/ Stars that died in 2023

Monday, October 14, 2013

Mano Wijeyeratne, Sri Lankan politician, died he was 54.


Nissanka Manodha Wijeyeratne  (known as Mano Wijeyeratne) was Coordinating Secretary to the President, Chairman of Road Accidents Prevention Authority and Sri Lanka Freedom Party chief organiser for the Dedigama Electorate in Kegalle District he was former Member of Parliament from Kegalle District died he was 54..
Wijeyeratne had also served as Non-Cabinet Minister of Enterprise Development in President Mahinda Rajapakse's Government and Minister of Plantation Services under President D B Wijetunga's Government.

(28 July 1957 – 29 October 2011)

Early life

Born to a political dynasty in Sri Lanka, he was the second son of Dr Nissanka Wijeyeratne & Nita Dullewe Wijeyeratne and he had three brothers and a sister. They are Neranjan, Anuradha, Lankesh & Nishangani. Mano Wijeyeratne's father Nissanka and grandfather, Sir Edwin Wijeyeratne were prominent politicians who had become cabinet ministers. He was educated at the prestigious Royal College Colombo.

Political career

Mano Wijeyeratne served as Member of Parliament for 17 years and had been elected to the parliament from Kegalle District four times in the years 1989, 1994, 2000 and 2004. He had also served as Non-Cabinet Minister of Enterprise Development and Plantation Services. At the time of his death he was serving as the Sri Lanka Freedom Party chief organiser for the Dedigama Electorate.

Family


Mano with his two children Subodhana & Hasitha
He was first married to Dushyanthi Wegodapola Daughter of Colonel Stanley Wegodapola (ex ADC to President of Sri Lanka) and Mrs Prema Wegodapola of Ratwatte Walauwa, Ukuwela. Mano Wijeyeratne had three children Subodhana (a MA graduate in History from Cambridge University and Japanese Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, UK), Varanusha (died at an early age), and Hasitha (a BSc graduate in Diagnostic Radiography from the University of Hertfordshire, UK). His second spouse was Bharathi Wijeratne.

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Tom Watkins, American football player (Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions), died after a long illness he was 74.

Tom Watkins was an American football running back in the National Football League  April 2, 2013. He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the 15th round of the 1960 NFL Draft. He played college football at Iowa State.[1]
Watkins also played for the Detroit Lions and Pittsburgh Steelers. He was inducted into Iowa State's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002.[2]

(October 23, 1937 – October 29, 2011) 


According to George Plimpton's best-selling book "Paper Lion" Watkins, graduated from Iowa State University in 1961, was one of the best running backs in Cyclone history. A member of the famed 1959 “Dirty Thirty” team, Watkins ranked second in the nation in rushing that season and earned All-America honors the following year in 1960. He played seven seasons in the NFL, leading the league in punt return yardage as a Lion in 1963 and 1964. He was inducted into ISU’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2002.
Tom lived the last 30+ years of his life living in Detroit, Michigan where he was a philanthropist and mentor for many youth in the Metro Detroit area.

Pro career

Tom Watkins was drafted by the Cleveland Browns of the NFL in 1959. Watkins was traded to the Detroit Lions three years later. With the Lions, Watkins made his impact as a return specialist.[3] In a game against the 49ers in 1963, Watkins returned a punt for 90 yards, setting a team record that would remain unbroken until Desmond Howard returned one for 95 yards in a 2000 game against the New Orleans Saints.
Watkins played in just one game for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1968, but did not record a stat.
After his playing career was over, Watkins lived in Detroit, becoming the head coach of Detroit Chadsey High School's football team. He retired after 35 years as head coach in 2006.[4]


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Sunday, October 13, 2013

Sir Jimmy Savile, British disc jockey, television presenter (Top of the Pops, Jim'll Fix It) and charity fundraiser, died he was 84.


Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile OBE KCSG  was an English disc jockey, television presenter and media personality, best known for his BBC television show Jim'll Fix It, and for being the first and last presenter of the long-running BBC music chart show Top of the Pops died he was 84. He was also known for his fundraising and support of various charities, particularly Stoke Mandeville Hospital. He was widely described as a philanthropist and was honoured for his efforts.[1][2]

(31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011)

