Category Archives: Passings

Longtime Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden dies at 91

Posted on by
Reply

Bobby Bowden, the longtime Florida State football coach who ranks second all time in Division I wins, has died, the school announced Sunday morning.

He was 91.

“My father passed away peacefully early this morning with all six of his children and my mother here by his side,” Bowden’s son Terry said in a statement. “I couldn’t have asked for a better personal mentor than my father. He was a wonderful husband and father, who relied on his strong Christian faith to provide the foundation for his life. I also was fortunate to be raised by a football coach who had a reputation for coaching the right way his entire career. He was admired by everyone who played for him or coached against him.”

Bobby Bowden was diagnosed with a terminal medical condition in July. He did not disclose what the condition was at the time, although Terry later told reporters that it was pancreatic cancer.

Head coach Bobby Bowden of the Florida State Seminoles watches his team take on the West Virginia Mountaineers during the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl on January 1, 2010 in Jacksonville, Florida.

“I’ve always tried to serve God’s purpose for my life, on and off the field, and I am prepared for what is to come,” Bobby Bowden said in a statement announcing the condition. “My wife Ann and our family have been life’s greatest blessing. I am at peace.”

Continue reading →

George Shultz, American statesman who sought Mideast peace and end to nuclear arms race, dies at 100

Posted on by
Reply

Former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, a titan of American academia, business and diplomacy who spent most of the 1980s trying to improve Cold War relations with the Soviet Union and forging a course for peace in the Middle East, has died. He was 100.

Shultz died Saturday at his home on the campus of Stanford University, where he was a distinguished fellow at the Hoover Institution, a think tank, and professor emeritus at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

The Hoover Institution announced Shultz’s death on Sunday. A cause of death was not provided.

A lifelong Republican, Shultz held three major Cabinet positions in GOP administrations during a lengthy career of public service.

He was labor secretary, treasury secretary and director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Richard M. Nixon before spending more than six years as President Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state.

Continue reading →

‘America’s greatest Pilot’ Chuck Yeager, first person to break sound barrier, dies at 97

Posted on by
Reply

Chuck Yeager, the first person to break the sound barrier and one of the U.S. Air Force’s most decorated test pilots, died Monday. He was 97.

Yeager’s death was announced on his official Twitter account in a tweet attributed to his wife Victoria Scott D’Angelo.

“It is w/ profound sorrow, I must tell you that my life love General Chuck Yeager passed just before 9pm ET,” the tweet said. “An incredible life well lived, America’s greatest Pilot, & a legacy of strength, adventure, & patriotism will be remembered forever.”

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine called Yeager’s death “a tremendous loss to our nation.”

“Gen. Yeager’s pioneering and innovative spirit advanced America’s abilities in the sky and set our nation’s dreams soaring into the jet age and the space age. He said, ‘You don’t concentrate on risks. You concentrate on results. No risk is too great to prevent the necessary job from getting done,’” Bridenstine said in a statement.

Continue reading →

Eddie Van Halen, Guitar Hero, Dies At 65

Posted on by
Reply

Eddie Van Halen, the guitarist and songwriter who helped give the rock band Van Halen its name and sound, died Tuesday; October 6th, after a battle with cancer. He was 65.

His death was announced by his son, Wolf Van Halen, on Twitter.

“I can’t believe I’m having to write this,” the statement said, “but my father, Edward Lodewijk Van Halen, has lost his long and arduous battle with cancer this morning. He was the best father I could ever ask for. Every moment I’ve shared with him on and off stage was a gift.”

In a band known for its instability — due in part to a rotating cast of lead singers that most notably includes David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar — Eddie Van Halen and his brother, Alex, remained constants, appearing on 12 studio albums that reached across five decades and sold tens of millions of copies.

Continue reading →

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dead at 87

Posted on by
Reply

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the enigmatic, longtime Supreme Court justice who attained near cult-like status among progressive circles, died Friday at the age of 87 from complications surrounding metastatic pancreatic cancer.

