, with the help of an order of Catholic nuns, the Sisters of Charity of St. Anne.[2] Father Ruiz was invited by a Chinese priest and former prisoner, Father Lino Wong, to visit an island in China where 200 lepers had been exiled in 1986.[4] The visit began Ruiz's ministry for lepers in the country. It is estimated that Father Ruiz worked with more than 8,000 leprosy patients living in 140 leper colonies located throughout China.[2] His work with lepers proved so time consuming that he voluntarily handed over control of Caritas Macau to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Macau in 1994.[2]
In 1995, the government of Hunan invited Father Ruiz to establish a center for HIV and AIDS patients in the Chinese province.[2] He would found other centers for AIDS patients in mainland China.[3]
On a personal level, Father Ruiz was said to be an ardent fan of Formula One, Real Madrid and Rafael Nadal.[3]
Father Luis Ruiz Suarez died in Macau on July 26, 2011, at the age of 97.[2] His funeral was attended by dignitaries, including Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Cheong U.[5] He was buried at San Miguel cemetery on August 3, 2011.[5]

 

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Michael Cacoyannis, Cypriot filmmaker (Zorba the Greek) died he was , 89.

Michalis Kakogiannis or Michael Cacoyannis (Greek: Μιχάλης Κακογιάννηςwas a prominent Greek filmmaker from Cyprus, best known for his 1964 film Zorba the Greek died he was , 89.. He directed the 1983 Broadway revival of the musical based on the film. Much of his work was rooted in classical texts, especially those of the Greek tragedian Euripides. He was nominated for an Academy Award five times, a record for any Greek Cypriot film artist. He received Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film nominations for Zorba the Greek, and two nominations in the Foreign Language Film category for Electra and Iphigenia.


(June 11, 1922 – July 25, 2011)

Life

Cacoyannis was born on June 11, 1922 in Limassol, Cyprus under the name Μιχάλης Κακογιάννης (Mikhalis Kakogiannis). In 1939, he was sent by his father, Sir Panayotis Loizou Cacoyannis, to London to become a lawyer. However, after producing Greek-language programs for the BBC World Service during World War II,[2] Kakogiannis found an interest in film instead. He ended up at the Old Vic school, and enjoyed a brief stage career there under the name "Michael Yannis" before he began working on films. After having trouble finding a directing job in the British film industry, Cacoyannis returned to Greece, and in 1953 he made his first film, Windfall in Athens.[2] He was offered the chance to direct Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando in the film Reflections in a Golden Eye, but declined.
Cacoyannis had worked on many occasions with the Greek actress Irene Papas and especially Elli Lambeti with whom he was in love. In 1971, he teamed up once more with Papas for the film The Trojan Women, starring Hollywood legend Katharine Hepburn. He was a close friend of Darryl F. Zanuck and George Cukor.
Cacoyannis died on July 25, 2011 in Athens, Greece.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

Cannes Film Festival
  • 1954 : Golden Palm for "Windfall in Athens" — nominated
  • 1955 : Golden Palm for "Stella" — nominated
  • 1956 : Golden Palm for "A Girl in Black" — nominated
  • 1957 : Golden Palm for "A Matter of Dignity" — nominated
  • 1961 : Golden Palm for "The Wastrel" — nominated
  • 1962 : Golden Palm for "Elektra" — nominated
  • 1962 : Grand Jury Prize for "Elektra" — won
  • 1962 : Technical Award for "Elektra" — won
  • 1977 : Golden Palm for "Iphigenia" — nominated
Berlin International Film Festival
  • 1960 : Golden Bear for "Our Last Spring" — nominated[3]
  • 1963 : David O. Selznick Award for "Elektra" — won
Academy Award (Oscar)
  • 1963 : Best Foreign Language Film for "Elektra" — nominated
  • 1964 : Best Picture for "Zorba the Greek" — nominated
  • 1964 : Best Director for "Zorba the Greek" — nominated
  • 1964 : Best Adapted Screenplay for "Zorba the Greek" — nominated
  • 1977 : Best Foreign Language Film for "Iphigenia" — nominated
Golden Globe
  • 1956 : Best Foreign Language Film for "Stella" — won
  • 1957 : Best Foreign Language Film for "A Girl in Black" — won
  • 1965 : Best Director for "Zorba the Greek — nominated
British Academy Award (BAFTA)
  • 1966 : Best Film for "Zorba the Greek" — nominated
  • 1966 : UN Award for "Zorba the Greek" — nominated
New York Film Critics
  • 1964 : Best Film for "Zorba the Greek" — nominated
  • 1964 : Best Director for "Zorba the Greek" — nominated
  • 1964 : Best Screenplay for "Zorba the Greek" — nominated
David di Donatello Award
  • 1964 : Special Plaque for "Zorba the Greek" — won
Thessaloniki Film Festival
  • 1960 : Special Contribution Award — won
  • 1961 : Best Director for "Our Last Spring" — won
  • 1962 : Best Film for "Elektra" — won
  • 1962 : Best Director for "Elektra" — won
  • 1977 : Best Film for "Iphigenia" — won
  • 1999 : Union of Film and Television Technicians Award for "The Cherry Orchard" — won
Moscow Film Festival
  • 1956 : Silver Medal for "A Girl in Black" — Won
Edinburgh Film Festival
  • 1954 : Diploma of Merit for "Windfall in Athens" — won
  • 1962 : Diploma of Merit for "Elektra" — won
Montreal World Film Festival
  • 1999 : Special Contribution Award — won
Jerusalem Film Festival
  • 1999 : Lifetime Achievement Award — won
Cairo International Film Festival
  • 2001 : Lifetime Achievement Award — won

