[angelize56]

A sad loss. Take care. angel

Father of CPR dies at 79
Tuesday, August 5, 2003 Posted: 12:35 AM EDT (0435 GMT)

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Dr. Peter Safar, a pioneer in emergency medicine who also was regarded as the father of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, died Sunday evening of cancer. He was 79.

Safar, who died at his home in suburban Pittsburgh, was credited with establishing the country's first physician-staffed, multidisciplinary intensive care unit. He also developed the "ABCs of CPR," a lifesaving technique taught to everyone from surgeons to Boy Scouts.

"This was really a loss for mankind," said Dr. Patrick Kochanek, the director of Safar Center for Resuscitation Research at the University of Pittsburgh.

Safar established the first intensive care unit in 1958 at the Baltimore City Hospital, Kochanek said. There already were such units for specific ailments, but Safar established the modern ICU that most people are familiar with today, he said.

Also in the 1950s, Safar developed a method of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation that he combined with chest compression, a rescue technique that had already been researched and documented by others. The result was a first-aid method that many people learn using a lifelike mannequin known as a Resusci-Anne doll.

"He was a firm believer that it was something that the masses needed to learn," Kochanek said.

Safar's work with CPR was just one aspect of his goal of creating a system of care from accident scene to operating room.

"He wanted prepare the people who show up at an accident scene first -- the passer-by -- so they can sustain a victim until a paramedic arrives. And then, the paramedic cares for the patient until they reach the emergency room and so on," said Frank Poliafico, the executive director of the AED Instructor Foundation, a group that helps those who teach CPR and automatic external defibrillator use.

Born in 1924 in Vienna, Austria, Safar studied at the University of Vienna and Yale University before studying anesthesiology at the University of Pennsylvania.

In the 1950s, Safar established anesthesiology departments in Peru and Baltimore, briefly joining the staff of Johns Hopkins Hospital.

In the 1960s, he was a founding members of the U.S. National Research Council's Committee on EMS. He also established guidelines for ambulance design and emergency medical technician and paramedic training.

Safar stepped down as chairman of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's anesthesiology department in 1979 and went on to establish the International Resuscitation Research Center, which he ran until 1994. It later became the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research.

Most recently, Safar was studying if cooling the body just a few degrees can prevent brain damage in people who survive cardiac arrest but are left unconscious.

"This is a huge loss. Can you imagine what he would have come up with in the future?" said James E. Cottrell, president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

Safar is survived by his wife and two sons.

[angelize56]

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 10 — Gregory Hines, the greatest tap dancer of his generation who also transcended the stage with successful film and television roles, has died of cancer. Hines died Saturday in Los Angeles, publicist Allen Eichorn said Sunday. Hines, who started on Broadway and moved to films including “White Nights” and “Running Scared,” was 57.

[eggplant43]

I can't believe he died so young.

[angelize56]

'Let's Get It On' writer Townsend, dead at 74
Sunday, August 17, 2003 Posted: 10:37 AM EDT (1437 GMT)

SAN BERNARDINO, California (AP) -- Ed Townsend, who wrote hit songs including 1958's "For Your Love" and Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On," has died. He was 74.

Townsend, who wrote more than 200 songs, died of heart failure Wednesday in a San Bernardino hospital.

Nat King Cole and Etta James were among the stars who recorded Townsend's songs. One of his first hits was "For Your Love" -- which Townsend recorded himself, at the suggestion of Capitol Records executive Joe Zerga.

"The simplicity of the song was what makes it enduring to the people," said Clyde Otis, chairman of the Clyde Otis Music Group and a friend of Townsend's since the 1950s. "Ed had no idea it would become that popular."

"Let's Get It On," released in 1973, had an overt sexual theme that generated criticism. But Townsend insisted the song was actually about getting on with life.

Townsend also wrote and produced the Impressions' 1974 No. 1 R&B hit "Finally Got Myself Together (I'm A Changed Man)."

Townsend, a Fayetteville, Tennessee, native, grew up singing in the choir at the church where his minister father preached. He moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1950s.

