In Memoriam - Sally Ride

Dr. Sally Ride, the first American woman in space as well as the youngest American in space, founder of Sally Ride Science, a nationally ranked tennis player in college, and a lesbian, died today after a seventeen-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Dr. Ride was 61. She is survived by her partner of 27 years, Dr. Tam O’Shaughnessy, who is also the COO and Executive Vice President of Sally Ride Science and a Professor Emerita of School Psychology at San Diego State University, along with her mother, Joyce and sister, Bear.

Sally Kristen Ride, Ph.D., earned her master’s degree and a Ph.D. in physics, went to NASA in 1978 after responding to a newspaper ad, left in 1987 for Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Arms Control. She was especially interested in inspiring girls to embrace science, and she was a climate change activist.
A list of Dr. Ride’s accomplishments can be found on her website, along with a photo gallery and her biography.

Editor’s note: To be as accurate and as humanly fair as possible to an American hero and icon, Sally Ride never came out publicly, nor did she ever publicly state she was a lesbian. Her officially obituary released by Sally Ride Science states she was in a 27-year relationship with Dr. Tam O’Shaughnessy, a woman.  This report is from The New Civil Rights Movement.

I've always loved the space program. When Sally Ride became the first woman in space, radio stations all across the Florida Gulf coast were playing "Ride, Sally Ride." It was a wonderful moment.

Here is what ABC News reported:

In Memoriam ... for my Mother

My mother died 36 years ago today. I still think of her often and wish I could hold her hand once more.

In Memoriam - Teena Marie

How sad that she has left us so soon. Loved her in the late 1970s, and she was about to make a comeback. Rest in peace Teena Marie.

In Memoriam - Elizabeth Edwards

I had the good fortune not only to meet Elizabeth Edwards during the last presidential campaign, but to speak with her for a few minutes as well. I found her to be a warm, yet fierce, woman. She was determined about what she wanted for this country, and absolute in her desire to keep working toward that goal. I said to her at the time: "I wish you were the Edwards running for president" -- and I meant it!

Elizabeth Edwards has lost her battle with cancer, but she will not be forgotten.

An avid fan of new media, Elizabeth posted this to her Facebook page on Monday: “I have been sustained throughout my life by three saving graces — my family, my friends, and a faith in the power of resilience and hope.” She added: “The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered. We know that.”

Condolences to her family and close friends. And may you rest in peace, Elizabeth.

In Memoriam - Jill Clayburgh

Jill Clayburgh is one of my favorite actors, so I find this very sad. I like that the headline in the New York Times report included: "Starred in Feminist Roles".

Jill Clayburgh, an Oscar-nominated actress known for portraying strong, independent women, died on Friday at her home in Lakeville, Conn. She was 66.

The cause was chronic leukemia, with which she had lived for 21 years, her husband, the playwright David Rabe, said.

Ms. Clayburgh, who began her career in films and on Broadway in the late 1960s, was among the first generation of young actresses — including Ellen Burstyn, Carrie Snodgress and Marsha Mason — who regularly portrayed characters sprung from the new feminist ethos: smart, capable and gritty, sometimes neurotic, but no less glamorous for all that.

“I guess people look at me and they think I’m a ladylike character,” Ms. Clayburgh told The New York Times in 1982. “But it’s not what I do best. I do best with characters who are coming apart at the seams.”

She was known in particular for her starring role in “An Unmarried Woman” (1978), directed by Paul Mazursky. For her performance as Erica, a New Yorker who must right herself after her husband leaves her for another woman, Ms. Clayburgh was nominated for an Academy Award. (The best-actress Oscar that year went to Jane Fonda in “Coming Home.”)

Reviewing “An Unmarried Woman” in The Times, Vincent Canby wrote: “Miss Clayburgh is nothing less than extraordinary in what is the performance of the year to date. In her we see intelligence battling feeling — reason backed against the wall by pushy needs.”

Ms. Clayburgh also received an Oscar nomination for “Starting Over” (1979), directed by Alan J. Pakula. She played Marilyn Holmberg, a teacher who embarks on a relationship with Phil, a newly divorced man played by Burt Reynolds.

Reviewing that film in The Times, Janet Maslin wrote, “Miss Clayburgh delivers a particularly sharp characterization that’s letter-perfect during the first part of the story.” She added, “Her Marilyn is all wrong for Phil — that’s what makes their affair so unexpectedly touching and gives the story so much life.”

Ms. Clayburgh’s other films include “Semi-Tough” (1977), opposite Mr. Reynolds; “It’s My Turn” (1980), opposite Michael Douglas; “First Monday in October” (1981), opposite Walter Matthau, in which she played the first woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court; and “I’m Dancing as Fast as I Can” (1982), based on the memoir by Barbara Gordon about a driven career woman’s addiction to valium.

