The LuLac Edition #5, 530, December 27th, 2025

 

MOVING

ON

2025

JANUARY

 Wayne Osmond, 73, American singer (The Osmonds) and songwriter ("Crazy Horses", "Let Me In"), stroke.

Bob Veale, 89, American baseball player (Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox).

Brenton Wood, 83, American singer ("The Oogum Boogum Song", "Gimme Little Sign").

Morris Bradshaw, 72, American football player (Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots), Super Bowl champion (1977, 1981).

James Arthur Ray was an American self-help businessman, motivational speaker, author and convicted felon who was found guilty in 2011 of causing three deaths through negligent homicide. In October 2009, three participants died while taking part in a ritual, led by Ray, at one of his New Age retreats. Ray was arrested and in 2011 convicted of three Bill Byrge, 86, American actor (Ernest Saves Christmas, Ernest Goes to Jail, Ernest Scared Stupid) and comediancounts of negligent homicide.

Rex Holman, 89, American actor (Death Valley Days, The Virginian, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier).

Mickey Roth, 97, Canadian ice hockey player (Lethbridge Maple Leafs, Stratford Kroehlers, national team), world champion

Félix Mantilla, 90, Puerto Rican baseball player (Milwaukee Braves, Boston Red Sox).

Sam Moore, 89, American Hall of Fame singer-songwriter (Sam & Dave), complications from surgery.

Bill Dailey, 89, American baseball player (Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins).

Marty DeMerritt, 71, American baseball player and coach (San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs).

Bob Uecker, 90, American baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals), broadcaster (Milwaukee Brewers), and actor (Mr. Belvedere), lung cancer.

Marianne Faithfull, 78, English singer ("As Tears Go By"), songwriter ("Broken English") and actress (The Girl on a Motorcycle).

Judy Johnson (born Betty Bonney was an American pop singer most notable for her regular appearances on the NBC television series Your Show of Shows in the 1950s.

 

FEBRUARY

Fay Vincent, 86, American lawyer and sports executive, commissioner of baseball (1989–1992), bladder cancer.

Peter Bassano, 79, English trombonist ("Hey Jude") and conductor.

Harry Stewart Jr., 100, American Air Force pilot (Tuskegee Airmen).

Rich Dauer, 72, American baseball player (Baltimore Orioles) and coach (Kansas City Royals, Colorado Rockies).

Paul Plishka, 83, American operatic bass. Plishka was born in Old Forge, Pennsylvania,  on August 28, 1941. His grandparents had immigrated there from Ukraine and had worked in coal mines and factories. His father, Peter Plishka,  worked as a stockroom employee, and his mother, Helen, was a seamstress in a factory. Plishka made his formal debut with the Met as the Monk in Ponchielli's La Gioconda in 1967, alongside Renata Tebaldi, Rosalind Elias and Sherrill Milnes. He remembered in a 2012 interview: “These were idols. They were all gods for me." Over his first three years, he performed around 30 smaller and mostly buffo roles, including Bartolo in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro and Fra Melitone in Verdi's La forza del destino, but from the 1970s was assigned more dramatic roles such as Raimondo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and Mephistopheles in Gounod's Faust in 1976, reviewed by Donal Henahan for The New York Times: "Mr. Plishka’s Mephistopheles was a harsher, more plainly malevolent character than is usually seen, and provided a few chills with his realistic outbursts of frustrated rage.” He became one of the company's leading basses, but remained open to secondary roles. Plishka's voice was described as dark, rich,[mellifluous, powerful and expressive.He is remembered for "sonorous, liquid bass tones and near-perfect diction", as Jonathan Kandell wrote in The New York Times. He was a fine actor, with a dignified and intense stage-presence.

Gary Stevens  was an American radio personality and disc jockey and later, an American music executive. Stevens is best known for being one of WMCA's "Good Guys", a line-up of high energy AM radio disc jockeys that served the greater New York City area in the mid to late 1960s.

Robert John, 79, American singer ("Sad Eyes", "If You Don't Want My Love", "The Lion Sleeps Tonight").

Dave Frankel, 67, American news anchor and weatherman (WPVI-TV, KYW-TV), complications from primary progressive aphasia.

