notable deaths in APRIL 2022
April 29, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
April 28, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
Harold Livingston, 97
(September 4, 1924 – April 28, 2022)
American novelist and screenwriter (Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Mannix).
Cause of death: natural causes.
Livingston is most recognized for his work on Robert Wise's science fiction movie "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (1979). Others, including as American fantasy and science fiction writers Alan Dean Foster and Gene Roddenberry, also contributed to the story and script's development.
Before becoming a writer, Livingston worked as a radio operator for aircraft navigation and authored a book called No Trophy. He was a founding member of the Israeli Air Force, sometimes known as the "Air Corps," and played a key role in Israel's triumph in the 1948 Arab–Israeli Conflict, the second and last stage of the 1947–1949 Palestine war.
April 27, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
April 26, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
Ann Davies, 87
(25 November 1934 – 26 April 2022)
English actress (Doctor Who, Summer Comedy Hour, Peter's Friends, The Sculptress).
Cause of death: natural causes.
Ann Davies (née Ann Cuerton Davies) was the mother of actress Lucy Briers (Game On, Pride & Prejudice) and Katie Briers, and the wife of actor Richard Briers (The Good Life, Ever Decreasing Circles, Marriage Lines) until his death in February 2013.
She also appeared in the British comedy film Peter's Friends (1992) and the romantic comedy 'In the Bleak Midwinter with Richard Briers (1995). One of her early television performances was as Jenny in the BBC series Doctor Who's second serial, 'The Dalek Invasion of Earth,' in which she played Jenny.
Ann Davies played Annette Ludlow in an episode of the television series Doctors in early 2003. Davies co-starred in the radio adaption of the British television series 'Brothers in Law with her husband. In the 1990s, Ann Davies played Mrs. Singleton, a teacher on Grange Hill.
April 25, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
Susan Jacks, 73
(19 August 1948 – 25 April 2022)
Canadian singer-songwriter (The Poppy Family) and record producer.
Cause of death: kidney disease.
Susan Jacks (born Susan Pesklevits) was brought to the hospital in 2016 due to life-threatening renal problems. She fully healed and returned to the studio in 2018 to create a new album.
Susan Jacks began her professional career at the age of 15 when she was invited to be a regular performer on Music Hop, a national Canadian television series. On June 27, 2010, Jacks was inducted into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame.
Her 1976 album Dream, which was inexplicably removed off the market, was re-released in 2015. She relocated to Canada when her husband was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2004, where he died on October 24, 2005. When she returned, she was informed that she had kidney damage.
April 24, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
April 23, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
Kenneth E. Stumpf, 77
(September 28, 1944 – April 23, 2022)
American soldier, holder of the medal of honor
Cause of death: unknown.
Stumpf joined in the US Army in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and by early 1967, he was assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division.
Stumpf rescued three injured teammates and single-handedly damaged an enemy bunker during Operation Baker near c Ph in the Republic of Vietnam on that day. "I've always claimed I didn't do anything above and beyond the call of duty,"
Stumpf said when questioned about his activities that day. It was my responsibility to do what I did. That was something I had to do... it was a responsibility I owed to my soldiers." For his actions, he was promoted to staff sergeant and received the Medal of Honor. Before leaving the service, Stumpf promoted to the rank of sergeant major.
April 22, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
Ted Prappas, 66
(November 14, 1955 – April 22, 2022)
American racing driver (Champ Car World Series - CART).
Cause of death: colon cancer.
Ted Prappas competed in 26 races between 1991 and 1992, including the 1992 Indianapolis 500. He finished in the top ten four times, with his best result of the career coming in sixth place at the 1991 Long Beach Grand Prix.
He finished the 1991 season as the runner-up for Rookie of the Year to Jeff Andretti. Prappas won the 1986 West Coast Atlantic Racing title and was second in the 1990 Indy Lights season before joining CART. In 1983, he began racing in Super Vee in a vehicle that James Stewart had purchased for him after hiring his mother as his business agent.
April 21, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
Daryle Lamonica, 80
(July 17, 1941 – April 21, 2022)
American football player (Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills, Southern California Sun).
