obituary

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D. Wayne Lukas Posted 4,987 Thoroughbred Race Wins

Hall of Fame trainer 'transcended the sport of horse racing'

(Newser) - D. Wayne Lukas, one of the most successful trainers in the history of thoroughbred horse racing, has died. He was 89. Lukas' family announced on Sunday that he had died at home Saturday night in Louisville. The Hall of Famer had entered hospice care after being hospitalized for a severe...

Dave Parker Dies: 'Everything About Him Was Impressive'

Outfielder hit for power and average, won Gold Gloves, stole bases, and threw out runners

(Newser) - Dave Parker, a seven-time All-Star known for monster home runs and stunning throws from the outfield—and who succeeded fellow Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente in right field for the Pittsburgh Pirates—has died. He was 74. The team announced Parker's death Saturday without providing details, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette...

'Cletus Hogg' Has Chased After His Last General Lee

Rick Hurst, who played slightly dopey deputy on Dukes of Hazzard , dies at 79

(Newser) - For a while during the era when Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan were president, Rick Hurst was a household name, playing Deputy Cletus Hogg on the popular '80s action-comedy series Dukes of Hazzard, per ABC7 . He wasn't quite as well known in his later years, but the tributes...

Lalo Schifrin Was Asked to Write a Signature TV Theme

Mission: Impossible kickoff was one of the more than 100 pieces the composer produced for TV, films

(Newser) - Lalo Schifrin, the composer who wrote the endlessly catchy theme for Mission: Impossible and more than 100 other arrangements for film and television, died Thursday. He was 93. The Argentine won four Grammys and was nominated for six Oscars, including five for original score for Cool Hand Luke, The Fox,...

Bill Moyers, Advocate of Truth After Leaving Politics, Dies at 91

Broadcaster was a top aide to LBJ before becoming a broadcast journalism icon

(Newser) - Bill Moyers, a presidential press secretary who approved one of the most infamous negative political ads in US history before becoming one of broadcasting's most honored journalists, has died. Moyers died Thursday at a Manhattan hospital of complications from prostate cancer, the Washington Post reports. He was 91. As...

Former Teen Idol Bobby Sherman Dies at 81
Former Teen Idol
Bobby Sherman Dies at 81
obituary
Jun 24, 2025 1:34 PM CDT

Former Teen Idol Bobby Sherman Dies at 81

Later in life, he served as a volunteer CPR instructor

(Newser) - Bobby Sherman, whose smile and fashionable shaggy mop top helped make him into a teen idol in the 1960s and '70s with bubblegum pop hits like "Little Woman" and "Julie, Do Ya Love Me," has died at age 81, per the AP . His wife, Brigitte Poublon,...

Wingsuit Champion Dies in Leap From Alps
Wingsuit Champion
Dies in Leap From Alps
OBITUARY
Jun 24, 2025 5:43 AM CDT

Wingsuit Champion Dies in Leap From Alps

Liam Byrne, 24, was featured in the BBC's The Boy Who Can Fly

(Newser) - Celebrated Scottish wingsuit flyer Liam Byrne died at 24 during a high-altitude jump in the Swiss Alps on Saturday, ending a daring career defined by his pursuit of flight. The British champion, originally from Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, took off from Gitschen mountain at about 7,900 feet but deviated from...

Co-Founder of Bad Company, Mott the Hoople Dies at 81

Mick Ralphs had been bedridden since a stroke in 2016

(Newser) - Mick Ralphs, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and founding member of the classic British rock bands Bad Company and Mott the Hoople, has died. A statement posted to the band's official website Monday announced Ralphs' death at age 81, the AP reports. Ralphs had a stroke days after what would be...

Fred Smith Thought Up FedEx in College
Fred Smith Thought Up
FedEx in College
obituary
Jun 22, 2025 10:00 AM CDT

Fred Smith Thought Up FedEx in College

Founder said the know-how came from his time in Marines

(Newser) - Fred Smith, the FedEx Corp. founder who revolutionized the express delivery industry, has died. He was 80. FedEx started operating in 1973, delivering small parcels and documents more quickly than the postal service. Over the next half-century, Smith, a Marine Corps veteran, oversaw the growth of a company that became...

HGTV Exec, House Party Host Loren Ruch Dies at 55
HGTV Loses
a 'Warm Light in
a Dark World'
OBITUARY
Jun 20, 2025 7:50 AM CDT

HGTV Loses a 'Warm Light in a Dark World'

Longtime network exec, House Party host Loren Ruch dies of acute myeloid leukemia at age 55

(Newser) - Loren Ruch, a longtime HGTV executive and co-host of the 2021 HGTV series House Party, died on June 12 at age 55 from acute myeloid leukemia, report Variety and People . According to an internal memo from Channing Dungey, chair of Warner Bros. Television Group, Ruch died "surrounded by...