Michelle Trachtenberg, 39,passed away from complications of diabetes. Trachtenberg found success on the supernatural drama series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2000–2003) as Dawn Summers, the younger sister of Buffy, for which she won another Young Artist Award and earned her three Saturn Award nominations. She was also nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for her role as the host of the Discovery Kids series Truth or Scare (2001–2003). In her late teens and early 20s, Trachtenberg rose to further prominence in the film EuroTrip (2004) and as Georgina Sparks on the CW series Gossip Girl (2008–2012).

Olen Underwood, 82, American football player (Houston Oilers, New York Giants, Denver Broncos).

Joseph Wambaugh, 88, American author (The Onion Field, Echoes in the Darkness, The Blue Knight), esophageal cancer.

 

MARCH

Joey Molland, 77, English guitarist (Badfinger) and songwriter ("Love Is Easy", "Love Is Gonna Come at Last"), complications from diabetes.

Craig Richard Nelson, 77, American actor (The Paper Chase, 3 Women, Friends and Lovers).

Francis Field Saucier was an American professional baseball player, an outfielder who played two months of the 1951 baseball season for the St. Louis Browns. He was known for being replaced by the shortest player in baseball history, Eddie Gaedel, who pinch-hit for him in a stunt devised by Browns' owner Bill Veeck in 1951, Saucier's only season in the big leagues. He was 98.

Jean Van Leeuwen, 87, American children's author, cancer. She was the author of more than 40 children’s books.

 Denise Alexander, 85, American actress (Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, Another World).

Pamela Bach, 61, American actress (Baywatch), suicide by gunshot.

Ted Wills, 91, American baseball player (Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox).

K. W. Lee, 96, American journalist, founding president of the Korean American Journalists Association.

Al Matthews, 77, American football player (Green Bay Packers).

Larry Buendorf, 87, American security officer (United States Olympic Committee) and Secret Service agent (attempted assassination of Gerald Ford in Sacramento). The agent on duty was Buendorf who grabbed Squeaky Frome While when she pointed the gun at Ford, several people heard a "metallic click" sound.[6] As she shouted, "It wouldn't go off,"  Buendorf grabbed the gun, forced it from Fromme's hand, and brought her to the ground.

Simon Fisher-Becker, 63, British actor (Puppy Love, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Doctor Who).

Alexander Forger, 102, American civil rights lawyer.

John Feinstein, 69, American Hall of Fame sportswriter (The Washington Post, The Sporting News) and author (A Season on the Brink).

Alan Simpson, 93, American politician, member of the U.S. Senate (1979–1997) and the Wyoming House of Representatives (1965–1977), complications from a broken hip.

Bob Long, 83, American football player (Green Bay Packers, Washington Redskins, Atlanta Falcons).

Jesse Colin Young, 83, American singer (The Youngbloods) and songwriter ("Darkness, Darkness").

Group Captain John Allman Hemingway, DFC, AE known as Paddy Hemingway, was an Irish fighter pilot who served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War in the Battle of Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, the Allied invasion of Italy and the Invasion of Normandy. He was shot down four times during the war. Hemingway was the last surviving airman of the Battle of Britain. He was 105.

Kitty Dukakis, 88, American author and social activist, first lady of Massachusetts (1975–1979, 1983–1991),complications from dementia.

Max Frankel, 94, American journalist (The New York Times).

Charlotte Elizabeth Webb (née Vine-Stevens; was an English code breaker  who worked at Bletchley Park during World War II from the age of 18. In 1941 she joined the British Auxiliary Territorial Service.  She said, of joining the top-secret mission at Bletchley, "I wanted to do something more for the war effort than bake sausage rolls." She was 101. 

 

 

Richard Chamberlain was an American actor and singer whose career on stage and in film and television spanned over 60 years. He was the recipient of many accolades, including three Golden Globe Awards (out of 6 total nominations), four Primetime Emmy Awards nominations, two Drama Desk Award nominations, and a Grammy Award nominations.

