Richard Jeni, American comedian and actor (The Mask), died from apparent suicide by gunshot he was 49

Richard John Colangelo (, better known by the stage name of Richard Jeni,^[2] was an American stand-up comedian and actor died from apparent suicide by gunshot he was  49

.

(April 14, 1957^[1] – March 10, 2007)

Richard Jeni was raised in an Italian-American Roman Catholic family in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.^[3] He graduated with honors from Hunter College, earning a bachelor's degree in comparative politics. After graduating, Jeni went on to do public relations work, but was let go from five different firms in two years before doing an open-mic night in Brooklyn and deciding to pursue standup comedy as a career in 1982.^[4]

eni first received recognition through a series of Showtime stand-up specials and frequent appearances on The Tonight Show. After making his Tonight Show debut in 1988 with Johnny Carson, Jeni would return often and later made appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, all told with more appearances than any other stand-up comedian.^[5] In 1989, he won Comedy USA`s Best Nightclub Comedian, as voted by comedy club owners and comedians, and his first Showtime special Richard Jeni: The Boy From New York City won a CableACE Award.^[6]

Top executives at HBO picked up his first appearance on The HBO Comedy Hour in 1992, titled Richard Jeni: Platypus Man. The show was well received, and Jeni returned for two more shows, going on to receive another CableACE Award for one of his HBO specials. Jeni also starred on the short-lived 1995 UPN sitcom Platypus Man and appeared in the Jim Carrey film The Mask. Jeni composed the theme song ("I'm A Platypus Man") for his TV series. He appeared in The Aristocrats, Dad's Week Off, An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn, and Chasing Robert.^[7] He starred in commercial campaigns for Certsand Arby's, and won a Clio Award for his work as a writer/performer in an advertising campaign for the American Dairy Association.

In 2004, Jeni was ranked #57 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.^[8]

On March 10, 2007, Jeni was found by his girlfriend Amy Murphy, a weather anchor and reporter for KTTV in Los Angeles,^[9]with a .38-caliber Colt Detective Special between his feet and an apparent self-inflicted handgun wound to the head^[2] in the bedroom area of his West Hollywood, California home. Jeni and Murphy had been conversing in bed, discussing breakfast and their plans for the day, when Murphy left to cook breakfast downstairs. After a few minutes, she heard the sound of a gunshot, ran upstairs, discovered Jeni's condition, and called 9-1-1.^[2]

Police and paramedics arrived and transported Jeni to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he died. His family later stated with certainty that the death was a suicide, and that Jeni had recently been diagnosed with "severe clinical depression coupled with fits of psychotic paranoia."^[10] According to the coroner's report released in June 2007, Jeni had a history of schizophrenia and had been taking antidepressants and a sleeping aid. The report further indicated that his girlfriend heard him talking to himself about a week earlier, saying "just squeeze the trigger."^[11]

Jeni's death was marked by many tributes, including thousands of messages on his website and YouTube as well as on the radio.^[12] On March 12, 2007, Jeni's death was mentioned on The Tonight Show by Jay Leno, with accompanying footage of Jeni's last appearance on the show.^[5] On March 16, Bill Maher, who had performed with Jeni as a young comic, dedicated the fifth episode of the fifth season of his HBO show, Real Time with Bill Maher, to Jeni and also discussed his death on Larry King Live.^[13]

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Buddy Allin, American golfer, winner of five PGA Tour events,died from cancer he was , 62

Brian Thomas ("Bud" or " Buddy") Allin  was an American professional golfer who won five PGA Tour events in the 1970s died from cancer he was , 62.

(October 13, 1944 – March 10, 2007)

 

Allin was born in Bremerton, Washington. He learned to play golf at age 13 while working as a caddie at the Santa Barbara Municipal Golf Course in Santa Barbara, California. A prodigal player, Allin attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah and was a member on the golf team along with Johnny Miller. He served in the Army as an artillery officer during the Vietnam War earning four decorations including the Bronze Star and an Air medal.^[1] He turned pro in 1969 and qualified for the PGA Touron his first attempt citing the fact that golf was no "big deal" compared to war.

Allin's first win on the PGA Tour came in 1971 at the Greater Greensboro Open when he defeated Dave Eichelberger and Rod Funseth on the first extra-hole in a playoff. He would win five times in five years between 1971 and 1976. His best season was in 1974 when he won the Doral Ryder Open and the Byron Nelson Classic, which propelled him to a ninth place finish on the money list. His best finish in a major was a T-10 at the 1974 U.S. Open and the 1975 PGA Championship. He had 3 dozen top-10 finishes in PGA Tour events in his career; his last win came at the 1976 Pleasant Valley Classic. Allin was well respected by his fellow tour players for his personality and his acute game but elected to leave the tour due to health issues in the early 1980s.