Jill Clayburgh was born in Manhattan on April 30, 1944, the daughter of Albert, an industrial textile salesman, and Julie Clayburgh. She earned a bachelor’s degree in theater from Sarah Lawrence College in 1966. [...]

Despite her acclaim, Ms. Clayburgh, by all appearances, had a healthy sense of herself. “People think about me, ‘This wonderful lucky woman, she’s got it all,’ ” she told The Times in 1982. “But gee, that’s how I feel about Meryl Streep.”

Rest in peace, Jill.

In Memoriam - Robert Schimmel

RIP Robert Schimmel, who died from injuries sustained in a car accident.

In Memoriam – Dr. Dorothy Height

We have lost a legendary figure in the civil rights movement with the passing of Dr. Dorothy Height. For more than six decades Dr. Height was at the center of the struggles for school desegregation, voting rights, employment opportunities and public accommodations. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to meet Dr. Height, and to hear her speak.

Dorothy I. Height, 98, a founding matriarch of the American civil rights movement whose crusade for racial justice and gender equality spanned more than six decades, died early Tuesday morning of natural causes, a spokesperson for the National Council of Negro Women said.

Ms. Height was among the coalition of African American leaders who pushed civil rights to the center of the American political stage after World War II, and she was a key figure in the struggles for school desegregation, voting rights, employment opportunities and public accommodations in the 1950s and 1960s. [...]

Ms. Height was president of the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years, relinquishing the title in 1997. The 4 million-member advocacy group consists of 34 national and 250 community-based organizations. It was founded in 1935 by educator Mary McLeod Bethune, who was one of Ms. Height's mentors.

As a civil rights activist, Ms. Height participated in protests in Harlem during the 1930s. In the 1940s, she lobbied first lady Eleanor Roosevelt on behalf of civil rights causes. And in the 1950s, she prodded President Dwight D. Eisenhower to move more aggressively on school desegregation issues. In 1994, Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

In a statement issued by the White House, President Obama called Height "the godmother of the Civil Rights Movement and a hero to so many Americans."

"Dr. Height devoted her life to those struggling for equality . . . witnessing every march and milestone along the way," Obama said. "And even in the final weeks of her life -- a time when anyone else would have enjoyed their well-earned rest -- Dr. Height continued her fight to make our nation a more open and inclusive place for people of every race, gender, background and faith."

In the turmoil of the civil rights struggles in the 1960s, Ms. Height helped orchestrate strategy with movement leaders including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Roy Wilkins, A. Philip Randolph, Whitney Young, James Farmer, Bayard Rustin and John Lewis, who later served as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia.

Ms. Height was arguably the most influential woman at the top levels of civil rights leadership, but she never drew the major media attention that conferred celebrity and instant recognition on some of the other civil rights leaders of her time.

In August 1963, Ms. Height was on the platform with King when he delivered his "I have a dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial. But she would say later that she was disappointed that no one advocating women's rights spoke that day at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Less than a month later, at King's request, she went to Birmingham, Ala., to minister to the families of four black girls who had died in a church bombing linked to the racial strife that had engulfed the city.

"At every major effort for social progressive change, Dorothy Height has been there," Lewis said in 1997 when Ms. Height announced her retirement as president of the National Council of Negro Women.

Dr. Height was a champion for women's rights before the second wave of the women's rights movement began in the U.S.

She was . . . energetic in her efforts to overcome gender bias, and much of that work predated the women's rights movement. When President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act in 1963, Ms. Height was among those invited to the White House to witness the ceremony. She returned to the White House in 1998 for a ceremony marking the 35th anniversary of that legislation to hear Clinton urge passage of additional laws aimed at equalizing pay for men and women.

"Dorothy Height deserves credit for helping black women understand that you had to be feminist at the same time you were African . . . that you had to play more than one role in the empowerment of black people," Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) once said.

Thank you Dr. Height for the inspirational leadership you provided us.

In Memoriam - Dr. Helen Ranney

Dr. Ranney may be one of the coolest women I had never heard of until her death. Reading the NYT's notice, prompted me to share her story with you.

Dr. Helen M. Ranney, a hematologist whose experiments in the 1950s elucidated the genetic basis of sickle cell disease, an inherited form of anemia that affects one in 500 African-Americans, died on April 5 in San Diego. She was 89.

Her death was announced by the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine.

Dr. Ranney was a faculty member there for more than 30 years and a former head of the department of medicine, the first woman at a major American medical school to hold that post.

As a postdoctoral student in hematology more than 50 years ago, Dr. Ranney developed a simple method of distinguishing normal hemoglobin, the iron-rich protein in red blood cells that transports oxygen, from the abnormal hemoglobin found in patients with sickle cell disease.

By comparing unaffected family members with relatives with the illness, Dr. Ranney provided early evidence that inherited defects in the structure of hemoglobin were responsible for sickle cell disease.

Up to this point, scientists recognized that sickle cell disease ran in families, but the underlying mechanism of it was not well understood.

