Obituaries
This page lists the obituaries of people who made news during their lifetimes. Obituaries of historians can be found here.
SOURCE: NYT(11-1-10)
Theodore C. Sorensen, one of the last links to John F. Kennedy’s administration, a writer and counselor who did much to shape the president’s narrative, image and legacy, died Sunday in Manhattan. He was 82.
His death, at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, was from complications of a stroke he suffered a week ago, his wife, Gillian Sorensen, said.
Mr. Sorensen once said he suspected that the headline on his obituary would read “Theodore Sorenson, Kennedy Speechwriter,” misspelling his name and misjudging his work, but he was much more. He was a political strategist and a trusted adviser on everything from election tactics to foreign policy.
“You need a mind like Sorensen’s around you that’s clicking and clicking all the time,” Kennedy’s archrival, Richard M. Nixon, said in 1962. He said Mr. Sorensen had “a rare gift”: the knack of finding phrases that penetrated the American psyche....
His death, at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, was from complications of a stroke he suffered a week ago, his wife, Gillian Sorensen, said.
Mr. Sorensen once said he suspected that the headline on his obituary would read “Theodore Sorenson, Kennedy Speechwriter,” misspelling his name and misjudging his work, but he was much more. He was a political strategist and a trusted adviser on everything from election tactics to foreign policy.
“You need a mind like Sorensen’s around you that’s clicking and clicking all the time,” Kennedy’s archrival, Richard M. Nixon, said in 1962. He said Mr. Sorensen had “a rare gift”: the knack of finding phrases that penetrated the American psyche....
2010-10-31 21:09
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SOURCE: Culture Kiosque(10-26-10)
PARIS, 26 OCTOBER 2010 — A little over two weeks ago Joan Sutherland died, yet another of the great singers of my youth to have left us this year. I first heard her in August 1960 when she sang Elvira in Puritani with the Glyndebourne Opera at the Edinburgh Festival, a year after her emergence from obscurity as Donizetti’s Lucia at Covent Garden. As too often in her early years, Sutherland was not entirely surrounded by singers of equal stature (though Ernest Blanc was an exception on this occasion), but it was clear that here was a soprano the likes of which few had experienced. The voice was full, the technique flawless, the trill devastating in its accuracy, and instead of the coloratura sopranos who reigned supreme in a repertory here was a voice that could easily fill the house, only the second of whom that could be said in the years after Maria Callas. Granted she lacked the animal magnetism of Callas, but the voice was far more dependable and would remain so for many years to come.
Sutherland went on to reestablish a number of works to the repertory, particularly of the Italian bel canto school (Donizetti, Rossini, Bellini) but also French 19th century operas (Massenet, Thomas). All of these are represented on CD, almost all worth listening to except for a few very late excursions into the recording studio (Ernani, Anna Bolena, Adriana Lecouvreur, the second Norma). All the recital albums indicate the influence of husband Richard Bonynge in the choice of unusual items or resuscitations, and even before he became her sole conductor his influence in ornamentation and style. In the 1950s and ‘60s, Sutherland had the good fortune to work with conductors other than her husband, and one of my fondest memories is a Donna Anna at the Met (1967) led by Karl Böhm with the unforgettable Cesare Siepi as Don Giovanni, Pilar Lorengar as Elvira and Alfredo Kraus as Ottavio. The droopiness that occasionally took over in Bonynge-led performances was absent, and there was a crispness that recalled the singer’s earlier days....
Sutherland went on to reestablish a number of works to the repertory, particularly of the Italian bel canto school (Donizetti, Rossini, Bellini) but also French 19th century operas (Massenet, Thomas). All of these are represented on CD, almost all worth listening to except for a few very late excursions into the recording studio (Ernani, Anna Bolena, Adriana Lecouvreur, the second Norma). All the recital albums indicate the influence of husband Richard Bonynge in the choice of unusual items or resuscitations, and even before he became her sole conductor his influence in ornamentation and style. In the 1950s and ‘60s, Sutherland had the good fortune to work with conductors other than her husband, and one of my fondest memories is a Donna Anna at the Met (1967) led by Karl Böhm with the unforgettable Cesare Siepi as Don Giovanni, Pilar Lorengar as Elvira and Alfredo Kraus as Ottavio. The droopiness that occasionally took over in Bonynge-led performances was absent, and there was a crispness that recalled the singer’s earlier days....
2010-10-28 18:53
SOURCE: AP(10-27-10)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Sheik Saqr bin Mohammed al-Qasimi, a ruler in the United Arab Emirates federation and one of the world’s longest-reigning monarchs, died Wednesday, state media reported. He was 90.
Sheik Saqr was succeeded as leader of the Ras al Khaymah emirate — one of seven composing the United Arab Emirates — by a son, Sheik Saud bin Saqr al-Qasimi. Sheik Saud was chosen as crown prince seven years ago, opening a family feud with his half brother.