Survivors include his wife, Janice; four children, a brother, a sister, three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

[angelize56]

What a way to go at age 101....a cowgirl thrown from her horse! She died doing what she loved! Take care. angel

Cowgirl Reeves dies at 101

Oldest living member of Cowgirl Hall of Fame
Wednesday, August 20, 2003 Posted: 5:07 PM EDT (2107 GMT)

DALLAS, Texas (Reuters) -- Legendary Texas cowgirl Connie Reeves, whose motto was "Always saddle your own horse" and who taught more than 30,000 girls to ride, has died at age 101 after being thrown from her favorite mount, officials at her ranch said Wednesday.

Reeves died of cardiac arrest Sunday at a San Antonio hospital about 10 days after being thrown from her favorite horse Dr Pepper, according to Waldemar Camp for Girls, a ranch about 70 miles (110 km) northwest of San Antonio where Reeves taught riding.

"Texas lost one of its treasures today. A legendary woman with the strength and character as big as the state she lived in for almost 102 years," the camp said on its Web site.

Reeves taught riding for more than 70 years. Along with lessons on horsemanship, Reeves taught self-reliance -- hence her motto: "Always saddle your own horse."

Reeves was the oldest living member of the Cowgirl Hall of Fame, located in Fort Worth, Texas. At the age of 100, she saddled her own horse and rode in a parade when the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame opened its new building in Fort Worth.

Reeves was born in Eagle Pass, Texas, near the Mexican border, in September 1901 and she was on the back of a horse before she learned to walk. She had her first horse by the age of five and quickly mastered the English and western styles of riding.

She went to the University of Texas law school in the early 1920s for three years but her chance of being one of the first and youngest women lawyers in the United States was cut off by the Great Depression. Reeves became a high school teacher and a teacher of horse riding after leaving law school.

In 1936, Reeves started her work as a horse riding instructor at Waldemar Camp. She worked there for nearly 70 years, and. in 1942, she married the camp's head wrangler.

In a recent speech, Reeves said she would gladly leave the skyscrapers, pollution and financial markets to people living in big cities.

"Leave the wide open spaces and free fresh air to the West, where one can take an early morning gallop across dew-drenched fields, lie down to sleep beneath the star-twinkling sky, only to be awakened by the crowing of a lone rooster in the far distance," Reeves said.

[angelize56]

Jim posted about the deaths of John Ritter and Johnny Cash in announcements. This is another famous person who died. Take care, angel

'Casper,' 'Richie Rich' Creator Dies
Kremer Changed Tone Of Casper

POSTED: 12:30 p.m. EDT September 11, 2003

The cartoonist who made Casper more of a friendly ghost has died.

Casper was kind of a scary ghost at first, but Warren Kremer made him look more friendly so little kids would like him.

Kremer also created Richie Rich, naming him after his son Richard. Kremer also drew Stumbo the Giant and the baby devil Hot Stuff, who's a favorite for tattoos.

Kremer died in Bloomfield, N.J. He was 82.

[angelize56]

LOS ANGELES , September 8, 2003 -- Warren Zevon, the hard-living singer-songwriter who wrote about his impending death in recent years, died at his Los Angeles home after losing a battle with lung cancer. He was 56.

Zevon, whose hits included "Laywers, Guns and Money" and "Werewolves of London," died yesterday afternoon, his manager Irving Azoff told the Los Angeles Times.

"He was in a good place," Azoff said, adding that Zevon was pleased with sales of his new album The Wind and the recent birth of twin grandchildren.

The longtime smoker learned in August 2002 that he was suffering from inoperable lung cancer.

The Chicago native, who later attended Los Angeles' Fairfax High School only to drop out as a junior to become a musician, was known for his macabre sense of humor. His 2002 album cover for My Ride's Here shows him riding in a hearse.

Death and dying were among Zevon's favorite topics and, when confronted with his own mortality, he continued the exploration with aplomb.

"I feel the opposite of regret," Zevon told The Times in an interview after learning his lung cancer was inoperable.

