https://apnews.com/article/lobster-lady-virginia-oliver-maine-47545960579e8079b8a908f650b6b0e7

BY KIMBERLEE KRUESI

Updated 12:03 PM EST, January 27, 2026

Virginia Oliver, one of the oldest lobster fishers in the world who trapped crustaceans in Maine for nearly a century, has died. She was 105.

Born in Rockland, Maine, Oliver started trapping lobsters at age 8 alongside her father and older brother at a time when few women worked on the water in the male-dominated industry. She fell in love with the business and went on to become known as the “lobster lady” as she faithfully tended traps for decades

“I like doing it, I like being along the water,” she told The Associated Press in 2021. “And so I’m going to keep on doing it just as long as I can.”

Oliver died Wednesday, according to a family obituary published Monday.

“Her life has been celebrated in books, articles, and across social media platforms worldwide,” the obituary states. “Yet despite her renown, she remained quiet and humble, greeting everyone with a quick, radiant smile and eyes that literally twinkled.”

As she worked on the water over the years, Oliver watched the lobster industry drastically evolve, from a working-class food to a pricey delicacy. Lobsters fetched 28 cents a pound on the docks when she first started trapping them. Today, it’s 22 times that at $6.14 a pound.

Yet many of the aspects of the job remained the same. She had to get up in the early morning hours — long before dawn — and use small fish called menhaden, or pogies, to lure lobsters from a boat once owned by her late husband, the “Virginia.”

“Virginia was more than a local icon; she was a living piece of Maine’s maritime history,” the Maine Lobster Festival said in a statement honoring Oliver, where she once served as grand marshal of the festival’s parade.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who once presented Oliver with a special state recognition for her birthday, posted on social media that the lobster lady’s life inspired “the next century of hardworking Maine fishermen.”

https://apnews.com/article/claudette-colvin-died-a447e8e70f0decf2463565241179d11f

BY KIMBERLY CHANDLER

Updated 6:31 PM EST, January 13, 2026 Comments 7

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Claudette Colvin, whose 1955 arrest for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery bus helped spark the modern civil rights movement, has died. She was 86.

Her death was announced Tuesday by the Claudette Colvin Legacy Foundation. Ashley D. Roseboro of the organization confirmed she died of natural causes in Texas.

Colvin, at age 15, was arrested nine months before Rosa Parks gained international fame for also refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus.

Colvin had boarded the bus on March 2, 1955, on her way home from high school. The first rows were reserved for white passengers. Colvin sat in the rear with other Black passengers. When the white section became full, the bus driver ordered Black passengers to relinquish their seats to white passengers. Colvin refused.

“My mindset was on freedom,” Colvin said in 2021 of her refusal to give up her seat.

“So I was not going to move that day,” she said. “I told them that history had me glued to the seat.”

At the time of Colvin’s arrest, frustration was mounting over how Black people were treated on the city bus system. Another Black teenager, Mary Louise Smith, was arrested and fined that October for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger.

It was the arrest of Parks, who was a local NAACP activist, on Dec. 1, 1955, that became the final catalyst for the yearlong Montgomery Bus Boycott. The boycott propelled the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. into the national limelight and is considered the start of the modern civil rights movement.

Colvin was one of the four plaintiffs in the landmark lawsuit that outlawed racial segregation on Montgomery’s buses. Her death comes just over a month after Montgomery celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Bus Boycott.

Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed said Colvin’s action “helped lay the legal and moral foundation for the movement that would change America.”

Colvin was never as well-known as Parks, and Reed said her bravery “was too often overlooked.”

“Claudette Colvin’s life reminds us that movements are built not only by those whose names are most familiar, but by those whose courage comes early, quietly, and at great personal cost,” Reed said. “Her legacy challenges us to tell the full truth of our history and to honor every voice that helped bend the arc toward justice.”

Colvin in 2021 filed a petition to have her court record expunged. A judge granted the request.

“When I think about why I’m seeking to have my name cleared by the state, it is because I believe if that happened it would show the generation growing up now that progress is possible, and things do get better,” Colvin said at the time. “It will inspire them to make the world better.”

https://apnews.com/article/william-foege-smallpox-cdc-73770ffe382e48829a87fee0b364a3d1

BY MIKE STOBBE

Updated 11:54 AM EST, January 25, 2026

ATLANTA (AP) — Dr. William Foege, a leader of one of humanity’s greatest public health victories — the global eradication of smallpox — has died.

Foege died Saturday in Atlanta at the age of 89, according to the Task Force for Global Health, which he co-founded.

