Bob Hunter...

...DEAD!!! The Canadian journalist and co-founder of Greenpeace died May 2, 2005. He was 63. Born in October, 1941, Hunter served as the first president of Greenpeace from 1973-1979, and was instrumental in the organization's growth from an ad-hoc committee to a full-blown movement -- which currently boasts 2.8 million members in 41 countries. Hunter left Greenpeace in 1981 and returned to broadcasting. He was named as one of the Top 10 Environmental Heroes of the 20th Century by Time Magazine in 2000.

Mad props to Justin for providing a non-obscure notice.

Mason Adams...

...DEAD!!! Adams died April 26, 2005 of natural causes. He was 86. Adams was born in February, 1919 in Brooklyn. As a film and TV actor who got his start in the late 40's, Adams was best well known for both his role as Charlie Hume on the TV series Barney Miller, and his voice-over work on commericals for Smuckers jelly.

Joe is on one hell of a roll.

Hasil Adkins...

...DEAD!!! The notorious one-man band who spun his own crazed version of rockabilly since 1949, died April 26, 2005 (at least, that is the day his body was found). He was 67. In his career, Adkins wrote over 7,000 original songs, and consistenly played over 2,000 cover songs from memory. The son of a coal-miner, Adkins learned to play guitar before the age of 10. While performing, Adkins would play guitar, harmonica, drums, and foot-rhythm instruments whilst singing. Truly an original artist - he will be sorely missed.

Thank you, Joe, for the notice.

Ruth Hussey...

...DEAD!!! Ms. Hussey died April 19, 2005 of complications following an appendectomy. She was 93. Hussey was born in October, 1911, in Providence, Rhode Island. Her "reliable" presence on the Silver Screen included roles in a number of classic films including Madam X, The Great Gatsby, Stars And Stripes Forever and, most notably The Philadelphia Story (for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress).

Tom provided the notice, and he LOVES The Philadelphia Story.

Sir John Mills...

...DEAD!!! The Oscar-winning English actor died April 23, 2005 . He had been ill for weeks with a chest infection. He was 97. Born in 1908, Mills graduated from the Watts Naval Training College in Norfolk, England. His acting career began in the early 1930's, with his first big break coming in 1946 when he portrayed a young Pip in Great Expectations. His filmography is long and illustrious, including roles in Ghandi, The Big Sleep, Swiss Family Robinson, and Ryan's Daughter (for which he won an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor).

Many kudos are due to Allison for this, her first big notice.

Stan Levey...

...DEAD!!! The be-bop pioneer who played with a number of jazz legends including Dizzy Gilliespie, Charlie Parker, and Ella Fitzgerald died April 22, 2005, only two months after undergoing surgery for cancer. He was 79. Levey got his start at the early age of 16 when he first played with Diz in Philadelphia in 1942. He continued to play with Gillespie's band, and moved to New York where he and a loose collective of like-minded musicians (including Miles Davis, Parker, Coleman Hawkins, and Dexter Gordon) reinvigorated the jazz scene by founding/creating the be-bop style.

As one would expect, Colby made this call. Hey -- what do you call someone who hangs out with three musicians? Just kidding!

George Molchan...

...DEAD!!! Molchan, who spent over 30 years being known as "Little Oscar" traveling across the country in the very phallic "Weeniemobile" as the mascot for Oscar Mayer hotdogs, died April 12, 2005. He was 82. According to all sources, he was a great guy.

Adam gets credit for this most excellent notification, and John Jameson will never have a funeral as cool as Molchan's.

Sam Mills...

...DEAD!!! The former Pro-Bowler for the New Orleans Saints and the Carolina Panthers died April 18, 2005 of intestinal cancer. He was 45. Mills failed several times to break into both the NFL and the Canadian Football League, ultimately debuting in 1983 for Philadelphia Stars of the USFL. After three years with the Stars, he was drafted by the Saints in 1986. He is a member of the Louisana Sports Hall of Fame.

Congratulations to Sabo for the call.

Andre' Francois...

...DEAD>!!! The cartoonist, illustrator and satirist died April 11, 2005 of heart and kidney failure (ouch!). He was 89. Born Andre' Farkas in Romania in 1915, Francois was forced to hide from Nazi forces (he was a leftist) during WWII. His first book was published in 1952 and, from the 50's through the 80's, was widely published in magazines such as Vogue, The New Yorker, and Sports Illustrated.

Joe apparently has an uncanny ability to notify the world about the deaths of artists.

Philip Pavia...

...DEAD!!! The avant-garde sculptor died April 13, 2005 due to complications from a recent stroke. He was 94. Generally hailed as a pioneer modern abstractionist, many of Pavia's works were once on display at prestigous institutions such as the Guggenheim, the Cooper-Hewitt, and OK Harris museums/galleries. His best known sculpture, The Ides of March, was displayed for over 20 years outside the New York Hilton on 6th Avenue. Take that, Paris.

Thanks be to Joe for the notice.

Lucien Laurent...

... DEAD!!! Mr. Laurent, who scored the very first goal in the 1930 inaugural World Cup finals, died on April 11, 2005, presumably of old age/natural causes. He was 97. The goal in question, scored by Mr. Laurent for the French team against Uruguay, made him famous. Unfortunately, France did not go on to win the Cup, but later lost to both Chile and Argentina. C'est la vie, no?

Mad props to Justin.

Andrea Dworkin...

... DEAD!!! The feminist icon, author and anti-porn crusader died April 10, 2005 in her sleep at the age of 59. Perhaps most notoriously, Ms. Dworkin helped draft a law in 1983 that defined pornography as a civil rights violation against women. The law -- inspired by the account of Linda "Lovelace" Marchiano (star of Deep Throat) -- was later overturned as unconstitutional by an appellate court.