Sheik Saqr took control of Ras al Khaymah, the northernmost emirate, in a bloodless coup in the late 1940s — decades before the United Arab Emirates became a country — as part of a dynasty that has ruled the area since the 18th century....
Sheik Saqr was succeeded as leader of the Ras al Khaymah emirate — one of seven composing the United Arab Emirates — by a son, Sheik Saud bin Saqr al-Qasimi. Sheik Saud was chosen as crown prince seven years ago, opening a family feud with his half brother.
Sheik Saqr took control of Ras al Khaymah, the northernmost emirate, in a bloodless coup in the late 1940s — decades before the United Arab Emirates became a country — as part of a dynasty that has ruled the area since the 18th century....
2010-10-28 15:16
SOURCE: NYT(10-28-10)
Richard T. Gill, in all statistical probability the only Harvard economist to sing 86 performances with the Metropolitan Opera, died on Monday in Providence, R.I. He was 82.
The cause was heart failure, his son Peter said. A former resident of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Mr. Gill also had a home in Chocorua, N.H.
Mr. Gill, a longtime Harvard faculty member who wrote many widely used economics textbooks, did not undertake serious vocal training (which he began as an anti-smoking regimen) until he was nearly 40. At the time, he had seen perhaps 10 operas and rarely listened to classical music.
But after just a few years of study a world-class voice emerged, and Mr. Gill soon forsook chalk and tweed for flowing robes and very large headgear....
The cause was heart failure, his son Peter said. A former resident of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Mr. Gill also had a home in Chocorua, N.H.
Mr. Gill, a longtime Harvard faculty member who wrote many widely used economics textbooks, did not undertake serious vocal training (which he began as an anti-smoking regimen) until he was nearly 40. At the time, he had seen perhaps 10 operas and rarely listened to classical music.
But after just a few years of study a world-class voice emerged, and Mr. Gill soon forsook chalk and tweed for flowing robes and very large headgear....
2010-10-28 15:12
SOURCE: NYT(10-17-10)
Louis Henkin, a legal scholar often credited with creating the field of human rights law and the author of classic works on constitutional law and the legal aspects of foreign policy, died Thursday at his home in Manhattan. He was 92.
His death was confirmed by his wife, Alice Hartman Henkin.
Professor Henkin, unusual in combining equal expertise in constitutional law and international law, moved easily between academia and government. His legal scholarship was a fundamental resource for other scholars involved in human rights and international law, and his books addressed to a broader audience — notably “Foreign Affairs and the Constitution,” “The Rights of Man Today,” “How Nations Behave” and “The Age of Rights” — became required reading for government officials and diplomats.
Through his teaching at Columbia University, where he founded the Center for the Study of Human Rights in 1978 and the Human Rights Institute in 1998, and through seminars run by the Aspen Institute’s Justice and Society Program, he trained hundreds of legal specialists and advocates in the field of human rights law....
His death was confirmed by his wife, Alice Hartman Henkin.
Professor Henkin, unusual in combining equal expertise in constitutional law and international law, moved easily between academia and government. His legal scholarship was a fundamental resource for other scholars involved in human rights and international law, and his books addressed to a broader audience — notably “Foreign Affairs and the Constitution,” “The Rights of Man Today,” “How Nations Behave” and “The Age of Rights” — became required reading for government officials and diplomats.
Through his teaching at Columbia University, where he founded the Center for the Study of Human Rights in 1978 and the Human Rights Institute in 1998, and through seminars run by the Aspen Institute’s Justice and Society Program, he trained hundreds of legal specialists and advocates in the field of human rights law....
2010-10-17 12:56
SOURCE: NYT(10-11-10)
Solomon Burke, a singer whose smooth, powerful articulation and mingling of sacred and profane themes helped define soul music in the early 1960s, died on Sunday at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. He was 70 and lived in Los Angeles.
His death was announced by his family on his official Web site, thekingsolomonburke.com. No cause was given.
Drawing on gospel, country and gritty rhythm and blues in songs like “Cry to Me” (1962), “You Can Make It if You Try” (1963) and “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love” (1964), Mr. Burke developed a vocal style that was nuanced yet forceful. Steeped in church traditions from a young age, he could make a sermon out of any situation, as in “The Price” from 1964, a catalog of the wages of a bad romance. (“You cost me my mother/The love of my father/Sister/My brother too.”)...
His death was announced by his family on his official Web site, thekingsolomonburke.com. No cause was given.
Drawing on gospel, country and gritty rhythm and blues in songs like “Cry to Me” (1962), “You Can Make It if You Try” (1963) and “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love” (1964), Mr. Burke developed a vocal style that was nuanced yet forceful. Steeped in church traditions from a young age, he could make a sermon out of any situation, as in “The Price” from 1964, a catalog of the wages of a bad romance. (“You cost me my mother/The love of my father/Sister/My brother too.”)...
2010-10-11 15:18