Cause of death: natural causes.
For twelve seasons, Daryle Lamonica was a quarterback in the American Football League (AFL) and the National Football League (NFL), mostly with the Oakland Raiders.
He spent his first four seasons with the Buffalo Bills, who drafted him in the 24th round of the 1963 American Football League Draft. Lamonica spent the following eight seasons with the Raiders as their starting quarterback, even when they entered the NFL via the AFL–NFL merger.
Lamonica, dubbed "the Mad Bomber" for his penchant for throwing the deep ball in almost any scenario, led the Raiders to four straight division wins and a Super Bowl berth in Super Bowl II between 1967 and 1970.
Lamonica received three AFL All-Star honors, two NFL Pro Bowl selections, and two first-team All-AFL accolades, in addition to being awarded MVP twice. During each of his MVP seasons, he was the AFL's leading passer in passing touchdowns and passing yards.
Lamonica has the best quarterback winning % in the NFL and the best quarterback winning percentage in the AFL. Daryle Lamonica (born Daryle Pasquale Lamonica) died peacefully at his home in Fresno, California, at the age of 80.
April 20, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
Robert Morse, 90
(May 18, 1931 – April 20, 2022)
American actor - Tony winner (1962, 1990).
Cause of death: natural causes.
Robert Morse starred in Frank Loesser's musical 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,' both in the 1961 original Broadway production, for which he won a Tony Award, and in its 1967 film adaptation directed by David Swift, with original staging by Bob Fosse; and as Bertram Cooper in the critically acclaimed AMC drama series Mad Men (2007–2015), created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Tel Aviv.
In 1989, he earned his second Tony Award for his performance as American author, screenwriter, dramatist, and actor Truman Capote in the "one-man show Tru." In 1992, he repeated his performance as Capote in an episode of Public Broadcasting Service (PBS'American )'s Playhouse,' which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award.
Morse made his Broadway comeback in 2016 with Nathan Lane, John Slattery, John Goodman, and Holland Taylor in the Broadhurst Theatre version of 'The Front Page,' a comedy about newspaper reporters on the police beat.
April 19, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
Brad Ashford, 72
(November 10, 1949 – April 19, 2022)
American politician, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives (2015–2017).
Cause of death: brain cancer.
Ashford's family announced on social media that "his demise was peaceful ." Brad Ashford (born John Bradley Ashford) stated in February 2022 that he was undergoing brain cancer therapy.
Ashford was a state senator from Omaha when he was elected to represent Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District, defeating longtime Republican incumbent Lee Terry. Two years later, Ashford was defeated for the seat by incumbent Republican Rep. Don Bacon. Brad Ashford campaigned for the seat again in 2018, but was defeated in the Democratic primary by Kara Eastman. His wife, Ann Ferlic Ashford, announced her candidacy for the seat in 2020, however she was beaten in the primary by Eastman.
Brad Ashford shook up the race by endorsing Bacon over Eastman in the primary election.
From 1971 to 1974, he attended Creighton University and earned a Juris Doctorate. From 1974 to 1975, he worked as a staff attorney for the Federal Highway Administration. As an attorney and longtime Omaha resident, he began his political career as a Democrat in the 1980s, but switched parties several times over the years and positioned himself as an independent-minded moderate.
Brad Ashford introduced legislation in early 2009 preventing employers from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and mandating employers to utilize E-Check to verify employees.
April 18, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
Sir Harrison Birtwistle, 87
(15 July 1934 – 18 April 2022)
British composer of contemporary classical music.
Cause of death: unknown.
Sir Harrison Birtwistle, an English composer known for his rigidity, aural boldness, and intensely dramatic expressiveness, died at the age of 87. Boosey & Hawkes, his longstanding publisher, announced his death, but no more information has been released.
At the Royal Manchester College of Music, he studied clarinet and composition. Birtwistle had received a fellowship at Princeton University in New Jersey by 1965, and he finished his first opera, Punch and Judy, there. The Mask of Orpheus, which includes masked singers, mimes, and electronics, took a decade to develop and premiered in 1986 at the English National Opera.
