i dream of a world without you: death notices for the nonexistent. [more inside]
posted by Iridic on Jul 13, 2009 - 12 comments

Newspaperman, war hero, blacklist front, distinguished screenwriter, co-creator of Mr. Magoo, novelist at age 90... Millard Kaufman is dead at 92.
posted by ubiquity on Mar 17, 2009 - 17 comments

Gore Vidal Speaks Seriously Ill of the Dead Annoyed with the rose-tinted view of William F. Buckley displayed by some of his obituarists, Vidal slams Buckley, Newsweek, and the media in general. (MeFi Buckley obit thread here).
posted by naoko on Mar 22, 2008 - 61 comments

Opening a restaurant is not an easy way to get rich, but for 36 year old Lovie Yancey, an African American woman living in Southern Califoria in 1947, the gamble paid off. As founder of the Fatburger chain (warning - audio), Lovie is remembered as the creator of arguably the greatest hamburger in a nation obsessed with hamburgers. Lovie passed away Jan 26, at 96 years of age, and even if you're not a fan of her burgers, take a moment in tribute to a remarkable woman.
posted by jonson on Feb 4, 2008 - 34 comments

With the death of Louis de Cazenave, Lazare Ponticelli is the last surviving French veteran of World War One, and the country has been wondering how to mark the inevitable. By contrast, Germany's response to the recent death of Erich Kaestner has been a more muted affair, indeed, all but unnoted. [more inside]
posted by IndigoJones on Jan 26, 2008 - 10 comments

Some of the inventors and creators that died in 2007 who leave behind something for us to remember them by: David H. Shepard (Optical Readers, Farrington B numeric font), J. Robert Cade (Gatorade), Herbert Saffir (The Hurricane Scale), George Rieveschl (beta-dimethylaminoethylbenzhydryl ether hydrochloride --- a.k.a. Benadryl), Arthur Jones (Nautilus machines), Jack Odell (Matchbox Cars), Raymond Douglas (Color in the NY Times), George Kovacs (The ubiquitous halogen torchiere lamp), Martin J. Weber (The Posterization technique), Edwin Traisman (Cheez Whiz and McD's French Fries), Ed Yost (Modern Hot-Air Ballooning), Theodore Maiman (The Laser), John Billings (The Rhythm Method), Paul C. Lauterbur (The M.R.I.), John W. Backus (Fortran), Florence Z. Melton (Slippers), James Hillier (The Electron Microscope), Iwao Takamoto ("Scooby-Doo"), and Momofuku Ando (Instant Ramen). So it goes.
posted by about_time on Dec 26, 2007 - 13 comments

A wonderful obituary in the NYT for Grace Paley, who died yesterday at her home in Thetford Hill, Vt. She was 84.
posted by jokeefe on Aug 23, 2007 - 17 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

Mourning Roundup
posted by wallstreet1929 on Jun 16, 2007 - 21 comments

Richard Rorty, American Pragmatist philosopher, has died of pancreatic cancer.
posted by washburn on Jun 9, 2007 - 61 comments

The Florida Panty Snatcher is gone, but his last request was granted. The mild-mannered truck driver wanted his long-time CB handle mentioned in his obituary. If you knew your days were numbered, what would your final wish be? What would your epitaph say?
posted by Oriole Adams on Apr 17, 2007 - 108 comments

Premature , prepared, and alternative obituaries for Cuba's Fidel Castro. Time to get ready for the real thing? Conjecture and hope about Life After Fidel: Time to get to know Fidel's brother Raul.
posted by spock on Jan 16, 2007 - 80 comments

Mountaineer, Scientist, Photographer Brad Washburn dies at 96. Across the world of mountaineering, but especially in New England, people are mourning a legend. He discovered the West Buttress Route -- the most popular route -- on Denali. He was director of Boston's Museum of Science for forty years. He took some of the most iconic photos of mountains and mountaineers. He won the National Geographic Society's Centennial Award and the King Albert Medal of Merit. His name may not be familiar, but chances are that you've seen his work.
posted by dseaton on Jan 12, 2007 - 11 comments