Early life

Savile was born in Leeds, the youngest of seven children (Mary, Marjory, Vincent, John, Joan, Christina and James) born to Agnes Monica (née Kelly) and Vincent Joseph Marie Savile, a bookmaker's clerk and insurance agent.[3] Savile almost died of pneumonia at the age of five months.
He was a Bevin Boy, conscripted during World War II to work as a coal miner at South Kirkby Colliery, West Yorkshire, England. He suffered serious spinal injuries in a mine explosion and spent a long period in recuperation.[4] Having started playing records in dance halls in the early 1940s, Savile claimed to be the first ever disc jockey. According to his autobiography, he was the first person to use two turntables and a microphone, at the Grand Records Ball at the Guardbridge Hotel in 1947.[5] Savile is acknowledged as one of the pioneers of twin turntables for continuous play of music,[6] though his claim has been disputed. (Twin turntables had been illustrated in the BBC Handbook in 1929 and were advertised for sale in Gramophone magazine in 1931.[7])
He became a semi-professional sportsman, competing in the 1951 Tour of Britain cycle race[8] and working as a professional wrestler.[9] He said:
If you look at the athletics of it, I've done over 300 professional bike races, 212 marathons and 107 pro fights. [He proudly announces that he lost all of his first 35 fights.] No wrestler wanted to go back home and say a long-haired disc jockey had put him down. So from start to finish I got a good hiding. I've broken every bone in my body. I loved it.[10]
Savile later lived in Salford, and worked as manager of the Plaza Ballroom in Oxford Road, Manchester, in the mid-fifties. He lived in Great Clowes Street in Higher Broughton, Salford, and was often seen sitting on his front door steps. He also managed the Mecca Locarno ballroom in Leeds around the late 1950s and early 1960s.[11] Mecca also owned the Palais, a dance hall in Ilford, Essex, and Savile did a stint as manager there between 1955 and 1956. His Monday evening records-only dance sessions (admission one shilling) were a huge favourite with local teens.[12]

Radio

Savile started his radio career working as a Radio Luxembourg DJ from 1958 to 1967. He ran the Teen and Twenty Disc Club (TTDC),[13] membership for life, on Radio Luxembourg. For a small fee listeners received a certificate and a small bracelet with a disc on it, inscribed with the show's name. He stated on the BBC television series Inside Out that the title Teen and Twenty Disc Club had been rejected by the BBC in favour of Top of the Pops as too long; also that he introduced dancing to records, so that he was the originator of the discothèque.
In 1968 he joined BBC Radio 1, where he initially presented Savile's Travels and the discussion show Speakeasy. His best-remembered contribution to Radio 1, however, is the Sunday lunchtime show Jimmy Savile's Old Record Club, where entire top tens from years gone by were played. This was the first show to feature old charts. It began in 1973 as The Double Top Ten Show and ended in 1987 as The Triple Top Ten Show, at which point he left Radio 1 after 19 years, although he could be heard presenting The Vintage Chart Show on BBC World Service between March 1987 and October 1989, playing top tens from the years 1957 to 1987.
From March 1989 to August 1997 he was heard on various stations around the UK (mostly taking the Gold format, such as the West Midlands' Xtra AM and the original Classic Gold network in Yorkshire) where he revived his Radio 1 shows.
In 1994, satirist Chris Morris gave a fake obituary on BBC Radio 1 (as a joke), saying that Savile had collapsed and died, which allegedly drew threats of legal action from Savile and forced an apology from Morris.
On 25 December 2005, and 1 January 2007, Savile presented shows on the Real Radio network. The Christmas 2005 show counted down the festive Top 10s of 10, 20 and 30 years previously, while the New Year 2007 show (also taken by Century Radio following its acquisition by GMG) featured Savile recounting anecdotes from his past and playing associated records, mostly from the 1960s although some were from the 1970s.

Television

In 1960 he presented Tyne Tees Television's music programme Young at Heart. Although the show was broadcast in black and white, Savile dyed his hair a different colour every week.[14]

