It is with great sadness that we announce that San Francisco Giants Legend and Hall of Famer Willie Mays passed away peacefully this afternoon at the age of 93. pic.twitter.com/Qk4NySCFZQ
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) June 19, 2024
Category: Passages
Reports on many venues are that Mike Venturino passed away yesterday from heart related problems.
May 26, 2024
25 years ago, Mom passed away in surgery for a Aortic dissection. Time does not heal all wounds.
MILESFORTIS WILL RETURN.
Bud Anderson, last surviving World War II triple ace pilot, dies at 102
The last surviving World War II triple ace pilot died at age 102 this week, more than 75 years after serving in the U.S. Air Force and flying missions over Europe, the Washington Post reported.
Brigadier General Clarence E. Anderson, better known as “Bud,” died peacefully in his sleep on May 17, his family said in a statement on his website.
“We were blessed to have him as our father,” the statement read. “Dad lived an amazing life and was loved by many.”
Anderson is survived by his two children, four grandchildren and five great grandchildren. His wife, Eleanor, died in 2015.
Anderson, who was born in California and learned to fly at 19, served two combat tours during World War II, according to his website. He escorted heavy bombers over Europe from November 1943 to January 1945, flying 116 combat missions and destroying over a dozen enemy aircraft in aerial combat as part of the 357th Fighter Group, nicknamed the “Yoxford Boys.” He was the highest scoring ace in his squadron, according to his website.
Anderson’s other military service included serving as the commander of a squadron in post-war Korea and as the commander of the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing during combat in Southeast Asia.
During his military service, Anderson earned 25 medals, including two Legion of Merits, 16 Air Medals and “many campaign and service ribbons,” according to his website. He has also been recognized as a fighter ace, or a pilot who has destroyed five or more enemy aircraft in aerial combat, three times over.
When not overseas, Anderson was a fighter test pilot and served multiple roles, including as the deputy director of flight test operations at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. In total, Anderson logged over 7,500 flying hours in more than 130 types of aircraft.
Anderson retired from the Air Force in 1972, and joined the McDonnell Aircraft Company and spent 12 years serving as the manager of a test facility at Edwards Air Force Base in in California. He retired fully in 1984, published an autobiography in 1990, and quit flying at 90 years old but continued to lecture on the topic and consult on computer flying games, according to his website.
Anderson was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2008 and the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum in 2013, according to his website. He received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2015. In December 2022, he was given an honorary promotion to Brigadier General at the Aerospace Museum of California.
Legendary ST. LOUIS CARDINALS MLB manager Whitey Herzog dead at 92
Herzog helped the Cardinals to a World Series in 1982
Baseball Hall of Famer Whitey Herzog, who won a World Series as manager with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1982, has died, the team announced Tuesday. He was 92.
Herzog played eight years in the majors before heading into the dugout. He was a manager for the Texas Rangers and California Angels for part of the 1973 and 1974 seasons, respectively, before finding some success with the Kansas City Royals and later the Cardinals.
Manager Whitey Herzog, #24 of the St. Louis Cardinals, looks on from the dugout prior to the start of a Major League Baseball game circa 1989. (Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
“The entire Cardinals family is heartbroken to learn of the passing of Hall of Famer and World Series champion manager Whitey Herzog at the age of 92,” the Cardinals said in a statement posted to X.
O.J. Simpson Has Died.
On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer.
He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren.
During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace.
-The Simpson Family
— O.J. Simpson (@TheRealOJ32) April 11, 2024
RIP
Tommy Smothers
Tom Smothers, half of the Smothers Brothers and the co-host of one of the most socially conscious and groundbreaking television shows in the history of the medium, has died at 86.
The National Comedy Center, on behalf of his family, said in a statement Wednesday that Smothers died Tuesday at home in Santa Rosa, California, following a cancer battle.
Gaston Glock
Gaston Glock, the reclusive engineer and tycoon who developed one of the world’s best-selling handguns, died on Wednesday aged 94, Austrian news agency APA said.
The Austrian won loyal followings among police and military across the world with the weapons that bore his name. Forbes estimated his and his family’s fortune at $1.1 billion in 2021.
Emilie Cayco Lindner
Emilie was the wife of long time friend and fellow Shootist, Tom Lindner, and a good friend in her own right.