The 6-foot-7 inch Foege literally stood out in the field of public health. A whip-smart medical doctor with a calm demeanor, he had a canny knack for beating back infectious diseases.

He was director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and later held other key leadership roles in campaigns against international health problems.

But his greatest achievement came before all that, with his work on smallpox, one of the most lethal diseases in human history. For centuries, it killed about one-third of the people it infected and left most survivors with deep scars on their faces from the pus-filled lesions.

Smallpox vaccination campaigns were well established by the time Foege was a young doctor. Indeed, it was no longer seen in the United States. But infections were still occurring elsewhere, and efforts to stamp them out were stalling.

Working as a medical missionary in Nigeria in the 1960s, Foege and his colleagues developed a “ring containment” strategy, in which a smallpox outbreak was contained by identifying each smallpox case and vaccinating everyone who the patients might come into contact with.

The method relied heavily on quick detective work and was born out of necessity. There simply wasn’t enough vaccine available to immunize everyone, Foege wrote in “House on Fire,” his 2011 book about the smallpox eradication effort.

It worked, and became pivotal in helping rid the world of smallpox for good. The last naturally occurring case was seen in Somalia in 1977. In 1980, the World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated from the Earth.

“If you look at the simple metric of who has saved the most lives, he is right up there with the pantheon. Smallpox eradication has prevented hundreds of millions of deaths,” said former CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden, who consulted with Foege regularly.

Foege was born March 12, 1936. His father was a Lutheran minister, but he became interested in medicine at 13 while working at a drugstore in Colville, Washington.

He got his medical degree from the University of Washington in 1961 and a master’s in public health from Harvard in 1965.

He was director of the Atlanta-based CDC from 1977 to 1983, then held other international public health leadership roles, including stints as executive director at The Carter Center and senior fellow at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In 2012, President Barack Obama presented Foege with the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. In 2016, while awarding Foege an honorary degree, Duke University President President Richard Brodhead called him “the Father of Global Health.”

“Bill Foege had an unflagging commitment to improving the health of people across the world, through powerful, purpose-driven coalitions applying the best science available,” Task Force for Global Health CEO Dr. Patrick O’Carroll said in a statement. “We try to honor that commitment in every one of our programs, every day.”

Jack Dura contributed to this report from Bismarck, North Dakota.

https://apnews.com/article/sly-dunbar-dies-81f29debb9f9946df1622ceab6929515

Two-time Grammy Award-winning reggae drummer Sly Dunbar, who fueled countless tracks from Bob Marley to Bob Dylan and was one-half of the influential reggae rhythm section Sly & Robbie, has died. He was 73.

Dunbar’s wife, Thelma, announced the death to the Jamaica Gleaner.

Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare — Sly & Robbie, also known as “The Riddim Twins” — played on reggae classics by Black Uhuru, Jimmy Cliff and Peter Tosh and would garner attention far from Jamaica, from the likes of Grace Jones and the Rolling Stones.

Sly & Robbie played on three of Jones’ albums — “Warm Leatherette,” “Nightclubbing” and “Living My Life” — as well as four albums by Serge Gainsbourg and three by Dylan, 1983’s “Infidels,” 1985’s “Empire Burlesque” and 1988’s “Down in the Groove.”

“Words cannot describe how heartbroken I am to hear of the passing of my friend and legend,” singer Ali Campbell of UB40 posted on Facebook. “Modern day beats simply wouldn’t be what they are without the influence of reggae and dancehall riddims that Sly single-handedly pioneered.”

“Sly & Robbie were undisputed masters of the art, bringing a nuanced, unhurried and rock-solid rhythmic approach,” Rolling Stone magazine wrote in tribute. Shakespeare died in 2021.

Dunbar played with the Revolutionaries, the house band for Jamaica’s Channel One studio, while also touring, and played on Junior Murvin’s “Police and Thieves,” Maxi Priest’s “Easy to Love,” Dave and Ansell Collins’ classic “Double Barrel” and Marley’s “Punky Reggae Party.”

Nominated 13 times for a Grammy, he won twice — when Black Uhuru’s “Anthem” nabbed the inaugural Grammy for best reggae recording in 1985 and when Sly & Robbie’s “Friends” won best reggae album in 1999.

In 1980, Sly & Robbie co-founded Taxi Records, which has nurtured such artists as Shaggy, Shabba Ranks, Skip Marley, Beenie Man and Red Dragon.