That effort earned him the renowned Grawemeyer Award from the University of Louisville the following year. The Minotaur (2008), a two-act opera featuring 13 scenes, was named the third-best composition of the twenty-first century by music reviewers in The Guardian in 2019.
Birtwistle's musical output was frequently dramatic in idea, even when he wasn't creating a visual performance incorporating stage action. The music is organized more like a play than it is constructed according to the logic and principles of classical forms such as the sonata form. Moreover, various musical instruments may nearly be seen playing the roles of various people in the drama.
April 17, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
DJ Kay Slay, 55
(August 14, 1966 – April 17, 2022)
American disc jockey and record executive.
Cause of death: COVID-19.
DJ Kay Slay (born Keith Grayson) died at the age of 55, six months after being admitted to the hospital with Covid-19. Kay Slay was taken off of a ventilator that had been helping him breathe in January. The New York-based record businessman and disc jockey passed unexpectedly on Easter Sunday, according to his longtime friend and hip-hop promoter Van Silk.
Slay had recorded four studio albums and was dubbed "Hip Hop's One-Man Ministry of Insults" by the New York Times. The New York Times refers to him as "Hip Hop's One-Man Ministry of Insults."
DJ Kay Slay released 4 studio albums: 'The Streetsweeper, Vol. 1' (May 20, 2003, through Columbia Records), 'The Streetsweeper, Vol. 2' (March 30, 2004), The Champions: North Meets South (August 22, 2006, through Koch Records) (with Atlanta-based DJ Greg Street), and the third studio album 'More Than Just a DJ' (February 9, 2010).
Grandmaster Flash, Busta Rhymes, T-Pain, Grand Wizzard Theodore, French Montana, Kool DJ Red Alert, Foxy Brown, and Ray J were among the multi-award-winning musicians he collaborated with over his illustrious career.
April 16, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
Jon Wefald, 84
(November 24, 1937 – April 16, 2022)
American academic administrator, Former Kansas State University President (1986–2009).
Cause of death: heart attack.
Jon Wefald (born Jon Michael Wefald), former president of Kansas State University who oversaw a turnaround, died of a heart attack according to his wife, Ruth Ann. He was 84 years old. Jon Wefald's president was the second-longest in K-State history, lasting twenty-three years.
He was instrumental in pushing enrollment to over 20,000 students and adding 30 structures to campus, including Hale Library, the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, and the Leadership Studies Building, totaling 4.5 million square feet.
His presidency lasted from July 1986 to June 2009, making it the second-longest in the university's 159-year existence. Only James McCain, who served as President for twenty-five years, had a longer tenure.
Wefald is also proud of K-three State's Carnegie National Professors of the Year, as well as the fact that the university now has the most Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Goldwater, and Udall scholars of any public university.
Former US Presidents Bill Clinton (William Jefferson Blythe IV) and George Walker Bush, former Soviet politician and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author George Will, and 4 US Secretaries of Defense are among his favorite Landon Lecturers.
April 15, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
Liz Sheridan, 93
(April 10, 1929 – April 15, 2022)
American actress (Seinfeld, Wedding Bell Blues,ALF, Wishman, Play the Game).
Cause of death: natural causes.
Liz Sheridan, best remembered for her portrayal as Jerry Seinfeld's mother, Helen, in Seinfeld, died peacefully in her sleep at her home in New York City five days after her 93rd birthday, according to her longtime publicist Amanda Hendon.
Before becoming renowned, the late celebrity had a legendary affair with a then-unknown James Dean. Before making her cinematic debut, the late actress had a successful run on Broadway in the 1970s, even co-starring with Meryl Streep and Christopher Lloyd in the 1977 musical 'Happy End.' Mrs. Ochmonek, the nosy neighbor, was the late star's first major break, which she landed on Alien Life Form from 1986 until 1990.