September 29, 1943 – December 7, 2023
Sandra Day O’Connor, First Woman Supreme Court Justice, Dies at 93
Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman Supreme Court justice, died Friday morning in Phoenix, Arizona. She was 93.
Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter Dead At 96
Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter has died at the age of 96, according to a statement by The Carter Center.
On Sunday, President Jimmy Carter’s wife died peacefully after being admitted into Hospice care on Friday. She is survived by her four children, 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
“Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished,” President Carter said. “She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.”
A biography of Carter given to the White House Historical Association describes Carter as having a “quiet, friendly manner,” which made her “an effective campaigner” for the 39th president.
As the First Lady of Georgia, she created what she called “a more caring society,” according to a biography by The Carter Center, a nonprofit she and Jimmy Carter co-founded in 1982.
“An activist first lady with her own bold agenda, she created a distinct East Wing office from which she set about helping disadvantaged people. Her efforts challenged age discrimination for older adults, encouraged opportunities for people with developmental disabilities, and advanced women’s equality,” the Center states. “Above all, she devoted herself to improving treatment and services for those coping with mental health conditions, a cause she adopted when her husband was governor and that remained her priority for the rest of her life.”
The former president praised his wife’s achievements for devoting herself to several social causes including programs that supported health care resources, human rights, social justice and the needs of elderly people.
In May 2023, it was announced she was diagnosed with dementia.
“She continues to live happily at home with her husband, enjoying spring in Plains and visits with loved ones,” the Carter Center said in a statement.
And by the Duke of New York, A-Number One hisslef:
Suzanne Somers, ‘Three’s Company’ actress, dead at 76
Suzanne Somers, the actress who lit up the small screen on “Three’s Company” and one of TV’s most iconic fitness pitchwomen, has died, according to a statement provided to CNN from her longtime publicist R. Couri Hay. She was 76.
“Suzanne Somers passed away peacefully at home in the early morning hours of October 15th. She survived an aggressive form of breast cancer for over 23 years,” Hay wrote in a statement shared on behalf of the actress’ family.
The statement said Somers “was surrounded by her loving husband Alan, her son Bruce, and her immediate family.”
“Her family was gathered to celebrate her 77th birthday on October 16th. Instead, they will celebrate her extraordinary life, and want to thank her millions of fans and followers who loved her dearly,” the statement added.
Emergency crews reportedly rushed to the former linebacker’s home in Malibu around 12.51pm, where he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Butkus was found unresponsive by a friend who went to check on him, reported TMZ.
In a statement released on Thursday night, Butkus’ family confirmed the Chicago Bears icon had died “peacefully” overnight, going on to thank his fans and loved ones for their support.
“The Butkus family confirms that football and entertainment legend Dick Butkus died peacefully in his sleep overnight at home in Malibu, California,” they wrote via the Bears account on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“The Butkus family is gathering with Dick’s wife, Helen.
David McCallum, Star of ‘NCIS,’ ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,’ Dies at 90.
David McCallum, who starred as Illya Kuryakin alongside Robert Vaughn’s Napoleon Solo in the 1960s hit spy drama “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” and had a supporting role as pathologist Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard on the top-rated series “NCIS” decades later, died Monday of natural causes in New York City. He was 90.
‘Joe The Plumber,’ who rose to fame after confronting Obama on 2008 campaign trail, dead at 49.
Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, who rose to national fame as “Joe the Plumber” after confronting Barack Obama on the 2008 campaign trail, died Sunday, his family confirmed.
Wurzelbacher, 49, died after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of pancreatic cancer in July, his wife, Katie Wurzelbacher told Fox News.
“Our hearts are broken. We lost a beloved husband, father, son, brother and friend. He made an impact on so many lives,” the widow wrote in a statement.
“When I met Joe he was already known by everyone else as ‘Joe the Plumber’ but he wrote something to me that stood out and showed me who he truly was: ‘just Joe,’” she said. “He was an average, honorable man trying to do great things for the country he loved so deeply after being thrust into the public eye for asking a question.”
Wurzelbacher became a symbol of the average Joe when the plumber challenged Obama at a campaign event in Toledo, Ohio, accusing the presidential candidate’s tax plan of going against the American Dream.
Mom and him were High School classmates.
Bob Barker, longtime ‘Price Is Right’ host, dies at 99
When producers hired Barker to host “The Price Is Right” in 1972, they hit the jackpot. The game show had faded significantly from its glory days in the late ‘50s and had been punted by two networks before it landed at CBS.