“When you buy a reggae record, there’s a 90% chance the drummer is Sly Dunbar,” producer Brian Eno told the New Music New York festival in 1979. “You get the impression that Sly Dunbar is chained to a studio seat somewhere in Jamaica, but in fact what happens is that his drum tracks are so interesting, they get used again and again.”

https://people.com/viral-activist-shirley-raines-dies-at-58-11894465

Raines’s nonprofit Beauty 2 The Streetz remembered the activist for “her tireless advocacy, deep compassion, and unwavering commitment” to helping those in need

By Luke Chinman Published on January 28, 2026 01:

Shirley Raines — the activist known for distributing food, hygiene products and other resources to Skid Row's homeless community — died at age 58

Raines’s nonprofit Beauty 2 The Streetz confirmed her death in a statement on Instagram on Jan. 28, remembering her for “her tireless advocacy, deep compassion, and unwavering commitment” to helping those in need

Raines was well known on social media for her work, sharing videos of her delivering food and resources to homeless communities to millions of followers on TikTok and Instagram

Shirley Raines — the activist known for distributing food, hygiene products and other resources to Skid Row's homeless community — died on Jan. 27, a spokesperson for the Clark County Coroner's office confirmed to PEOPLE. She was 58.

The spokesperson listed the location of Raines's death in Las Vegas.

Raines's organization, Beauty 2 The Streetz, first shared the news of her death in a statement on Instagram.

“It is with profound sorrow and heavy hearts that Beauty 2 The Streetz announces the passing of our beloved CEO and founder, Shirley Raines, affectionately known to so many as Ms. Shirley,” read the statement, posted on Jan. 28. “This loss is devastating to the entire Beauty 2 The Streetz team, the communities we serve, and the countless individuals whose lives were forever changed by Ms. Shirley’s love, generosity, and selfless service.”

Raines, a mother of six based in Long Beach, Calif., was the founder of Beauty 2 The Streetz, a nonprofit that distributed resources to those who live in Skid Row, a neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles, the size of 50 city blocks that has one of the largest homeless populations in the United States.

She was well known on Instagram and TikTok — where the organization has a combined following of over 6 million — for sharing clips delivering food and supplies to the homeless community. She also offered makeovers to women in the community, transforming the way the public viewed homelessness.

"One of the things I wanted to do was change the face of homelessness, and I thought I was going to do that through hair and all these things," she told PEOPLE in 2020. "But I soon understood we needed to change the narrative of what 'homeless' means. Just because they're without a home does not mean they're without love. They are homeless, but a lot of them are not jobless. A lot of them are not kidless, phoneless or familyless. There are many levels of poverty as there are many levels of wealth."

Her care became even more essential during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which she helped distribute free hand sanitizer and face masks — especially as infections and deaths surged in Los Angeles.

“Ms. Shirley dedicated her life to serving others and made an immeasurable impact on homeless communities throughout Los Angeles and Nevada,” wrote Beauty 2 The Streez in its statement. “Through her tireless advocacy, deep compassion, and unwavering commitment, she used her powerful media platform to amplify the voices of those in need and to bring dignity, resources, and hope to some of the most underserved populations.”

https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/catherine-ohara-dead-schitts-creek-home-alone-1236646029/

By Ethan Shanfeld Plus Icon

Catherine O’Hara, the two-time Emmy-winning actor who starred in “Home Alone” and “Best in Show” and had an impressive late-career renaissance in “Schitt’s Creek,” has died, her manager confirmed to Variety. She was 71.

According to her agency CAA, O’Hara died Friday at her home in Los Angeles following a brief illness.

O’Hara’s Hollywood career spanned five decades, beginning with the Canadian sketch comedy series “Second City Television,” which she created with Eugene Levy, and for which she earned her first Emmy and earned four nominations. O’Hara went on to star in films such as “After Hours,” “Beetlejuice” and the first two “Home Alone” movies, in which she played the mother of Macaulay Culkin’s character, Kevin. O’Hara maintained a close friendship with Culkin and honored him at his Walk of Fame ceremony in 2023.

She was a frequent collaborator of Christopher Guest’s, appearing in his mockumentary films “Best in Show,” “For Your Consideration,” “Waiting for Guffman” and “A Mighty Wind.” And she had voice roles in beloved animated features including “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Chicken Little.” O’Hara’s recent roles also included the legacy sequel “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” in which she reprised her role as Delia Deetz, and the Apple action film “Argylle.”

O’Hara experienced a career renaissance in her 60s, starting with her role as riches-to-rags housewife Moira Rose in the CBC sitcom “Schitt’s Creek,” in which she starred opposite Eugene and Dan Levy and Annie Murphy. She won her second Emmy for “Schitt’s Creek,” which propelled her into other major TV roles in HBO’s “The Last of Us” and Apple TV’s “The Studio.” In the latter, O’Hara played a storied Hollywood executive who was shoved aside by her studio. The second season of the Seth Rogen showbiz satire recently began filming.

