Obituaries for 2017

[skeeter]

RIP the founding guitarist of the J. Geils Band . . .

Guitarist known as J. Geils found dead in Massachusetts home

The J. Geils Band, Blow Your Face Out

He was 71.

RIP and thanks for the great music . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvM8WV2V998

[sneakypete]

Depends on how you define "outliving." He hasn't done anything substantial since about 1972; maybe
a rare little gem now and then since. Emphasis on "maybe."

@EasyAce

I disagree. Surviving his lifestyle is a pretty damn substantial accomplishment.

Keef is going to outlive us all.

[EasyAce]

@EasyAce

I disagree. Surviving his lifestyle is a pretty damn substantial accomplishment.

Keef is going to outlive us all.

@sneakypete
I was talking about his music. ;)

(For the record, I wouldn't recommend anyone else try to survive his lifestyle.)

[uglybiker]

@EasyAce

I disagree. Surviving his lifestyle is a pretty damn substantial accomplishment.

Keef is going to outlive us all.

I always heard the rumor that he didn't survive.
His well-pickled body just never got the message.

[Frank Cannon]

RIP the founding guitarist of the J. Geils Band . . .

Guitarist known as J. Geils found dead in Massachusetts home



He was 71.

RIP and thanks for the great music . . .

Little known fact is that John Giels had one of the foremost European auto repair shops in the world. He specialized in Ferrari....

https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hsx/2006/10/The-House-that-Rock-Built/1352278.html

[jmyrlefuller]

Dorothy Mengering, mother and occasional guest of David Letterman's, dies at 95

Born Dorothy Hofert, she lived a fairly typical middle-class mid-20th-century life, working as a floral assistant and secretary in Indiana, where she and her husband Harry Letterman had three children. (Harry died in 1973; ten years later, she married Hans Mengering.) In 1986, by the time middle child David Letterman had risen to fame for his late-night talk show, Dorothy began making appearances on the program, especially during holidays; originally doing so by phone, when Letterman moved to CBS, she began appearing on camera as "Dave's Mom."

Playing the role as a no-nonsense but loving mother eager to shoot down anything too absurd, Mengering earned a large number of fans, which she repeatedly attributed not to her own performance skills, but simply to the way that it allowed people to witness the love between a mother and her son.

Mengering died April 11 in her longtime home in Indiana. She is survived by David and daughter Gretchen Letterman, a newspaper columnist.

Obituary from the Chicago Sun-Times

Wikipedia

[Gefn]

The J. Geils Band had a few trademarks---Wolf and his between-song schpritzing; Magic Dick's virtouoso
harmonica playing; J. Geils's tasteful guitar work (he may have been the most underrated guitarist of his time);
Stephen Jo Bladd's tanks-gone-bonkers soul-style drumming . . .

Freeze Frame is one of my all time favorite albums. RIP.

[Sanguine]

Freeze Frame is one of my all time favorite albums. RIP.

@Freya, this isn't the place for it - but, how are you doing?  I was getting concerned.

[Gefn]

@Freya, this isn't the place for it - but, how are you doing?  I was getting concerned.

Not good. I'll bring it up later. Having a bad problem with my meds. The stupid doctor in the rehab decided to play god and messed up a lot of my meds and while my hip is better I'm a complete and total mess

I'm going to have to see my GP to try to fix it but I may end up back in a regular hospital to undo the damage he did. @Sanguine

[Smokin Joe]

Not good. I'll bring it up later. Having a bad problem with my meds. The stupid doctor in the rehab decided to play god and messed up a lot of my meds and while my hip is better I'm a complete and total mess

I'm going to have to see my GP to try to fix it but I may end up back in a regular hospital to undo the damage he did. @Sanguine

That isn't good. Keeping you in my prayers. Get better!

[Sanguine]

Not good. I'll bring it up later. Having a bad problem with my meds. The stupid doctor in the rehab decided to play god and messed up a lot of my meds and while my hip is better I'm a complete and total mess

I'm going to have to see my GP to try to fix it but I may end up back in a regular hospital to undo the damage he did. @Sanguine

Yes, prayers, Freya.  Keep us informed.