Bob Barker, the longtime host of television’s “The Price Is Right” who used his combination of comfort-food charm and deadpan humor to become an American television staple, has died, according to his longtime publicist. He was 99.
“It is with profound sadness that we announce that the World’s Greatest MC who ever lived, Bob Barker has left us,” publicist Roger Neal said in a statement Saturday.
Neal served as Barker’s publicist from 1987 to 1994 and again from 2020.
When producers hired Barker to host “The Price Is Right” in 1972, they hit the jackpot. The game show had faded significantly from its glory days in the late ‘50s and had been punted by two networks before it landed at CBS.
But in Barker, the show found its voice, and it has continued to air a decade and a half after he retired.
Robert Thompson, the director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, said one reason Barker became an iconic game show host was the sheer length of his career. Barker spent more than half a century on TV, taking over as host of the popular “Truth or Consequences” in 1956 and retiring from “The Price Is Right” in 2007.
“From the black and white era of television right up to the new century, Bob Barker had a real presence on two really big shows,” Thompson said.
“Secondly, you’ve got some game shows where the host just stands behind a podium, but Barker really interacted with regular people” who were selected as contestants. “And he was particularly good at it.”
Robert William Barker was born in Darrington, Washington, on Dec. 12, 1923, and at the age of 6 moved to a Sioux Indian reservation in Mission, South Dakota, with his mother after his father died in a workplace accident. His mother, Matilda, a schoolteacher, remarried and moved again to Missouri. After a two-year stint in the Navy at the tail end of World War II, Barker returned to Missouri to attend Drury College, now Drury University, and graduated with a degree in economics.
Barker landed a job at a radio station in Florida, and it didn’t take long for word of his smooth delivery to travel across the wires. In 1950, he moved to California to start his own radio program, “The Bob Barker Show,” in Burbank.
Television producers clearly tuned in, and Barker landed his first game show in 1956, NBC’s “Truth or Consequences,” a job he would hold for 18 years until it went off the air.
Barker gave prizes away on “The Price Is Right,” which became the longest-running daytime game show in TV history in 1990, until his retirement.
And when he wasn’t giving away the keys to brand new cars, he was a TV fixture in other time slots. In 1967, he began a 20-year run as emcee of the Miss Universe and Miss America pageants, and in 1969 he started a similarly long run as the host of the New Year’s Day Tournament of Roses Parade.
But Barker’s made-for-television image took a huge hit 1994, when a former “Price Is Right” model accused him in a lawsuit of threatening to fire her if she didn’t have sex with him. Although the model, Dian Parkinson — a 19-year veteran of the show who had been fired the previous year — ultimately dropped the suit, Barker was forced to admit publicly that the two had had a less-than-professional relationship off screen.
The scandal didn’t prevent Barker from being given an Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Barker was also a longtime animal rights activist, ending each episode of “The Price Is Right” with the plea: “Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered.”
“I went to Mark Goodson and told him I didn’t want to be on the stage with these fur coats,” Barker told “CBS This Morning” in 2013, referring to the show’s producer. “So he took fur coats off our show.”
Barker’s longtime friend Nancy Burnet remembered him for his work in exposing animal cruelty.
“I am so proud of the trailblazing work Barker, and I did together to expose the cruelty to animals in the entertainment industry and including working to improve the plight of abused and exploited animals in the United States and internationally,” Burnet said in a statement Saturday.
She added that the two had been friends for 40 years. “He will be missed.”
In 2013, Barker donated $1 million to move three captive elephants from the Toronto Zoo to a sanctuary in California.
The same year, Barker returned in a surprise visit to “Price Is Right” and his successor as host, Drew Carey.
“People ask me, ‘What do you miss most about ‘Price Is Right?’” Barker told Parade Magazine in 2013. “And I say, ‘The money.’ But that is not altogether true. I miss the people, too.”
Alan Arkin, Oscar-Winning Little Miss Sunshine Actor, Dead at 89.
Alan Arkin, the Academy Award and Tony Award-winning actor, has died at 89.
His death was confirmed to PEOPLE exclusively by his sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony, who jointly offered a statement on the family’s behalf: “Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man. A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.”
