Obituaries

Today in History

Today is Monday, April 27, the 117th day of 2015. There are 248 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlights in History: On April 27, 1865, in America’s worst maritime disaster, the steamer Sultana, carrying freed Union prisoners of war, exploded on the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tennessee; death toll estimates vary from 1,500 to 2,000. Cornell University was established as New York Gov. Reuben E. Fenton signed a measure approving its charter.

On this date:

In 1521, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed by natives in the Philippines.

In 1777, the only land battle in Connecticut during the Revolutionary War, the Battle of Ridgefield, took place, resulting in a limited British victory.

In 1805, during the First Barbary War, an American-led force of Marines and mercenaries captured the city of Derna, on the shores of Tripoli.

In 1822, the 18th president of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant, was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio.

In 1925, the song “Yes, Sir! That’s My Baby” by Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn was published by Irving Berlin, Inc. of New York.

In 1938, King Zog I of the Albanians married Countess Geraldine Apponyi de Nagy-Apponyi.

In 1941, German forces occupied Athens during World War II.

In 1965, broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow died in Pawling, New York, two days after turning 57.

In 1967, Expo ’67 was officially opened in Montreal by Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson.

In 1973, Acting FBI Director L. Patrick Gray resigned after it was revealed that he’d destroyed files removed from the safe of Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt.

In 1982, the trial of John W. Hinckley Jr., who had shot four people, including President Ronald Reagan, began in Washington. (The trial ended with Hinckley’s acquittal by reason of insanity.)

In 1994, former President Richard M. Nixon was remembered at an outdoor funeral service attended by all five of his successors at the Nixon presidential library in Yorba Linda, California.

Ten years ago: Touting technology as a way to solve the country’s energy problems, President George W. Bush called for construction of more nuclear power plants and urged Congress to give tax breaks for fuel-efficient hybrid and clean-diesel cars. Russian President Vladimir Putin became the first Kremlin leader to visit Israel. The Airbus A380, the world’s largest jetliner, made its maiden flight as it took off from Blagnac, France, and returned four hours later.

Five years ago: Defending his company against blistering criticism, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, told a Senate hearing that clients who’d bought subprime mortgage securities from the Wall Street powerhouse in 2006 and 2007 came looking for risk “and that’s what they got.” Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was extradited from the United States to France, where he was later convicted of laundering drug money and received a seven-year sentence. Thomas Hagan, the only man to admit shooting Malcolm X, was freed on parole. University of Washington president Mark Emmert was selected as president of the NCAA.

One year ago: Two 20th-century popes who’d changed the course of the Roman Catholic church become saints as Pope Francis honored John XXIII and John Paul II; Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI joined him in the first celebration of Mass by a serving and retired pontiff in the church’s 2,000-year history. In a rare acknowledgement, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the Nazi Holocaust “the most heinous crime” of modern history. A tornado tore through parts of Arkansas, killing 16 people. Lydia Ko birdied the final hole for her third LPGA Tour victory and first as a professional in the inaugural Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic, three days after celebrating her 17th birthday.

Today’s Birthdays: Actress Anouk Aimee is 83. Actress Judy Carne is 76. Rock musician Jim Keltner is 73. Rhythm-and-blues singer Cuba Gooding is 71. Singer Ann Peebles is 68. Rock singer Kate Pierson (The B-52’s) is 67. Rhythm-and-blues singer Herbie Murrell (The Stylistics) is 66. Actor Douglas Sheehan is 66. Rock musician Ace Frehley is 64. Pop singer Sheena Easton is 56. Actor James Le Gros (groh) is 53. Rock musician Rob Squires (Big Head Todd and the Monsters) is 50. Singer Mica Paris is 46. Actor David Lascher is 43. Actress Maura West is 43. Actress Sally Hawkins is 39. Rock musician Patrick Hallahan (My Morning Jacket) is 37. Rock singer Jim James (My Morning Jacket) is 37. Rock singer-musician Travis Meeks (Days of the New) is 36. Actress Ari Graynor is 32. Rock singer-musician Patrick Stump (Fall Out Boy) is 31. Pop singer Nick Noonan (Karmin) is 29. Actor William Moseley is 28. Actress Emily Rios is 26. Singer Allison Iraheta is 23.

Thought for Today: “The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it.” – Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965).