She Began as a Headhunter, Ended Up as a Top Chef
She Began as
a Headhunter,
Ended Up as
a Top Chef
OBITUARY
Jun 18, 2025 6:34 AM CDT

She Began as a Headhunter, Ended Up as a Top Chef

Anne Burrell of Food Network's Worst Cooks in America has died at age 55

(Newser) - TV chef Anne Burrell, who coached culinary fumblers through hundreds of episodes of Worst Cooks in America, died Tuesday at her New York home. She was 55. The Food Network, where Burrell began her two-decade television career on Iron Chef America and went on to other shows, confirmed her death....

Lilo & Stitch Actor Dies Weeks After Release
Lilo & Stitch Actor Dies
Weeks After Release
OBITUARY
Jun 17, 2025 9:30 AM CDT

Lilo & Stitch Actor Dies Weeks After Release

David Hekili Kenui Bell, a native Hawaiian, was 46

(Newser) - A rising actor has tragically died while his most recent movie, the live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch, is still in theaters. David Hekili Kenui Bell, a member of SAG-AFTRA who also appeared in episodes of Hawaii Five-0 and Magnum PI, joined "the company of our Heavenly Father,"...

He Turned His Family's Cosmetics Firm Into a Giant

Leonard Lauder, son of Estee Lauder, dies at 92

(Newser) - Leonard A. Lauder, who helped transform his family's cosmetics business into a global powerhouse and went onto to become a major philanthropist, has died at age 92, reports the BBC . The son of company founders Estee and Joseph Lauder died at home in Manhattan on Saturday, per the...

MTV's Ananda Lewis Dies at 52
MTV's
Ananda Lewis
Dies at 52
OBITUARY
Jun 12, 2025 6:27 AM CDT

MTV's Ananda Lewis Dies at 52

Former VJ dies of breast cancer

(Newser) - Ananda Lewis, the former MTV VJ who hosted Total Request Live and Hot Zone before heading the short-lived The Ananda Lewis Show, died at home in Los Angeles on Wednesday. She was 52. Lewis died of breast cancer, which she'd reportedly been fighting since 2019. She was initially diagnosed...

Beach Boys' Brian Wilson Dead at 82
Beach Boys Leader
Brian Wilson Dead at 82
obituary
Jun 11, 2025 12:11 PM CDT

Beach Boys Leader Brian Wilson Dead at 82

The AP calls him 'summer's poet laureate'

(Newser) - Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys' visionary and fragile leader whose genius for melody, arrangements, and wide-eyed self-expression inspired "Good Vibrations," "California Girls" and other summertime anthems and made him one of the world's most influential recording artists, has died at 82. Wilson's family posted news...

Sly Stone, Influential Funk Pioneer, Dies at 82
Sly Stone
Dies at 82
Jun 9, 2025 4:10 PM CDT

Sly Stone Dies at 82

Funk pioneer joyfully crossed musical lines

(Newser) - Sly Stone, a groundbreaking musician who crossed the lines separating rock, pop, funk, and soul to produce a string of often celebratory hits in the late 1960s and early '70s — including "Dance to the Music" and "Everyday People"—died Monday in Los Angeles. He was...

King of the Hill, Parks and Rec Actor Is Fatally Shot

Jonathan Joss, who voiced John Redcorn on King of the Hill , was 59

(Newser) - Jonathan Joss, an actor with roles on King of the Hill and Parks and Recreation, is dead at age 59 after a shooting over the weekend in San Antonio, Texas, reports NBC News .
  • Joss is probably best known for voicing the character of John Redcorn in the animated King
...

Boardwalk Empire Star Dies at 41
Boardwalk Empire
Star Dies at 41
obituary
Jun 2, 2025 7:14 AM CDT

Boardwalk Empire Star Dies at 41

Devin Harjes had cancer

(Newser) - Boardwalk Empire fans will know him as boxing champ Jack Dempsey. The actor who starred in that role, Devin Lee Harjes, died last week at age 41, reports the Hollywood Reporter . Harjes, who was diagnosed with cancer in February, died in Mount Sinai West Hospital in New York City from...

His Music for The Simpsons Won Him 2 Emmys
His Music for
The Simpsons
Won Him 2 Emmys
OBITUARY
May 31, 2025 10:30 AM CDT

His Music for The Simpsons Won Him 2 Emmys

Danny Elfman wrote show's theme song, but composer Alf Clausen did almost all the rest

(Newser) - Alf Clausen, the Emmy-winning composer whose music provided essential accompaniment for the animated antics of The Simpsons for 27 years, has died. Daughter Kaarin Clausen told the AP that her father died Thursday at his home in Los Angeles after struggling with Parkinson's disease for about a decade. He...

Loretta Swit of M.A.S.H. Fame Dies at 87
Loretta Swit of M.A.S.H.
Fame Dies at 87
obituary
May 30, 2025 2:55 PM CDT

Loretta Swit of M.A.S.H. Fame Dies at 87

She played Margaret Houlihan in the hit show

(Newser) - Loretta Swit, who won two Emmy Awards playing Major Margaret Houlihan on the pioneering hit TV series M.A.S.H., has died at 87. Publicist Harlan Boll says Swit died Friday at her home in New York City, likely from natural causes. Swit, who played the demanding head nurse...

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