THOSE WE LOST IN 2021, CONTINUED . . .

In lieu of Funny Friday today, there is a continuation of those we lost in 2021, followed tomorrow by a list of those we lost in 2021 in Australia . . . 

Patricia Maginnis
Date of death:	August 30, 2021
Age at death:	93
About:	In the decade before Roe v. Wade legalized abortion nationwide, she emerged as one of the country’s first abortion rights activists, campaigning on behalf of women’s freedom to safely end unwanted pregnancies. Pat Maginnis was considered the first abortion rights activist in American history and was also a political cartoonist, painter, and peace activist.
By the way:	Macginnis was born into a staunchly Catholic family.  During her brief service in the United States Army, she was deployed to Panama, as punishment for fraternizing with a Black soldier. She described her time in Panama and the horrible treatment of pregnant women in the army hospital as her inspiration to advocate for women's reproductive freedoms during her life. She began her activism when she returned to the United States, settling in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1959.
Cause of death:	Unknown.

 

WILLARD SCOTT
Date of death:	September 4, 2021
Age at death:	87
About:	American weather presenter, radio and TV personality, actor, narrator, clown, comedian, and author, with a career spanning 65 years. He is best known for his television work on the Today show as weather reporter who also presented a tribute greetings segment for people celebrating their 100th or above birthdays as well as select marriage anniversaries.
By the way:	Scott was the creator and original portrayer of Ronald McDonald.  Scott wrote in his book The Joy of Living that he originally created the Ronald McDonald character at the local franchise's request, which had also sponsored the Bozo the Clown show on which he portrayed Bozo. In his book Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser claims that McDonald's replaced Scott on account of his weight, supposedly concerned about McDonald's image. Scott denied the claims and cited other commitments he had at the time. Willard Scott as the Ronald McDonald he created. By the way #2: What we call Macca's in Oz, the Americans call Mickey D's.
Cause of death:	Natural causes.

JANE POWELL
Date of death:	September 16, 2021
Age at death:	92
About:	American actress, singer, and dancer who first appeared in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals in the 1940s. With her soprano voice and girl-next-door image, Powell appeared in films, television and on the stage. She was notable for her performances in A Date with Judy (1948), Royal Wedding (1951), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), and Hit the Deck (1955). Powell also made appearances on stage such as in My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music. She also appeared occasionally on television, including recurring guest roles on The Love Boat (1981–1982), as well as the sitcom Growing Pains (1988–1992). She was a veteran of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
By the way:	In 1949, Powell sang at Harry S. Truman’s inaugural ball. she sang for five U.S. presidents and the queen of England.
Cause of death:	Natural causes.

 

COLIN L POWELL
Date of death:	October 18, 2021
Age at death:	84
About:	American politician, statesman, diplomat, and United States Army officer who served as the 65th United States secretary of state from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African-American secretary of state. Powell served as the 16th United States national security advisor from 1987 to 1989. Powell's last military assignment, from October 1989 to September 1993, was as Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, the highest military position in the United States Department of Defense. During this time, he oversaw 28 crises, including the invasion of Panama in 1989 and Operation Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf War against Iraq in 1990–1991. He formulated the Powell Doctrine, which limits American military action unless it satisfies criteria regarding American national security interests, overwhelming force, and widespread public support.[4] He served as Secretary of State under Republican president George W. Bush. As secretary of state, Powell gave a speech before the United Nations regarding the rationale for the Iraq War, but he later admitted that the speech contained substantial inaccuracies. He was forced to resign after Bush was reelected in 2004.
By the way:	While at school, Powell worked at a local baby furniture store, where he picked up Yiddish from the Eastern European Jewish shopkeepers and some of the customers.  He once spoke to a Jewish reporter in Yiddish, much to the man's surprise.  He also served as a Shabbos goy, helping Orthodox families with needed tasks on the Sabbath.
Cause of death:	On October 18, 2021, Powell, who was being treated for multiple myeloma, died at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center of complications from COVID-19 at the age of 84. He had been vaccinated, but his myeloma compromised his immune system; he also had early-stage Parkinson's disease. President Joe Biden and four of the five living former presidents issued statements calling Powell as an American hero. Donald Trump disparaged him as having made "big mistakes" and as a "classic RINO".  (Republican in Name Only)

 

Sunao Tsuboi
Date of death:	October 24, 2021
Age at death:	96
About:	Japanese anti-nuclear, anti-war activist, and teacher. He was a hibakusha, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and was the co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, a Japan-wide organisation of atomic and hydrogen bomb sufferers. He was awarded the Kiyoshi Tanimoto peace prize in 2011.
By the way:	In 1945, he was a student of the Hiroshima City Technical School. When the bomb exploded he was walking to school and he became badly burned. He went to an aunt's house nearby but did not wish to be a burden to her, so he left. He was later taken to Ujina (Hiroshima port) by a truck and then to Ninoshima by barge. Only young men were being evacuated, as they were considered valuable for the war effort. He asked a woman visiting to inform his family. He stayed on Ninoshima for several days, cared for by a classmate who fed him; this classmate was then sent elsewhere. His mother and uncle searched among the dead and dying for three days with no success. When her uncle suggested leaving and holding a funeral for him, his mother began running around screaming his name. He heard her and put up his hand and said, "Here I am." He was then taken to his home in Ando, but was not conscious of this. He did not know the war had ended and did not believe that it had when he was told.
Cause of death:	Tsuboi died of arrhythmia due to anemia, in Hiroshima.