 

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Mahmoud Mabsout, Lebanese actor, died from a heart attack he was , 69.


Mahmoud Mabsout (Arabic: محمود مبسوط‎), Also Known as Fehmen (Arabic: فهمان‎) was a Lebanese actor  died from a heart attack he was , 69..

(1941 – 25 July 2011)

Biography

Mahmoud was born in 1941 in Tripoli, North Lebanon. He was not studious at school, as he said in an interview, he has failed the first primary grade six time, and when Mahmoud was 12 years old, the principal told his father "your son is not good for school" . Meanwhile, Mahmoud spent his time acting sketches that he invented with his friends.
Mahmoud formed with his friend the "drabzin agha" band, and made some sketches that his band seemed hot to make it become the band that used by the «Ecole des Freres» in Tripoli during the festivals. His father didn't want him to act, he even has hit Mahmoud the day he knew, in order to let him stop acting. Mahmoud's father used to imprison his son to prohibit him from going out because acting was a «forbidden art» in his point of view. Thus Mahmoud was left but to flee by using a rope tied to the balcony.
When he completed sixteen, his father sent him to Africa, where his brothers worked in the sewing. Working with them during the day, but at night during the sessions of the game «Tarneeb» which it excels, won the support of "Asamrani", «head» of the Arab community in Ghana. "Asmarani" supported him after forming a band with a group amateurs which he meat in nightclubs, so they presented plays at homes of some Lebanese. Mahmoud returned to receive his share of beatings, this time from his two brothers. they imprison him at home, but the «leader» intervene and asked them, under threat, not to object the rising artist's carrier. So his brothers decided to return him to Lebanon, so they can restore their peace of mind.[2]
He joined "Abou Salim",Salah Tizani, who is also from Tripoli, and worked altogether in "Channel 7" performing "live" sketches, after only few months from its opening, marking the golden era of Tele-Liban. In 1962, they created the "Abou Salim el tabel" band, Mahmoud played the role of Fehmen.

Filmography

Beside his work in Tele-Liban, Mahmoud Starred in around 25 plays and 33 Films. He worked with many directors such as Muhammad Salman, Samir El Ghosayni, Ziad Doueiry, Atef Al Tayeb, Hani Tamba, Philip Aractanji, Samir Habchi, Borhane Alaouié.
Year
Title
Role
Notes
Remarks
1967
Safarbarlek

Film
1971
Bint el Hareth

Film
1972
Min yawm la yawm

Television Series
1995
West Beirut
Baker
Film

2005
Abou Milad
Short Film

2005
Bus Driver
Film

2007
Bus Driver
Film

 

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Arthur W. Murray, American test pilot, died from Alzheimer's disease he was , 92


Arthur Warren "Kit" Murray was a United States test pilot died from Alzheimer's disease he was , 92. He flew test flights on the Bell X-1 and the Bell X-5 aircraft.

(December 26, 1918 – July 25, 2011)

Early life

Arthur Warren Murray was born to Charles C. "Chester" and Elsie Murray in the small town of Cresson nestled in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania on December 26, 1918.

Military career

With World War II already underway in Europe, he joined the United States Army in 1939, and served in the Cavalry. Kit volunteered for pilot training the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and by 1943 was flying the P-40 as a fighter pilot in Africa. His unit worked its way across the continent from Casablanca to Tunisia, escorting B-25, B-26 and A-20 bombers as well as performing dive bombing and strafing missions. His unit was proud to never have lost a bomber to enemy fighters while under their escort.