After early stage experiences, Chamberlain became a teen idol in the title role of the popular television show Dr. Kildare (1961–66). He subsequently earned the title "King of the Mini-Series" for his work in several high-profile TV miniseries, such as Centennial (1978), Shōgun (1980), and The Thorn Birds (1983). He also performed classical stage roles and worked in musical theater, and was twice nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play

In film, Chamberlain starred as Aramis in the film trilogy The Three Musketeers (1973), The Four Musketeers (1974), and The Return of the Musketeers (1989); portrayed Allan Quatermain in both King Solomon's Mines (1985) and Lost City of Gold (1986); and was the first actor to play Jason Bourne, starring in the 1988 television film The Bourne Identity. He starred in the Australian New Wave film The Last Wave (1977), directed by Peter Weir, earning him a AACTA Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role. He also had a brief career as a pop singer in the 1960s.

 

APRIL

Val Kilmer, 65, American actor (Top Gun, The Doors, Batman Forever), pneumonia.

Johnny Tillotson, 86, American singer-songwriter ("Poetry in Motion", "It Keeps Right On a-Hurtin'", "Without You"), complications from Parkinson's disease.

Nate Oliver, 84, American baseball player (Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees).

Carl Warwick, 88, American baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Colt .45s, Baltimore Orioles), World Series champion (1964). Warwick was a type of inspiration to me because he was the only player in the Majors at the time who batted right but threw left. 

During the 1964 World Series, he set a record by reaching base in his first four plate appearances (three singles and one base on balls) as a pinch hitter, as he helped his Cardinals defeat the New York Yankees in seven games. the Cardinals dealt him to the expansion Colt .45s on May 7. Back in his native Texas, Warwick became Houston's regular center fielder, starting in 104 games, and his 16 home runs ranked second on the club (to Román Mejías' 24). The Colt .45s moved Warwick to right field in 1963, and he got into a career-high 150 games, but his power numbers declined (hitting only seven home runs with 47 runs batted in). Just prior to spring training in 1964, the Cardinals reacquired Warwick to serve as a spare outfielder and pinch hitter. Then, in the 1964 World Series, Warwick was called on to pinch hit five times by manager Johnny Keane. He reached base four times in his first four appearances. His sixth-inning pinch single in Game 1 off Al Downing drove home the go-ahead run in the Cardinals' 9–5 triumph. He also singled and scored a run in Game 2 against Mel Stottlemyre, drew a base on balls from Jim Bouton in Game 3 and singled again off Downing in Game 4, to spark a rally capped by Ken Boyer's grand slam home run in a 4–3 Cardinal win. He fouled out off Bouton in Game 6 to complete a Series in which he batted .750 with an .800 on-base percentage, two runs scored and an RBI. The 1964 World Series was the high-water mark of Warwick's baseball career. He batted only .132 in a 1965 season split between the Cardinals and Orioles, and then .227 in 16 games for the last-place 1966 Cubs. In 1980 Warwick was elected to the TCU Athletics Hall of Fame.

Nino Tempo, 90, American singer (Nino Tempo & April Stevens, "Deep Purple") and saxophonist (The Wrecking Crew).

Mike Berry, 82, English singer ("The Sunshine of Your Smile") and actor (Are You Being Served?, Worzel Gummidge).

Wink Martindale, 91, American disc jockey, game show host (Gambit, Tic-Tac-Dough) and singer ("Deck of Cards"), lymphoma.

Ronald David Scott was an Argentine-born British naval aviator who flew for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm during World War II. He was 107.

Pope Francis, 88, Argentine Roman Catholic prelate, pope (since 2013), archbishop of Buenos Aires (1998–2013), stroke and cardio-circulatory collapse.

Will Hutchins, 94, American actor (Sugarfoot, Shangani Patrol, Spinout), respiratory failure.

Steve McMichael, 67, American Hall of Fame football player (Chicago Bears) and professional wrestler (WCW), Super Bowl champion 1986.

Lana du Pont, 85, American Olympic equestrian eventer (1964).

Lulu Roman, 78, American comedian (Hee Haw) and gospel singer.

Mike Peters, 66, Welsh rock singer (The Alarm, Big Country) and songwriter ("Sixty Eight Guns"), chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

Priscilla Pointer, 100, American actress (Carrie, Dallas, Blue Velvet).

Lupe Sanchez, 63, American football player (Pittsburgh Steelers).