Jimmy Savile presenting Top of The Pops in 1964.
On New Year's Day, 1964, he presented the first edition of the BBC music chart television programme Top of the Pops from a television studio – a converted church (now demolished) – in Dickenson Road Rusholme, Manchester. On 30 July 2006 he also co-hosted the final edition, ending the show with the words "It's number one, it's still Top of the Pops", before being shown turning off the studio lights after the closing credits. When interviewed by the BBC on 20 November 2008 and asked about the revival of Top of The Pops for a Christmas comeback, he commented that he would welcome a "cameo role" in the programme.[15]
During the early 1960s he co-hosted (with Pete Murray) New Musical Express Poll Winners' Concert, annually held at Empire Pool, Wembley, with acts such as The Beatles, Cliff Richard and The Shadows, Joe Brown and the Bruvvers, The Who, and many others. These were filmed and recorded and later broadcast on television. On 31 December 1969, Savile hosted the BBC/ZDF co-production Pop Go The Sixties, shown across Western Europe, celebrating the hits of the 1960s.
Savile is also remembered for a series of Public Information Films promoting road safety, notably "Clunk Click Every Trip" which was promoted the use of the car seatbelts, the clunk representing the sound of the door and the click the sound of the seatbelt fastening. This led to Savile's hosting his own Saturday night chat/variety show on BBC1 from 1973 entitled Clunk, Click, which in 1974 featured the UK heats for the Eurovision Song Contest featuring Olivia Newton-John. He also fronted a long-running series of advertisements in the early 1980s for British Rail's InterCity 125, in which he declared "This is the age of the train". After two series, Clunk, Click was replaced by Jim'll Fix It which he presented from 1975 to 1994.
He was interviewed by Dr. Anthony Clare for the radio series In the Psychiatrist's Chair, where Savile appeared to be "a man without feelings."[16] In 1995 he was interviewed at length by Andrew Neil for the TV series Is This Your Life? (made by Open Media for Channel 4).[17] In April 2000, he was the subject of an in depth documentary by Louis Theroux, in the When Louis Met… documentary series. "When Louis Met...Jimmy" was voted one of the top fifty documentaries of all time in a survey by Britain's Channel Four.[18]
Savile visited the Celebrity Big Brother house on 14 and 15 January 2006. During these visits he "fixed it" for some of the housemates to have their wishes granted; for example, Pete Burns received a message from his significant other and friend while Dennis Rodman was able to trade Savile's offering for a supply of cigarettes for other housemates.
In 2007 Savile returned to television with Jim'll Fix It Strikes Again, in which he showed some of the most popular 'fixits' ever, recreating them with the same people, as well as making new dreams come true.[19]

Personal life

Savile was famous for his yodel[20] and his catchphrases included "how's about that, then?", "now then, now then, now then", "goodness gracious", "as it 'appens" and "guys and gals". Savile was frequently spoofed for his distinctive appearance, which almost always consisted of a track suit or shell suit, along with gold jewellery. A range of licensed fancy dress costumes were released with his consent in 2009. Savile was also very well known as a heavy cigar smoker, and often smoked them for the public eye.[21] In July 2005 he was named as one of the Radio Times "Top 40 most eccentric TV presenters of all time".
He was a member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists[22] and drove a Rolls-Royce.[23] He was also a member of Mensa.[24] He was chieftain of the Lochaber Highland Games for many years, and owned a house in Glen Coe. His appearance on the final edition of Top of the Pops in 2006 was pre-recorded as it clashed with the games.[25] While still alive he arranged for a bench, in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, to be dedicated to his memory, with the words 'Jimmy Savile – but not just yet!' added as an inscription.[26][27]
A bachelor, Savile lived with his mother (whom he referred to as "The Duchess") and kept her bedroom and wardrobe exactly as it was when she died. Every year he had her clothes dry cleaned. Savile's personal relationships were rarely the subject of media report or comment during his lifetime. He claimed in his autobiography that he had had many intimate relations with members of the opposite sex, describing his first introduction to women in detail and then adding: ".. there have been trains and, with apologies to the hit parade, boats and planes (I am a member of the 40,000 ft club) and bushes and fields, corridors, doorways, floors, chairs, slag heaps, desks and probably everything except the celebrated chandelier and ironing board."[28] Savile claimed that the key to his success on Jim'll Fix It had been that he disliked children, although he later admitted to saying this to deflect scrutiny of his personal life. He did not own a computer, explaining that he did not want anybody to think that he was downloading child pornography.[29]
In November 2007 Savile was robbed by a fan who made off with his glasses whilst in a Leeds hotel. According to Savile, he was walking down a corridor of the Queens Hotel at around midnight after attending a function at the hotel when he became aware of a woman walking beside him. He assumed the woman was going to hug him but she instead reached for his glasses before sprinting off down the corridor. He later said "I thought it was marvellous, it was just like old times!". Savile promised his 'assailant' a box of chocolates for giving him a "1960s thrill in 2007".[30]

Charitable works

Aside from his TV and radio work, Savile carried out a considerable amount of charity work and is estimated to have raised some £40 million for charity.[31]
One of the causes for which he raised money was the Stoke Mandeville Hospital where he worked for many years as a volunteer porter. He raised money for the Spinal Unit, NSIC (National Spinal Injuries Centre). Savile also raised money for St Francis Ward – a ward for children and teens with spinal cord Injuries.
Savile also worked as a volunteer at Leeds General Infirmary and at Broadmoor Hospital. In 1988 he was appointed chairman of a task force set up to advise on governing Broadmoor. Savile had his own room at both Stoke Mandeville and Broadmoor.[32]
From 1974 - 1988 he was the honorary president of Phab (Physically Handicapped in the Able Bodied community).[33]
He also sponsored medical students at the University of Leeds to perform undergraduate research in the Leeds University Research Enterprise scholarship scheme (known as LURE), donating over £60,000 every year.[34] In 2010 the scheme was extended with a commitment of £500,000 over the following five years.[35] Following Savile's death in October 2011 it was confirmed that a bequest had been made to allow continued support for the LURE programme.[36]
Savile was also well known for running marathons (many of them again for Phab, including their annual half marathon around Hyde Park). He completed the London Marathon in 2005, at the age of 79.