Liz had a diverse career in Hollywood, appearing in nearly a dozen feature films and about sixty prime-time network TV movies during her long career. Sheridan co-starred in the romantic comedy Play the Game in 2009, alongside Andy Griffith and Doris Roberts, about a lonely, widowed grandpa who, after a 60-year break, learns dating tactics from his serial romancer of a grandson.
Sheridan was also a published novelist, having written the autobiographical "Dizzy & Jimmy" about her relationship with a young, pre-stardom James Dean when they were both budding Broadway actors. Liz Sheridan was also working on adapting the novel into a film.
Mike Bossy, 65
(January 22, 1957 – April 15, 2022)
4-time Stanley Cup champion with the New York Islanders -Canadian Hall of Fame ice hockey player.
Cause of death: lung cancer.
Mike Bossy, a New York Islanders legend and one of the NHL's all-time leading goal scorers, died of lung cancer at the age of 65, according to the team. Mike Bossy stated in October 2021 that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer.
In 1978, Bossy was named NHL rookie of the year and earned the Calder Memorial Trophy. From 1980 through 1983, the Montreal native was one of the main performers of the Islanders dynasty, winning four Stanley Cups. Bossy only scored less than 50 goals once in his 10-year career, in his last season before his career was cut short at age 30 due to a hip injury, and he scored more than 60 goals 5- times.
Bossy's 0.76 goals per game, which he scored in just 752 games, is the highest in NHL history, ahead of contemporaries Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky. Mike Bossy was an eight-time All-Star who was awarded the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year, the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP (the most valuable player), and the Lady Byng Award for sportsmanship three times.
He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991 after retiring following the 1986-87 season. He served as an NHL announcer in English and French media after retirement. In early1991, Bossy was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was voted one of the "100 Greatest NHL Players" of all time in 2017.
April 14, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
April 13, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
Tom McCarthy, 61
(July 31, 1960 – April 13, 2022)
Former Canadian ice hockey player (Minnesota North Stars, Boston Bruins) and coach.
Cause of death: complications from heart surgery.
Between 1979 to 1988, he was a professional ice hockey player with the Minnesota North Stars and the Boston Bruins in the National Hockey League. McCarthy also held a stake in the Espanola Express hockey team (Canadian Junior "A" ice hockey team ).
McCarthy was born in the Canadian city of Toronto. In the 1977 OMJHL Midget Draft, he was the first overall choice, one of two players picked ahead of Wayne Gretzky. In the 1978–79 season, he scored 69 goals for the Oshawa Generals.
The Minnesota North Stars selected him in the first round (tenth overall) at the 1979 NHL Entry Draft. He was chosen to play in the 1983 NHL All-Star Game and had 39 goals that season.
McCarthy went on to play 7 seasons for the North Stars and 2 seasons for the Boston Bruins, totaling 178 goals and 399 points in his career.
In the playoffs, he had 12 goals and 38 points. McCarthy died in Mexico after undergoing heart surgery.
April 12, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
Cedric McMillan, 44
(August 17, 1977 – April 12, 2022)
American professional bodybuilder (2017 Arnold Classic) and United States Army Instructor.
Cause of death: heart attack.
Cedric McMillan had a heart attack while walking on a treadmill. The legendary bodybuilder has been delayed his return to professional bodybuilding due to health difficulties, but had looked optimistic in recent months about being ready to return.
He was a top bodybuilder of the twenty-first century, having a classic physique that recalled the 'golden period' of bodybuilding rather than the bigger physiques of today.
McMillan has been one of the industry's most recognizable faces since the turn of the century, and his most recent triumph came in the 2017 Arnold Classic. Mr. McMillan has been off of the racetrack for the previous two seasons owing to a variety of ailments and health concerns.
McMillan's most recent accomplishment was a 6-place finish at the 2020 Arnold Classic (The IFBB Arnold Sports Festival). Cedric lived in Columbia, South Carolina, where he worked as a Sergeant First Class and an instructor at Fort Jackson.
Gilbert Gottfried, 67
(February 28, 1955 – April 12, 2022)
American comedian and actor (Aladdin, The Comedian's Guide to Survival, Cyberchase, Problem Child).