David Horowitz, 86, American writer and activist, founder of the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

 

Jean Lyndsey Torren Marsh  was an award-winning English actress and writer best known for co-creating and starring in the classic period drama Upstairs, Downstairs. Fun Fact, it was Marsh who    Co-Created 'Upstairs, Downstairs stories    with Eileen Atkins and starred as the parlormaid Rose Buck, a role that earned her the 1975 Emmy Award for Ostanding Lead Actress. She reprized the role in the BBC’s 2010–2012 revival. She was 90.

MAY

Ruth Buzzi, 88, American comedian (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In) and actress (Sesame Street, That Girl), complications from a stroke and Alzheimer's disease.

George Ryan, 91, American politician, governor (1999–2003), secretary of state (1991–1999) and lieutenant governor of Illinois (1983–1991).

Robert B. Shapiro, 86, American businessman (Monsanto, G.D. Searle, LLC).

Jim Smith, 70, American animator (The Ren & Stimpy Show, Samurai Jack), co-founder of Spümcø, heart attack.

Elsbeth Hamilton, 104, Czechoslovak-born British radio operator and Women's Auxiliary Air Force veteran.

James Foley, 71, American film director (Glengarry Glen Ross, Who's That Girl, Fifty Shades Darker), brain can

Chet Lemon, 70, American baseball player (Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers), World Series champion (1984), complications from polycythemia vera.

Jonathan Edwards was an American soul singer who had a moderately successful solo career before becoming lead singer of the Spinners between 1977 and 2000. Edwards remained with the Spinners until 2000, when he was incapacitated by a debilitating stroke, and was forced to retire. He died May 9, 2025, at the age of 80.

Rich Rollins, 87, American baseball player (Minnesota Twins, Milwaukee Brewers, Cleveland Indians).

Steve Inwood, 78, American actor (Fame, Staying Alive, Cruising).

Roger Nichols, 84, American songwriter ("We've Only Just Begun", "Times of Your Life") and composer.

George Wendt, 76, American actor (Cheers, Forever Young, Elf), cardiac arrest.

Jim Irsay, 65, American football executive, general manager (1984–1996) and owner (since 1997) of the Indianapolis Colts.

Wang Tao, 93, Chinese petroleum industry executive and politician, general manager of the CNPC (1989–1996) and Sinopec (1988–1989).

Valerie Mahaffey, 71, American actress (The Doctors, French Exit, Young Sheldon), Emmy winner (1992), cancer.

Loretta Swit, 87, American actress (M*A*S*H, Freebie and the Bean, Race with the Devil), Emmy winner (1980, 1982).

 

JUNE

 

Gary Boyd, 78, American baseball player (Cleveland Indians).He appeared in 8 games for the Indians in 1969.

Jim Marshall, 87, American football player (Minnesota Vikings, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Cleveland Browns).

David H. Murdock, 102, American food industry executive, owner of Castle & Cooke (since 1985) and Dole Food Company (since 2003).

Sly Stone, 82, American Hall of Fame musician (Sly and the Family Stone) and songwriter ("Everyday People", "Family Affair"), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Betsy Gay, 96, American actress (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Our Gang Follies of 1938).

Patti Drew, 80, American R&B singer ("Workin' On a Groovy Thing").

Anne Burrell, 55, American chef and television personality (Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, Worst Cooks in America, Iron Chef America), suicide by drug overdose.

Lou Christie, 82, American singer-songwriter ("Lightnin' Strikes", "I'm Gonna Make You Mine", "Rhapsody in the Rain"), cancer.

Bill Moyers, 91, American journalist and political commentator (Bill Moyers Journal), White House press secretary (1965–1967), prostate cancer.

Dave Parker, 74, American Hall of Fame baseball player (Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland Athletics), World Series champion (1979, 1989), complications from Parkinson's disease.

 

JULY

Robert Bruce, 58, American racing driver, complications from a heart attack.

Jimmy Swaggart, 90, American evangelist, founder of Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, complications from cardiac arrest.

Billy Hunter, 97, American baseball player (St. Louis Browns, Baltimore Orioles) and manager (Texas Rangers).

Chow Chung, 92, Hong Kong actor (Old Time Buddy: To Catch a Thief, Point of No Return), pneumonia.

Bobby Jenks, 44, American baseball player (Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox), World Series champion (2005), adenocarcinoma.