Honours

Death


Savile's coffin on display in the Queen's Hotel, Leeds, 8 November 2011
Police and paramedics were called to Savile's home at Roundhay, Leeds,[44] at 12:10 pm on 29 October 2011, where they found his body.[45] He was two days short of his 85th birthday. He had recently been treated in hospital for pneumonia, and police said that they were not treating his death as suspicious.[44] His closed satin gold coffin was displayed at the Queens Hotel in Leeds[46][47] together with the last cigar he smoked and his two This Is Your Life books.[48] About 4,000 people visited to pay tribute.[49] His funeral took place at Leeds Cathedral on 9 November 2011,[50] and he was buried on 10 November at 12:30 pm at Woodlands Cemetery in the seaside town of Scarborough.[51][52] As his will had specified, his coffin was inclined at 45 degrees to fulfil his wish to "see the sea".[52][53] The coffin was later encased in concrete "as a security measure".[54]

Works

Books
Recordings


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Walter Norris, American jazz pianist, died he was 79.

Walter Norris was an American pianist and composer died he was 79. [1]

(December 27, 1931 – October 29, 2011)

Early life & career

Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on December 27, 1931, Norris first studied piano at home with his mother, then with John Summers, a local church organist. His first professional performances were with the Howard Williams Band in and around Little Rock during his junior high and high school years. After graduating from high school, Norris played briefly with Mose Allison, then did a two-year tour in the US Air Force. After his time in the Air Force, Norris played with Jimmy Ford in Houston, Texas, then moved to Los Angeles where he became an integral part of the West Coast Jazz scene. While in Los Angeles, he played on Jack Sheldon's first album and on Ornette Coleman's first album, Something Else! The Music of Ornette Coleman (1958) for Contemporary Records.
In 1960, Norris relocated to New York City and formed a trio with guitarist Billy Bean and bassist Hal Gaylor, and the group made one album. Norris took a job at the New York City Playboy Club in 1963 and in time became the club's Director of Entertainment, remaining there until 1970. Between 1970 and 1974, Norris was a free-lance performer and taught in the New York area. In 1974, he replaced Roland Hanna in the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Band. After a tour of Scandinavia, he remained in Europe to record a duo album with double bass player George Mraz, titled Drifting.
Returning to the states, Norris joined the Charles Mingus Quintet in 1976. In the dressing room prior to a performance, according to Norris, he made the mistake of calling the temperamental Mingus "Charlie" instead of "Charles," which angered Mingus. At that moment, the stage manager entered the room and told the musicians they were needed onstage immediately, which provided a temporary escape from confrontation. Norris quit the band and accepted a job in Berlin, Germany, as pianist with the Sender Freies Berlin-Orchestra. He moved to Berlin in January 1977 and lived there from that point. He insisted that his fear of Mingus was the primary cause of the move to Europe.

Later career

In 1990, Norris signed a five-album contract with Concord Records. The resulting recordings were all significant, but especially Sunburst (with saxophonist Joe Henderson), Hues of Blues (with George Mraz), and the Live at Maybeck Recital Hall solo piano album. In 1998, without a record contract, Norris self-financed the album From Another Star, made in New York with bassist Mike Richmond, pressing 1,000 copies.
A documentary film directed by Chuck Dodson, Walter Norris, a documentary, was completed in 2010.[2] In 2005 an autobiography, "In Search of Musical Perfection" and method book "Essentials for Pianist Improvisers" were released. In July 2006, Norris recorded at his home in Berlin with Los Angeles bassist Putter Smith.
He died on October 29, 2011 at his home in Berlin, Germany, and is survived by his wife, Kirsten. His other descendants were two daughters from his previous marriage to Mandy, Dinah and Delia (deceased), and two granddaughters, Emily and Holly.

Discography

As leader

As sideman

WIth The Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra
With Ornette Coleman


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Robert Lamoureux, French comedian and film director, died he was 91.