Cause of death: ventricular tachycardia.
Gottfried's comedic character included an exaggerated screaming voice and a focus on coarse comedy. He has voiced Iago the parrot in Disney's Aladdin animated films and TV program, Digit LeBoid in the PBS Kids show Cyberchase, and Kraang Subprime in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, among other roles in cinema and television.
Until 2011, Gottfried was the voice of the Aflac Duck. In 1990, he starred in the critically criticized yet financially successful film Problem Child. Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast, which he hosted from 2014 until his death, included discussions of old films and celebrity interviews, most commonly with experiened actors, comedians, singers, and comedy writers.
The documentary film 'Gilbert,' on Gottfried's life and work, was released in early 2017. Gilbert Gottfried (born Gilbert Jeremy Gottfried) died at the age of 67 from ventricular tachycardia aggravated by type II myotonic dystrophy.
April 11, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
Joe Horlen, 84
(August 14, 1937 – April 11, 2022
Former professional baseball pitcher (Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics).
Cause of death: alzheimer disease.
Joe Horlen played for the Chicago White Sox and Oakland Athletics in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1961 to 1972. He's referred to either Joe Horlen or Joel Horlen in about equal numbers of occurrences.
Horlen topped all American League pitchers with a 2.32 ERA from 1964 through 1968. Horlen's career record was 116 wins and 117 losses, with a 3.11 ERA and 1,065 strikeouts in 2,002 innings thrown. Horlen is the first player in baseball history to win a Pony League World Series (1952), a College World Series (Oklahoma State, 1959), and a Major League World Series (Oklahoma State, 1959). (Oakland-1972).
He was elected to the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2017.
April 10, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
Gary Brown, 52
(July 1, 1969 – April 10, 2022)
Former American football player (Houston Oilers, New York Giants, San Diego Chargers) and coach.
Cause of death: liver and kidney failure
Gary Brown (born Gary Leroy Brown), a former NFL running back who lasted eight seasons with three teams and later worked as an assistant coach in college and the NFL, died Sunday night in his birthplace of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, of liver and kidney failure.
Brown, who has been diagnosed with cancer twice, most recently in 2020 when a malignant tumor near his pancreas was discovered, has spent the past several weeks in hospice care. From 1991 through 1999, Gary Brown was a member of three NFL teams: the Houston Oilers (1991–1995), San Diego Chargers (1997), and New York Giants (1998–1999).
He was picked in the eighth round of the 1991 NFL Draft by the Houston Oilers after playing collegiate football at Penn State. He was also the University of Wisconsin's running backs coach.
Dwayne Haskins, 24
(May 3, 1997 – April 9, 2022)
American football player - quarterback (Washington Redskins, Pittsburgh Steelers).
Cause of death: traffic collision.
Dwayne Haskins, the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, died early Saturday morning after being hit by a dump truck while strolling on a South Florida roadway. He spent 3 seasons in the National Football League (NFL).
Haskins played college football at Ohio State, whereas as a redshirt sophomore in 2018, he established Big Ten Conference records for single-season throwing yards and touchdowns. He was awarded the Sammy Baugh Trophy and the Kellen Moore Award, as well as other conference distinctions, for his achievements.
Haskins was drafted in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins, however, he was released in less than 2 seasons due to uneven play and issues with his work ethic. Dwayne Haskins Jr. signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers in early 2021 and played as a backup until he was killed in a car accident.
April 7, 8, 9, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
April 6, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
Rae Allen, 95
(July 23, 1926 – April 6, 2022)
American actress of stage, film and television (And Miss Reardon Drinks A Little, A League of Their Own, The Sopranos), director, and singer.Tony winner (1971).
Cause of death: natural causes.
Rae Allen (born Raffaella Julia Theresa Abruzzo), a Tony Award winner for her roles as nosy reporter Gloria Thorpe in "Damn Yankees" and Quintina Blundetto on "The Sopranos," died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 95.
