Edward M. Kennedy, Senator from Massachusetts, has died at age 77. After a rocky youth (including scandals of cheating and reckless driving), Kennedy followed his brothers into politics, making health care his cause, and eventually went on to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Anticipating his own death, he had been trying to create a quick transition for his replacement as a vote on health care reform rapidly approached.
posted by ocherdraco on Aug 25, 2009 - 659 comments

But if I'd ever leave you,
It couldn't be in autumn.
How I'd leave in autumn I never will know....

Robert Goulet, who shot to fame playing Lancelot in Camelot (the musical, not the model) passed away today. He had been waiting for a lung transplant.
posted by dw on Oct 30, 2007 - 59 comments

ObitFilter: Madeleine L'Engle, Newberry-winning and banned author, died Thursday aged 89.
posted by dw on Sep 7, 2007 - 147 comments

I don't know what other people’s first thoughts may be on Monday mornings; but mine, as the jabber of my husband’s radio crawls into my dreams, is “Has anyone died today?” So began a week-long diary by The Economist's obituaries editor, Ann Wroe, which she completed today.
posted by Kattullus on Jul 27, 2007 - 9 comments