Dan made the call.

Archbishop Lakovos of the Greek Orthodox Church...

... DEAD!!! The former 37-year head of the Greek Orthodox Church in the Americas died April 10, 2005 of a "pulmonary ailment". He was 93 years old. Born Demetrios Coucouzis in 1911 in Turkey, he met with every U.S. President from Eisenhower to Clinton, marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and was instrumental in modernizing/popularizing the Greek Orthodox faith. He was eventually forced out of the chuch due to his attempts at uniting various Eastern branches of the faith.

Once again, Adam made the call.

Al Lucas,,,

...DEAD!!! The one-time defensive lineman for the North Carolina Panthers (he played two seasons, 2000-2001), who moved on to a career in Arena Football with the LA Avengers died on April 10, 2005 of injuries sustained on the field.

Adam made the call.

(and apologies for the lateness of this and other posts ... yours truly has been a busy, busy boy).

Fred Haley...

...DEAD! Fred Haley, one of the "most successful candy manufacturers" died April 4, 2005 at the age of 92. He was the president of Brown & Haley, makers of the Almond Roca and other popular candies. He was also a well-known for his charity work and his dogged advocacy of civil rights. Haley was born in Tacoma, Washington, went to college at Dartmouth, and served as a Navy Harbour Pilot in WWII. He worked for Brown & Haley for (essentially) his entire life, taking over the reins after the death of his father in 1954. The ACLU recognized his contributions to civil rights by honoring him with the William O. Douglas award in 1985.

Thanks to Justin for the notice.

Frank Conroy...

...DEAD!!! The celebrated author and educator died April 6, 2005 of colon cancer. He was 69. Conroy most notably authored Stop-Time and was director of the University of Iowa's Writer's Workshop for nearly 20 years. He was also a fairly decent jazz pianist.

Thanks to Joe for the notice.

Edward Bronfman...

...DEAD!!! The founder of Labatt brewery, and former co-owner of the Montreal Canadiens, philanthropist and general business tycoon died April 4, 2005. He was 77. He was born November 1, 1927, newphew to Samuel Bronfman (the founder of Seagram). In 2000, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Kudos to me.

Dale Messick...

...DEAD! Dahlia "Dale" Messick, creator of the long-running comic strip Brenda Starr, died on April 7, 2005 at the very ripe old age of 98 (nearly 99 - she died 4 days before her birthday). She was born April 11, 1906 in South Bend, Indiana. She moved to New York in 1933 and, in the midst of the Great Depression, earned a staggering $50/week of which she sent nearly half to her family in South Bend. Her primary legacy, Brenda Starr, debuted on June 30, 1940. Though Messick retired from the strip in 1985, she was given the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement award by the National Cartoonist Society in 1997.

Excellent work by Dan for the notice.

Prince Rainier III of Monaco ...

...DEAD!!! Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi, the reigning sovreign of Monaco since 1949, died on April 6, 2005 of heart, lung and kidney failure. He was a direct descendant of Josephine de Beauharnais, gained excessive fame after marrying Grace Kelly (with whom he is pictured here), and was responsible for the creation of Monaco's "new" constituion in 1962 that drastically reduced the powers of the sovreign ... replacing centuries of autocratic rule (the principality has been under Grimaldi rule since 1217) with a shared power structure between the Prince and an elected 18-member National Council.

Congrats to John J., who apparently stayed up late last night and whose name I've given up trying to spell.

Saul Bellow...

...DEAD!!! The Nobel Laureate, Pulitzer winner, and acclaimed Jewish/American author died April 5, 2005 at the age of 89. As of this posting, no cause of death has been announced. Bellow was born on June 10, 1915 in Lachine, Quebec. He received his undergraduate degree (in anthropology) from Northwestern University, and taught at many revered institutions including Princeton, the University of Chicago, University of Minnesota, and New York University. He authored scads of novels, essays, plays, etc., most notably including Herzog and Humboldt's Gift.

Adam got this one, and he is most definitely back on the horse.

Henry Paynter...

...DEAD!!! The world's oldest competitive badminton player (according to the people at Guinness) died at the ripe old age of 98. He was born in 1907 and began playing the jaunty sport of badminton in 1929.

Thanks be to Justin for this obscure notification.

Ahmed Zaki...

...DEAD!! The acclaimed and beloved Egyptian actor died on April 3, 2005 of cancer that originated in his lungs but then spread to his liver. He was born on November 18, 1949. He starred in over 50 films, beginning his big-screen career in 1974 with "Abna el-Samt" (The Children of Silence).

Props to Kevin, who, unlike Adam, believes Mr. Zaki to be of more importance than a European fish that ate small dogs.

Marius "Lefty" Russo...

...DEAD!!!
The former New York Yankees pitcher died on March 26, 2005 from heart failure following his long battle with a host of illnesses. He was born July 14, 1914, and started his career with the Yanks in 1939, was named to the All Star team in 1941, and played his last season in 1946.

Congrats go to Adam for both the notice and for gettin' back on the horse.

Pope John Paul II...

...DEAD!!! Karol Józef Wojty, aka Pope John Paul II, died on April 2nd, 2005. He was born in Wadowice, Poland on on May 18, 1920 and began his studies that would lead him towards priesthood in 1942. He was ordained as a priest on November 1, 1946. Between 1948 and 1967 he went through various stages of Bishophood, and ultimately was elected Pope on October 16, 1978. He authored 14 encyclicals, 15 apostolic exhortations, 11 apostolic constinutions, 45 apostolic letters, and five books.

Kudos are due to Eric, who made the ultimate, hotly contested call.