After reaching the age of 50 in October 1994, Allin began competing on the Senior PGA Tour. He was nominated for Rookie of the Year in 1995, after an outstanding first full season. He also shot a Senior Tour record low round of 61 at the FHP Healthcare Classic that year. His lone Senior tour win came in 1997 at the American Express Invitational where he 2-putted from 60 feet on the 72nd hole to win by one stroke over Jim Colbert. He competed five full seasons before electing to leave the tour despite being exempt for the 2000 season. Allin devoted the last years of his life to teaching at the San Diego Golf Academy and authoring his instructional manual, Center-Line, as well as an instructional DVD, Preferences. He lived in Boulder City, Nevada as well as California. He died in Hemet, California at the age of 62 from multiple forms of cancer.^[1]

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Brad Delp, American lead singer of 1970s AOR band Boston, died from suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning he was , 55

 Bradley Edward Delp  was an American singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the rock bands Boston and RTZ  died from suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning he was , 55.

(June 12, 1951 – March 9, 2007)

Delp was born in Peabody, Massachusetts on June 12, 1951 to French-Canadian immigrants. He was raised in Danvers, Massachusetts.^[1]

In 1969, guitarist Barry Goudreau introduced Delp to Tom Scholz, who was looking for a singer to complete some demo recordings. Eventually Scholz formed the short-lived band Mother's Milk (1973–74), including Delp and Goudreau. After producing a demo, Epic Records eventually signed the act. Mother's Milk was renamed Boston, and the self-titled debut album (recorded in 1975, although many tracks had been written years before) was released in August 1976. Delp performed all of the lead and backing vocals, including all layered vocal overdubs.

Boston's debut album has sold more than 20 million copies, and produced rock standards such as "More Than a Feeling", "Foreplay/Long Time" and "Peace of Mind". Delp co-wrote "Smokin'" along with Scholz, and wrote the album's closing track, "Let Me Take You Home Tonight". Their next album, Don't Look Back, was released two years later in August 1978. Its release spawned new hits such as the title track, "Party", and the poignant ballad "A Man I'll Never Be". As they did with "Smokin'", Delp and Scholz again collaborated on "Party", and Delp penned "Used to Bad News".

After the first two Boston albums, Delp sang vocals on Barry Goudreau's self-titled solo album, released in 1980. Scholz's legendary perfectionism and a legal battle with their record company stalled any further Boston albums until 1986, when the band released the appropriately titled Third Stage. Delp co-wrote the songs "Cool the Engines" and "Can'tcha Say (You Believe in Me)/Still in Love" for the album, and both songs got significant airplay.

Though well known for his "golden" voice with soaring vocals and range, Delp was also a multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, harmonica and keyboards. He wrote or co-wrote songs for Boston, RTZ, Orion the Hunter, Lisa Guyer, and other artists.

Delp while playing for his band Beatlejuice

In 1991 Delp and Goudreau formed a new band called RTZ. After Boston released the album Walk On in 1994 with Fran Cosmo on vocals, Delp and Boston eventually reunited later that year for another major tour and Delp continued to record vocals on several albums and projects, including new tracks for Boston's 1997 Greatest Hitscompilation and their 2002 release, Corporate America.

From the mid-1990s until his death in 2007, Delp also played in a side project when he had time off from Boston – a Beatles tribute band called Beatlejuice. The Beatles had always been a personal favorite of Delp, and he revered them for their songwriting.

During this time Delp also co-wrote and recorded with former Boston bandmate Barry Goudreau and in 2003 released the CD Delp and Goudreau.

  

Delp was married and divorced twice, and had two children by his second wife, Micki Delp. He was a vegetarian for over 30 years, and contributed to a number of charitable causes.^[2]

Sometime between 11:00 pm on March 8 and 1:20 pm on March 9, 2007, Delp committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning at his home in Atkinson, New Hampshire on Academy Avenue.^[3] The Atkinson police discovered his body on the floor of his master bathroom after Pamela Sullivan saw a dryer vent tube connected to the exhaust pipe of Delp's yellow car. Two charcoal grills were found to have been lit inside the bathtub causing the room to fill with smoke.^[4] A suicide note was paper-clipped to the neck of his T-shirt, which read: "Mr. Brad Delp. 'J'ai une âme solitaire'. I have a lonely soul." Delp left four sealed envelopes in his office addressed to his children, his former wife Micki, his fiancée, and another unnamed couple.^[5][6][7] He was 55 years old. The following day, Boston's website was temporarily shut down, the webmaster having replaced their home page with a simple black background and white text message: "We've just lost the nicest guy in rock and roll."^[8]