Joe Coleman, 78, American baseball player (Washington Senators, Detroit Tigers, Oakland Athletics).

Britt Edwall, 90, Swedish radio presenter (Sveriges Radio).

Lee Elia, 87, American baseball player (Chicago White Sox) and manager (Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs as well as the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Red Barons triple AAA franchise.

David Gergen, 83, American political commentator and advisor, White House communications Director (1976–1977, 1981–1984), complications from Lewy body dementia.

Donald Rose, 110, British supercentenarian and World War II veteran, oldest man in the United Kingdom (since 2024).

Bill Neukom, 83, American baseball executive, owner of San Francisco Giants (2008–2011), and lawyer, president of the ABA (2007–2008).

Beverly Armstrong, 90, American baseball player (Rockford Peaches).

Connie Francis, 87, American pop singer ("Everybody's Somebody's Fool", "Pretty Little Baby", "My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own"), pneumonia.

Alan Bergman, 99, American songwriter ("The Way We Were", "You Don't Bring Me Flowers"), Oscar winner (1968, 1974, 1984).

James Walter Hunt was an American film actor, most prominent as a child star who appeared in 35 pictures between 1945 and 1953. He appeared in films like Cheaper by the Dozen, The Mating of Millie, Pitfall, Rusty's Birthday, The Sainted Sisters, Sorry, Wrong Number, Top o' the Morning, Louisa, The Fuller Brush Man, Week-End with Father, She Couldn't Say No and more.

Kenneth Washington, 89, American actor (Hogan's Heroes, Adam-12, Westworld).

Rex White, 94, American Hall of Fame racing driver, NASCAR Cup Series champion (1960).

Chuck Mangione, 84, American flugelhornist, composer ("Feels So Good") and actor (King of the Hill), Grammy winner (1977, 1979).

Ozzy Osbourne, 76, English Hall of Fame musician (Black Sabbath), songwriter ("Paranoid"), and television personality (The Osbournes), heart attack.

Hulk Hogan, 71, American Hall of Fame professional wrestler (WWF, WCW) and actor (Suburban Commando), heart attack.

Dame Cleo Laine, 97, English jazz singer (On the Town), Grammy winner (1986).

Ryne Sandberg, 65, American Hall of Fame baseball player (Chicago Cubs) and manager (Philadelphia Phillies), prostate cancer.

 

AUGUST

Jeannie Seely, 85, American singer ("Don't Touch Me", "I'll Love You More (Than You Need)", "Wish I Didn't Have to Miss You"), Grammy winner (1967), intestinal infection.

Jane Morgan, 101, American singer ("Fascination", "The Day the Rains Came", "Two Different Worlds”.

Jim Lovell, 97, American astronaut (Gemini 12, Apollo 8, Apollo 13).

William H. Webster, 101, American jurist and intelligence officer, director of the FBI (1978–1987) and CIA (1987–1991), chairman of the HSAC (2005–2020).

David Ketchum, 97, American actor (Get Smart, I'm Dickens, He's Fenster) and television writer (Happy Days).

Bobby Whitlock, 77, American singer, songwriter ("Bell Bottom Blues") and musician (Derek and the Dominos, Delaney & Bonnie and Friends).

Dan Tana, 90, Serbian-American restaurateur, actor and football administrator (Los Angeles Toros, Red Star Belgrade).

Jules Witcover, 98, American journalist, cardiovascular disease.

Terence Stamp, 87, English actor (Billy Budd, Superman II, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert).

Andrew Huse, 52, American historian and writer, expert on the Cuban sandwich, suicide. The Cuban Sandwich: A History in Layers, cowritten with Bárbara Cruz and Jeff Houck, was his most well-known book, published in 2022. He was widely consulted by the media, including the New York Times and the Miami Herald as an expert on the Cuban sandwich. Tampa and Miami had long debated which city could claim to have invented the Cuban sandwich, but Huse's research traced the earliest origins of the iconic dish back to Cuba in the late 1880s. Among other sources, his books drew on newspaper and university archives including menus and recipes.