Besides illuminating the genetics of sickle cell, Dr. Ranney’s research provided clinicians with a simple method of testing for the disease in newborns, who usually do not develop anemia and other symptoms of the illness until they are 5 months old.

“It immediately gave us a way to diagnose sickle cell,” said Dr. Kenneth Kaushansky, a hematologist and chairman of the department of medicine at the University of California, San Diego. “The differences in hemoglobin were an important insight from her studies.”

Helen Margaret Ranney was born on April 12, 1920, in Summerhill, N.Y. Her father was a dairy farmer; her mother, a schoolteacher.

She entered Barnard College with plans to study law, but soon shifted her sights toward medicine, drawn by the notion that physicians can fix the problems they study. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in 1941, she applied to Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons but was rejected. She took a job as a laboratory technician, acquiring the skills she would later use in her research.

She reapplied to Columbia, was accepted and received her medical degree in 1947, one of five women in a class of 120 students. She remained at Columbia for postgraduate training, and during this time conducted her groundbreaking sickle cell disease research.

She went on to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University, where she continued her hemoglobin research and became a professor in 1965. After a stint at the State University of New York, Buffalo, she moved to the University of California, San Diego, where she became chairwoman of its department of medicine in 1973. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences the same year.

Dr. Ranney headed the department of medicine for 13 years. From 1986 to 1991, she was a distinguished physician of the Veterans Administration, the first woman to hold that post. For several years after that, she was a board member and an adviser to the Alliance Pharmaceutical Corporation, a biotechnology company in San Diego working on a blood substitute. At her death she was a professor emeritus at the University of California, San Diego.

Her survivors include two nieces, Alesia Ranney-Marinelli of Katonah, N.Y., and Patricia Ranney of Ballston Lake, N.Y.

Rest in peace, Dr. Ranney.

In Memoriam - Dixie Carter

The Los Angeles Times reports:

Dixie Carter, who gained television fame as Julia Sugarbaker on the long-running CBS sitcom "Designing Women," has died. She was 70.

Carter died Saturday morning at a Houston hospital of complications from cancer, said Steve Rohr, publicist for Carter and her husband, actor Hal Holbrook.

"This has been a terrible blow to our family," Holbrook said in a written statement. "We would appreciate everyone understanding that this is a private family tragedy."

Carter had a long career as a stage actress and cabaret singer. But her signature role was as the opinionated star of "Designing Women," which focused on four women running an interior design firm in Atlanta. The show ran from 1986 to 1993 with a long life in reruns.

Carter, Delta Burke, Annie Potts and Jean Smart were the original leads. "The show was written just for us," Carter told the Palm Beach Post in 1999. "We all thought we were the prettiest and the funniest."

Potts told the Associated Press at a 2006 cast reunion: "It was something so unique, because there had never been anything quite like it. We had Lucy and Ethel, but we never had that exponentially expanded, smart, attractive women who read newspapers and had passions about things and loved each other and stood by each other."

I loved Dixie Carter, and all the Designing Women. Rest in peace.

In Memoriam - Chief Wilma Mankiller

She was the first woman to lead the Cherokee nation. She was an inspiration to everyone who met her, and at the age of 64 she has lost her battle with pancreatic cancer. CNN reports:

Flags flew at half-staff outside the Cherokee Nation's headquarters in Talequah, Oklahoma, on Tuesday in honor of Wilma Mankiller, the first woman to lead the Native American tribe.

Mankiller died Tuesday morning at age 64 after a battle with pancreatic cancer, Cherokee leaders announced. Her successor, Chad Smith, called Mankiller "the iconic leader of the tribe."

Mankiller served 10 years as principal chief of the Cherokee, the second-largest U.S. tribe, and became its first freely elected leader in 1987. President Clinton awarded her the Medal of Freedom, the highest U.S. civilian honor, in 1998.

She was born in Oklahoma, where most of the Cherokee had been exiled by the U.S. government in the 1830s, but moved to California with her family in the 1950s. She returned to Oklahoma in 1977 to work for the tribe's community development agency and is credited with improving health care, education and tribal governance during her administration.

"She captured what we firmly believed was true leadership," Smith said Tuesday afternoon. "She believed in our history, our culture. And she understood the position of a woman, and that is to lead her people, and she did so with grace, humility, decisiveness and with vision."

Mankiller is survived by her husband, Charlie Soap, and two daughters, Gina and Felicia, Smith said.

"We all are better people for the leadership of Wilma Mankiller," Smith said.

IN HER OWN WORDS:

“Prior to my election, young Cherokee girls would never have thought that they might grow up and become chief.”
- Wilma Mankiller


“One of the things my parents taught me, and I'll always be grateful as a gift, is to not ever let anybody else define me; that for me to define myself . . . and I think that helped me a lot in assuming a leadership position.”
- Wilma Mankiller


“I don't think anybody anywhere can talk about the future of their people or of an organization without talking about education. Whoever controls the education of our children controls our future.”
- Wilma Mankiller


“The secret of our success is that we never, never give up.”
- Wilma Mankiller


“I want to be remembered as the person who helped us restore faith in ourselves.”
- Wilma Mankiller


.