Obituaries

Today in History

Today is Monday, April 20, the 110th day of 2015. There are 255 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On April 20, 2010, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, leased by BP, killed 11 workers and caused a blow-out that began spewing an estimated 200 million gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico. (The well was finally capped nearly three months later, on July 15.)

On this date:

In 1314, Pope Clement V, the first of the Avignonese popes, died at Roquemaure, France.

In 1792, France declared war on Austria, marking the start of the French Revolutionary Wars.

In 1861, Col. Robert E. Lee resigned his commission in the United States Army. (Lee went on to command the Army of Northern Virginia, and eventually became general-in-chief of the Confederate forces.)

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation admitting West Virginia to the Union, effective in 60 days (on June 20, 1863).

In 1889, Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria.

In 1912, Boston’s Fenway Park hosted its first professional baseball game while Navin Field (Tiger Stadium) opened in Detroit. (The Red Sox defeated the New York Highlanders 7-6 in 11 innings; the Tigers beat the Cleveland Naps 6-5 in 11 innings.)

In 1914, the Ludlow Massacre took place when the Colorado National Guard opened fire on a tent colony of striking miners; about 20 (accounts vary) strikers, women and children died.

In 1945, during World War II, allied forces took control of the German cities of Nuremberg and Stuttgart.

In 1968, Pierre Elliott Trudeau was sworn in as prime minister of Canada.

In 1972, Apollo 16’s lunar module, carrying astronauts John W. Young and Charles M. Duke Jr., landed on the moon.

In 1988, gunmen who’d hijacked a Kuwait Airways jumbo jet were allowed safe passage out of Algeria under an agreement that freed the remaining 31 hostages and ended a 15-day siege in which two passengers were slain.

In 1999, the Columbine High School massacre took place in Colorado as two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, shot and killed 12 classmates and one teacher before taking their own lives.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush signed a bill making it harder for debt-ridden people to wipe clean their financial slates by declaring bankruptcy.

Five years ago: Airliners began taking to the skies of Europe again after five days of being grounded by a drifting volcanic ash.

One year ago: Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, the boxer whose wrongful murder conviction in New Jersey became an international symbol of racial injustice, died in Toronto at age 76.

Thought for Today: “Life is made up of desires that seem big and vital one minute, and little and absurd the next. I guess we get what’s best for us in the end.” – Alice Caldwell Rice, American humorist (1870-1942).

Obituaries

Today in History

Today is Saturday, April 18, the 108th day of 2015. There are 257 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History: On April 18, 1945, during World War II, famed American war correspondent Ernie Pyle, 44, was killed by Japanese gunfire on the Pacific island of Ie Shima (ee-eh shee-mah), off Okinawa.

On this date:

In 1775, Paul Revere began his famous ride from Charlestown to Lexington, Massachusetts, warning American colonists that the British were coming.

In 1865, Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman near Durham Station in North Carolina.

In 1906, a devastating earthquake struck San Francisco, followed by raging fires; estimates of the final death toll range between 3,000 and 6,000.

In 1925, the first Woman’s World’s Fair, an eight-day event, opened in Chicago.

In 1934, the first laundromat was opened by John F. Cantrell in Fort Worth, Texas; the “Washateria,” as it was called, rented four electric washing machines to the public on an hourly basis.

In 1942, an air squadron from the USS Hornet led by Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle raided Tokyo and other Japanese cities. The first World War II edition of The Stars and Stripes was published as a weekly newspaper.

In 1944, the ballet “Fancy Free,” with music by Leonard Bernstein and choreography by Jerome Robbins, premiered in New York.

In 1949, the Republic of Ireland was proclaimed.

In 1955, physicist Albert Einstein died in Princeton, New Jersey, at age 76.

In 1978, the Senate approved the Panama Canal Treaty, providing for the complete turnover of control of the waterway to Panama on the last day of 1999.

In 1983, 63 people, including 17 Americans, were killed at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, by a suicide bomber.

In 1995, quarterback Joe Montana retired from professional football. The Houston Post closed after more than a century.

Ten years ago: Cardinals meeting at the Vatican failed to select a successor to Pope John Paul II in their first round of voting.

Five years ago: Tens of thousands of Poles bade farewell to President Lech Kaczynski at a state funeral in Krakow.

One year ago: An avalanche swept down a climbing route on Mount Everest, killing 16 Sherpa guides in the deadliest disaster on the world’s highest peak.