"I was the hardest-living rocker on my block for a while. I was a malfunctioning rummy for a while and running away for a while. Then for 18 years I was a sober dad of some amazing kids. Hey, I feel like I've lived a couple of lives--and now when people listen to the music, they'll say, 'Hey, maybe the guy wasn't being so morbid after all.'"

In his song "Mr. Bad Example," an altar boy grows up to be a vagabond con man: "I'm very well acquainted with the seven deadly sins/I keep a busy schedule trying to fit them in/I'm proud to be a glutton and I don't have time for sloth/I'm greedy and I'm angry and I don't care who I cross."

Zevon spent much of his time during his illness doting on family and working in a home studio on his latest album. His popularity among peers was underscored by contributors to the record, including Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley and Jackson Browne. The Artemis Records disc debuted last week in the Top 20 of the nation's pop charts, an unprecedented showing for the singer.

Acclaimed rock drummer Jim Keltner, who worked on the album, said it was an emotionally charged project for all involved, especially the work on the final song, "Keep Me in Your Heart."

"Warren had a bad day, and he couldn't make it in, so we laid down the music without the vocals, and I'll tell you, we were all choked up," he said. "It's a beautiful song," Keltner told The Times.

The album include some wry, unsentimental songs, in Zevon's familiar mode, and a version of the Bob Dylan classic "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," a selection that speaks to Zevon's candor and sense of grim theater.

Dylan, in recent live shows, has paid tribute to Zevon by singing several of his songs, including "Mutineer" and "Accidentally Like a Martyr.

Zevon, born Jan. 24, 1947, spent much of his youth shuttling between different cities in California, among them Los Angeles and San Francisco, The Times reported.

His father, William, was a Russian Jewish immigrant who was a boxer in his early days in America, then settled into a career as a professional gambler and "a mobster, generally," as his son described him. The singer's mother, Beverly, was of Scottish heritage and a Mormon. The singer told Rolling Stone magazine in 1981 that his mother was "extraordinarily withdrawn--you can barely hear her speaking voice. She did encourage my interest in art, though."

Though Zevon was a precocious child, a classically trained pianist with high IQ scores, he dropped out of Fairfax High as a junior--about the same time his parents divorced--and moved to New York City to become a folk singer. Those dreams fizzled, and Zevon moved around the country, eventually returning to Southern California in the late 1960s.

At first, he wrote commercial jingles and played on recording sessions. He penned songs for the Turtles, including "Like the Seasons" and "Outside Chance."

In 1969, he released his first album, Wanted: Dead or Alive, but it did not sell well and he became a keyboard player and music director for the Everly Brothers in the early '70s.

Reminiscing about those days, he told Rolling Stone: "The road, booze and I became an inseparable team."

After some more false starts, Zevon and his then-wife, Crystal Zevon, became embittered about L.A. life and moved to Spain in 1975, The Times reported. That adventure was short-lived.

Back in Los Angeles, Browne championed Zevon to budding music mogul David Geffen and the result was Warren Zevon, a 1976 release from Asylum Records that would make the singer a darling of the critics. Browne produced the album, which included "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me," a hit a year later for Linda Ronstadt.

The album included Henley, Glenn Frey, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Carl Wilson, Bonnie Raitt and J.D. Souther--an loose assembly of Southern California rockers that largely defined the '70s sound.

But while the Eagles and others were minting platinum albums, Zevon was making far more ominous music that failed to click in a big way with the wide public, The Times reported.

That would form the pattern of his career, and it both haunted and inspired him--he longed for the audience but also reveled in the role of intellectual and uncompromising maverick, according to The Times.

By the early 1980s, Zevon's wild ways had wrecked much of his personal life, and he went into a rehab program, which he would later mock in "Detox Mansion."

His 1982 album, The Envoy, was a product of his cleaner living and was hailed as a return to his early form. Sentimental Hygiene (1987) and the 1991 collection Mr. Bad Example again won him rave reviews. Still, major commercial success eluded him.