[Cyber Liberty]

Not good. I'll bring it up later. Having a bad problem with my meds. The stupid doctor in the rehab decided to play god and messed up a lot of my meds and while my hip is better I'm a complete and total mess

I'm going to have to see my GP to try to fix it but I may end up back in a regular hospital to undo the damage he did. @Sanguine

That's infuriating!  Hospitalists should not be allowed to rock a boat they have nothing to do with!   

[ABX]

Comedian Charlie Murphy Dead At 57 (Eddie Murphy's brother, he wrote some of Eddie's best work).

According to his manager, Charlie died at a hospital in New York City. He had been going through chemotherapy treatment.

Some of Murphy's film credits include Are We There Yet, The Boondocks, and Black Jesus. Most recently, Charlie toured with comedians including Cedric the Entertainer, Eddie Griffin, George Lopez, and D.L. Hughley.

http://comicbook.com/popculturenow/2017/04/12/charlie-murphy-dead-at-57-eddie-murphy-brother/?=twd

[Cripplecreek]

Charlie Murphy was pretty funny.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2278XhCy4Bs

[jmyrlefuller]

Tom Modrak, former NFL general manager and scout, dies at 74

Modrak spent roughly 20 years as a scout in the Pittsburgh Steelers organization, his hometown team. In 1998, he accepted the position of general manager for the Philadelphia Eagles, where over the next four seasons, he helped orchestrate the team's turnaround from bottom-dweller to contender; he was ousted by the coach he hired, Andy Reid, just as the team hit its stride.

He spent the next decade as assistant general manager for the Buffalo Bills. Unlike his time with the Eagles, Modrak had much less success in Buffalo, making a number of draft blunders that contributed to the team's inability to rebuild. Reports in Buffalo blamed his failures on an unwillingness to assert himself in the face of bad decisions by other members of the staff.

He spent his last years overseeing BLESTO, the scouting agency where he began his career. He was forced to retire in December 2016 from a rare neurological disease, which led to his death April 11.

Obituary from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Wikipedia

[Applewood]

Pittsburgh Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney Dies at 84

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Steelers nation has lost a legend, as chairman and former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Dan Rooney has died at the age of 84.

More here:

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2017/04/13/pittsburgh-steelers-dan-rooney-dies/

And here:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Rooney

[bigheadfred]

Looks like Death isn't much of an athletic supporter these days.

HEY! I heard Chuck Norris was supposed to die 5 years ago but Death doesn't have the guts to tell him.

[Smokin Joe]

Looks like Death isn't much of an athletic supporter these days.

HEY! I heard Chuck Norris was supposed to die 5 years ago but Death doesn't have the guts to tell him.

My grandson did a google search for Chuck Norris. It came back with "You don't find Chuck Norris, he finds you!"

[EC]

Toby Smith, founding member of Jamiroquai, dead at 46

 Toby Smith, the keyboardist and a founding member of the band Jamiroquai died on Tuesday.

He was 46.

Smith had been fighting a "voracious" illness for a long time, according to the band's Facebook page, but had "shown signs of beating it."

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/toby-smith-founding-member-jamiroquai-dead-46-article-1.3055392

[Cripplecreek]

Toby Smith, founding member of Jamiroquai, dead at 46

 Toby Smith, the keyboardist and a founding member of the band Jamiroquai died on Tuesday.

He was 46.

Smith had been fighting a "voracious" illness for a long time, according to the band's Facebook page, but had "shown signs of beating it."

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/toby-smith-founding-member-jamiroquai-dead-46-article-1.3055392

All I know of Jamiroquai was this crazy video from years ago.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et9b7LWfnxQ

[EC]

World's oldest person Emma Morano dies at 117

Obituary

That's it. The very last person with a documented birth in the 19th Century has gone.

[Applewood]

Rest in peace, Mrs. Morano.

I've noticed that many people who live long lives have poor eating habits, according to the experts.  My grandmother ate all the "wrong" foods and lived to be 90.   This lady ate 3 eggs a day and little to no fruit or vegetables.   Maybe this means we shouldn't be all that stringent with our diets and live a little.

