Deaths in January - 2015

Poet Miller Williams died January 1 at the age of 84. He wrote Patterns of Poetry: an Encyclopedia of Forms and Some Jazz a While.

Former governor of New York Mario Cuomo died January 1 at the age of 82. His books include Why Lincoln Matters, Reason to Believe and More Than Words.

The first popularly elected African American to the U.S. Senate, Edward W. Brooke III died January 3 at the age of 95. He wrote Bridging the Divide: My Life.

Former presidential advisor Martin Anderson died January 3 at the age of 78. He wrote Imposters in the Temple, Revolution and Reagan's Secret War.

Stephane Charbonnier, the cartoonist known as Charb was murdered today by terrorists in their attack on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo where Mr. Charbonnier was editor. He was 47. His work can be seen in Maurice et Patapon. Regrettably there will be other names joining his as soon as more information is forthcoming. RIP.

Alas, and another. :'( Jean Cabut, the cartoonist known as Cabu was killed in the massacre at Charlie Hebdo on January 7. He was 76. His work can be seen in Le Grand Duduche et la Fille du Proviseur and Cabu et Paris.

Advocate for American Muslims Maher Hathout died January 3 at the age of 79. He was the author of Jihad vs. Terrorism.

Mexican journalist Julio Scherer Garcia died January 7 at the age of 88. He wrote La Reina del Pacifico.

Gospel singer Andrae Crouch died January 8 at the age of 72. He wrote Through it All.

Economist Bernard Maris was also murdered on January 7 in the assault on Charlie Hebdo. He wrote Antimanuel d'economie.

Comedian Lance Percival died January 6 at the age of 81. He wrote Well-Versed Cats.

Novelist Robert Stone died January 10 at the age of 77. He wrote Dog Soldiers and Outerbridge Reach among many others.

Brian Clemens - responsible for some of the seminal British TV series of my youth, such as 'The Avengers' and 'The Professionals' - died on January 10th 2015, aged 83. As well as being a scriptwriter for numerous series, he produced screenplays - Highlander 2: The Quickening - and plays - Shock! (Acting edition), Anybody for Murder?.

Journalist Joan Peters died January 5 at the age of 78. She wrote From Time Immemorial.

Conservative scholar Harry V. Jaffa died January 10 at the age of 96. A few of his books include Crisis of the House Divided and A New birth of Freedom.

Dr. Thomas Graboys died January 5 at the age of 70. He wrote Life in the Balance: A Physician's Memoir

Oxford professor and literary critic John Bayley died January 12 at the age of 89. He is best known for his marriage to Iris Murdoch, and his chronicle of her slow mental decline was made into a successful movie. A few of his many books include Elegy for Iris and Iris and her Friends.

Former UK Home Secretary Leon Brittan has died aged 75. He wrote Europe: The Europe We Need and A Diet of Brussels: The Changing Face of Europe.

Neuroscientist Vernon Mountcastle died January 11 at the age of 96. His books include Medical Physiology and Perceptual Neuroscience.

Satirical cartoonist Martin Honeysett died January 21 at the age of 71. His books include Micro Phobia: How to Survive Your Computer, The Best of Honeysett and The Joy of Headaches: How to Survive the Sexual Revolution.

Advocate for children's television Peggy Charren died January 22 at the age of 86. She wrote Changing Channels: Living (Sensibly with Television).

I wanted to be the first to report that Ernie Banks, author of Mr. Cub died on Friday, January 23 at the age of 83. Most famous for the line (and variations on it): "It's a beautiful day for a ballgame, let's play two!" He will be sorely missed by all of baseball, but especially fans of the Chicago Cubs. Maybe we can win the World Series this year in his honor. He and Ron Santo can watch from their special seats in heaven.

Undersea film maker Lotte Hass died January 14 at the age of 86. She wrote Girl on the Ocean Floor.

Former fiction editor for Playboy, Alice K. Turner died January 17 at the age of 75. Her books include The History of Hell and The Playboy Book of Science Fiction.

Television personality Joe Franklin died January 24 at the age of 88. His books include Classics of the Silent Screen and Joe Franklin's Encyclopedia of Comedians.

Famed Canadian figure skater Toller Cranston died January 24 at the age of 65. His books include Zero Tollerance and When Hell Freezes Over Should I Bring My Skates?.

Prolific liberal Christian scholar Marcus Borg died January 21 at the age of 72. His books include Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time and The Heart of Christianity.

