Grief and Gratitude
I enjoy reading a good obituary. Even as I mourn someone’s passing, I find the stories of their lives inspiring. I have collected here the obituaries of people that have inspired me over the years. Many of them are celebrities or public figures whose careers I have followed and admired. But, truth be told, some of them I didn’t know about until I read their obituaries.
I have also included some people I know personally, friends, relatives, or people who have been a presence in my life in some way.
2022
- Dorothy Pitman Hughes 1938-2022
- Bob McGrath 1932-2022
- Christine McVie 1943-2022
- Irene Cara 1959-2022
2020
- Lary Kramer 1935-2020
- Aimee Stephens 1961-2020
- Phyllis Lyon 1924-2020
- McCoy Tyner 1938-2020
2019
- Toni Morrison 1931-2019
- João Gilberto 1931-2019
- John Pinto 1925-2019
- Alice Rivlin 1931-2019
- Stanley Donen (1924-2019)
- Jackie Shane (1940-2019)
- Kofi Burbridge (1961-2019)
- Ken Nordine (1920-2019)
- Mary Oliver (1935-2019)
- Carol Channing (1921-2019)
- Francine du Plessix Gray (1930-2019)
- Bernice Sandler (1930-2019)
- Roslayn Terborg-Penn (1941-2019)
2018
- Hector Xtravaganza 1965-2018
- Nancy Roman (1925-2018)
- Sister Wendy Beckett (1930-2018)
- Raven Wilkinson (1935-2018)
- Penny Marshall (1943-2018)
- Nancy Wilson (1937-2018)
- Rosanell Eaton (1921-2018)
- Roy Clark (1933-2018)
- Kitty O’Neil (1946-2018)
- Roy Hargrove (1969-2018)
- Ntozake Shange (1948-2018)
- Raye Montague (1935-2018)
- Aretha Franklin (1942-2018)
- Katie Cannon (1950-2018)
- Anthony Bourdain (1956-2018)
- Kate Spade (1962-2018)
- Jill Ker Conway (1934-2018)
- Robert Indiana (1928-2018)
- James Cone (1938-2018)
- Linda Brown (1943-2018)
- Stephen Hawking (1942-2018)
- Ursula LeGuin (1929-2018)
- Dolores O’Riordan (1971-2018)
2017
- Rose Marie (1923-2017)
- Recy Taylor (1919-2017)
- Sue Grafton (1940-2017)
- Jack Dorosho aka Flawless Sabrina (1939-2017)
- Tom Petty (1950-2017)
- Edie Windsor (1929-2017)
- Kate Millet (1934-2017)
- Charles Bradley (1948-2017)
- Judith Jones (1924-2017)
- Dick Gregory (1932-2017)
- Glen Campbell (1936-2017)
- Maryam Mirzakhani (1977-2017)
- Simone Weil (1927-2017)
- Gregg Allman (1947-2017)
- Jonathan Demme (1947-2017)
- Chris Cornell (1964-2017)
- Chuck Berry (1926-2017)
- Maggie Roche (1951-2017)
- Mary Tyler Moore (1936-2017)
- John Hurt (1940-2017)
2016
- George Michael (1963-2016)
- Debbie Reynolds (1932-2016)
- Carrie Fisher (1956-2016)
- Huston Smith (1919-2016)
- Janet Reno (1938-2016)
- Leonard Cohen (1934-2016)
- Gwen Ifill (1955-2016)
- Tom Hayden (1939-2016)
- Edward Albee (1928-2016)
- Gloria Naylor (1950-2016)
- Gene Wilder (1933-2016)
- Elie Wiesel (1928-2016)
- Ralph Stanley (1927-2016)
- Muhammad Ali (1942-2016)
- Morley Safer (1931-2016)
- Merle Haggard (1937-2016)
- Prince (1958-2016)
- Umberto Eco (1932-2016)
- Rosario Ferré (1938-2016)