Allen, who was born in Brooklyn in 1926, studied theater at Greenwich Village's HB Studio. She was also a 1947 graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Allen made her cinematic debut in the Oscar-nominated musical comedy Damn Yankees in 1958, reprising her role as reporter Gloria Thorpe from the 1955 Broadway version.
Allen then went on to star in television shows including The Untouchables and Profiles in Courage before returning to the big screen in Arthur Miller's The Tiger Makes Out, Carl Reiner's Where's Poppa?, and Milos Forman's Taking Off. Allen played Judge Betty Small in the primetime series Soap, a satire of daytime soap operas, in the 1980s. She went on to play Ma Keller in Penny Marshall's sports comedy A League of Their Own in 1992, Barbara Shore on Stargate, and Lucy Fearing on The Fearing Mind.
On Seinfeld, Allen played Mrs. Sokol. She landed the role of Aunt Quintina Blundetto on The Sopranos in 2004. NYPD Blue and Grey's Anatomy were among his later credits. And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little, for which she received the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play in 1971, Oliver!, Fiddler on the Roof, and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever were among Allen's other Broadway credits.
She was also nominated for two Tony Awards for her roles in Damn Yankees and Traveller Without Luggage.
April 5, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
Nehemiah Persoff, 102
(August 2, 1919 – April 5, 2022)
American actor (Some Like It Hot, An American Tail, Yentl) and painter.
Cause of death: natural causes.
In a career spanning over five decades, Nehemiah Persoff featured in over two hundred television shows, films, and plays. Persoff made his name as gangster leader Little Bonaparte in the 1959 film Some Like It Hot. He was the cast's last survivor.
He also starred in Alfred Hitchcock's The Wrong Man and Al Capone early in his career, and later in TV shows such as The Twilight Zone. Rebbe Mendel, Barbra Streisand's on-screen father, was played by Persoff in the 1983 film Yentl. His acting career lasted until 2003, when he starred in Angels in America, a TV drama.
He also appeared in a number of TV episodes in his latter years, including Law & Order, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Murder, She Wrote. Nehemiah Persoff, who lived at a rehabilitation center in San Luis Obispo, California, died at the age of 102. Nehemiah had a lot of health problems in the years preceding his death, including a stroke.
April 4, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
Gene Shue, 90
(December 18, 1931 – April 4, 2022)
Former American basketball player (Fort Wayne/Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks) and coach (Baltimore/Washington Bullets). Five-time NBA All-Star and two-time Coach of the Year.
Cause of death: natural causes.
Gene Shue (born Eugene William Shue) was a significant role in the development of basketball and one of the best guards in the NBA's early days. He is credited with developing the "Spin Move" as well as foreshadowing numerous methods and moves.
Shue was named to the NBA All-Star team five years in a row (1958–62). He became a long-serving coach after a stellar playing career, winning NBA Coach of the Year twice. Shue was "a expert at taking over floundering teams" throughout his career as a player, coach, and executive.
Shue began coaching with the Baltimore Bullets in early 1966, earning the Eastern Conference title in 1971 before losing in the Finals against the Milwaukee Bucks.
In 1969 and 1982, he was named Coach of the Year with the Bullets. In 1973, he became the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, leading them to the 1977 NBA Finals. He subsequently went on to coach the San Diego Clippers before returning to the Bullets in 1980.
From 1987 to 1989, he was the head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers. He has a 784-861 career coaching record. In 1990, Shue was named general manager of the 76ers, a job he held for 2 years.
April 3, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
Bruce Johnson, 71
(1950 – April 3, 2022)
Former American news anchor and reporter (WUSA).
Cause of death: heart attack.
Bruce Johnson, a Washington broadcast journalist and television personality noted for his street-savvy coverage of local politics and urban affairs and for moderating community forums and debates for more than 40 years, died aged 71 on April 3 at a hospital in Rehoboth Beach, Del.. Lori Smith-Johnson, his wife, said the reason was a heart attack.
Bruce Johnson announced in early 2018 that he had non-lymphoma Hodgkin's and would be taking a break to receive chemotherapy. Later that year, he returned to the skies until retiring in December 2020.