Jerry Adler, 96, American actor (The Sopranos, Rescue Me, The Good Wife). He was known for his films Manhattan Murder Mystery, The Public Eye, In Her Shoes, and Prime, and for his television work as Herman "Hesh" Rabkin on The Sopranos, Howard Lyman on The Good Wife and The Good Fight, building maintenance man Mr. Wicker on Mad About You, Bob Saget's father Sam Stewart on Raising Dad, Fire Chief Sidney Feinberg on Rescue Me, Moshe Pfefferman on Transparent, Saul Horowitz on Broad City, and Hillston on Living with Yourself with Paul Rudd.

Randy Moffitt, 76, American baseball player (San Francisco Giants, Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros).

Daryl Patterson, 81, American baseball player (Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals), World Series champion (1968).

Gary Gray, 72, American baseball player (Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians, Seattle Mariners).

SEPTEMBER

Joe Bugner, 75, Hungarian-born British-Australian European heavyweight champion boxer (1971, 1972–1976) and actor (I'm for the Hippopotamus, Street Fighter).

Graham Greene, 73, Canadian actor (Dances With Wolves, Die Hard with a Vengeance, The Green Mile) and recording artist, Grammy winner (2000).

Jean Havlish, 89, American baseball player (Fort Wayne Daisies).

Doris Cook, 94, American baseball player (Kalamazoo Lassies, Springfield Sallies, South Bend Blue Sox).

Mark Volman, 78, American musician (The Turtles, Flo & Eddie, The Mothers of Invention), complications from a blood disease.

Jim Marshall, 94, American baseball player and manager (Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, Chunichi Dragons).

Polly Holliday, 88, American actress (Alice, Gremlins, The Parent Trap), pneumonia.

Robert D. Maurer, 101, American physicist, developer of optical fiber.

Charlie Kirk, 31, American conservative activist, co-founder of Turning Point USA, shot.

Patricia Margaret Crowley  was an American actress born in Olyphant.  In 1953, Crowley was awarded the Golden Globe for New Star of the Year for her performances in Forever Female and Money from Hoe. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, she had starring roles in films with stars such as Rosemary Clooney, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis and Tony Curtis. She appeared in television roles starting in the 1950s, continuing through the 2000s.

Richard Palmer Moe was an American attorney and historic preservation advocate who served as chief of staff to the vice president from 1977 to 1981. Moe then worked for the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party. He worked as the finance director (1967–1968) and the chairman of the party (1969–1972). He was the second youngest chairman from the party.

He left the party in 1972 to work as an administrative assistant to Senator Walter Mondale. In 1977, Moe served as Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United States during Walter Mondale's term. He later served on Mondale's presidential campaign team in 1984. Moe also worked on Dick Gephardt's presidential bid (1988) and the Michael Dukakis 1988 presidential campaign.

Robert Redford, 89, American actor (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men) and film director (Ordinary People), Oscar winner (1980).

Sara Jane Moore, 95, American accountant and convicted attempted assassin (Gerald Ford).

 

OCTOBER

Dame Patricia Routledge, 96, English actress (Keeping Up Appearances, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, Darling of the Day) and singer, Tony winner (1968).

 Terry "Buzzy" Johnson, 86, American Hall of Fame singer (The Flamingos), songwriter ("Baby, Baby Don't Cry", "Here I Go Again") and music producer.

Joan Bennett Kennedy, 89, American socialite. Kennedy was the first wife of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy. In 1992, she published a guide to classical music and later became associated with mental health awareness, drawing public attention to addiction and recovery through her own experiences. Kennedy also worked as a classical pianist, performing at various public concerts.

Mike Greenwell, 62, American baseball player (Boston Red Sox) and racing driver (NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series), thyroid cancer.

Diane Keaton, 79, American actress (Annie Hall, The Godfather, Something's Gotta Give), Oscar winner (1978), bacterial pneumonia.

Steve Hargan, 83, American baseball player (Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers, Atlanta Braves).

Marjorie Johnson, 106, American baker who had Johnson  had dwarfism, with a height of 4 ft 8 in (142.24 cm). She appeared on numerous talk shows, including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, The View, and The Kelly Clarkson Show in September 2019 at age 100. Johnson won over 2,500 fair ribbons, including over 1,000 blue ribbons and numerous sweepstakes ribbons.