Today’s Birthdays: Actress Barbara Hale is 94. Actor Clive Revill is 85. Actor James Drury is 81. Actor Robert Hooks is 78. Actress Hayley Mills is 69. Actor James Woods is 68. Actress-director Dorothy Lyman is 68. Actress Cindy Pickett is 68. Country musician Walt Richmond (The Tractors) is 68. Country musician Jim Scholten (Sawyer Brown) is 63. Actor Rick Moranis is 62. Actress Melody Thomas Scott is 59. Actor Eric Roberts is 59. Actor John James is 59. Rock musician Les Pattinson (Echo and the Bunnymen) is 57. Author-journalist Susan Faludi is 56. Actress Jane Leeves is 54. Ventriloquist/ comedian Jeff Dunham is 53. Talk show host Conan O’Brien is 52. Bluegrass singer-musician Terry Eldredge is 52. Actor Eric McCormack is 52. Actress Maria Bello is 48. Actress Mary Birdsong is 47. Actor David Hewlett is 47. Rock musician Greg Eklund (The Oolahs) is 45. TV chef Ludovic Lefebvre is 44. Actor David Tennant is 44. Country musician Marvin Evatt is 41. Rock musician Mark Tremonti is 41. Rhythm-and-blues singer Trina (Trina and Tamara) is 41. Actress Melissa Joan Hart is 39. Actor Sean Maguire is 39. Actor Kevin Rankin is 39. Actor Bryce Johnson is 38. Reality TV star Kourtney Kardashian is 36. Actress America Ferrera is 31. Actress Alia Shawkat is 26. Actress Britt Robertson is 25. Actress Chloe Bennet is 23. Rock singer Nathan Sykes (The Wanted) is 22. Actor Moises Arias is 21.

Thought for Today: “War makes strange giant creatures out of us little routine men who inhabit the earth.” – Ernie Pyle (1900-1945).

Obituaries

Today in History

Today is Thursday, April 16, the 106th day of 2015. There are 259 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlights in History: On April 16, 1945, during World War II, a Soviet submarine in the Baltic Sea torpedoed and sank the MV Goya, which Germany was using to transport civilian refugees and wounded soldiers; it’s estimated that up to 7,000 people died. U.S. troops reached Nuremberg. U.S. forces invaded the Japanese island of Ie Shima. In his first speech to Congress, President Harry S. Truman pledged to carry out the war and peace policies of his late predecessor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

On this date:

In 1789, President-elect George Washington left Mount Vernon, Virginia, for his inauguration in New York.

In 1879, Bernadette Soubirous, who’d described seeing visions of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes, died in Nevers, France.

In 1889, comedian and movie director Charles Chaplin was born in London.

In 1912, American aviator Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel, leaving Dover, England, and arriving near Calais, France, in 59 minutes.

In 1935, the radio comedy program “Fibber McGee and Molly” premiered on NBC’s Blue Network.

In 1940, Major League Baseball’s first (and, to date, only) opening day no-hitter took place as Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians pitched a no-no against the Chicago White Sox, 1-0, at Comiskey Park.

In 1947, the French ship Grandcamp blew up at the harbor in Texas City, Texas; another ship, the High Flyer, exploded the following day (the blasts and fires killed nearly 600 people). Financier Bernard M. Baruch said in a speech at the South Carolina statehouse, “Let us not be deceived – we are today in the midst of a cold war.”

In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in which he said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

In 1972, Apollo 16 blasted off on a voyage to the moon with astronauts John W. Young, Charles M. Duke Jr. and Ken Mattingly on board.

In 1986, dispelling rumors he was dead, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi appeared on television to condemn the U.S. raid on his country and to say that Libyans were “ready to die” defending their nation.

In 1991, Sir David Lean, who had directed “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” ”Lawrence of Arabia” and “Doctor Zhivago,” died in London at age 83.

In 2007, in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history, student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people on the campus of Virginia Tech before taking his own life.

Ten years ago: Marla Ruzicka, the founder of a humanitarian group to aid civilian casualties in Iraq, was killed in a car bombing in Baghdad. Cardinals meeting at the Vatican destroyed the late Pope John Paul II’s ring and seal to formally end his reign. Authorities in Hillsborough County, Florida, found the body of missing 13-year-old Sarah Michelle Lunde. (A suspect, David Lee Onstott, was later convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.) Actress Kay Walsh (the second wife of director David Lean) died in London at age 93 (some sources reported 90).