"It was a little more interesting this way, maybe," he told The Times last year. "Maybe more aggravating, too. At least I've had one foot in a very normal kind of life. Nobody does my chores so I can go upstairs and jam with Branford, you know?"

[Scotiagirl]

Sheb Wooley -- of “Purple People Eater” Fame -- Dead at 82
Edward Morris
09/16/2003

Singer, songwriter and actor Sheb Wooley -- who also recorded a series of parody hits as Ben Colder -- died Tuesday (Sept. 16) at Skyline Medical Center in Nashville. He was 82. Wooley had suffered from leukemia for the past five years, his widow, Linda Dotson, told CMT.com.

However, she said he had been strong enough to go with her to Johnny Cash’s wake on Sunday (Sept. 14). While there, she continued, he seemed to falter: “It was like God laid His hand on his shoulder and said, ‘You’ll be the third [country music figure] to go,’” Dotson observed. (TV actor John Ritter, son of Country Music Hall of Fame member Tex Ritter, died the day before Cash.)

Shelby F. Wooley was born April 10, 1921, near Erick, Okla. While a teenager, he worked as a rodeo rider and formed his own band. In the mid-1940s, he performed on radio stations WLAC and WSM in Nashville and subsequently had his own show on the Calumet Radio Network. He signed to Bullet Records in 1946, moving two years later to MGM Records where he remained until 1973. Wooley was a major musical influence on Roger Miller, who was related to him by marriage. Miller was only 11 when Wooley gave him his first fiddle.

Wooley began acting in movies in 1950, appearing first in Rocky Mountain with Errol Flynn. In 1952, he played killer Ben Miller in the Gary Cooper-Grace Kelly classic western, High Noon. Altogether, he acted in more than 60 films, among them Giant (1956) and Hoosiers (1986). Prominent in television acting as well, he played the role of Pete Nolan in the popular Rawhide series from 1959 to 1966.

As a recording artist, Wooley had his first success on the pop charts. His “Are You Satisfied?” barely made a dent in 1955, reaching only the No. 95 spot. But three years later, he unleashed a monster with the novelty tune, “The Purple People Eater.” It went No. 1 on the pop listings and stayed there for six weeks. “That’s My Pa,” another novelty effort in 1962, was his first country hit. It also reached No. 1.

As Ben Colder, Wooley scored six country and five pop hits with such parodies as “Don’t Go Near the Eskimos” (a takeoff on “Don’t Go Near the Indians”), “Still No. 2,” “Almost Persuaded No. 2,” “Detroit City No. 2” and “Harper Valley P.T.A. (Later That Same Day).” His last charted country song came in 1971 with “Fifteen Beers Ago,” a sendup of Conway Twitty’s “Fifteen Years Ago.” Fittingly enough, Wooley wrote the theme song for the Hee Haw TV series. In 1968, the Country Music Association honored him with its comedian of the year award.

On Oct. 9, 2002, then U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee saluted Wooley as an “American treasure” by reading a catalog of his achievements into the Congressional Record. “He never strayed far from his roots,” Thompson said, “and always knew how to rope in an audience.”

Wooley’s funeral will be held Monday (Sept. 22) “at high noon,” Dotson said, at First Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tenn., and will be open to the public. He is survived by his widow; two daughters, Christie Wooley and Shauna Dotson; and two grandchildren.

[angelize56]

I really liked him in WKRP!!! Didn't even know he was ill. How sad! Take care. angel

Gordon Jump of 'WKRP', Maytag ads dies
Tuesday, September 23, 2003 Posted: 12:59 AM EDT (0459 GMT)

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Gordon Jump, who played a befuddled radio station manager on the sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati" and made his mark in commercials as the lonely Maytag repairman, died Monday. He was 71.

Jump suffered from pulmonary fibrosis, said his cousin, Katherine Jump Wagner. The illness causes scarring of the air sacs of the lungs, leading to heart or respiratory failure.

Wagner, of Arcanum, Ohio, said she learned of her cousin's death from her father, also named Gordon Jump. Her cousin was under hospice care at his home southeast of Los Angeles, she said.