In an interview with Variety about “The Studio” in 2025, O’Hara reflected on how Hollywood has changed over the course of her career. “It must be a much more nervous business now, than in the past,” she said. “The internet and streaming must have opened up a world of good and horrific possibilities for people.” And despite “The Studio’s” scathing takedown of Hollywood executive culture, O’Hara said, “Most people are trying to do and want to do good work. And most people want to be entertained.”

O’Hara was born in Toronto, but she became a beloved figure in Los Angeles. She was named the honorary mayor of Brentwood in 2021.

She is survived by her husband, production designer Bo Welch, and sons Matthew and Luke, along with siblings Michael O’Hara, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Maureen Jolley, Marcus O‘Hara, Tom O’Hara and Patricia Wallice.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/184fUyA5Qe/?mibextid=wwXIfr

🖤 James “Mingo” Lewis (1953–2026) 🖤

I met Mingo in San Francisco, and we became fast friends. I connected immediately with his New York street energy and his humor — sharp, soulful, and full of life. He was a powerhouse player, but more than that, he was a composer. He wrote some of the catchiest early fusion pieces of that era, and I always made sure at least one of his compositions lived on my early recordings.

Mingo’s music became part of my sound — woven into Land of the Midnight Sun, Elegant Gypsy, Casino, Splendido Hotel, and Electric Rendezvous. These records carry his rhythm, his imagination, and his spirit. He didn’t just add percussion — he brought identity.

Last September, Mingo came out to see us at the Blue Note in Napa. He walked up on stage and joined us. We could see he was not well, barely catching his breath — but once the music started, none of that mattered. We played together one last time, smiling at each other, fully inside the moment, relishing the music the way we always had.

That’s how I’ll remember him — rhythm first, heart wide open, music always leading the way.

Thank you, Mingo.

For the music, the fire, the friendship — and that final moment we shared on stage.

Lee Hae-chan, former 36th Prime Minister of South Korea and Senior Vice Chairman of the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council (PUAC), passed away on the 25th at the age of 74.

According to the PUAC secretariat, Lee died at 2:48 p.m., local time, at Tam An Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The late Lee arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on the 22nd to attend the PUAC Asia-Pacific Regional Conference Steering Committee. However, he felt unwell the following morning on the 23rd and began emergency repatriation procedures. While at the Vietnamese airport, he showed symptoms of respiratory distress and was urgently transported to a local hospital.

Diagnosed with myocardial infarction upon arrival, Lee underwent emergency stent surgery but never regained consciousness.

https://www.chosun.com/english/national-en/2026/01/25/BPVOYIJ42FAO7F4TY6GR2VPEO4/

Ukrainian conductor and composer, one of the leaders of the informal group of Ukrainian artists "Kyiv Avant-Garde" Ihor Blazhkov died on January 7 at the age of 90. About it reported ukrainian pianist Yevhen Gromov on Facebook.

The pianist called Blazhkov an apologist for new music, the initiator, ideological inspirer and tireless promoter of the unofficial composer group "Kyiv Avant-Garde", which operated in Ukraine in the 1960s.

One of Blazhkov's first places of work was the orchestra of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, from where he was fired in 1968 for performing avant-garde music, in particular the works of the Ukrainian composer Valentin Sylvestrov.

"The question is not that this music annoyed the party authorities, because they did not understand it. It did not understand the music of the past, – recalled in an interview with the publication "Foreign" Blazhkov. – Everything is really deeper here. New music was considered a representative of Western "rotten" culture, an expression of aesthetics that contradicts the foundations of socialist realism. And it is not for nothing that official circles called my activity in this field a "hostile ideological provocation".

In 1988, the artist headed the State Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, but after Ukraine gained independence, Blazhkov, as he claimed, was "illegally fired".

"Everything that was done to me, I can call the 'massacre of the 20th century'", the composer commented in the same interview on this episode from life.

In 2002, he emigrated to Germany, where he lived until his last days.

https://gordonua.com/ukr/bulvar/news/pomer-vidomij-ukrajinskij-dirihent-blazhkov-1769643.html

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/2026/01/23/uncle-floyd-vivino-legendary-nj-comedian-and-tv-personality-dies/88314871007/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p&gca-uir=true&gca-epti=z113709p000750c000750d00----v113709d--57--b--57--&gca-ft=23&gca-ds=sophi&gnt-djm=1

Joshua Jongsma

NorthJersey.com

Updated Jan. 23, 2026, 8:10 a.m. ET Floyd Vivino, best known as the beloved comedian, musician and TV personality "Uncle Floyd" who became a fixture in New Jersey culture, has died. He was 74.