- Maurice White (1941-2016)
- Harper Lee (1926-2016)
- Alan Rickman (1946-2016)
- David Bowie (1947-2016)
2015
- John Trudell, 1946-2015
- Mattiwilda Dobbs, 1925-2015
- Margaret Sivertsen Larson, 1933-2015
- Allen Toussaint, 1938-2015
- Holly Woodlawn, 1946-2015
- Rev. Willie T. Barrow, 1925-2015
- Anne Meara, 1930-2015
- Mary Ellen Mark, 1940-2015
- B.B. King, 1926-2015
- Tony Bing, 1935-2015
- Ornette Coleman, 1930-2015
- Oliver Sacks, 1933-2015
- Julian Bond, 1940-2015
- Yogi Berra, 1925-2015
- Grace Lee Boggs, 1915-2015
- Leonard Nimoy, 1932-2015
- David Carr, 1957-2015
2014
- Lauren Bacall, 1924-2014
- Robin Williams, 1951-2014
- James Brady, 1940-2014
- Nadine Gordimer, 1923-2014
- Alice Coachman, 1922-2014
- Louis Zamperini, 1917-2014
- Casey Kasem, 1932-2014
- Ruby Dee,1922-2014
- Karen DeCrow, 1937-2014
- Maya Angelou,1928-2014
- Stormé DeLarverie 1920-2014
- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1927-2014
- Ophelia DeVore-Mitchell, 1921-2014
- Walter Cottle Lester,1925-2014
- Gabriel Axel,1918-2014
- Philip Seymour Hoffman,1967-2014
- Pete Seeger,1920-2014
- Franklin McCain, 1941-2014
- Amiri Baraka, 1934-2014
- Juanita Moore, 1915-2014
2013
- Nelson Mandela 1918-2013
- Peter O’Toole 1933-2013
- Doris Lessing 1919-2013
- Oscar Hijuelos 1951-2013
- Lou Reed 1942-2013
- Marcella Hazan 1924-2013
- Ruth Patrick 1908-2013
- Scott Hinkley 1967-2013
- Seamus Heaney 1939-2013
- Marian McParland 1918-2013
- Robert Bellah 1927-2013
- Ruth Asawa 1926-2013
- Eileen Brennan 1932-2013
- Helen Thomas 1920-2013
- Ray Harryhausen 1920-2013
- Jean Stapleton 1923-2013
- Wayne Miller 1919-2013
- Mary Thom 1944, 2013
- Richie Havens 1941-2013
- Jonathan Winters 1926-2013
- Roger Ebert 1943-2013
- Les Blank 1935-2013
- Chinua Achebe 1930-2013
- Aaron Swarts 1986-2013
- Gerda Lerner 1920-2013
- Hans Massaquoi 1925-2013
- Jeanne Manford 1921-2013
2012
- Rita Levi-Montalcini 1909-2012
- Isaiah Sheffer 1936-2012
- Dave Brubeck 1920-2012
- Sally Ride 1951-2012
- David Rakoff 1964-2012
- Walter Wink 1935-2012
- Horst Faas 1933-2012
- Carlos Fuentes 1928-2012
- Nicholas Katzenbach 1922-2012
- Daphne Zepos 1960-2012
- Richard Isay 1934-2012
- Phyllis Diller 1917-2012
- Maurice Sendak 1929, 2012
- Ray Bradbury 1920-2012
- Evelyn Johnson 1910-2012
- Adam Yauch 1964-2012
- Adrian Rich 1931-2012
- Elizabeth Catlett 1915-2012
- Anthony Shadid 1968-2012
- Etta James 1938-2012
- Vaclav Havel 1936-2012
2011
- Paula Louise Ettelbrick 1955-2011
- Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth 1922-2011
- Steve Jobs 1955-2011
- Wangari Maathai 1940-2011
- Stetson Kennedy 1917-2011
- Betty Ford 1918-2011
- Gill Scott-Heron 1949-2011
- Kate Swift 1923-2011
- Hazel Dickens 1936-2011
- Sidney Lumet 1924-2011
- Manning Marable 1951-2011
- Geraldine Ferraro 1936-2011
- Peter Gomes 1943-2011
- R. Sargent Shriver 1916-2011
2010
- Margaret Burroughs 1915-2010