Bo Knew Football. On the eve of one of the most anticipated college football matchups in decades, Bo Schembechler, the storied ex coach of the Michigan Wolverines passes away. The Michigan/OSU game is one of the longest and most storied rivalries in the history of sports. His battles with Woody Hayes are the stuff of Wolverine and Buckeye legend. Hail to the Victors, Bo.
posted by spicynuts on Nov 17, 2006 - 39 comments

Bob "Mad Dog" Lassiter, dead at 61. Bob was one of the most notorious and entertaining "confrontational radio" hosts to ever sit behind a microphone. WFMU's The Professor wrote , "every other talk host I’ve ever heard usually gets off on like-minded callers, but not Bob. In fact, he was often quite impatient with callers who agreed with him." Bob was an absolute master of baiting the listening audience, ensnaring many callers who thought that they were clever enough to outwit him. Of course, none of them were. He once played "dead air chicken" with a belligerent caller for 11 minutes straight, saying absolutely nothing until the caller finally gave up and hung up his phone. Tapes of these broadcasts have been prized by aircheck collectors for years, many of which are now available as mp3 downloads at BobLassiterAirchecks.com. Bob knew he was dying, yet he actively resisted any measures that would improve his health. He blogged nearly every moment of his last days, often in graphic detail. His last written words were posted yesterday.
posted by melorama on Oct 17, 2006 - 24 comments

"He spent much of his life recovering from the misadventures that plagued him even in the womb." A most unusual obituary that illuminates the life of a Denver-area man with unusuably horiffic bad luck.
posted by huskerdont on Sep 26, 2006 - 40 comments

"Hitch was always trying to push the limits on techniques and to be different".
Cary Grant chased by a crop-duster plane in a corn field; Janet Leigh screaming in the shower; Tippi Hedren attacked by killer seagulls. The man behind lens? Leonard J. South (1914-2006) , Hitchcock's camera operator. More inside.
posted by PenguinBukkake on Jan 17, 2006 - 13 comments

Goodnight, mr. Wiesenthal
posted by matteo on Sep 20, 2005 - 68 comments

Jeff Chapman (Ninjalicious of Infiltration.org) dies. He created Infiltration, the zine that documented and instructed the practice of "urban exploration" (spelunking in buildings where you're not supposed to go). Discovering his zine led me to understand that my lengthy time-killing in the catacombs of the Ontario provincial government was an activity with an actual name - and purpose. Chapman, a liver-transplant recipient, died in Toronto of cancer at age 31. Details from his wife. (Previous mention)
posted by joeclark on Aug 25, 2005 - 29 comments

Obituaries of the Future An example: June 5, 2019. Bush – George W. (72), the 43rd president of the United States, was struck down “in action” early yesterday morning from injuries sustained during a failed one-man invasion of Mexico. Write your own!
posted by jdroth on Jul 6, 2005 - 19 comments

Shelby Foote died on Monday. Somehow I missed this, and I assume others will have as well. Booktv will rebroadcast a lengthy interview with him July 2. Downloads available as well.
posted by IndigoJones on Jul 1, 2005 - 17 comments

Actor/impressionist Frank Gorshin, aka The Riddler of the Batman TV series, has died at age 72.
posted by QuestionableSwami on May 18, 2005 - 53 comments

Saunders Mac Lane, mathematician, has died, age 95. Winner of the National Medal of Science, Vice-President of the National Academy of Science, President of the American Mathematical Society, author of three of the canonical texts in algebra [reg. maybe req., here's a local copy], Mac Lane was also mathematical ancestor to over a thousand mathematicians, father of category theory and homological algebra, and expert in topology, topos theory, group cohomology, logic, and applied mathematics. He was one of the towering figures of postwar mathematics. Remembered by his students and all of us who were affected by his work and his life.
posted by gleuschk on Apr 22, 2005 - 7 comments

Artie Shaw has died at age 94. An era continues to fade away into memory.
posted by bluedaniel on Dec 31, 2004 - 18 comments

