Fueled by Ramen and cheap beer

Continuing catching up on celebrity death watch. I’ll probably take a break to write about some other things after finishing up 2024, but will try to get up to date on this soon.

Celebrity Death Watch - October 2024: David Turnham was a New York Times journalist who wrote about police corruption. Susie Bering was a golf champion. SuEllen Fried was an anti-bullying activist. Luis Tiant pitched for the Boston Red Sox in the 1970’s. Ethel Kennedy was the widow of Robert F. Kennedy and a human rights advocate in her own right. Lily Ledbetter was an activist for equal-pay. Richard Secord was an Air Force major general who conducted covert operations in Laos and led the only successful rescue of American POWs during the Vietnam war. Liam Payne was a member of the boy band One Direction. Mitzi Gaynor was an actress, notable for playing Nellie Forbush in the film version of South Pacific. Phil Lesh was the bassist for and a founding member of the Grateful Dead.

Teri Garr was a comedic actress, who appeared in such films as Tootsie and Young Frankenstein.

Celebrity Death Watch - November 2024: Jonathan Haze was an actor who played Seymour Krelboined in the original (1960 non-musical) Little Shop of Horrors movie. Jim Hoagland was a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist for the Washington Post. Bernard Marcus was the cofounder of Home Depot. Dorothy Allison was a feminist writer, most famous for Bastard Out of Carolina. Elizabeth Nunez was a novelist whose books include Anna In-Between. Ella Jenkins wrote and performed music for children. Sandra Gilbert was a feminist literary critic, best known for writing The Madwoman in the Attic. Tim Sullivan was a science fiction writer. Thomas E. Kurtz co-developed the BASIC programming language. Shel Talmy was a record producer who worked with the Who, the Kinks, David Bowie, and many others. Andy Paley was a musician who performed with The Modern Lovers and composed music for SpongeBob SquarePants. Mike Pinera played guitar for Iron Butterfly and wrote the song Ride Captain Ride. Alice Brock inspired the song Alice’s Restaurant. Cyndy Szekeres wrote and illustrated children’s books. Barbara Taylor Bradford was a prolific novelist. Bob Bryar was the drummer for My Chemical Romance from 2004 - 2010. Helen Gallagher was a Tony award winning actress. Hal Lindsay was a doomsday preacher who wrote The Late Great Planet Earth. Gabriel Escaper founded Melia Hotels. Shalom Nagar executed Adolf Eichmann.

Quincy Jones was a record producer, composer, and arranger, who won 28 Grammy awards.

Bela Karolyi was a gymnastics coach, best known for training Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton, and Kerri Strug. Some of his proteges called his coaching style abusive. In addition, Larry Nasser’s sexual abuse of young female gymnasts happened at the Karolyi Ranch.

Arthur Frommer wrote travel books. During my first trip to Europe (my college graduation present), I relied heavily on Frommer’s Europe on 25 Dollars a Day. I have used several other Frommer guidebooks over the years and found them reasonably reliable.

Chuck Woolery hosted the original daytime version of Wheel of Fortune, as well as other game shows, including Love Connection and Scrabble. He was also a musician and wrote advertising jingles.

Celebrity Death Watch - December 2024: Marvin Laird co-created the musical Ruthless! Nikki Giovanni was a poet. Donald Blitzer co-invented the plasma display. Michael Cole was an actor, best known for his role on The Mod Squad. Diane Delano was an actress who played the police sergeant on Northern Exposure. Dick van Arsdale played basketball for the New York Knicks and the Phoenix Suns. Mike Brewer (of Brewer & Shipley) wrote the song One Toke Over the Line. David Mallett wrote the Garden Song. Arlene Agus co-founded Ezrat Nashim, the first American Jewish feminist organization, and popularized the observance of Rosh Hodesh (the new month) as a women’s holiday. Richard Perry was a record producer who worked with artists ranging from Barbra Streisand to Julio Iglesias to Carly Simon. Olivia Hussey was an actress, best known for playing Juliet in the 1968 movie of Romeo and Juliet.


The Amazing Kreskin was a mentalist who appeared frequently on late night television. In other words, he was a con man.

Anita Bryant was a singer, anti-gay activist, and shill for orange juice.

Berrien Moore III studied complex systems and was the founding director of Climate Central. I knew him when I worked on the Closed Environmental Life Support System (CELSS) project at NASA Ames as a grad student.

Rickey Henderson played baseball, primarily for the Oakland A’s. He holds records for career stolen bases (leading to the moniker “Man of Steal”), runs, unintentional walks, and leadoff home runs.

Jimmy Carter was the president of the U.S. from 1977-1981. He was more successful as an ex-president, particularly noted for his work with Habitat for Humanity and working to eliminate dracuculiasis (Guinea worm disease). He also failed to understand anything at all about the Middle East.

Linda Lavin was an actress who was probably best known for the TV sitcom Alice. More significantly, she sang “You’ve Got Possibilities” in Its a Bird … It’s a Plane … It’s Superman and “The Boy From …” in The Mad Show on Broadway.