Robert Lamoureux [1] was a French actor, screenwriter and film director died he was 91. Lamourenx appeared in 37 films between 1951 and 1994. He starred in the film The Adventures of Arsène Lupin, which was entered into the 7th Berlin International Film Festival.[2]

(4 January 1920 – 29 October 2011) 

Selected filmography


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Wilmer W. Tanner, American zoologist, died he was 101.


Wilmer Webster Tanner[1] was an American zoologist died he was 101..[2] He was associated with Brigham Young University (BYU) for much of his life and has published extensively on the snakes and salamanders of the Great Basin.

(December 17, 1909 – October 28, 2011)

Family

Tanner was born in Fairview, Utah,[1] into a Mormon family.[3] His paternal grandfather, David Dan Tanner, had immigrated to Utah in 1848.[3] Tanner was the fourth of John and Lois Ann Tanner's five children. Vasco M., one of Tanner's brothers, was also a naturalist who taught at BYU.[4]
On January 4, 1935, in the Salt Lake Temple Tanner married Helen Brown, with whom he had three children. Helen died in 1995, and Tanner married retired BYU instructor Ottella Watson on October 26, 1999. Ottella died November 21, 2003.[1]

Education and career

In 1929, Tanner was a Mormon missionary to the Netherlands, where he learned Dutch.[1] After his return in 1932,[1] Tanner attended BYU, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1936.[5] Tanner prepared a thesis about the snakes of Utah for his Master of Science in 1937. He then began a doctorate, but was delayed by World War II until 1946. At that time, Tanner was working as an assistant for Edward Harrison Taylor at Kansas University. Wilmer obtained his Ph.D. in 1948 with a thesis on comparative anatomy of salamanders of Mexico and Central America. In 1950, Tanner joined the BYU faculty.[5]

Tanner (and Smith) classified the desert collared lizard as a new species in 1972.
In 1961 it was reported that Tanner, then an associate professor of zoology and entomology at BYU, was in the midst of a four-year study of the effect on Utah wildlife from exposure to higher natural radiation (from petrified trees which can concentrate radioactive minerals), resulting in areas with a 10 to 20 microcurie higher radiation level per hour than is typical of the surrounding geography.[6]

Museum leadership

Tanner served as the curator of the BYU's Life Sciences Museum from 1972 to 1979. In the late 70s, he helped process a large donation of samples and convinced the donor to fund a new building for the museum. The Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum opened to the public in 1978 and over the ensuing years increased staff were hired, educational exhibits developed and scientific activities funded. Tanner felt this was the most important aspect of his career and devoted almost a quarter of his autobiography to discussing how the grant was won from Mr. Bean.[1][5]

Study and work

Tanner's interest in herpetology was influenced by many people, primarily his brother Vasco Myron Tanner (a professor of zoology and entomology of Brigham Young University),[7][8] Joseph Richard Slevin of the California Academy of Sciences, and Laurence Monroe Klauber (who gave Tanner access to his collection); Helen Thomson Gaige, Norman Edouard Hartweg, Clark Hubbs, and Albert Hazen Wright were also influential.
Tanner has published over 130 scientific articles, fifteen describing new species and genera.[1]

A western garter snake, of which Tanner identified 5 new subspecies.
Tanner was a member of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was one-time president of the Herpetologists' League.[9] He was the publisher of Herpetologica magazine for 18 years.[1] He has also served as president of the Provo Energy Board.[10]

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Héctor López, Mexican boxer, Olympic silver medal-winner (1984), died from a drug overdose he was 44.


Héctor López Colín [1] was a Mexican boxer who was the NABF and WBO NABO Light Welterweight Champion. He also won an Olympic Silver medal for Mexico in the Bantamweight division died from a drug overdose he was 44.

(February 1, 1967 – October 25, 2011)

Amateur career

López, who was born in Mexico City, was a Mexican National Amateur Champion. During the 1984 Summer Olympics he won the Bantamweight Silver Medal, at seventeen years old Héctor was the youngest boxer in the whole Olympics.[2]

Olympic results

Pro career

Héctor began his professional career in 1985 as a Bantamweight but later moved up to Lightweight and defeated former champion Juan LaPorte.[3] That fight would set a bout with the undefeated Mexican Miguel Ángel González for the WBC Lightweight Championship in 1993.[4] López lost a twelve round unanimous decision and decided on moving up to Light Welterweight, losing to a young Kostya Tszyu in 1994. He later challenged Sammy Fuentes and Randall Bailey for the WBO World Light Welterweight Title but lost both bouts. López retired after beating veteran Jerry Rosenberg by T.K.O. in the third round.

Personal life

Héctor López was born in Mexico City but was raised in Glendale, California, United States, and even played American football at Glendale Hoover High School. He grew up and trained with Mexican American Olympic gold medalist Paul Gonzales.[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...