Five years ago: The U.S government accused Wall Street’s most powerful firm of fraud, saying Goldman Sachs & Co. had sold mortgage investments without telling buyers the securities were crafted with input from a client who was betting on them to fail. (In July 2010, Goldman agreed to pay $550 million in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, but did not admit wrongdoing.)

One year ago: More than 300 people, mostly students, died when a South Korean ferry, the Sewol, sank while en route from Incheon to the resort island of Jeju; 172 people survived.

Today’s Birthdays: Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI is 88. Actor Peter Mark Richman is 88. Singer Bobby Vinton is 80. Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II is 75. Basketball Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is 68. Ann Romney is 66. NFL coach Bill Belichick is 63. Rock singer and former politician Peter Garrett is 62. Actress Ellen Barkin is 61. Rock musician Jason Scheff (Chicago) is 53. Singer Jimmy Osmond is 52. Rock singer David Pirner (Soul Asylum) is 51. Actor-comedian Martin Lawrence is 50. Actor Jon Cryer is 50. Rock musician Dan Rieser is 49. Actor Peter Billingsley (“A Christmas Story”) is 44. Actor Lukas Haas is 39. Figure skater Mirai Nagasu is 22.

Thought for Today: “The only graceful way to accept an insult is to ignore it; if you can’t ignore it, top it; if you can’t top it, laugh at it; if you can’t laugh at it, it’s probably deserved.” – Russell Lynes, American writer (1910-1991).

Obituaries

Today in History

Today is Wednesday, April 15, the 105th day of 2015. There are 260 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History: On April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died nine hours after being shot the night before by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington; Andrew Johnson became the nation’s 17th president.

On this date:

In 1715, the Yamasee War began as members of the Yamasee tribe attacked English settlers in colonial South Carolina.

In 1850, the city of San Francisco was incorporated.

In 1912, the British luxury liner RMS Titanic foundered in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland more than 2 1/2 hours after hitting an iceberg; 1,514 people died, while less than half as many survived.

In 1945, during World War II, British and Canadian troops liberated the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had died on April 12, was buried at the Roosevelt family home in Hyde Park, New York.

In 1955, Ray Kroc opened the first franchised McDonald’s restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois.

In 1960, a three-day conference to form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee began at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina. (The group’s first chairman was Marion Barry.)

In 1974, members of the Symbionese Liberation Army held up a branch of the Hibernia Bank in San Francisco; a member of the group was SLA kidnap victim Patricia Hearst, who by this time was going by the name “Tania” (Hearst later said she’d been forced to participate).

In 1985, South Africa said it would repeal laws prohibiting sex and marriage between whites and non-whites.

In 1986, the United States launched an air raid against Libya in response to the bombing of a discotheque in Berlin on April 5; Libya said 37 people, mostly civilians, were killed.

In 1989, 96 people died in a crush of soccer fans at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England. Students in Beijing launched a series of pro-democracy protests; the demonstrations culminated in a government crackdown at Tiananmen Square.

In 1990, legendary actress Greta Garbo died in New York at age 84. The comedy sketch show “In Living Color” premiered on Fox TV.

In 2013, two bombs packed with nails and other metal shards exploded at the Boston Marathon finish line, killing two women and an 8-year-old boy and injuring more than 260 people.

Ten years ago: A Paris hotel fire killed 24 people, many of them African immigrants. A Russian Soyuz rocket blasted off from the Central Asian steppes, catapulting three crew members on a two-day journey to the International Space Station. The final first-run episode of the situation comedy “8 Simple Rules” aired on ABC.

Five years ago: An ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano drifted over northern Europe, causing the largest disruption of flights since the 2001 terror attacks. President Barack Obama, visiting the Kennedy Space Center, predicted his new space exploration plans would lead American astronauts to Mars and back in his lifetime. Civil rights leader Benjamin Hooks, onetime executive director of the NAACP, died in Memphis, Tennessee, at age 85.

One year ago: Boko Haram terrorists kidnapped some 276 girls from a school in northeastern Nigeria. Survivors, first responders and relatives of those killed in the Boston Marathon bombing marked the first anniversary of the attack with tributes that combined sorrow over the loss of innocent victims with pride over the city’s resilience. Five young people were stabbed to death in Calgary, Alberta, Canada; suspect Matthew Douglas de Grood has been charged.