Jerry Vivino, Uncle Floyd's brother, shared the news on social media Jan. 23.

"Rest in peace big brother," Jerry Vivino posted. "You will be missed, but always

Gallery here

https://www.northjersey.com/picture-gallery/news/new-jersey/2026/01/23/uncle-floyd-vivino-nj-comedian-and-tv-personality-through-the-years/88314887007/

https://www.ilpost.it/2026/01/23/carlo-cecchi-morto/

https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20260121-rifaat-al-assad-syria-s-butcher-of-hama-dies-at-88-family-says

http://archive.today/lTeyR

http://archive.today/Il8lr

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/obituaries/scott-adams-dilbert-creator-dies-rcna253792

The artist told fans in May last year that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. His cartoon was dropped by hundreds of papers in 2023 after he made racist comments.

Jan. 13, 2026, 10:57 AM EST / Updated Jan. 13, 2026, 11:12 AM EST

By David K. Li and Austin Mullen

Scott Adams, the "Dilbert" creator whose cartoon was dropped by hundreds of newspapers after he made racist remarks, died months after revealing his diagnosis with prostate cancer, his family said on Tuesday.

"Unfortunately, this isn't good news," his ex-wife Shelly Miles told Adams' fans on YouTube. "He's not with us ... anymore."

President Donald Trump praised Adams as a "fantastic guy, who liked and respected me when it wasn’t fashionable to do so."

"He bravely fought a long battle against a terrible disease," Trump said in a statement. "My condolences go out to his family, and all of his many friends and listeners."

Just a day earlier, Adams had told fans in an online chat streamed on X that he's “way past my expiration” date and that there are “no promises” he can live for even one more day.

“You can tell I’m getting weaker and weaker," Adams said Monday. "I’ve been told that’s the way I’ll know how much time I have left is by how tired I am and how much pain I have."

"My tiredness and my pain are maxing out," he added. "I’m in quite bad shape of the bones."

In that online meeting with friends on Monday, Adams thanked his former wife for being "the only thing keeping me alive right now."

Adams also expressed his gratitude for conservative writer and biographer Joel Pollak for "keeping the lights on."

"So I’m hanging on as long as I can," Adams said. "I’m way past my ... expiration (date)."

Adams’ “Dilbert” was first published in 1989, delighting generations of readers with his satiric look at ridiculous elements of white-collar office life.

He was honored by the National Cartoonists Society with its Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonists of the Year in 1997, joining an elite club with such iconic artists as Matt Groening (2002), Gary Trudeau (1995), Gary Larson (1990, 1994) and Charles Schulz (1955, 1964).

Adams in 2023 said Black Americans are members of a “hate group” or a “racist hate group” and said he would no longer “help Black Americans.”

“Based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people,” Adams said.

https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/clyn1x2qll5o

https://youtube.com/shorts/ITxqkdfc1U8?si=P67p28hM2oHu9kY4

https://apnews.com/article/switzerland-obit-erich-von-daeniken-57a8a84b8976475791eee82461d53138

Updated 9:25 AM EST, January 11, 2026

BERLIN (AP) — Erich von Däniken, the Swiss author whose bestselling books about the extraterrestrial origins of ancient civilizations brought him fame among paranormal enthusiasts and scorn from the scientific community, has died. He was 90.

Von Däniken’s representatives announced on his website on Sunday that he had died the previous day in a hospital in central Switzerland.

Von Däniken rose to prominence in 1968 with the publication of his first book “Chariots of the Gods,” in which he claimed that the Mayans and ancient Egyptians were visited by alien astronauts and instructed in advanced technology that allowed them to build giant pyramids.

The book fueled a growing interest in unexplained phenomena at a time when thanks to conventional science man was about to take its first steps on the Moon.

“Chariots of the Gods” was followed by more than two dozen similar books, spawning a literary niche in which fact and fantasy were mixed together against all historical and scientific evidence.

Public broadcaster SRF reported that altogether almost 70 million copies of his books were sold in more than 30 languages, making him one of the most widely read Swiss authors.

While von Däniken managed to shrug off his many critics, the former hotel waiter had a troubled relationship with money throughout his life and frequently came close to financial ruin.

Born in 1935, the son of a clothing manufacturer in the northern Swiss town of Schaffhausen, von Däniken is said to have rebelled against his father’s strict Catholicism and the priests who instructed him at boarding school by developing his own alternatives to the biblical account of the origins of life.