Memorials for people I knew: Somehow or other, celebrity death watch completely slipped off my to-do list. My last update was apparently a year ago, i.e. in July 2024. I’ll get to that in a moment, but first let me note that I’ve gone to four memorial services or funerals in that time.

I knew Becky Feld through her husband, Harold, who is (among other things) a storyteller. They had hosted some story swaps at their home. She died in early December after a prolonged illness. I admired how dedicated Harold was to caring for her during that time.

Angela Lloyd, who was an amazing storyteller, died in early January. I first met her in Los Angeles back in the early 1990's and enjoyed her unique mix of stories and songs, accompanied by the washboard, the autoharp and other instruments. Her musical talents extended to “playing” the squeaky floor of the stage at a festival. I will never forget the directions to her home on a ranch in Victorville, which included the sentence, “you are now entering the ranch. Please sing the theme song from Bonanza.” She was a charming and quirky person and well-loved in our community.

In April I drove down to Charlottesville for a memorial ceilidh for Eve Watters, who was a storyteller, artist, and harp player. I was glad to be able to support her husband, Ian (who is an artist and storyteller in his own right), and to see a couple of other storytellers who I rarely see.

I worked closely with Mark Baird during my time supporting the Air Force secretariat. We had a running joke about his desire to go to Belize and my desire to go to Mozambique. He was smart and amiable and hard-working. He died in late November 2023, but his funeral was not until this May because of the scheduling constraints at Arlington National Cemetery. He deserved the pomp and the ceremony of full military honors, complete with a large band and a 21-gun salute. I also saw several people I hadn’t seen in quite some time at the reception afterwards.


Celebrity Death Watch - July 2024: Joe Egan was a singer and songwriter for Stealers Wheel. Joe Bonsai sang with the Oak Ridge Boys. Jim Inhofe was a Republican senator from Oklahoma. Dave Loggins wrote the song “Please Come to Boston.” Shelly Duval was a film actress who appeared in The Shining and Time Bandits among others. M. J. Engh was a science fiction writer. Bob Booker produced comedy albums, including The First Family, You Don’t Have to Be Jewish, and When You’re in Love, the Whole World is Jewish. Shannen Doherty was an actress, best known for Beverly Hills, 90210. James B. Sikking was an actor who appeared in Hill Street Blues. Richard Simmons made fitness videos, which I am slightly embarrassed to still own a couple of. Bernice Johnson Reagon was a singer and activist and founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock. Jill Schary Robinson wrote the novel Bed / Time / Story. Duke Fakir was the last surviving member of the Four Tops. John Mayall was a blues and rock musician. Lewis Lapham was the long time editor of Harper’s Magazine.

Dr. Ruth Westheimer was a sex therapist who had a popular radio show. Before that, she had fled from the Nazis as a child and, after the war, fought as a sniper for the Haganah in Jerusalem. There was a very interesting play, Becoming Dr. Ruth about her life.

Bob Newhart was a comedian and actor. His driving instructor sketch was one of the funniest routines ever. His TV shows were also funny in a low-key style.


Celebrity Death Watch - August 2024: Ina Jaffe was an NPR correspondent. Jeremy Strong wrote children’s books. Wally Amos was famous for his chocolate chip cookies. Gena Rowlands was an actress who won four Emmy awards. Peter Marshall hosted Hollywood Squares. Phil Donahue was a talk show host. Les Earnest was a computer scientist who, among other innovations, developed the first spell checker. Ron Hale and Jim Houghton acted in soap operas. Leonard Reggio was the chairman of Barnes & Noble for almost 40 years. Michael Lerner edited Tikkun, a liberal Jewish magazine.

Celebrity Death Watch - September 2024: Linda Deutsch was a journalist who covered a number of high profile court cases for Associated Press. James Darren was a singer and actor, whose roles included starring as Dr. Anthony Newman in The Time Tunnel. Screaming’ Scott Simon played piano for Sha Na Na. Alberto Fujimori was the president of Peru through the 1990’s. Tito Jackson was part of The Jackson 5. Tongsun Park was a South Korean lobbyist who got involved in a couple of scandals. Murray Greenfield cofounded Gefen publishing, which publishes a lot of books of Jewish content. Kris Kristofferson was a singer-songwriter and actor. Ron Ely was an actor, best known for playing Tarzan. Gaven Creel was a musical theatre actor. Pete Rose was a baseball player and gambler.

Sergio Mendes was a bossa nova musician whose songs included The Look of Love and The Fool on the Hill.

Ed Kranepool played for the Mets through his entire baseball career and was the last remaining player from their 1962 inaugural season when he retired in 1979. He came to my synagogue to talk and sign autographs when I was a small child and my mother made sure we all got his autograph.

James Earl Jones was an actor who appeared in numerous movies, TV shows, and theatrical productions. He had a distinctive voice and won several lifetime achievement awards.

Daniel J. Evans was the governor of Washington from 1965-1977 and a U.S. Senator in the 1980’s. He was also on my ghoul pool list.

Maggie Smith was an amazing actress, best known for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.