Polish novelist and film maker Tadeusz Konwicki died January 7 at the age of 88. His books include A Minor Apocalypse, A Dreambook for Our Time and The Polish Complex.

I actually read all three of those Konwicki books cited. The best of them is A minor apocalypse. He spent much of his youth actually not in Poland but in Lithuania. Maybe not much of a difference but my grandmother's family was Lithuanian and she thought it was a fairly important distinction.

I see someone noted in his LT bio the change of borders, what was in Poland at the time of his birth is now in Lithuania.

Nobel winning physicist Charles Townes died January 27 at the age of 99. His books include Microwave Spectroscopy and How the Laser Happened.

Children's book author Margaret Bloy Graham died January 22 at the age of 94. In addition to her own books, she illustrated books for her husband Gene Zion. A few of her books include Be Nice to Spiders, Benjy and the Barking Bird and Harry the Dirty Dog.

Canadian actor Don Harron, famous for his role on Hee Haw, died January 17 at the age of 90. A few of his books include Charlie Farquharson's History of Canada and The Outhouse Revisited.

A priest who advocated for reform Rev. Richard P. McBrien died January 25 at the age of 78. A few of his books include Catholicism, Lives of the Popes and Lives of the Saints.

Best-selling Australian author Colleen McCullough died January 29 at the age of 77. Of her many books she may be best known for The Thorn Birds and The First Man in Rome.

Inventor and broadcaster Bob Symes died January 19 at the age of 90. He wrote Eureka!: Book of Inventing.

Mid-east journalist David Landau died January 27 at the age of 67. His books include Piety and Power and Kissinger: The Uses of Power.

Public policy specialist Martha A. Derthick died January 12 at the age of 67. She wrote Up in Smoke, Agency Under Stress and Policymaking for Social Security.

Indian cartoonist R. K. Laxman died January 26 at the age of 93. His books include The Best of Laxman and The Tunnel of Time.

Popular and prolific poet Rod McKuen died January 29 at the age of 81. His many collections include Listen to the Warm and Stanyan Street and Other Sorrows: Poems.

Long time director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, author John Leggett died January 25 at the age of 97. His books include Ross & Tom; Two American Tragedies and A Daring Young Man: A Biography of William Saroyan.

Whew! Rough week for writers.

Germany's first president after reunification, Richard von Weizsacker died January 31 at the age of 94. He wrote Vier Zeiten or as it's known in English From Weimar to the Wall: My Life in German Politics.

The creator of the birth control pill Carl Djerassi died January 30 at the age of 91. His autobiography was called The Pill, Pygmy Chimps, and Degas' Horse.

Joseph Farris, cartoonist and author of A Soldier's Sketchbook, died on January 28 at the age of 90. Many might know him from his cartoons in The New Yorker:
http://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/bob-mankoff/joseph-farris-cartoons

Educator Penny Lacey died January 12 at the age of 66. She wrote People with Profound & Multiple Learning Disabilities.

Skin care mogul Christine Valmy died January 18 at the age of 88. She wrote Christine Valmy's Skin Care and Makeup Book.

Mystery writer Helen Eustis died January 11 at the age of 98. Her books include The Horizontal Man and The Fool Killer.

Historian Robert Edwin Herzstein died January 24 at the age of 75. His books include The Nazis and Waldheim: The Missing Years.

Dr. Rose E. Frisch died January 30 at the age of 96. She wrote Female Fertility and the Body Fat Connection.

Historian Peter Partner died January 17 at the age of 90. A few of his books include The Knights Templar and Their Myth and Renaissance Rome 1500-1559.

Owner of the smallest house in Britain, retired journalist and children's author Margaret Williams died January 19 at the age of 83. She wrote The Smallest House Cook Book.

BBC foreign correspondent Ian McDougall died January 27 at the age of 94. He wrote Cases that Changed our Lives, Foreign Correspondent and An Interim Bibliography of the Scottish Working Class Movement.

Theologian John Thurmer died January 25 at the age of 89. He wrote A Detection of the Trinity and The Son in the Bible and the Church.

Counterculture photographer John Hopkins "Hoppy", died January 30 at the age of 77. He wrote John 'Hoppy' Hopkins: From the Hip.

Classicist Theo Zinn died January 19 at the age of 92. He wrote the series of Latin Prep Books.

Literary critic John Pick died January 25 at the age of 93. His books include Gerard Manley Hopkins: Priest and Poet and A Hopkins Reader.