Greg Quill was 66.  He was an entertainment columnist and long-serving staff member of the Toronto Star.

Jeff Hanneman was 49.  He was a founding member of the American thrash metal band Slayer. He wrote the lyrics and music for Slayer's "Angel of Death" which was sampled by Public Enemy in their 1988 song "She Watch Channel Zero?!"

Chris Kelly was 34.  He was half of the 1990s kid rap duo Kris Kross who had hits with "Jump" and "Warm It Up".

George Jones was 81.  He was a country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette.

Allan Arbus was 95.  He was the actor most known for his role as psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Freedman on the television series MASH.

Richie Havens was 72.  He was a veteran folk singer and a star of the Woodstock festival and film.

Chrissy Amphlett was 53.  She was the lead singer of the rock band Divinyls  whose hit "I Touch Myself" brought her international fame in the early 1990s.

Rita MacNeil was 68.  She was the popular singer known as Cape Breton’s first lady of song.

Pat Summerall was 82.  He was the deep-voiced NFL player-turned-broadcaster who spent four decades calling sports, most notably the NFL with John Madden.

Frank Bank was 71.  He was the actor best known for his role as Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford on Leave it to Beaver.

Jonathan Winters was 87.  He was the comedian who appeared in nearly 50 films and TV shows including Mork and Mindy where he played Mearth, Mork and Mindy's son.

Annette Funicello was 70.  She was a Mouseketeer at 12, a successful singer and actor as a teen and super popular as Frankie Avalon's co-star in a series of "Beach Party" movies in the mid-1960s. Everything I know about Annette Funicello I learned from "Back to the Beach", an under-rated

Margaret Thatcher was 87.  She was the first woman to become U.K. prime minister and Britain's only prime minister of the 20th century to win three consecutive terms.

Johnny Esaw was 87.  He was a pioneer of sports broadcasting in Canada, best known for his involvement with CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada, CFL games, figure skating, golf, tennis, auto racing and international hockey.

Roger Ebert was 70.  He was the Pulitzer Prize-winning movie critic for the Chicago Sun-Times for more than 45 years and for more than three decades the co-host of one of the most powerful programs in television history. I was always a very big fan.  Here's something I wrote about

Peter Kormos was 60.  He was the Ontario NDP MPP first elected to the legislature in 1988 who joined the NDP cabinet when the party came to power under Bob Rae in 1990.

Ralph Klein was 70.  He was Mayor of Calgary for nine years and then Premier of Alberta for fourteen, presiding over four consecutive majority governments.

Richard Griffiths was 65.  He was the versatile British actor who played the boy wizard's unsympathetic Uncle Vernon in the "Harry Potter" movies. Older folks will know him best as Monty in Withnail & I, Brits will know him as Henry Crabbe in Pie in the Sky, and I remember

Stompin' Tom Connors was 77.  He was one of Canada's most prolific and well-known country and folk singers best known for "Bud the Spud", "Big Joe Mufferaw", "The Black Donnellys", "The Martin Hartwell Story", "Reesor Crossing Tragedy", "Sudbury Saturday Night" and "The Hockey Song". I was lucky enough to see

Paul Bearer was 58.  He was a professional wrestling manager and former wrestler best known for his time in World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF—later WWE). Although I was no longer following the WWF when Paul Bearer and The Undertaker were huge, I did

Hugo Chávez  was 58.  He's been President of Venezuela since 1999 and focused on implementing socialist reforms in the country as a part of a social project known as the Bolivarian Revolution.

Bonnie Franklin  was 69.  She was the actress best known for her portrayal of divorced mother Ms. Ann Romano on One Day at a Time.

Jerry Buss  was 79.  He was the Los Angeles Lakers’ playboy owner who shepherded the NBA franchise to 10 championships from the ‘80s Showtime dynasty to the Kobe Bryant era.

Mindy McCready  was 37.  She was the country music singer who reached #1 in 1996 with her single "Guys Do It All the Time".

Tim Dog was 46.  He was the the rapper who reached fame in 1991 with "Fuck Compton," a diss track toward Dr. Dre and N.W.A.