In 2007, she became the newest correspondent for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She brought her home-made cooking to such events as the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the Emmy Awards, and the Grammy Awards. She published the book The Road to Blue Ribbon Baking: With Marjorie in 2007.

 

NOVEMBER

Duane Roberts, 88, American businessman, inventor of the frozen burrito.

Betty Harford, 98, American actress (Dynasty, The Paper Chase, Inside Daisy Clover).

Bob Trumpy, 80, American football player (Cincinnati Bengals) and broadcaster (NBC, Westwood One).

Dick Cheney, 84, American politician, vice president (2001–2009), secretary of defense (1989–1993), and member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1979–1989), pneumonia and heart disease.

Diane Ladd, 89, American actress (Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Wild at Heart, Rambling Rose), BAFTA winner (1976), respiratory failure complicated by idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Mary Ann Wilson, 87, American fitness instructor and television host (Sit and Be Fit).

Lenny Wilkens, 88, American Hall of Fame basketball player (St. Louis Hawks, Seattle SuperSonics) and coach (Cleveland Cavaliers), NBA champion (1979).

Danny Seagren, 81, American puppeteer and actor (The Electric Company, Sesame Street, Spidey Super Stories).

Jim Duckworth, 86, American baseball player (Washington Senators, Kansas City Athletics). As a big leaguer, Duckworth dropped 25 of his 32 decisions for a woeful .219 winning percentage, with an earned run average of 5.26. His 97 appearances included 29 starts, and he was credited with two complete games. As a relief pitcher, he registered four saves and 27 games finished. Duckworth allowed 256 hits and 148 bases on balls in 267 innings pitched, and racked up 220 strikeouts. With two hits in 59 at-bats, Duckworth had a career batting average in the major leagues of .034. He struck out 39 times.

George Altman, 92, American baseball player (Chicago Cubs, Tokyo / Lotte Orions).

Jimmy Cliff, 81, Jamaican Hall of Fame reggae singer-songwriter ("Many Rivers to Cross", "You Can Get It If You Really Want") and actor (The Harder They Come), pneumonia.

Joe Colborn, 70, American radio personality (Eddie & JoBo).

 

DECEMBER

Jim Ward, 66, American voice actor (Ratchet & Clank, The Fairly OddParents) and radio personality (The Stephanie Miller Show).

Gordon Goodwin, 70, American musician (Big Phat Band), composer and conductor, four-time Grammy Award winner, pancreatic cancer.

William Rush, 31, British actor (Waterloo Road, Grange Hill, Coronation Street).

Gil Gerard, 82, American actor (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Airport '77, The Doctors), cancer.

Carl Carlton, 73, American singer ("Everlasting Love", "She's a Bad Mama Jama (She's Built, She's Stacked)") and songwriter.

Anthony Geary, 78, American actor (General Hospital, UHF, Teacher's Pet), complications from surgery.

Michele Singer Reiner, 68, American photographer and film producer (Albert Brooks: Defending My Life, Shock and Awe), stabbed.

Rob Reiner, 78, American actor (All in the Family) and film director (This Is Spinal Tap, When Harry Met Sally...), Emmy winner (1974, 1978), stabbed.

Peter Greene, 60, American actor (Pulp Fiction, The Mask, Clean, Shaven).

Eddie Thornton, 94, Jamaican trumpeter (Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames. He toured worldwide with the group, backing a number of jazz stars, and settled in Europe, where he played with several bands including Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames in 1964, playing on several of their hits. He also performed with Georgie Fame and another friend of Rico Rodriguez in the BBC 4 Session: The Birth of Cool. He went on to play on The Beatles' "Got to Get You into My Life" tune.

        Lou Cannon, 92, American journalist (The WashPost) and presidential             biographer (Ronald Reagan)

        Chris Rea, 74, English singer-songwriter ("Fool (If You Think It's Over)",             "Driving Home for Christmas", "The Road to Hell".

        Pat Finn, 60, American actor (The Middle, Murphy Brown, Dude, Where's         My Car?), bladder cancer.

  Perry Bamonte, the Cure’s longtime guitarist and keyboardist, has died following an undisclosed illness. He was 65. In a statement posted to their website, the band wrote that Bamonte was “quiet, intense, intuitive, constant and hugely creative,” as well as “a vital part of the Cure story.”  He was 65.