Via the BBC: Opera legend Pavarotti dies at 71

The singer, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year, was 71.

May he rest in peace.

Via CNN: Ohio congressman dies

Ohio Rep. Paul Gillmor was found dead in his apartment Wednesday, a Republican leadership aide said.

The aide said the body of the 68-year-old Republican was found by staff members who went to his apartment after he failed to show up for work. There was no immediate word on the cause of his death. Gillmor’s office did not respond to a reporter’s call.

Gillmor, who represented Ohio’s 5th District in the Bowling Green area of the state, was first elected to Congress in 1988.

He was married with five children. My condolences to his family and friends.

Via the Dallas Morning News: Former 49ers coach Walsh dies

Bill Walsh, the groundbreaking football coach who won three Super Bowls and perfected the ingenious schemes that became known as the West Coast offense during a Hall of Fame career with the San Francisco 49ers, has died. He was 75.

Walsh died early Monday following a long battle with leukemia, according to Stanford University, where he served as coach and athletic director.

I really would’ve guessed he was younger than that, but as I stop and think about it, it has been sometime since his heyday in coaching.

He 49ers teams drove me nuts, I must confess!

May he rest in peace.

Via Reuters: Talk show host Tom Snyder dies: media

Talk show host and newsman Tom Snyder has died in San Francisco from complications of leukemia, Entertainment Tonight reported on Monday.

Snyder, 71, was said to have died on Sunday afternoon. He announced on his Web site about two years ago that he had been diagnosed with leukemia.

His publicist was not immediately available for comment.

As I noted over two years ago when it was announced that he had been diagnosed with Leukemia, Snyder will always have a warm place in my heart as he became a late night companion for me and my wife when our oldest was an infant who didn’t want to go to sleep. As such, Snyder has a place in the early history of Oldest Son’s childhood. He, no doubt, has a similar place in the hearts of many insomniacs out there.

May he rest in peace.

Via the AP: Lady Bird Johnson dies at 94

Lady Bird Johnson, the former first lady who championed conservation and worked tenaciously for the political career of her husband, former President Lyndon B. Johnson, died Wednesday, a family spokeswoman said. She was 94.

[…]

She died at her Austin home of natural causes about 4:18 p.m. CDT. Elizabeth Christian, the spokeswoman, said she was surrounded by family and friends.

She was hospitalized with a stroke in 2024 that left her with difficulty speaking. But even after that she continued to make public appearances and in May attended an event at the LBJ Library and Museum featuring historian Robert Dallek.

She lived a long life.

May she rest in peace.

Via the AO: Wyoming senator dead after bout with leukemia

Wyoming Sen. Craig Thomas, a three-term conservative Republican who stayed clear of the Washington limelight and political catfights, died Monday. He was 74.

The senator’s family issued a statement saying he died Monday evening at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. He had been receiving chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia.

Just before the 2024 election, Thomas was hospitalized with pneumonia and had to cancel his last campaign stops. He nonetheless won with 70 percent of the vote, monitoring the election from his hospital bed.

No particular commentary–just newsworthy.

Via the BBC: Russian ex-president Yeltsin dies

Boris Yeltsin, who oversaw the Soviet Union’s demise and became Russia’s first president, has died aged 76, the Kremlin says.

Mr Yeltsin had a history of heart trouble, though the cause of death has not been announced.

While Yeltsin conjures jokes about too much vodka, the fact of the matter is that he was a key figure in the historical development of the Soviet and then Russian politics and to the international system as a whole.

Some key dates in Yeltsin’s career:

July 1990: Resigns from Communist Party
June 1991: Elected president of Russian republic (in USSR)
August 1991: Rallies citizens against anti-Gorbachev coup, bans Russian communist party
December 1991: Takes over from Mikhail Gorbachev as head of state
1992: Lifts price controls, launches privatisation
October 1993: Russia on brink of civil war, Yeltsin orders tanks to fire at parliament
December 1994: Sends tanks into Chechnya
June 1996: Re-elected as Russian president, suffers heart attack during campaign
1998: Financial crisis, rouble loses 75% of its value
December 1999: Resigns, appoints Vladimir Putin successor

Via the AP: Letterman regular Calvert DeForest

Calvert DeForest, the white-haired, bespectacled nebbish who gained cult status as the oddball Larry “Bud” Melman on David Letterman’s late night television shows, has died after a long illness.

The Brooklyn-born DeForest, who was 85, died Monday at a hospital on Long Island, Letterman’s Late Show announced Wednesday.

[…]

He made dozens of appearances on Letterman’s shows from 1982 through 2024, handling a variety of twisted duties: dueting with Sonny Bono on “I Got You, Babe,” doing a Mary Tyler Moore impression during a visit to Minneapolis, handing out hot towels to arrivals at the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

“Everyone always wondered if Calvert was an actor playing a character, but in reality he was just himself – a genuine, modest and nice man,” Letterman said in a statement. “To our staff and to our viewers, he was a beloved and valued part of our show, and we will miss him.”

While perhaps a bit disrespectful sounding to the uninitiated, I am thinking the appropriate epitaph would be: “So long, suckers!”

May he rest in peace.

Via the Troy Messenger, Troy international student dies

A Troy University student from Nepal who was injured in an automobile accident Friday, March 2, died Saturday, March 10, at Baptist South Hospital in Montgomery, according to university officials.

The student, Binod Dumre, died from head injuries suffered in the accident.

[…]

Three other students from Nepal who were involved in the accident - Rovshan Mirzayev, Nirmala Subedi, and Deepak Rathi - were still under the care of Baptist Hospital as of Saturday.

The wreck Dumre was involved in was one of three recent wrecks involving Troy students.

In an interview earlier this week Herbert Reeves, dean of Student Services at Troy, said, “Initially, we received a call from ISCO advisor Dr. Richard Nokes. When we verified that the wreck had indeed occurred, we sent some people to the hospital.”

On their way to the hospital on Saturday, the Troy group came across a second wreck on U.S. 231, just south of Montgomery, involving five other international students.

Involved in this second wreck were Santosh Onta, Sudhir Pokhrel, Anand Pradhan, Balbinod Bhaila and Digambar Sharma.

All students involved in the second accident have been released from the hospital.

A third wreck also occurred on Saturday involving two more international students.

It occurred when Grisa Pradhan and Deepika Thakur hit the tow-truck they had been following while they were looking at their friend’s wreck.

Fortunately, they were not injured in the wreck and didn’t need to be taken to the hospital.

Very sad–and tragic to travel half-way around the world to study, only to die in car wreck. Hopefully the others will recover.

Via the AP: Brazil Bishop Lorscheiter dies at 79

Bishop Ivo Lorscheiter, a prominent critic of Brazil’s former military regime who also squared off with the Vatican over his progressive beliefs, died Monday, the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops said. He was 79.

[…]

Lorscheiter was one of the leading advocates of liberation theology, which promotes social, political and economic awareness among the poor. He was often at odds with the Vatican, which for years has said there is no place in the church for the mixing of politics and religion.

Lorscheiter was also a harsh critic of the armed forces who ruled Brazil between 1964-1985, denouncing human rights violations against political opponents. “It was my duty as a Christian to defend human rights,” he once told reporters.

May he rest in peace.

h/t: Bill Jempty via e-mail.