Test Piloting

After a year tour in Africa, Kit returned to the United States. as a P-47 instructor at Bradley Field near Hartford, Connecticut. He was then assigned as a maintenance flight test pilot and sent to Maintenance Engineering School at Chanute Air Force Base. After completion of that school his commander found out about the Flight Test School at Wright Field and decided to send him there. Here was where Kit got his big break as he quickly found out this school was not for functional test flights, but for experimental test programs. He kept his mouth shut and stuck with the program, and soon was offered the opportunity to be the first permanent test pilot to be assigned to Muroc Airfield (later Edwards Air Force Base) in the California desert. Until then, pilots were based at the Wright Field Test Center and assigned TDY as needed to Muroc. Chuck Yeager was making such trips out there from the Test Center while he was flying the Bell X-1 on the first supersonic test flights. In early tests Kit was able to fly some of America’s earliest jet aircraft including the Bell XP-59 and the P-80. He also flew the P-51, P-82, F-84, B-25, B-43, B-45 and many other fighter and bomber aircraft.
Kit flight tested the X-1A and X-1B, the X-4, the X-5,[2] and also flew the XF-92A.[3] In the X-1A, Kit set altitude records of over 90,000 feet[4] and was considered at the time, 1954, America’s first space pilot. He was the first to see the curvature of the earth and the sky dark at mid-day.[5] The X-1A was powered by four rocket motors using liquid oxygen and alcohol as fuel. Looking rather exotic even in photos today, the X-1 used nitrogen tanks to pressurize many of the systems including the fuel tanks, cockpit and the landing gear system. However, the flight controls were completely conventional with strictly mechanical linkage and no hydraulic boost.
The X-1A was launched from the belly of a B-29 and later a B-50, and the flight profile had him using a 45 degree pitch attitude with airspeeds reaching about Mach 2. On his first couple of high altitude flights, Kit said his plane would snap into a spin when the motors burned out while approaching his peak altitude. He finally figured that the rocket motors were installed very slightly offset which, to keep it going straight, was causing him to have to cross control the plane increasingly as it accelerated. When the engines shut off, the cross-control condition, which was keeping the airplane from yawing, now became the perfect spin entry input.
After two flights involving supersonic spin recovery, Kit was quick to neutralize the controls immediately upon motor shutdown in later flights. He had taped a string in front of the windshield to determine his rudder trim input. Kit was the first pilot to fly the X1-B aircraft in powered flight, and he said it was a much straighter flying rocket ship than the X-1A. The X-4 he flew was basically a flying wing type aircraft (no horizontal tail) and the X-5 was a variable sweep test platform.
Kit was a test pilot at Muroc/Edwards from 1949 to 1955, an unusually long time for that assignment. Kit’s next Air Force assignment was in Paris, France.[5] He was in charge of technology integration for the U.S. Regional Organization there and was privileged to fly some of Europe’s top airplanes at the time, including the Italian Fiat G-91, the French Mystere, and the British Javelin. After that one year assignment he went to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as head of new developments at the Systems Project Office.
During his time there, 1958–1960, he was Air Force manager for the X-15 program,[5] which attained record altitudes of 354,000 feet and a speed record of 4,534 m.p.h. (Mach 6.7). The X-15 program contributed enormously to the space program and high speed aircraft research, and was acclaimed as the most successful test program of its type. Kit held the rank of Major at the time, but this was considered a Colonel’s job. He was approached by Boeing in 1960. He retired with over 20 years of military service and became Boeing's “company astronaut” managing crew integration for the space program.[5] In that capacity he massaged the gap between engineers and scientists who just wanted astronauts to ride in a sealed capsule, and pilots who wanted to be able to see what was going on during flights. Kit worked for Boeing on many space program projects from 1960 to 1969, from the X-20 (a single place space shuttle) to the Apollo program. He was Technical Integration Manager for Boeing at Cape Canaveral.[5]

Engineering

In 1969 Kit moved to the Ft. Worth area to become Air Force Requirements Engineer for Bell Helicopter in the tilt rotor program.[5] He worked for them until 1971, then gradually slowed down in retirement, but still doing many things interesting to him. He managed a hunting club, flew some charter work for Mustang Aviation in Dallas then did some courtroom reporting for the Bosque County newspaper. Kit also was project manager for the restoration of the Bosque County Courthouse, taking it back to its 1886 splendor.

Personal life

Arthur Murray married Elizabeth Ann (Betty Anne) Strelic in 1943. They had six children, Michael, John, Christopher, Catherine, Patrick, Peter. The family fostered a seventh child, Elizabeth Anne(Betsy) from the time of her birth in 1963 until the couple separated in 1966. Arthur remarried in 1970 to Dallas Interior Designer Ann Humphreys . Ann now lives in Central Texas on a small horse farm. They combined their efforts and expertise in renovating the Bosque County Court House and charter members of TETRA, an equine trail riding Organization.
Kit Murray died on July 25, 2011 at a nursing home in the town of West, Texas at the age of 92.[6]

Honors

Murray was awarded the following decorations for his military service: Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with eight oak leaf clusters.[5] He is a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and recipient of the French Medal of the City of Paris.[5] In 1996, Murray was inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor in Lancaster, California that honors test pilots who have contributed to aviation and space research and development.[5]

 

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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...