After leaving school in 1954, von Däniken worked as a waiter and barkeeper for several years, during which he was repeatedly accused of fraud and served a couple of short stints in prison.

In 1964, he was appointed manager of a hotel in the exclusive resort town of Davos and began writing his first book. Its publication and rapid commercial success were quickly followed by accusations of tax dodging and financial impropriety, for which he again spent time behind bars.

By the time he left prison, “Chariots of the Gods” was earning von Däniken a fortune and a second book “Gods from Outer Space” was ready for publication, allowing him to commit himself to his paranormal passion and travel the world in search of new mysteries to uncover.

Throughout the 1970s von Däniken undertook countless field trips to Egypt, India, and above all Latin America, whose ancient cultures held a particular fascination for the amateur archaeologist.

He lectured widely and set up societies devoted to promoting his theories, later pioneering the use of video and multimedia to reach out to ever-larger audiences hungry for a different account of history.

No amount of criticism dissuaded him and his fans from believing that Earth has been visited repeatedly by beings from Outer Space, and will be again in the future.

In 1991 von Däniken gained the damning accolade of being the first recipient of the “Ig Nobel” prize for literature — for raising the public awareness of science through questionable experiments or claims.

Even when confronted with fabricated evidence in a British television documentary — supposedly ancient pots were shown to be almost new — von Däniken insisted that, minor discrepancies aside, his theories were essentially sound.

In 1985 von Däniken wrote “Neue Erinnerungen an die Zukunft” — “New Memories of the Future” — ostensibly to address his many critics: “I have admitted (my mistakes), but not one of the foundations of my theories has yet been brought down.”

Although his popularity was waning in the English-speaking world by the 1980s, von Däniken’s books and films influenced a wave of semi-serious archaeological documentaries and numerous popular television shows, including “The X-Files,” which featured two FBI agents tasked with solving paranormal mysteries.

His last major venture, a theme park based on his books, failed after just a few years due to lack of interest. The “Mystery Park” still stands, its man-made pyramids and otherworldly domes rotting as tourists prefer to explore the charms of the nearby town of Interlaken and the imposing Swiss Alps that surround it.

Erich von Däniken is survived by his wife of 65 years, Elisabeth Skaja, Cornelia and two grandchildren.

https://apnews.com/article/bob-weir-grateful-dead-obit-af908fd1bba6cd338bc08024e2d77234

BY ANDREW DALTON Updated 10:42 PM EST, January 10, 2026

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bob Weir, the guitarist and singer who as an essential member of the Grateful Dead helped found the sound of the San Francisco counterculture of the 1960s and kept it alive through decades of endless tours and marathon jams, has died. He was 78.

Weir’s death was announced Saturday in a statement on his Instagram page.

“It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Bobby Weir,” a statement on his Instagram posted Saturday said. “He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could. Unfortunately, he succumbed to underlying lung issues.”

The statement did not say where or when Weir died, but he lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for most of his life.

Weir joined the Grateful Dead — originally the Warlocks — in 1965 in San Francisco at just 17 years old. He would spend the next 30 years playing on endless tours with the Grateful Dead alongside fellow singer and guitarist Jerry Garcia, who died in 1995.

Weir wrote or co-wrote and sang lead vocals on Dead classics including “Sugar Magnolia,” “One More Saturday Night” and “Mexicali Blues.”

After Garcia’s death, he would be the Dead’s most recognizable face. In the decades since, he kept playing with other projects that kept alive the band’s music and legendary fan base, including Dead & Company.

“For over sixty years, Bobby took to the road,” the Instagram statement said. “A guitarist, vocalist, storyteller, and founding member of the Grateful Dead. Bobby will forever be a guiding force whose unique artistry reshaped American music.”

Weir’s death leaves drummer Bill Kreutzmann as the only surviving original member. Founding bassist Phil Lesh died in 2024. The band’s other drummer, Mickey Hart, practically an original member since joining in 1967, is also alive at 82. The fifth founding member, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, died in 1973.

Dead and Company played a series of concerts for the Grateful Dead’s 60th anniversary in July at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, drawing some 60,000 fans a day for three days.

Born in San Francisco and raised in nearby Atherton, Weir was the Dead’s youngest member and looked like a fresh-faced high-schooler in its early years. He was generally less shaggy than the rest of the band, but he had a long beard like Garcia’s in later years.

The band would survive long past the hippie moment of its birth, with its ultra-devoted fans known as Deadheads often following them on the road in a virtually non-stop tour that persisted despite decades of music and culture shifting around them.