In Memoriam - Susan Hill

From RH Reality Check:

Sadly, the women's health and rights community lost a courageous, loving advocate. Susan Hill, a women's clinic owner and reproductive rights advocate, died today. Hill was the President and CEO of the National Women's Health Organization in North Carolina.



...at one time, Susan Hill owned five health centers around the country, including the now famous Jackson Women's Health Center - the last remaining health center providing abortions in Mississippi. For this, she was targeted mercilessly and violently by anti-choice activists. In fact, in October 2009 RH Reality Check contributor Carol Joffe wrote about Hill's mission to share the anti-choice movement's latest strategies against women's health centers: suing the cities in which the centers reside, along with the police chiefs in these regions often times. Hill was particularly afraid, Joffe wrote, because simultaneously, violence against clinics and staff at clinics seemed to be escalating in the wake of Dr. Tiller's murder:

“In the old days, at least we knew what they were up to. If they were blockading us or firebombing us, we knew it. This is more insidious, more like a stealth strategy. And it is making life a living hell for the providers.”

Hill was close friends with Dr. Tiller and remained extremely active working on behalf of clinic owners continually harrassed by anti-choice protestors:

Hill served as plaintiff in over 30 federal and state lawsuits concerning abortion rights, and was a key plaintiff in the NOW v. Scheidler case that charged abortion opponents with using violence, intimidation and extortion to put women's clinics out of business.

Rest in peace Susan. Your spririt and activism will be missed.

In Memoriam - Teddy Pendergrass

Soul Singer Teddy Pendergrass Dies In Pa. At 59
by The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA January 14, 2010, 12:19 am ET Teddy Pendergrass, who became R&B's reigning sex symbol in the 1970s and '80s with his forceful, masculine voice and passionate love ballads and later became an inspirational figure after suffering a devastating car accident that left him paralyzed, died Wednesday at age 59.

The singer's son, Teddy Pendergrass II, said his father died at Bryn Mawr Hospital in suburban Philadelphia. The singer underwent colon cancer surgery eight months ago and had "a difficult recovery," his son said.

"To all his fans who loved his music, thank you," his son said. "He will live on through his music."

Pendergrass suffered a spinal cord injury and was paralyzed from the waist down in the 1982 car accident. He spent six months in a hospital but returned to recording the next year with the album "Love Language."

He returned to the stage at the Live Aid concert in 1985, performing from his wheelchair.

Pendergrass later founded the Teddy Pendergrass Alliance, an organization whose mission is encourage and help people with spinal chord injuries achieve their maximum potential in education, employment, housing, productivity and independence, according to its Web site.

In Memoriam - Brittany Murphy

So sad to hear this.

The Washington Post reports:

Brittany Murphy, the actress who got her start in the sleeper hit "Clueless" and rose to stardom in "8 Mile" before her movie roles declined in recent years, died Sunday in Los Angeles of what appeared to be natural causes, a Los Angeles County coroner's official said. She was 32.

Murphy was pronounced dead at 10:04 a.m. at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Sally Stewart said.

Murphy was transported to the hospital after the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a call at 8 a.m. at the home she shared with her husband, British screenwriter Simon Monjack, in the Hollywood Hills.

Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said Murphy apparently collapsed in the bathroom, and authorities were looking into her medical history.

An official cause of death may not be determined for some time, since toxicology tests will be required, but "it appears to be natural," Winter said. He said an autopsy was planned for Monday or Tuesday.

Winter said Murphy's family was cooperating with the coroner's investigation. Funeral arrangements have not been announced, he said. [...]

Meanwhile, Murphy's publicist, Nicole Perna, said in a statement: "In this time of sadness, the family thanks you for your love and support. It is their wish that you respect their privacy." [...]

Murphy credited her mother, Sharon, with being a key to her success.

"When I asked my mom to move to California, she sold everything and moved out here for me," Murphy said. "I was really grateful to have grown up in an environment that was conducive to creating and didn't stifle any of that. She always believed in me."

She dated Ashton Kutcher, who costarred with Murphy in 2003's romantic comedy "Just Married."

Kutcher sent a message on Twitter Sunday morning about Murphy's death: "2day the world lost a little piece of sunshine," Kutcher wrote. "My deepest condolences go out 2 Brittany's family, her husband, & her amazing mother Sharon."

In Memoriam - Mary Travers

Mary Travers has died. It's hard to say "Mary" without including "Peter, Paul and ..." The trio was a fixture on the folk music scene in the early 1960s, and probably best known for their thought provoking music. Mary Travers died today after battling leukemia for several years. She was 72.