[Machiavelli]

Clifton James, Sheriff in James Bond Films, Dies at 96

Clifton James, a veteran actor who appeared as Sheriff J.W. Pepper in two James Bond films, died Saturday morning at age 96...

James most famous role came on film. He appeared in two James Bond films opposite Roger Moore: “Live and Let Die” (1973) and “The Man with the Golden Gun” (1974). He portrayed the crowing Louisiana sheriff, J.W. Pepper (pictured). James would play similar Southern lawman in numerous other roles during his career, including “Silver Streak” and “Superman II”

Among his other film credits included “Cool Hand Luke,” “Eight Men Out” and “The Bonfire of the Vanities.” ...

More

Wikipedia

IMDb

[truth_seeker]

That's it. The very last person with a documented birth in the 19th Century has gone.

Three of my four grandparents were born in the 19th century, 1881, 1894 and 1896. They departed in that order, too.

--A cowboy, acrobat, oilman born to immigrants from Sweden, worked in Bill Cody's Wild West Show

--A woman that earned a MS in biology and taught university in the 1920s

--A WWI veteran that moved his parents, his wife and his daughters from the East to the West, just in time for the 1929 stock market crash--which knocked him down economically from white collar to blue collar.

[EC]

Robert W. Taylor, a pioneer of the modern computer, dies at 85

April 15, 2017
Esmeralda Bermudez
Los Angeles Times
Posted with permission from Tribune Content Agency
Republish
Reprint

Robert W. Taylor, one of the most important figures in the creation of the modern computer and the internet, has died. He was 85.

According to his son Kurt Taylor, the scientist died Thursday at his home in the San Francisco Bay Area town of Woodside. He suffered from Parkinson's disease and other ailments.

Taylor's name was not known to the public, but it was a byword in computer science and networking, where he was a key innovator who transformed the world of technology.

Taylor — an outspoken, uncompromising visionary — was a Pentagon researcher in the 1960s when he launched Arpanet, which evolved into what we know today as the internet.

After leaving the Pentagon, he moved to Xerox's legendary Palo Alto Research Center, where he oversaw the engineering team responsible for such inventions as the personal computer, Ethernet and the visual computer display.

More: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/robert-w-taylor-a-pioneer-of-the-modern-computer-dies-at-85/

[Cyber Liberty]

Robert W. Taylor, a pioneer of the modern computer, dies at 85

April 15, 2017
Esmeralda Bermudez
Los Angeles Times
Posted with permission from Tribune Content Agency
Republish
Reprint

Robert W. Taylor, one of the most important figures in the creation of the modern computer and the internet, has died. He was 85.

According to his son Kurt Taylor, the scientist died Thursday at his home in the San Francisco Bay Area town of Woodside. He suffered from Parkinson's disease and other ailments.

Taylor's name was not known to the public, but it was a byword in computer science and networking, where he was a key innovator who transformed the world of technology.

Taylor — an outspoken, uncompromising visionary — was a Pentagon researcher in the 1960s when he launched Arpanet, which evolved into what we know today as the internet.

After leaving the Pentagon, he moved to Xerox's legendary Palo Alto Research Center, where he oversaw the engineering team responsible for such inventions as the personal computer, Ethernet and the visual computer display.

More: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/robert-w-taylor-a-pioneer-of-the-modern-computer-dies-at-85/

The fellow who really did invent the Internet.

[Free Vulcan]

The fellow who really did invent the Internet.

I call BS.

[EasyAce]

RIP to Luther Perkins's successor in Johnny Cash's Tennessee Three . . .

Johnny Cash Guitarist Bob Wootton Dead at 75

For 30 years, guitarist Robert "Bob" Wootton was an integral part of Johnny Cash's band, playing guitar in the Man
in Black's backing group, the Tennessee Three, and performing on the majority of Cash LPs made after 1968. Wootton,
who released music with other members of the Tennessee Three, also worked as a stuntman and driver for additional musical
acts, including Smashing Pumpkins. Wootton died April 9th in Gallatin, Tennessee. He was 75 . . .