Today’s Birthdays: Country singer Roy Clark is 82. Rock singer-guitarist Dave Edmunds is 72. Actress-screenwriter Emma Thompson is 56. Singer Samantha Fox is 49. Olympic gold, silver and bronze medal swimmer Dara Torres is 48. Rock musician Ed O’Brien (Radiohead) is 47. Rock musician Patrick Carney (The Black Keys) is 35. Actor-writer Seth Rogen is 33. Rock musician De’Mar Hamilton (Plain White T’s) is 31. Actress Emma Watson is 25. Actress Maisie Williams (TV: “Game of Thrones”) is 18.

Thought for Today: “We do not know what we want and yet we are responsible for what we are – that is the fact.” – Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher (born 1905, died this date in 1980).

Obituaries

Today in History

Today is Saturday, April 11, the 101st day of 2015. There are 264 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History: On April 11, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln spoke to a crowd outside the White House, saying, “We meet this evening, not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart.” (It was the last public address Lincoln would deliver.)

On this date:

In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht was signed, ending the War of the Spanish Succession.

In 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated as Emperor of the French and was banished to the island of Elba. (Napoleon later escaped from Elba and returned to power in March 1815, until his downfall in the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815.)

In 1899, the treaty ending the Spanish-American War was declared in effect.

In 1921, Iowa became the first state to impose a cigarette tax, at 2 cents a package.

In 1945, during World War II, American soldiers liberated the notorious Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald in Germany.

In 1955, the film drama “Marty,” starring Ernest Borgnine, was released by United Artists.

In 1965, dozens of tornadoes raked six Midwestern states on Palm Sunday, killing 271 people.

In 1970, Apollo 13, with astronauts James A. Lovell, Fred W. Haise and Jack Swigert, blasted off on its ill-fated mission to the moon.

In 1979, Idi Amin was deposed as president of Uganda as rebels and exiles backed by Tanzanian forces seized control.

In 1989, Mexican officials began unearthing the remains of victims of a drug-trafficking cult near Matamoros; one of the dead was University of Texas student Mark Kilroy, who had disappeared while on spring break.

Ten years ago: During a meeting at his Texas ranch, President George W. Bush told Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon he could not allow further West Bank settlement growth and said Israeli and Palestinian doubts about each other were hampering peace prospects. Jeffrey Ake, a 47-year-old contract worker from LaPorte, Indiana, was abducted in Iraq. (His fate remains unknown.)

Five years ago: Thousands of people stood in the streets of Poland’s cities in a silent tribute to President Lech Kaczynski and the other 95 people killed in a plane crash the day before.

One year ago: President Barack Obama, in a fiery speech at civil rights activist Al Sharpton’s National Action Network conference, accused the GOP of using voting restrictions to keep voters from the polls and of jeopardizing 50 years of expanded ballot box access for millions of black Americans and other minorities. White House budget director Sylvia Mathews Burwell was named by President Obama to succeed Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. In a rare diplomatic rebuke, the United States blocked Iran’s controversial pick for envoy to the United Nations, Hamid Aboutalebi, a member of the group responsible for the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

Today’s Birthdays: Ethel Kennedy is 87. Actor Joel Grey is 83. Actress Louise Lasser is 76. Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Ellen Goodman is 74. Movie writer-director John Milius is 71. Actor Peter Riegert is 68. Movie director Carl Franklin is 66. Actor Bill Irwin is 65. Country singer-songwriter Jim Lauderdale is 58. Songwriter-producer Daryl Simmons is 58. Rock musician Nigel Pulsford is 54. Actor Lucky Vanous is 54. Country singer Steve Azar is 51. Singer Lisa Stansfield is 49. Actor Johnny Messner is 45. Actor Vicellous Shannon is 44. Actress Tricia Helfer is 41. Rock musician Chris Gaylor (The All-American Rejects) is 36. Actress Kelli Garner is 31. Singer Joss Stone is 28. Actress-dancer Kaitlyn Jenkins is 23.

Thought for Today: “If we were to wake up some morning and find that everyone was the same race, creed, and color, we would find some other causes for prejudice by noon.” – George Aiken, U.S. senator (1892-1984).