Bruce Johnson, who spent 44 years at WUSA, was part of the second wave of Black journalists to appear on camera in major cities, following in the footsteps of Max Robinson and Jim Vance. In 1976, he joined Gordon Peterson, J.C. Hayward, Maureen Bunyan, and Glenn Brenner as part of a popular team of news reporters and anchors at Washington's CBS station (then named WTOP, then WDVM and WUSA).
He was an award-winning anchor and reporter for significant news stories from the nation's capital for over 44 years.
Stan Parrish, 75
(September 20, 1946 – April 3, 2022)
American football coach (Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Ball State Cardinals, Michigan Wolverines).
Cause of death: unknown.
Parrish (born Stanley Paul Parrish) was a Cleveland, Ohio, native who coached at Michigan for six legendary seasons as Lloyd Carr's quarterback's coach.
From 1996 through 2001, Parrish worked with Brian Griese and Tom Brady, two future NFL players, as well as highly rated high school prospect Drew Henson. Parrish was a member of the 1997 National Champion Michigan Wolverines and the Super Bowl XXXVII Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an assistant coach before being promoted to offensive coordinator in 2000.
After serving as the quarterback's coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFL from 2002 to 2003, Parrish joined Brady Hoke's staff at Ball State as the quarterbacks' coach and offensive coordinator.
Parrish was promoted to head coach after Hoke left for San Diego State in 2008. In 2013, he was moved to Eastern Michigan's interim head coach when Ron English was fired, despite previously serving as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
April 2, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
Estelle Harris, 93
(April 22, 1928 – April 2, 2022)
American actress (Seinfeld, Toy Story, Tarzan 2: The Legend Begins, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody).
Cause of death: natural causes.
Estelle Harris, who played George Costanza's mother on "Seinfeld," died at the age of 93 from natural causes.
Harris, whose unique voice was sought after in a variety of roles, is most remembered for her part as Estelle Costanza in the 1990s comedy Estelle Costanza, in which she frequently bickers with her on-screen husband Jerry Stiller and her fictitious son Jason Alexander.
She was born in New York City and reared in a tiny coal mining community in Pennsylvania. After returning to New York, she married and had three children. Harris began her playing career in community theaters before going on to regional theaters and summer stock performances all around the United States.
Estelle Harris went on to have a successful career on Madison Avenue, appearing in up to twenty-five national television advertisements in a single year, giving her the moniker "Queen of Commercials." Mrs. Potato Head in Disney/Toy Pixar's Story franchise, Muriel in Danny Kallis's American sitcom "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody," and Mama Gunda in Tarzan 2: The Legend Begins" were among her other appearances.
April 1, 2022
NOTABLE deaths
C. W. McCall, 93
(November 15, 1928 – April 1, 2022)
American country singer ("Convoy", "'“Keep On-a-Truckin’ Cafe,”, "Roses for Mama"), activist and politician, former mayor of Ouray, Colorado.
Cause of death: lung cancer.
C. W. McCall (born William Dale Fries Jr.) became a country music superstar with songs about driving 18-wheelers and big rigs, including the number one single "Convoy" in 1976.
In a series of commercials for a Midwestern bread company, McCall created the character of McCall, a truck driver. The idea wasn't to establish a persona but to use appealing, country-sounding jingles to sell bread. McCall adopted this persona and began recording music about long-haul trucking, even coining his own CB radio jargon, which truckers still use today.
McCall's big country singles in the 1970s were "Old Home Filler-Up" "Keep On-a-Truckin' Cafe," "Wolf Creek Pass," and, most notably, "Convoy," which was a No. 1 pop and country smash in 1976.
According to Rolling Stone, the novelty hit "Convoy" was a form of spoken-word narrative that topped the country and mainstream charts. It sold over 2 million copies and was given a gold disc by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in late 1975.
Even though C. W. McCall isn't a one-hit-wonder, "Convoy" has become his hallmark tune. Following his musical breakthrough, he served as mayor of Ouray, Colorado, from 1986 until 1992. He died from lung cancer at his home in Ouray, Colorado, at the age of 93.