A few weeks after Perkins' death, Wootton, unable to reach Cash by phone, traveled to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to see Cash
perform. A rain storm left then-Cash band members, guitarist Carl Perkins and bassist Marshall Grant, unable to make the
gig, so Wootton’s girlfriend asked Cash's wife, June Carter Cash, if Wootton could sit in the singer and his drummer, where
he wowed the entertainer with his guitar-playing ability. Cash then invited him to sit in at a show two days later and joined
the tour on what was initially a probationary basis. He served in Cash's band until 1997, when the iconic performer retired
from touring.

Wootton first appeared with Cash on records on Johnny Cash at San Quentin.

RIP.

[sneakypete]

RIP to Luther Perkins's successor in Johnny Cash's Tennessee Three . . .

Wootton first appeared with Cash on records on Johnny Cash at San Quentin.

RIP.

@EasyAce

That was one hell of a album,and a brilliant decision at the same time. Who could resist hearing a album recorded at one of the most famous prisons in history back then? IMHO,that album did a lot to pull more people into country music while making Johnny Cash acceptable to a non-country audience.

It doesn't make any difference how good you are if you can't get anyone to listen to you.

[txradioguy]

Just got this from FReeper LuvW:

My [our] FRiend, Arrowhead1952 [John Schwausch] has passed away from complications after a fall from a 25' ladder 2 1/2 years ago.
 God rest his soul. He fought hard and now rests with his Lord.
 He will have a military service this summer in Killeen, Texas

 


Rest in Peace my friend.  Take a knee...I've got it from here.

[EasyAce]

@EasyAce

That was one hell of a album,and a brilliant decision at the same time. Who could resist hearing a album recorded at one of the most famous prisons in history back then? IMHO,that album did a lot to pull more people into country music while making Johnny Cash acceptable to a non-country audience.

It doesn't make any difference how good you are if you can't get anyone to listen to you.

The San Quentin set came about in the wake of the live album that really put Johnny Cash back on the crossover
map: Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison; that pair of shows was performed before Luther Perkins's tragic death. I think
both Cash and Columbia Records hoped they could catch lightning twice and brother did they catch it. Johnny Cash
at San Quentin also had the one thing the Folsom Prison album, successful as it was, didn't have: a crossover
hit single, "A Boy Named Sue."

[Smokin Joe]

Just got this from FReeper LuvW:


 


Rest in Peace my friend.  Take a knee...I've got it from here.

Darn. Agreed, RIP.

[Sanguine]

Just got this from FReeper LuvW:


 


Rest in Peace my friend.  Take a knee...I've got it from here.

Oh, wow.  I corresponded with him before his fall and his family afterwards.  They lived near me and he was in a facility I was familiar with. 

Prayers.

[verga]

Just got this from FReeper LuvW:


 


Rest in Peace my friend.  Take a knee...I've got it from here.

praying

[mountaineer]

Ex-New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez kills himself in jail, just days after being acquitted of two murders.

Ex-NFL star Aaron Hernandez dead after hanging self in cell
 Associated Press via Yahoo

MILFORD, Mass. (AP) — Former NFL star Aaron Hernandez, acquitted of a double murder just days ago, died after hanging himself in his prison cell Wednesday morning, Massachusetts prisons officials said.

Hernandez, 27, was found by guards in his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley just after 3 a.m., Department of Correction spokesman Christopher Fallon said in a statement.

The former New England Patriots tight end was pronounced dead at UMass Memorial-HealthAlliance Hospital in Leominster about an hour later.

Hernandez was in a single cell in a general population housing unit in the maximum security state prison. He hanged himself using a bed sheet that he attached to a cell window, Fallon said.

Hernandez tried to block the cell door from the inside by jamming the door with various items, Fallon said.

Hernandez was moved to tears on Friday after he was acquitted of the 2012 fatal shootings of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in Boston.

But he was still serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for his conviction in the 2013 shooting of Odin Lloyd, who was dating his fiancee's sister.

Massachusetts State Police remain on the scene investigating the death.

[bigheadfred]

There is some closure.

[txradioguy]

Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was found hanged by a bed sheet in his jail cell early Wednesday, according to the Massachusetts Department of Corrections.