The late Supreme Court justice, who spent more than two decades on the bench in the highest court of the land, is survived by her two children, Jane Carol and James Steven Ginsburg.

“Our Nation has lost a jurist of historic stature,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. said in a Friday evening statement. “We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her — a tireless and resolute champion of justice.”

President Bill Clinton names Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in the Rose Garden of the White House, Washington DC, June 14, 1993.

Ginsburg, who was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1993 by President Bill Clinton, was known for her soft-spoken demeanor that masked an analytical mind, a deep concern for the rights of every American and a commitment to upholding the Constitution.

Baseball great Lou Brock dead at 81

Posted on by
Reply
Lou Brock, St. Louis Cardinals

Lou Brock, the Hall of Fame St. Louis Cardinals’ outfielder who topped 3,000 hits and retired as the all-time leader in stolen bases, has died at 81.

Dick Zitzmann, Brock’s longtime agent and friend, confirmed Brock’s death on Sunday to The Associated Press, but he said he couldn’t provide any details. In 2017, Brock was diagnosed with cancer, and in recent years, he lost a leg from diabetes.

“Over my 25-plus years of being his agent, he was perhaps the happiest Hall of Famer I’ve ever encountered,” Zitzmann told AP. “I think he led a life that will never be duplicated.”

Brock stole 938 bases in his career, including 118 in 1974 — both of those were MLB records until they were broken by Rickey Henderson.

Brock, who had a career batting average of .293, led the majors in steals eight times and scored 100 or more runs seven times. He also accumulated 3,023 career hits. In the postseason, Brock was even more impressive. He had a .391 batting average, with four home runs, 16 RBIs, and 14 steals in 21 World Series games. He led the Cardinals to World Series titles in 1964 and 1967.

Brock’s death came after Hall of Fame pitcher and New York Mets legend Tom Seaver died on Monday. Brock and Seaver faced each other 157 times, the most prolific matchup for both of them in their careers.

Tom Seaver, Pitcher Who Led ‘Miracle Mets’ to Glory, Dies at 75

Posted on by
Reply

Tom Seaver, one of baseball’s greatest right-handed power pitchers, a Hall of Famer who won 311 games for four major league teams, most notably the Mets, whom he led from last place to a surprise world championship in his first three seasons, died on Monday. He was 75.

Tom Seaver, who had 3,640 strikeouts in his 20 big-league seasons, is sixth on the career list.

The cause was complications of Lewy body dementia and Covid-19, according to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

At 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, give or take a few, with a thick waist and tree-trunk legs that helped generate the velocity on his fastball and hard slider and the spin on his curveball, Seaver at work was a picture of kinetic grace. He had a smooth windup, a leg kick with his left knee raised high, and a stride so long after pushing off the mound that his right knee often grazed the dirt.

With precise control, he had swing-and-miss stuff. He struck out more than 200 batters in 10 different seasons, a National League record, and on April 22, 1970, facing the San Diego Padres, he struck out a record 10 batters in a row to end the game. His total of 3,640 strikeouts in his 20 big-league seasons is sixth on the career list.

Passings

Posted on by
Reply

I discovered on Monday that my estranged brother Mark had passed away.  He was 55.  Mark was born on September 1, 1964.  He was the 3rd living son of my parents.  My parents lost a child named Dwight, apparently he never left the hospital.  I was the youngest child, being the fifth born.

I learned that he lived just 30 minutes north of me in a town called Debary.  It’s all quite a shame to me.  I hadn’t spoken to my brother in 20 years or so.  The last time I saw him, he needed a place to crash and he slept in my second bedroom for a month or so.  He left on good terms and I never heard from him again.  That was the way our relationship was.  No gratitude, no closeness.  I never held anything against him, but never really made an attempt to contact him at all.  In the grand scheme of things, he is probably at peace now.

He left no will or instructions, and unfortunately I will be forced to deal will my alcoholic brother Kenny who lives in Tennessee.  The length of the probate will last about 4 to 6 months.  Arg.