A Walk in the Woods. Farewell to the original Cold War warrior: Paul Nitze, the college professor's son who went to Hotchkiss and Harvard and worked as investment banker before going to Washington in 1940, where he quickly became one of the chief architects of American policy towards the Soviet Union. His doctrine of "strategic stability" became its cornerstone for half a century (Nitze held key government posts in Washington, from the era of Franklin Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan's, when he was the White House's guru on arms control). By the end of 1949, Nitze had become director of the State Department's policy planning staff, helping to devise the role of Nato, deciding to press ahead with the manufacture of the H-bomb, and producing National Security Council document 68, the document at the heart of the Cold War: in it, Nitze called for a drastic expansion of the U.S. military budget. The paper also expanded containment’s scope beyond the defense of major centers of industrial power to encompass the entire world. (NSC-68 was a top secret paper, written in April 1950 and declassified in the 70's, called "United States Objectives and Programs for National Security"). More inside.
posted by matteo on Oct 22, 2004 - 7 comments

Eddie Adams has died at 71. Just last week the NPPA sent out a poignant message warning of his looming death from Lou Gehrig's disease. Who is he, you ask? The photographer who took the iconic image of an on-street execution in Vietnam and who set up the Eddie Adams Workshop. Top video here.
posted by bonaldi on Sep 19, 2004 - 3 comments

Filmmaker Alexander Hammid died earlier this week at the age of 96. By far one of the most prolific and eclectic underground filmmakers, his filmography included marital industrial films, home movies of his cats, and work as an editor on Gian Carlo Menotti's filmed opera The Medium. However, he is best known as the first husband of iconclastic director and actress Maya Deren.
posted by pxe2000 on Aug 8, 2004 - 3 comments

NFL player , who walked away from a $3.6 million contract in the aftermath of 9/11 to join his brother in the Special Forces, dies in Afganistan. Unselfishness personified.
posted by treywhit on Apr 23, 2004 - 46 comments

GoogObits - "You're only dead if you're forgotten"
posted by anastasiav on Feb 4, 2004 - 4 comments

Helmut Newton Killed in Crash Photographer Helmut Newton lost control of his Cadillac while leaving the Chateau Marmont hotel in Hollywood and crashed into a wall across the street. (more inside)
posted by matteo on Jan 23, 2004 - 11 comments

Obitpage, dedicated to the writer's art of the obituary. Recommended among the greats in the (partial) "hall-of-fame" archive is Idi Amin's: "One of the Most Reviled Figures In Recent History."
posted by stupidsexyFlanders on Sep 2, 2003 - 5 comments

Charles Bronson (1921 - 2003)
The BBC were showing Once Upon a Time in The West last night. I guess he died while I was watching it, which is kind of odd...
posted by tomcosgrave on Sep 1, 2003 - 17 comments

RIP: Walter "Matt" Jefferies - designer of the original U.S.S. Enterprise and contributor of much of what made Star Trek what it is today. And the guy who the Jefferies tube was named after.
posted by QuestionableSwami on Jul 22, 2003 - 33 comments

Obituaries of those who died in Iraq.
posted by agregoli on Jun 6, 2003 - 19 comments

"You, Walter, are indeed like a miracle that God has made."
African National Congress veteran Walter Sisulu, born in 1912, the year the ANC was founded, has died, the ANC said on Monday. He's the guy who practiced law with Nelson Mandela and spent a lot of time in jail with him. I saw his cell, the prison courtyard and the quarry in which they toiled and laboured on Robben Island just a couple of weeks ago.
posted by tomcosgrave on May 5, 2003 - 4 comments

CNN's future obituaries the credit obviously goes to FARK and the Smoking Gun
posted by magullo on Apr 17, 2003 - 13 comments

GoogObits I have always had a fascination with the obituaries page and dead pools. I have hosted a small dead pool for friends for the past few years and have collected obituaries of famous and sent them out as email salvos to friends. But this is an inspiration to us all. The joy of google, the fascination with the obit. Enjoy the dead.
posted by majikwah on Feb 21, 2003 - 3 comments

Among the plethora of online resources, there exist many personal stories of how the disease has touched the lives of online authors. I'm listing the ones I've found today (by all means post others you find as a comment here).
- Ultrasparky thinks about it twice a day
- Mermaniac remembers Ronnie
- PozBoy's story of getting tested
- Q's story from the hospital
- Piggyhawk's scare
- Thinkdkink's jr high assembly
- The Fray remembers Robert
posted by mathowie on Dec 1, 2002 - 9 comments