Bandmate Peter Yarrow said that in her final months, Travers handled her declining health with bravery and generosity, showing her love to friends and family "with great dignity and without restraint."

"It was, as Mary always was, honest and completely authentic," he said. "That's the way she sang, too; honestly and with complete authenticity."

Noel "Paul" Stookey, the trio's other member, praised Travers for her inspiring activism, "especially in her defense of the defenseless."

"I am deadened and heartsick beyond words to consider a life without Mary Travers and honored beyond my wildest dreams to have shared her spirit and her career," he said.

Mary Allin Travers was born on Nov. 9, 1936 in Louisville, Ky., the daughter of journalists who moved the family to Manhattan's bohemian Greenwich Village. She quickly became enamored with folk performers like the Weavers, and was soon performing with Pete Seeger, a founding member of the Weavers who lived in the same building as the Travers family.

With a group called the Song Swappers, Travers backed Seeger on one album and two shows at Carnegie Hall. She also appeared (as one of a group of folk singers) in a short-lived 1958 Broadway show called "The Next President," starring comedian Mort Sahl.

It wasn't until she met up with Yarrow and Stookey that Travers would taste success on her own. Yarrow was managed by Albert B. Grossman, who later worked in the same capacity for Bob Dylan.

In the book "Positively 4th Street" by David Hajdu, Travers recalled that Grossman's strategy was to "find a nobody that he could nurture and make famous."

The budding trio, boosted by the arrangements of Milt Okun, spent seven months rehearsing in her Greenwich Village apartment before their 1961 public debut at the Bitter End.

Their beatnik look - a tall blonde flanked by a pair of goateed guitarists - was a part of their initial appeal. As The New York Times critic Robert Shelton put it not long afterward, "Sex appeal as a keystone for a folk-song group was the idea of the group's manager ... who searched for months for `the girl' until he decided on Miss Travers."

The trio mingled their music with liberal politics, both onstage and off. Their version of "If I Had a Hammer" became an anthem for racial equality. Other hits included "Lemon Tree," "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and "Puff (The Magic Dragon.)"

They were early champions of Dylan and performed his "Blowin' in the Wind" at the August 1963 March on Washington.

And they were vehement in their opposition to the Vietnam War, managing to stay true to their liberal beliefs while creating music that resonated in the American mainstream.

The group collected five Grammy Awards for their three-part harmony on enduring songs like "Leaving on a Jet Plane," "Puff (The Magic Dragon)" and "Blowin' in the Wind."

At one point in 1963, three of their albums were in the top six Billboard best-selling LPs as they became the biggest stars of the folk revival movement. [...]

Over the years they enjoyed several reunions, including a performance at a 1978 anti-nuclear benefit organized by Yarrow and a 35th anniversary album, "Lifelines," with fellow folkies Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Dave Van Ronk and Seeger. A boxed set of their music was released in 2004.

They remained politically active as well, performing at the 1995 anniversary of the Kent State shootings and performing for California strawberry pickers.

Travers had undergone a successful bone marrow transplant to treat her leukemia and was able to return to performing after that.

"It was like a miracle," Travers told The Associated Press in 2006. "I'm just feeling fabulous. What's incredible is someone has given your life back. I'm out in the garden today. This time last year I was looking out a window at a hospital." She also said she told the marrow donor "how incredibly grateful I was."

Travers is survived by her husband and two daughters. Condolences to her family and friends. Rest in PEACE Mary Travers.

In Memoriam - Henry Gibson

From Laugh-In to Boston Legal, Who didn't love the many faces of Henry Gibson? I know I did. Sadly, Gibson died Monday at his home in Malibu after a brief battle with cancer. He was 73.

There it is again ... cancer ... I hate cancer.

Gibson's breakthrough came in 1968 when he was cast as a member of the original ensemble of NBC's top-rated "Laugh-In," on which he performed for three seasons. Each week, a giant flower in his hand, he recited a signature poem, introducing them with the catchphrase that became his signature: "A Poem, by Henry Gibson."

The poems proved so popular that they led to the release of two comedy albums, "The Alligator" and "The Grass Menagerie," as well as a book, "A Flower Child's Garden of Verses."

After "Laugh-In," he played the evil Dr. Verringer in "The Long Goodbye" (1973), the first of four films in which he appeared for director Robert Altman. Their second collaboration came in "Nashville" (1975), in which Gibson earned a Golden Globe nomination and a National Society of Film Critics supporting-actor award for his performance as unctuous country singer Haven Hamilton. He also wrote his character's songs.

In television, Gibson's recent work included a five-season stint as cantankerous Judge Clarence Brown on ABC's "Boston Legal" and providing the voice for sardonic, eye-patched newspaperman Bob Jenkins on Fox's animated series "King of the Hill."

Born James Bateman in Germantown, Pa., on Sept. 21, 1935, Gibson began acting professionally at age 8. After graduating from Catholic University, he served in France from 1957-60 as an intelligence officer with the Air Force, then studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.