- Amy Van Meter 1967-2010
- Daniel Schorr 1916-2010
- Elise Boulding 1920-2010
- Lena Horne 1918-2010
- Dee Dee Allen 1924-2010
- Dorothy Height 1912-2010
- Marion Jacobsen 1907-2010
- Stewart Udall 1920-2010
- Alex Chilton 1950-2010
- Doris “Granny D” Haddock 1910-2010
- Rev. Robert Carter 1927-2010
- Lucile Clifton 1937-2010
- Howard Zinn 1922-2010
- Miep Gies 1910-2010
2009
- Dennis Brutus 1924-2009
- Percy Sutton 1920-2009
- Vic Chestnutt 1964-2009
- Lula Maria Walker Smith 1933-2009
- Ann Nixon Cooper 1902-2009
- Walter Trochez 1982-2009
- Herb Brokering 1926-2009
- Roy DeCarava 1920-2009
- James Krenov 1921-2009
- Edward Moore Kennedy 1932-2009
- Margaret Wilson 1919-2009
- Les Paul 1915-2009
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver 1921-2009
- Walter Cronkite 1916-2009
- Bonnie Tinker 1948-2009
- Michael Jackson 1958-2009
- James Andrew Lacey 1968-2009
- Rodger McFarlane 1955-2009
- Bea Arthur 1922-2009
- Judith Krug 1940-2009
- Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick 1950-2009
- John Hope Franklin 1915-2009
- Theodore Gordon Larson 1928-2009
- Lux Interior 1947-2009
- Blossom Dearie 1926-2009
- Evan Farber 1922-2009
- Millard Fuller 1935-2009
2008
- Eartha Kitt 1927-2008
- Robert Mulligan 1925-2008
- Bettie Page 1923-2008
- Odetta 1930-2008
- Don Wadia Moses 1942-2008
- Miriam Makeba 1932-2008
- Studs Terkel 1912-2008
- Tony Hillerman 1925-2008
- Andrew Johnston 1968-2008
- Paul Newman 1925-2008
- Bill Melendez 1916-2008
- Del Martin 1921-2008
- Stephanie Tubbs-Jones 1949-2008
- George Carlin 1937-2008
- Cyd Charisse 1922-2008
- Harvey Korman 1927-2008
- Mildred Loving 1940-2008
- Richard Sandman 1962-2008
- Sarah-Maud Sivertsen 1908-2008
- John O’Donohe 1956-2008
2007
- Johnnie Carr 1910-2007
- Marie Smith Jones 1919-2007
- Alan Berube 1946-2007
- Madeleine L’Engle 1919-2007
- Kurt Vonnegut 1923-2007
- Molly Ivins 1945-2007
- Alice Coltrane 1938-2007
Before 2007
- Mayme Clayton, 1923-2006
- Edna Lewis,1917-2006
- Lois Brokering, 1929-2004
- Julia Child, 1912-2004
- Paul Wellstone, 1944-2002
- Sheila Wellstone, 1944-2002
- Marcia Wellstone, 1968-2002
- June Jordan, 1937-2002
- Anne Sivertsen Conner, 1933-2001. This isn’t her obituary, rather an award her high school in Minneapolis honored her with in 2002. She was the first alumna of Blake/Northrup to receive the Alumni Award posthumously. My mother’s life continues to inspire me.
- Richard Mulligan, 1932-2000
- Audre Lorde, 1934-1992
References
- Dead People Server – A useful resource when you want to confirm whether someone has died or not.
- Obit Magazine – Life, Death, Transition
- Wikipedia Deaths – a year-by-year, day-by-day recording of notable passings
- NPR Remebrances
- New York Times Obituaries
- Washington Post Obituaries
- Los Angeles Times Obituaries
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