Hernandez, 27, was later pronounced dead at a local hospital, according to a statement released by the DOC.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2017/04/19/aaron-hernandez-dead-after-being-found-hanged-in-prison-cell/100638226/

[driftdiver]

Didn't see that coming.  Guess the fall from being a star was too great

[geronl]

Didn't see that coming.  Guess the fall from being a star was too great

wasn't he fighting for his life in court just days ago?

[driftdiver]

wasn't he fighting for his life in court just days ago?

And he won that case.  However he had another murder pending

[geronl]

And he won that case.  However he had another murder pending

he was found guilty of murdering his wife a while back, but he probably could have been out in a decade or so since Massataxes is pretty lax

[driftdiver]

he was found guilty of murdering his wife a while back, but he probably could have been out in a decade or so since Massataxes is pretty lax

He has so many murders I can't keep em straight.   Seems the world is a better and safer place without him,

[DCPatriot]

he was found guilty of murdering his wife a while back, but he probably could have been out in a decade or so since Massataxes is pretty lax

Your knowledge of Hernandez' cases is rivaled only by your understanding of politics.   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Odin_Lloyd

[Applewood]

It's too bad.  Hernandez had it all, or he could have.  But he lost his way and made bad decisions.  Choices do have consequences. 

Just a shame he took the easy way out.  Even in prison he could still have been redeemed.

[mountaineer]

Aaron Hernandez exhibited the slightest change in his final days
Dan Wetzel  Yahoo Sports
Apr 19, 2017, 10:36 AM

... Other than spot appearances by his forever-loyal fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez, one visit from his 4-year-old daughter and occasional trips to court by Shay’s friends, he was all, all alone.

He talked about it. And tried to laugh about it. At least he had the Department of Corrections, he’d crack. At least the court officers would stand by him, he’d say with a smile. They’d never leave him. At least he had his attorneys, he’d joke. At the beginning and end of every day of court he’d hug them, kiss them, act like he was a long lost brother, not billable hours they’d booked the night before.

Gallows humor in the face of a gruesome reality – he was isolated and all but forgotten. A hint of him dreaming of the old days – even as he knew he was 27 and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. And no matter all that fantastical talk about winning a retrial in the Odin Lloyd case and winning that, nothing was ever going to change. He killed Odin Lloyd in 2013, just as the jury said. The evidence was overwhelming on that one. Hernandez, for all his wickedness, was never dumb.

Aaron Hernandez was found hanging from a bed sheet at 3:05 am Wednesday inside the Souza Baranowski Correctional Center. A man who once lived the big life in a 7,100-square foot, three-car garage mansion, stuffed his few belongings up against the cell door to buy himself a couple extra seconds to die.

The suicide came just five days after a jury found him not guilty in the deaths of Abreu and Furtado. It was a legal vindication but not much more. Hernandez was there that night, riding shotgun with his buddy, Alexander Bradley, as they pulled up on a carload of Cape Verdean immigrants they’d briefly encountered earlier in the night. Someone opened fire, killing two, wounding one and forever changing everything.  ...

More .

[Free Vulcan]

Some people, no matter what they have, just can't give up that thrill of the thug life. I've seen it from the small scale of people I grew up with, to the big scale like this guy. Never ends well.

[Mod1]

Merged Aaron Hernandez thread into Obituaries as he is, in fact, kaput.

[mountaineer]

Oh, give me a break.

It Could Be Murder   ... Lawyer Claims
TMZ

Aaron Hernandez may not have died as the result of suicide ... it could be murder orchestrated within the prison walls -- so claims the lawyer who represented him.

We've learned attorney Jose Baez -- who just got a not guilty verdict for Aaron last week in the double murder case -- has launched an investigation on behalf of Hernandez' family and they are not buying the suicide story.

We're told Baez believes this could be a murder either by inmates or the folks who run the prison.

Baez says the family is "devastated" and does not believe Aaron was in a frame of mind to take his life.

Baez told TMZ Sports just last week Aaron was in a good place and optimistic the separate murder conviction would be overturned.

[Sanguine]

Oh, give me a break.

Isn't Baez the attention seeker who represented Casey Anthony?

[Cyber Liberty]

Isn't Baez the attention seeker who represented Casey Anthony?

Yup!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Caylee_Anthony