Delp's cause of death was ruled a suicide.^[9] The reason for Delp's suicide has been the subject of contradictory news reports and lawsuits. A series^[10] of interviews conducted by the Boston Herald alleged that lingering hard feelings from Boston's breakup in the 1980s and personal tension between Delp and bandleader Scholz drove the singer to commit suicide. Scholz denied these claims but lost the defamation suits he waged in defense of his character.^[11] Court documents from the trials show Scholz claiming that personal problems plagued Delp and were the true reason for his decision to kill himself.^[12] Boston Herald attorneys point to voluminous testimony from former Boston members, other local musicians, Delp’s doctor, and Delp’s friends, including Meg Sullivan (his fiancee's sister), many of whom say the singer didn’t like Scholz, desperately wanted to quit the band, and felt tormented by his role as middle man in an ugly conflict between Boston’s founder and former band members. All of this was summarized in a 140-page statement filed by the Herald in April.^[13]

On March 19, 2008, Barry Goudreau released one final song with Delp on vocals titled "Rockin Away". Written and recorded in the summer of 2006, co-written with Goudreau, it is an autobiography of Delp's musical career. According to "America's Music Charts", the song reached #20 on the rock charts in January 2008.^[14]

On what would have been Delp's 61st birthday, June 12, 2012, Jenna Delp, Delp's daughter and President of the Brad Delp Foundation, released an MP3 on the foundation website of a "never before released" song which was written and recorded by Delp in 1973. It was also announced that the Foundation intended to release a complete album of Delp's solo work at some point in the future, which would encompass a span of thirty years of previously unreleased material written and recorded by Delp and his closest friends.^[15]

On November 25, 2015, The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts found in favor of the Boston Herald and Micki Delp in a defamation lawsuit brought by Tom Scholz, producer, primary songwriter and lead musician for Boston. In its ruling, the court said statements attributing Delp’s suicide to Scholz were “statements of opinion and not verifiable fact, and therefore could not form the basis of a claim of defamation.”^[16][17] On February 23, 2016, Scholz filed a petition for certiorari asking the Supreme Court of the United States to allow his defamation lawsuit to go ahead. On June 6, 2016, the Supreme Court declined to revive the case.^[18]

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John Vukovich,, American baseball player and coach, died from a brain tumor complications he was 59?

 John Christopher Vukovich was an Americanthird baseman^[1] and coach in Major League Baseball best known for his years of service with the Philadelphia Phillies  died from a  brain tumor complications he was  59?.^[2] He played in parts of ten seasons from 1970 to 1981 for the Phillies, Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers. He was mainly used as a utility infielder capable of playing all four positions.^[1] He is also known for recording the lowest career major league batting average (.161) of any non-pitcher with 500 ABs or more.

(July 31, 1947 – March 8, 2007)  

Vukovich was born in Sacramento, California and grew up in Sutter Creek, California. His father was the baseball coach for the local Amador High School. He was a backup for the 1975 Reds World Series-winning team, although he was traded back to the Phillies before the playoffs began, and also for the 1980 Phillies World Series-winning team.^[1] He actually began the 1975 season as the Reds' starting third baseman,^[1] but was benched in favor of Pete Rose so that the Reds could get outfielder George Foster's bat into the lineup every day.^{[citation needed]} He batted above .200 only twice in his ten-year career, appearing in 277 games while batting .161 with 6 home runs and 44 runs batted in, and had a .956 fielding percentage.^[1] During his second period of playing with the Phillies, he became beloved to the fans even though he seldom appeared in games; he was seen as a blue-collar player and the ordinary fan respected his effort.^{[citation needed]} After his playing career ended, he joined the Chicago Cubs as a coach, and in 1986 he was manager for a day after Jim Freywas fired (he split that day's doubleheader). In 1987, he rejoined the Phillies, and after Lee Elia was fired with nine games to go, he took over as skipper, going 5-4 the rest of the season.^[2]

Vukovich stayed with the Phillies as a coach from 1988 to 2004, and was considered for the managing job when Terry Francona was fired in 2000. The job eventually went to Vukovich's childhood friend, Larry Bowa.^[2] Vukovich was diagnosed with a brain tumor early in the 2001 season and subsequently had surgery. He would return later that season, and remained on the coaching staff until being named special assistant to the General Manager following the 2004 season. Along with Bowa and Milt Thompson, Vukovich is one of just three Phillies to go to the World Series as both a player and coach for the club.

In late 2006, he again exhibited symptoms; he died at Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia at age 59. The 2007 Phillies honored him by wearing a uniform patch on their right sleeve with his nickname, "Vuk".^[3] The Phillies also publicly dedicated their 2007 regular baseball season to Vukovich.^{[citation needed]}

Vukovich was a resident of Voorhees Township, New Jersey.^[4]

Vukovich was inducted onto the Phillies Wall of Fame on August 10, 2007. Former Phillies stars including Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton participated in a pregame ceremony led by legendary broadcaster Harry Kalas.^[citation