Back in New York, the actor developed the comic persona of "Henry Gibson" (a pun on the name of playwright Henrik Ibsen), a humble, wide-eyed poet laureate from Fairhope, Ala. Appearances on "The Tonight Show" and "The Joey Bishop Show" led to him being flown out to Hollywood by Jerry Lewis to be cast in "The Nutty Professor" (1963).

Also that year, Gibson appeared in his Broadway debut opposite Walter Matthau and Ruth Gordon in Lillian Hellman's "My Mother, My Father and Me."

Other memorable film roles for Gibson included a turn as the voice of Wilbur the Pig in the animated "Charlotte's Web" (1973); as an Illinois Nazi pursuing John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in "The Blues Brothers" (1980); as a menacing neighbor opposite Tom Hanks in "The 'Burbs" (1989); as flamboyant barfly Thurston Howell in Paul Thomas Anderson's "Magnolia" (1999); and as a befuddled priest in "Wedding Crashers" (2005).

Gibson is survived by his three sons and two grandchildren, who are all in our thoughts. Rest in peace Henry Gibson.

In Memoriam - Patrick Swayze

I hate cancer ... it took my mother, my father, my good friend Jan and others. And now it's taken Patrick Swayze. The 57 year old actor died tonight, two years after we learned he was battling pancreatic cancer -- a relentless form of the disease.

Patrick Swayze, 57, an actor who enjoyed success in Hollywood as the snake-hipped charmer of "Dirty Dancing" and a romantic lead from beyond the grave in "Ghost," died Sept. 14, his publicist reported from Los Angeles. He had pancreatic cancer.

A former ballet and Broadway dancer, Mr. Swayze rarely received more than tepid reviews for his onscreen emotional range. But he found enduring mass approval for a handful of movie roles that took advantage of his muscular build, tousled hair and charismatic swagger.

Rita Kempley, a former Washington Post film critic, once described Mr. Swayze's appeal as "a cross of Brando and Balanchine. From the neck up, he looks like a guy who could fix your carburetor; from the neck down he has the body of an Olympian."

Mr. Swayze's best-remembered movies -- "Dirty Dancing" (1987) with Jennifer Grey and "Ghost" (1990) with Demi Moore -- were unexpected hits that relied more on terrific soundtracks and appealing performances than dramatic plausibility.

"Dirty Dancing" featured Mr. Swayze as a dangerously hunky Catskills dance teacher named Johnny Castle who teams with a guest's shy daughter for a dance performance at a neighboring hotel. They also fall in love.

Mr. Swayze co-wrote and sang a hit song from the film, "She's Like the Wind," which reached No. 3 on the pop charts.

Film critic Vincent Canby, writing in the New York Times, said Mr. Swayze was "at his best -- as is the movie -- when he's dancing."

"Dirty Dancing" made a fortune at the box office, a fact largely attributed to female ticket-buyers wowed by Mr. Swayze. Eleanor Bergstein, the film's writer and co-producer, told Parade magazine, "I wanted a hooded quality in the eyes -- someone a father would never want for his daughter."

When she saw Mr. Swayze, Bergstein said, "I told him I couldn't imagine doing the movie without him."

Swayze will be remembered for his roles in "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghosts" ... but I enjoyed his portrayal of drag queen Vida Boheme in "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar." It takes a man comfortable with his sexuality to don a flaming red wig and dress!

Swayze continued to work following his diagnosis.

While undergoing chemotherapy for his cancer, which was diagnosed last year, he received good reviews for his gritty portrayal of an undercover FBI agent in "The Beast" (2009), a drama series for the A&E cable network.

Mr. Swayze missed only one day of work while filming the series. "One thing I'm not going to do is chase staying alive," he told interviewer Barbara Walters at the time. "You spend so much time chasing staying alive, you won't live."

Condolences to his wife Lisa Niemi and to the rest of his family. Rest in peace Patrick Swayze.

In Memoriam - Larry Gelbart

Larry Gelbart creator of "M*A*S*H", "Tootsie", and "Oh, God!", died on Friday of cancer. I loved M*A*S*H, and don't think I missed an episode during it's eleven year run.

"I said once that the only way before 'M*A*S*H' you would get any feeling out of your television set is if you touched it while you were wet," Gelbart said.

He added: "We gave the audience permission to feel bad. Because America was feeling pretty rotten then, we were at war in Vietnam. And once the war stopped we didn't start feeling really terrific right away, if we ever will again about that situation."

The Los Angeles Times looks back on Gelbart's amazing career.

Larry Gelbart, the award-winning comedy writer best known for developing the landmark TV series "MASH," co-writing the book for the hit Broadway musical "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and co-writing the classic movie comedy "Tootsie," died Friday morning. He was 81.

Gelbart, who was diagnosed with cancer in June, died at his home in Beverly Hills, said his wife, Pat.