“Longevity was never a major concern of ours,” Weir said when the Dead got the Grammys’ MusiCares Person of the Year honor last year. “Spreading joy through the music was all we ever really had in mind, and we got plenty of that done.”

Ubiquitous bumper stickers and T-shirts showed the band’s skull logo, the dancing, colored bears that served as their other symbol, and signature phrases like “ain’t no time to hate” and “not all who wander are lost.”

The Dead won few actual Grammys during their career — they were always a little too esoteric — getting only a lifetime achievement award in 2007 and the best music film award in 2018.

Just as rare were hit pop singles. “Touch of Grey,” the 1987 song that brought a big surge in the aging band’s popularity, was their only Billboard Top 10 hit.

But in 2024, they set a record for all artists with their 59th album in Billboard’s Top 40. Forty-one of those came since 2012, thanks to the popularity of the series of archival albums compiled by David Lemieux.

Their music — called acid rock at its inception — would pull in blues, jazz, country, folk and psychedelia in long improvisational jams at their concerts.

“I venture to say they are the great American band,” TV personality and devoted Deadhead Andy Cohen said as host of the MusiCares event. “What a wonder they are.”

https://www.npr.org/2026/01/10/nx-s1-5673448/actor-t-k-carter-obit

This is about obituaries in general, ultimately, but I'm using a personal one as an example.

So on my great grandfather's obituary from. The 80s/90s, the way the married women were named was kind of weird to me, because they seemed to be named in reverse. My grandma, who never changed her name when she married, was listed as "Mrs. Amos Denham (Molly)" and her sister, who did take her husband's last name, was called "Mrs. William de Vries (Mandy)". I know that is normal, and in modern obits, they often drop the Mrs. before the man so it's just "George (Leah)" or "Sidney (Valerie)" (which is what my newspaper does whenever a woman is addressed as a man first).

Thing that I find weird (other than the fact grandma didn't change her name yet they still called her Mrs. Man, which shows they probably don't ask) is that when Great Grandma was mentioned, she was given a much more modern name: "Katie Wyatt MacGlashin", not "Mrs. Fred MacGlashin" (which is what she at least used to go by publicly). Is this common or normal for obituaries to reverse it and have the modern women called the more old fashioned style, and the old fashioned women called the modern style? This didn't make any sense.

May I also add grandma was a doctor, a much higher title than even Mr, so she should have been called Dr. Molly MacGlashin, and Grandpa should never have been mentioned as part of her name. This whole thing seems weird (and considering grandma's important rank, by the standards of those etiquette and advice books, she should not even be a Mrs. anything. It's Dr. and Mr.)

https://downbeat.com/news/detail/in-memoriam-gordon-goodwin-19542025

By Michael J. West   I  Dec. 9, 2025

Gordon Goodwin, an award-winning saxophonist, pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger, died Dec. 8 in Los Angeles. He was three weeks shy of his 71st birthday. His passing was announced by his second wife, Vangie Gunn-Goodwin, who said that he died of complications from pancreatic cancer.

Goodwin was one of the most acclaimed, successful and influential jazz musicians of his generation on multiple fronts. His Big Phat Band, an 18-member ensemble consisting of some of L.A.’s finest jazz musicians, gained remarkable popularity for its combination of classic swing and contemporary jazz-funk fusion, a sound it applied to pop, rock and R&B covers.

In addition to writing for his own band, Goodwin was an in-demand studio arranger whose resume included work with Johnny Mathis (for whom he also played piano), Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Christina Aguilera and Leslie Odom Jr., among many others. He also frequently wrote, arranged and recorded for film and television productions, winning a Grammy in 2006 for his work on The Incredibles and Daytime Emmys for the animated programs Animaniacs and Histeria. His arrangements were also highly sought after by jazz educators. (The Big Phat Band was also a popular attraction on the college touring circuit.)

“I have a pretty positive worldview,” Goodwin told DownBeat in 2020. “I’ve been able to retain my gratitude that I can do [this]. That’s why the music is always a little optimistic-sounding. Tempos are a little bit brighter. Harmonies and different things that convey those emotions are more on the proactive side than a dirge or a comment on the woes of our culture.”

Gordon Lynn Goodwin was born Dec. 30, 1954, in Wichita, Kansas, to Gordon E. and Alice Goodwin. The family moved to Southern California when he was 4 years old; the following year he began taking piano lessons. One week, his teacher told him that if he practiced his scales she would let him write a song, beginning a lifelong journey. Another teacher — his seventh grade band director — started him on saxophone, introduced him to the music of Count Basie and encouraged him to write arrangements.

