In Memoriam
Total 1561 Posts
Richard Wright was 65. He was a founding member of the rock group Pink Floyd. He wrote "The Great Gig in the Sky" and "Us and Them" for Dark Side of the Moon, and also worked on the group's epic compositions "Atom Heart Mother," "Echoes" and "Shine on You Crazy
Erik Nielsen was 84. He was a former deputy prime minister in Brian Mulroney's Conservative government and elder brother of comic Leslie Nielsen.
Jerry Reed was 71. He was a singer who became a good ol' boy actor in car chase movies like "Smokey and the Bandit."
Don LaFontaine was 68. He voiced over 5,000 trailers and almost 350,000 commercials and is responsible for the ubiquitous trailer-opening phrase "In a world..."
Walter "Killer" Kowalski was 81. He was a pro-wrestling pioneer famous for various moves, including a stomach vice grip called the "Killer Clutch."
Kevin Duckworth was 44. He was a two-time NBA All-Star who played on two Western Conference-winning teams with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Gene Upshaw was 63. He was the executive director of the NFL Players Association and a Hall of Fame guard with the Oakland Raiders.
LeRoi Moore was 46. He was the saxophonist for the Dave Matthews Band.
Isaac Hayes was 65. He was the pioneering singer, songwriter and musician whose relentless "Theme From Shaft" won Academy and Grammy awards.
Bernie Mac was 50. He was the actor and comedian who teamed up in the casino heist caper "Ocean's Eleven" and gained a prestigious Peabody Award for his sitcom "The Bernie Mac Show."
Skip Carey was 68. He was a voice of the Atlanta Braves for 33 years and part of a family line of baseball broadcasters that included Hall of Famer Harry Caray.
Leif Pettersen was 57. He played eight CFL seasons with Saskatchewan and Hamilton and worked as a television analyst.
Johnny Griffin was 80. He was the jazz tenor saxophonist who played alongside such luminaries as Lionel Hampton, Art Blakey and Thelonius Monk.
Randy Pausch was 47. He was the Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist whose "last lecture" about facing terminal cancer became an Internet sensation and a best-selling book.
Estelle Getty was 84. She was the Emmy and Golden Globe Award winning actress best known for playing Sophia Petrillo on the popular 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls.
Bobby Murcer was 62. He was a five-time All-Star outfielder who spent nearly four decades with the New York Yankees as a player, executive and announcer.
Larry Harmon was 83. He turned the character Bozo the Clown into a show business staple that delighted children for more than a half-century.
Dody Goodman was 93. She was the delightfully daffy comedian known for her television appearances on Jack Paar's late-night talk show and as the mother on the soap-opera parody "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman."
George Carlin was 71. He was a counter-culture hero famed for his routines about drugs, dirty words and the demise of humanity. I'll have more from one of my favourite comedians throughout the day.
Cyd Charisse was 86. She was the long-legged Texas beauty who danced with the Ballet Russe as a teenager and starred in MGM musicals with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly.
Tim Russert was 58. He was the host of NBC's "Meet the Press" and the network's Washington bureau chief.
Miroslav Dvorak was 56. He was a key defenceman for the Philadelphia Flyers for three seasons in the 1980s.
Brian Budd was 56. He was the Canadian soccer player best known for winning ABC's World Superstars championship three years in a row from 1978 to 1980.
Tyrone Jones was 46. He was the colourful and outspoken linebacker who helped the Winnipeg Blue Bombers capture two Grey Cup titles during his eight-year tenure with the CFL club.
Jim McKay was 86. He elegantly covered competitions from badminton to barrel jumping. Yet he may best be remembered for that grim day at the Munich Olympics when he broke the news with three simple words: "They're all gone."