Jump played Arthur Carlson in "WKRP in Cincinnati," which aired on CBS from 1978-82 and featured Gary Sandy, Loni Anderson, Tim Reid, Howard Hesseman and Richard Sanders as the ragtag station's crew.

A native of Dayton, Ohio, Jump began his career working at radio and TV stations in the Midwest. He worked behind the microphone and the camera, including jobs as a producer for Kansas and Ohio stations.

Jump portrayed the Maytag repairman "Ol' Lonely," a well-recognized advertising symbol, from 1989 until he retired from the role in July and another actor took over.

"Gordon was an incredibly talented actor and a remarkable human being," said Ralph Hake, chairman and chief executive officer of Maytag Corp.

Jump came to appreciate the attention he got for the ad campaign and the steady work it provided, Wagner said. But his heart was elsewhere professionally.

"What he loved more than anything was doing theater. He was a marvelous actor," she said, recalling a visit to Florida to watch him perform in "Norman, Is That You?"

Jump began his Hollywood career after moving to Los Angeles in 1963, appearing on series including "Daniel Boone," "Get Smart" and "The Partridge Family."

His dramatic roles included a part in the TV movie "Ruby and Oswald," about the assassination of President Kennedy, and "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes."

Jump is survived by his wife, four daughters and a son, Maytag said in a statement. He also had a brother, Wagner said.

[eggplant43]

Sounds like his last days weren't so hot. Too bad. He always seemed to be a natural at whatever I saw him in.

[LANMaster]

British Rock Singer Robert Palmer Dies of Heart Attack

LONDON — Rock singer Robert Palmer, known for his sharp suits and hits including "Addicted to Love," died Friday in Paris of a heart attack, his manager said. He was 54.

Palmer was on a two-day break in Paris following a television recording session in Britain, his manager Mick Carter said from the French capital.

In the 1980s, Palmer became a superstar with singles which also included "Simply Irresistible" — accompanied by slick videos featuring the smartly dressed Palmer with a back-up band of attractive women, all in black outfits and glossy makeup.

A side project, Power Station (search), formed in 1985 with John Taylor and Andy Taylor of '80s supergroup Duran Duran (search), scored three U.S. Top 10 hits, including "Communication" and "Get it On."

The son of a British naval officer, Palmer was a member of several British rock bands before he hit the big time as a solo artist.

He had lived in Switzerland for the past 16 years.

Known for his GQ sense of style, Palmer was named best-dressed male artist by Rolling Stone magazine in 1990.

The "Addicted to Love" video, with its miniskirted models strumming guitars as Palmer sang, became one of MTV's most-played clips and sparked protests from some feminists.

"I'm not going to attach inappropriate significance to it because at the time it meant nothing. It's just happened to become an iconic look," Palmer once said of the video.

He had his first hit album and single, "Sneakin' Sally through the Alley," in 1974.

In his 20s, Palmer worked with a number of small-time bands including Dada, Vinegar Joe (search), and the Alan Bown Set, occasionally appearing in opening acts for big draw including The Who and Jimi Hendrix.

Palmer once confessed that he was not attracted to the excesses of rock 'n' roll stardom.

"I loved the music, but the excesses of rock 'n' roll never really appealed to me at all," he said. "I couldn't see the point of getting up in front of a lot of people when you weren't in control of your wits."

He was noted for dressing up and being somewhat restrained.

"I don't want to be heavy," he said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.

"I can't think of another attitude to have toward an audience than a hopeful and a positive one. And if that includes such unfashionable things as sentimentality, well, I can afford it."

Sad, very sad. link

[moonmist]

OMG Lan.........i didnt hear..............that is sad

[LANMaster]

I went to a R. Palmer website and it really freaked me out to see an EKG scrolling across the screen

[eggplant43]

Wow, it's hard to believe. I'll never be able to get the vision of "addicted to love" out of my head. The minute I learned of his death, I saw the video running in my mind. Tha's powerful.

[LANMaster]

Me too, Bruce.
a milestone in video music for sure.