Alan Lomax , the legendary collector of folk music who was the first to record towering figures like Leadbelly, Muddy Waters and Woody Guthrie, died yesterday at a nursing home in Sarasota, Fla. He was 87. Mr. Lomax was a musicologist, author, disc jockey, singer, photographer, talent scout, filmmaker, concert and recording producer and television host. He did whatever was necessary to preserve traditional music and take it to a wider audience. (NY Times- Registraion Required) And... Additionally... And this. Also...
posted by y2karl on Jul 20, 2002 - 26 comments

Actor Rod Steiger Dies at 78 One of the great character actors. I still remember how blown away I was by him in "In The Heat of the Night". R.I.P.
posted by BGM on Jul 9, 2002 - 11 comments

In 1997, Scott Shuger created for Slate.com what would quickly become the wildly popular column "Today's Papers." The column was innovative in its brief and snarky discussions about that day's headlines on all the major news dailies. The differences between each paper's choice of stories covered, and the variances from paper to paper in their coverage of those same stories was illustrative in a fashion we now take for granted around here on MeFi. Shuger died suddenly over the weekend in a scuba mishap and is remembered here by his colleagues at slate.com.
posted by BentPenguin on Jun 17, 2002 - 8 comments

ObitMessenger Why it's useful: Never miss important obituaries. Never miss an important obituary because you were traveling, on vacation, or missed the paper.
posted by srboisvert on May 30, 2002 - 11 comments

Rose, the Dalmatian who greeted the rich and powerful at the Inn at Little Washington, died this morning at age 13...
posted by GriffX on May 14, 2002 - 21 comments

The National Obituary Archive is filled with details and biographies about those who left this life recently and tragically, the famous and infamous, and even one or two notes about just plain folks.
posted by bradlands on Feb 24, 2002 - 5 comments

Stanley Marcus Dies at 96 We've all heard corporate propaganda about "customer service." He really practiced it. Neiman's has really been expanding their online shopping services. Can Web retailers in the 21st century learn anything from such old-skool customer service? (NYT password link obituary is here)
posted by sixdifferentways on Jan 23, 2002 - 9 comments

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) Dave Thomas, the portly pitchman whose homespun ads built Wendy's Old-Fashioned Hamburgers into one of the world's most successful fast-food franchises, has died. He was 69 ... The cause of death was not given.
posted by chrish on Jan 8, 2002 - 32 comments

Notable Deaths of 2001. I knew Ken Kesey, Eudora Welty, and Dale Evans had died this year, but had missed some death notices - R.I.P Gregory Corso, Joey Ramone, Poul Anderson, Sir Fred Hoyle.
posted by ferris on Dec 24, 2001 - 24 comments

"Cajun" chef Justin Wilson is dead at 87. If you've ever wanted to know how to cook a good crawfish etouffee, you'll probably miss him. If you're a self-respecting Cajun, you probably won't.
posted by crabwalk on Sep 6, 2001 - 22 comments

HRH Elizabeth The Queen Mother is Dead This reminds me of a documentary I saw a year ago about US news channels, and the fact that they have the logos and segments already prepared for the deaths of important old-timers. This was funnier though.
posted by wackybrit on Aug 5, 2001 - 8 comments

Death in threes? Jonno pointed it out about six weeks ago, and I thought to myself that he was right. But man, the deaths are coming thick and fast now. The score, for those of us playing along at home, is: Musicians' deaths, 3 (John Lee Hooker, Chet Atkins and Joe Henderson), actors' deaths: 2 (Carroll O'Connor, Jack Lemmon) and Net folks' deaths, 2 (Jim Ellis and Michael Hauben. (Boozoo Chavis' passing, noted by fooljay, could be totted up in the musicians' column as well. Anthony Quinn and Joan Sims could go in the actors' column, if (like harrycaul and wackybrit, you were so inclined.)
posted by allaboutgeorge on Jul 1, 2001 - 5 comments