Jack Lemmon once described the genial, quick-witted Gelbart as "one of the greatest writers of comedy to have graced the arts in this century."

"Larry Gelbart was among the very best comedy writers ever produced in America," said Mel Brooks, whose friendship with Gelbart dated to when they both wrote for Sid Caesar's comedy-variety show "Caesar's Hour" in the 1950s. Gelbart "had class, he had wit, he had style and grace. He was a marvelous writer who could do more with words than anybody I ever met," Brooks said.

Condolences to his family.

In Memoriam - Nancy Minson

I never had the pleasure of meeting Nancy Minson, and it's my loss. A Facebook friend recently posted that Nancy had died. Who knows why, but I felt compelled to find out more about her and what she had done during her 63 years. What I discovered was pretty amazing!

Nancy Minson was given six months to live - and took 21 years instead.

Bucking convention came naturally to Ms. Minson, who died of pancreatic cancer at age 63 on Tuesday at Hospice of Cincinnati in Blue Ash.

A feminist and tireless advocate of liberal causes, Ms. Minson, of East Walnut Hills, survived a battle with aggressive stage 3 ovarian cancer that was diagnosed in 1988. It was then that she was given that most dire prediction: she would soon die.

But she didn't, traveling to Santa Cruz, Calif. for experimental treatment that she credited with prolonging her life.

"I've never seen somebody that loved life so totally," said her close friend Marianna Brown Bettman, whom Ms. Minson helped elect to the First District Court of Appeals in 1992. [...]

Born Nov. 25, 1945 to Louis and Frieda Minson, she grew up in Paddock Hills and attended Walnut Hills High School. She enrolled at Ohio State University, graduating in 1969.

Ms. Minson then launched a 40-year career speaking out for government reform, progressive and Jewish causes and Jewish and gay rights.

Her work took her to Washington, D.C. as a congressional staffer; to Israel; to Belgium, where she was a journalist for a community newspaper; back to Cincinnati; to Santa Cruz, where she worked as a medical case management supervisor, primarily with older adult and HIV-infected patients; and finally to Cincinnati again.

In 2004, Ms. Minson helped overturn a 1993 amendment to Cincinnati's charter that prohibited the city from extending protections to homosexuals.

She was named one of The Enquirer's Women of the Year in 2002.

"She was tough, she was a fighter and yet she was one of those people who could make her strongly-held position clear with a good deal of passion yet do it with a great deal of grace so that people were open to her message," said Tim Burke, chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party.

She was grateful for life to the end.

"Knowing I'm going to die is terrifying but in some ways it's a gift," Ms. Minson said in a recent hospital bed conversation. "It's incredible to hear people say how much they love you."

The Enquirer has a comments section, and I was particularly taken by this one:

JaAli wrote:
Since I am of the conviction that the human essence is of a spiritual nature I will speak to the spirit of this lovely woman and great human being. Ms. Minson was the apex of givers, so that others could receive the fruits, the flowers, the rewards and the sacred offerings that come in being an American.

She lived a life that was committed and predicated on sharing, caring, loving and adding to and not taking away from human beings, irrespective of race, faith, class, color, sex or sexual orientation. She told me the last time I talked with her about a battle against a injustice that I was going to wage at city hall, she said, "Good, because if you don't do what you believe is right this will be a wasted day for you and you will not be increased as a man of principles and convictions."

Thank You, Nancy Minson, for my "increase." Heaven will be 'increased' when you get there also. God Bless You!

The Cincinnati Enquirer interviewed Minson in 2002, following her Women of the Year award.

Often, you are described as an "outspoken social activist." How do you feel about that?

I'm proud of it. I am progressive. I'm not afraid of being called a liberal. I'm passionate about human rights. So I think that's a wonderful compliment. [...]

You are an advocate for all kinds of people. Where did this mission come from?

I think my mother and my whole cultural heritage. There's a quote from Rabbi Hillel I learned as a kid: "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I'm only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?"

Your mother was a big influence. Did everything she told you turn out to be true?

My mother taught me two things in life that were wrong, that I spent the rest of my life unlearning. One is, "right overcomes wrong." The other is, "life is just." Although they are good goals, they're not true.

So, if you go through life bemoaning things aren't right and they aren't just, you get caught up with that and you don't deal with the situation as it is. I'm pretty pragmatic about that. But it took me a long time to learn it. [...]

You are straight, but because you're single and active in gay rights, you know many people think you're a lesbian. Does that bother you?

Not at all. Although I have a cousin, who's like a brother to me, who tells me I should make sure I say I'm straight every time I do an interview. You'll never get a date! he says.

Because many people assumed I was a lesbian, I got a look at the gay community I never would have gotten otherwise. It was also interesting to see how people treated me differently.

You have been involved in many political campaigns. Will you run for public office?