Missing Titanic submarine found, crew killed in deep-sea catastrophe
BOSTON – The search for the missing OceanGate Titan submersible came to a tragic end Thursday when search-and-rescue teams discovered a “debris field” on the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic, where the crew was headed before losing contact with their surface vessel Sunday morning.
“The debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber. Upon this determination, we immediately notified the families,” U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger told reporters. “On behalf of the United States Coast Guard and the entire unified command, I offer my deepest condolences to the families.”
The announcement came hours after the USCG alerted the public that a robotic vehicle made the discovery.
“A debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic,” the USCG said just before noon. ROV stands for remotely operated vehicle. Experts were evaluating the information.
The Titan lost contact with its surface vessel, the Polar Prince, around 1 hour and 45 minutes into its dive Sunday morning, about 900 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and around 400 miles southeast of St John’s, in Canada’s Newfoundland.
“We understand debris has been found which may be the landing frame and a rear cover of the tail instrument compartment of The Titan lost on previous dives,” Richard Garriott, the president of the Explorers Club which had members on the missing sub, wrote to the group, according to a spokesman. “We hear there may be additional debris, but no updated visuals of the submersible.”
Inside the vessel were OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush; British businessman turned adventurer Hamish Harding; father-and-son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, who are members of one of Pakistan’s wealthiest families; and Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a former French navy officer and leading Titanic expert.
“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans,” OceanGate said in a statement. “Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time.”
The U.S. Coast Guard headed a unified command that involved commercial assets, research vehicles and military counterparts from Canada, France and the United Kingdom.
Search-and-rescue crews spent the week deploying high-tech buoys, robotic vehicles known as ROVs, surface vessels and aerial searches in an effort to pinpoint the missing sub’s location.
The ROVs will remain in the area to gather more information, Mauger said, but he said he could not estimate the prospects of whether the victims’ remains could be recovered.
“This is incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor, and the debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel, and so we’ll continue to work and search the area down there, but I don’t have an answer,” he said.
As of Thursday morning, several with the ability to reach the ocean floor had been deployed in the Atlantic as the Titan’s estimated initial supply of 96 hours of oxygen dwindled – including the Victor 6000, which descended from the French L’Atalante research vessel to the ocean floor.
A Canadian vessel, the Horizon Arctic, also deployed its ROV Thursday morning, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Canadian pilots picked up repeated sounds during their search.
Carl Hartsfield, a retired Navy captain and a scientist from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said during a USCG briefing that the noises had been “described as banging.”
Authorities did not elaborate and had not discovered their source on Wednesday.
Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, the Harvard-educated mathematician who retreated to a dingy shack in the Montana wilderness and ran a 17-year bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others, died Saturday. The man dubbed the "Unabomber" was 81.https://t.co/Ns0nw8xTtJ
— Mike Balsamo (@MikeBalsamo1) June 10, 2023
George Maharis Dies: ‘Route 66’ Actor Was 94
George Maharis, the Route 66 actor that left the series during the height of its popularity, died on Wednesday, May 24. He was 94.
“George is well known for his stardom in Route 66, stage productions, singing, artist, and above all a great guy would do anything for anyone. My dear friend, you’ll be terribly missed,” Maharis’ friend Marc Bahan shared in a Facebook post.
Maharis was born on September 1, 1928, in Astoria, New York. He studied at the Actors Studio and got his start working in off-Broadway productions.
His first television role came in 1958 with The Mugger. Maharis would go on to land other TV credits in shows like Naked City, Exodus and Search for Tomorrow. It would be until 1960 that he would land the role of Buz Murdock on Route 66, an indirect spinoff of Naked City that shared its same creator Stirling Silliphant. Maharis would be forced to leave the show midway through Season 3 due to health issues.
Maharis would continue acting and appear in films like Quick Before It Melts (1964), Sylvia (1965), A Covenant with Death (1967) and The Happening (1967).
In the 1970’s, Maharis returned to television and starred in shows like Night Gallery, The Mostly Deadly Game, Medical Center, Mission: Impossible, Barnaby Jones, Shaft, Marcus Welby, M.D., The Snoop Sisters, Rich Man, Poor Man, The Bionic Woman, Kojak, Fantasy Island, and many more.
Maharis’ final credit was in the film Doppelganger directed by Avi Neshar in 1993 which starred Drew Barrymore and George Newbern.