Christie Blatchford was 68.  She was Canada's first female sports reporter with the Globe and Mail before moving to The Toronto Star as a general assignment reporter, then the Toronto Sun, National Post, back to the Globe and Mail and back to the National Post.

Kirk Douglas was 103.  He was nominated three times for best actor by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, for Champion, The Bad and the Beautiful and Lust for Life, but he's perhaps best known for starring as a slave in Spartacus.

Kobe Bryant was 41.  He played his entire twenty-season NBA career as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers winning five NBA championships. He also won an Oscar.

Terry Jones was 77.  He was a founding member of Monty Python and a beloved comedian, screenwriter, film director, poet, historian and author.

Neil Peart was 67. He was the Hall of Fame drummer and primary lyricist for Rush. He was also an accomplished author.

Danny Aiello was 86. He was the actor best known for his roles in "Do The Right Thing", "The Godfather Part II", and "Moonstruck". He also had a cameo in Madonna's video for "Papa Don't Preach".

Marie Fredriksson was 61. She was the lead singer and songwriter for Roxette, a Swedish band best known for their hits The Look, Joyride and It Must Have Been Love.

Caroll Spinney was 85. He was the puppeteer most famous for playing Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street. He portrayed their voices from the show's inception in 1969 until his retirement last year.

John Mann was 57. He was best known as the frontman of the rock band Spirit of the West whose track "Home for a Rest" is still considered a classic frosh week anthem at universities across Canada.

Robert Forster was 78. He was the actor best known for his Oscar-nominated performance in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown. Prior to this late career resurgence, he was best known for his roles in Medium Cool and the detective series Banyon.

Rip Taylor was 84. Known as the "King of Confetti" and "The Crying Comedian," he was a television and nightclub mainstay for more than six decades.

Ginger Baker was 80. He was a drummer and founder of Cream who was known as "rock's first superstar drummer".

Diahann Carroll was 85. She starred in Julia, the first US sitcom to centre on a black woman, and she was also the first black woman to win the Tony for best actress in 1962 for the Broadway musical No Strings.

Rik Ocasek was 75. He was a founding member of the Cars, a band best known for the hits "Just What I Needed", "My Best Friend's Girl", "Good Times Roll", "Shake It Up", "You Might Think" and "Drive".

Eddie Money was 70. He was the singer and songwriter whose songs “Baby Hold On,” “Two Tickets to Paradise,” “Shakin'” and “Take Me Home Tonight” were big hits in the 1970s and 1980s.

Valerie Harper was 80. She played Rhoda Morgenstern on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and went on to star in the spinoff "Rhoda."

Peter Fonda was 79. He was the two-time Oscar nominee who co-wrote, produced and starred in the seminal 1969 road movie "Easy Rider."

Toni Morrison was 88. She was the author of 11 novels, winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. She is perhaps best known for her novels "The Bluest Eye" and "Song of Solomon."

Rip Torn was 88. He was the actor who was nominated for an Oscar for portraying Marsh in Cross Creek, but I loved him most as Larry Sanders' producer on The Larry Sanders Show, a role for which he was nominated for six Emmy Awards, winning in 1996.

Bill Buckner was 69. He was the first baseman who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, California Angels, and Kansas City Royals during a 22 season major league career. And yes, he let a Mookie Wilson slow roller go between his legs in the tenth

Bart Starr was 85. He was the Green Bay Packers quarterback most famous for the sneak that won the famed "Ice Bowl" in 1967. He led the Packers to the first two Super Bowl titles.