I don't think so. First, I don't think I could take the rejection. I also don't think I could raise the money it takes to win. One of my causes is campaign finance reform.

I'd rather work on campaigns than be the candidate. ... But I love politics. I think politics is the most efficient means to social change.

Another piece of advice someone gave me once: The world is run by those who show up. It's true. Our elections are decided by a minority of an electorate. I want to make sure my voice is heard. So I show up a lot.

I never met Nancy Minson, but I certainly wish I had. Rest in peace Nancy ... and thanks for being such an inspiration!

In Memoriam - Sen. Edward Kennedy

We knew this day was coming, but it's still stunning to think the "Liberal Lion" of the Senate is gone. Sen. Ted Kennedy died today, he was 77. I've said before, it was the Kennedy family that sparked my interest in politics back in the 1960's ... and my interest never waned.

My Republican mother made sure I had a Kennedy for President campaign button. I wrote an extended piece on Robert Kennedy for a history class following his death. And I've always admired Ted's decision to continue to serve, even while facing all too human transgressions.

He was a wealthy young man, who could have walked away from politics to live a carefree life. But that's not how Kennedy's were raised. Instead he spend his life championing the disadvantaged, discriminated, and powerless among us. Civil rights, women's rights, and his passion, universal health care for everyone.

Sen. Kennedy won't see his dream realized, but Congress could do the right thing and make Teddy's dream a reality.

Here is the Washington Post report of his death:

Edward M. Kennedy, one of the most powerful and influential senators in American history and one of three brothers whose political triumphs and personal tragedies captivated the nation for decades, died late Tuesday at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass., at age 77. He had been battling brain cancer.

His family announced his death in a brief statement released early Wednesday. "We've
lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever," the statement said. "We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all." [...]

"President Obama was notified about 2 a.m., aides said, and spoke to Kennedy's widow, Victoria, a short time later. In a statement released Wednesday morning, Obama paid tribute to Kennedy, pointing out that "virtually every major piece of legislation to advance the civil rights, health and economic well being of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts. . . .

Our country has lost a great leader, who picked up the torch of his fallen brothers and became the greatest United States Senator of our time," the statement said. ". . . . Our hearts and prayers go out to" the Kennedy family.

Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, was the last male survivor of a privileged and charismatic family that in the 1960s dominated American politics and attracted worldwide attention. His sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics, died two weeks ago, also in Hyannis Port. One sibling, former U.S. ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy Smith, is still alive.

As heir through tragedy to his accomplished older brothers -- President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.), both of whom were assassinated -- Edward Kennedy became the patriarch of his clan and a towering figure in the U.S. Senate to a degree neither of his siblings had been. [...]

For decades, Kennedy was at the center of the most important issues facing the nation, and he did much to help shape them. A defender of the poor and politically disadvantaged, he set the standard for his party on health care, education, civil rights, campaign-finance reform and labor law. He also came to oppose the war in Vietnam and, from the beginning, was an outspoken opponent of the war in Iraq. [...]

Health care reform is "a defining issue for our society," Kennedy told fellow senators during a 1994 debate. "Do we really care about our fellow citizens?" It was a question he asked countless times, in one form or another, during his long Senate career. He faced opposition from most Republicans -- and more than a few Democrats -- who insisted that Kennedy's proposals for universal health care amounted to socialized medicine that would lead to bureaucratic sclerosis and budget-breaking costs and inefficiencies.

Sen. Kennedy is gone, but the ability to pass meaningful health care still exists. It's up to the president and Congress to see that it happens.

To the Senator's family I send my sincere condolences. May he rest in peace.

In Memoriam - Eunice Kennedy Shriver

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who emerged from a powerful male-dominated political family to found the Special Olympics and become a leading advocate of the mentally disabled, died on Tuesday at the age of 88.

Shriver, the sister of former President John F. Kennedy, died about 2 a.m./0600 GMT at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, the Massachusetts town on Cape Cod synonymous with the Kennedy dynasty.

"Her work transformed the lives of hundreds of millions of people across the globe and they in turn are her living legacy," her family said in a statement.

U.S. President Barack Obama praised Shriver's Special Olympics work and called her "an extraordinary woman who, as much as anyone, taught our nation -- and our world -- that no physical or mental barrier can restrain the power of the human spirit." [...]

She was born July 10, 1921, the middle child of the nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and his wife, Rose.

As a child, she wanted to compete athletically against her brothers, including John, elected president in 1960 and assassinated in 1963; Robert, a New York senator whose presidential bid ended with his assassination in 1968; and Edward, who has served as a senator from Massachusetts for more than 45 years. [...]

Edward Kennedy, who is battling brain cancer, said in a statement that even as a child his sister had a "boundless passion to make a difference."

"Though the Special Olympics will be her enduring monument, in our family she'll be remembered as a loyal and loving sister, a treasured wife to Sarge, and a wonderful mother and grandmother," he said.

Condolences to her family and friends.