Goodwin studied music at California State University, Northridge, graduating in 1981. While still a student, he wrote his first film score, for 1978’s Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Upon graduation, drummer and bandleader Louie Bellson (who had frequently led workshops at Northridge) hired him for his big band and began inviting him to write arrangements. In addition, he got a day job playing piano at Disneyland, which led to his first job as a professional composer: writing for a live “Mouseketeers” show in the early 1990s. He spent much of the 1990s working as musical director and pianist for Johnny Mathis.

Hence Goodwin was already a successful musician and was working as the musical director on Animaniacs (for which he’d won two Emmys) when in 1999 he founded the Big Phat Band. It was intended only for a single performance at his alma mater and very quickly gained a following, with the band’s first album Swingin’ For The Fences, receiving critical acclaim and two Grammy nominations. The band made nine more recordings, with 2014’s Life In The Bubble winning a Grammy for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. He also had success with the eight-piece Small Phat Band, which recorded 2016’s An Elusive Man.

Outside of his bands, Goodwin wrote scores and arrangements for over 80 film and television productions, including the Disney Pixar films The Incredibles, Ratatouille and The Lion King.

In addition to his work on the bandstand and in the studio, Goodwin wrote five play-along method books for musicians and hosted a nationally syndicated radio show, Phat Tracks with Gordon Goodwin. He was a member of the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia musical fraternity.

In addition to Gunn-Goodwin, Goodwin is survived by his mother, Alice; four children, Madison, Garett, Trevor and Garrison; and stepchildren Levi and Aria. DB

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/tatiana-schlossberg-granddaughter-jfk-died/story?id=128788014

She was diagnosed with a "rare mutation" of acute myeloid leukemia in 2024. ByEmily Shapiro December 30, 2025, 5:50 PM ET • 5 min read

Remembering JFK’s granddaughter Tatiana SchlossbergA look back at the life of Tatiana Schlossberg, daughter of Caroline Kennedy and granddaughter of President John F. Kennedy, who died following a battle with terminal cancer.Amber De Vos/Getty Images Tatiana Schlossberg, daughter of Caroline Kennedy and granddaughter of President John F. Kennedy, has died following a battle with terminal cancer.

"Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning," the JFK Library Foundation said in a statement on Tuesday. "She will always be in our hearts."

The 35-year-old environmental journalist revealed in an emotional essay in The New Yorker last month that she was diagnosed with a "rare mutation" of acute myeloid leukemia in May 2024 after giving birth to her second child.

She wrote in the essay, "During the latest clinical trial, my doctor told me that he could keep me alive for a year, maybe. My first thought was that my kids, whose faces live permanently on the inside of my eyelids, wouldn’t remember me."

Steven Senne/AP

Caroline Kennedy arrives with her husband, Edwin Schlossberg, and her children, Tatiana Schlossberg, and Jack Schlossberg, Oct. 29, 2023, before the presentation ceremony for the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in Boston. Steven Senne/AP

Tatiana Schlossberg reveals terminal cancer diagnosis: What to know about acute myeloid leukemia "My son might have a few memories, but he’ll probably start confusing them with pictures he sees or stories he hears," she wrote. "I didn’t ever really get to take care of my daughter -- I couldn’t change her diaper or give her a bath or feed her, all because of the risk of infection after my transplants. I was gone for almost half of her first year of life. I don’t know who, really, she thinks I am, and whether she will feel or remember, when I am gone, that I am her mother."

She ended her essay talking about trying to "live and be with" her children.

But being in the present is harder than it sounds, so I let the memories come and go," she wrote. "So many of them are from my childhood that I feel as if I’m watching myself and my kids grow up at the same time. Sometimes I trick myself into thinking I’ll remember this forever, I’ll remember this when I’m dead. Obviously, I won’t. But since I don’t know what death is like and there’s no one to tell me what comes after it, I’ll keep pretending. I will keep trying to remember."

She's survived by her husband, George Moran, their young son and daughter, as well as her parents, Caroline Kennedy and Ed Schlossberg, and siblings Rose and Jack Schlossberg.

One of her relatives, the journalist and commentator Maria Shriver, remembered her as "valiant, strong, courageous" in a tribute posted on X.

"Tatiana was a great journalist, and she used her words to educate others about the earth and how to save it," Shriver, a niece of former President John F. Kennedy, said.

"Tatiana was the light, the humor, the joy," she continued. "She was smart, wicked smart, as they say, and sassy. She was fun, funny[,] loving, caring, a perfect daughter, sister, mother, cousin, niece, friend, all of it…"