 

F.W. de Klerk
Date of death:	November 11, 2021
Age at death:	85
About:	South African politician and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as state president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994 and as deputy president from 1994 to 1996. South Africa’s last White president opened the door to Black majority rule in one of sub-Saharan Africa’s most prosperous nations by releasing Nelson Mandela from prison. He and his government dismantled the apartheid system and introduced universal suffrage.
By the way:	De Klerk was a controversial figure among many sections of South African society, all for different reasons. He received many awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize for dismantling apartheid and bringing universal suffrage to South Africa. Conversely, he received criticism from anti-apartheid activists for offering only a qualified apology for apartheid, and for ignoring the human rights abuses by state security forces. He was also condemned by South Africa's white nationalists, who contended that by abandoning apartheid, he betrayed the interests of the country's white minority.
Cause of death:	On 19 March 2021, it was announced that de Klerk had been diagnosed with mesothelioma. Just under eight months later, on 11 November, he died from complications of the disease in his sleep at his home in Cape Town.

 

Stephen Sondheim
Date of death:	November 26, 2021
Age at death:	91
About:	American composer and lyricist, among the most important figures in 20th-century musical theatre, Sondheim was praised for having "reinvented the American musical" with shows that tackled "unexpected themes that range far beyond the [genre's] traditional subjects" with "music and lyrics of unprecedented complexity and sophistication". His shows addressed "darker, more harrowing elements of the human experience" with songs often tinged with "ambivalence" about various aspects of life. Sondheim started his theatre career by writing the lyrics for West Side Story (1957) and Gypsy (1959) before becoming a composer and lyricist. Sondheim's best-known works include A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), and Into the Woods (1987). Sondheim's accolades include eight Tony Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Tony in 2008),[1] an Academy Award, eight Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, a Laurence Olivier Award, and a 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom.
By the way:	Sondheim detested his mother, who was said to be psychologically abusive and to have projected her anger from her failed marriage onto her son:  "When my father left her, she substituted me for him. And she used me the way she used him, to come on to and to berate, beat up on, you see. What she did for five years was treat me like dirt, but come on to me at the same time."  She once wrote him a letter saying that the only regret she ever had was giving birth to him.  When she died in the spring of 1992, Sondheim did not attend her funeral. He had already been estranged from her for nearly 20 years.
Cause of death:	Sondheim died of cardiovascular disease at his home

 

BOB DOLE
Date of death:	December 5, 2021
Age at death:	98
About:	American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican Leader of the Senate during the final 11 years of his tenure, including three non-consecutive years as Senate Majority Leader. Prior to his 27 years in the Senate, he served in the United States House of Representatives from 1961 to 1969. Dole was also the Republican presidential nominee in the 1996 election and the vice presidential nominee in the 1976 election.
By the way:	Dole joined the United States Army's Enlisted Reserve Corps in 1942 to fight in World War II, becoming a second lieutenant in the Army's 10th Mountain Division. In April 1945, while engaged in combat southwest of Bologna, Italy, Dole was seriously wounded by a German shell that struck his upper back and right arm, shattering his collarbone and part of his spine. "I lay face down in the dirt," Dole said. "I could not see or move my arms. I thought they were missing." As Lee Sandlin describes, when fellow soldiers saw the extent of his injuries, they believed all they could do was "give him the largest dose of morphine they dared and write an 'M' for 'morphine' on his forehead in his own blood, so that nobody else who found him would give him a second, fatal dose." Dole was paralysed from the neck down and transported to a military hospital near Kansas. Suffering blood clots, a life-threatening infection, and a fever of almost 109 °F (43 °C), he was expected to die. After large doses of penicillin were not successful, he overcame the infection with the administration of streptomycin, which at the time was still an experimental drug.  Dole was operated on seven times and recovered from his wounds.
Cause of death:	In February 2021, Dole announced that he had been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer, and subsequently underwent immunotherapy, forgoing chemotherapy due to its negative effect on his body. He died from the disease at his home in Washington, D.C.

 

RAY ILLINGWORTH
Date of death:	24.12.2021
Age at death:	89
About:	English cricketer, cricket commentator and administrator. As of 2015, he was one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20,000 runs in first-class cricket. He is stated to have been 'tough, combative, grudging, shrewd, and an instinctive reader of the game', and an experienced, no-nonsense captain who expected his team to play like professionals. David Gower wrote 'no matter how highly Ray might regard you as a player he would not have you in his team, come hell or high water, unless he was utterly convinced that you could do the job he had allocated to you'.  He managed 'difficult' players like Geoff Boycott and John Snow well, and they responded with their best Test form. 'Most of all, because he insisted on his "own side", he was able to get the best out of his players, both mentally and physically. He built up a tremendous team spirit which stood us in good stead on numerous occasions', and they tended to close ranks and treat the opposition, umpires, press and public as the enemy, an attitude that became prevalent amongst Test teams in the 1970s. Illingworth captained England for five seasons (1969–1973) and under Illingworth, England beat the West Indies 2–0 in 1969, held a powerful Rest of the World side to 1-4 in 1970, won the Ashes in Australia in 1970–71 and beat Pakistan in 1971. Illingworth captained England in 31 Test matches, winning 12, losing 5 and drawing 14.
By the way:	Illingworth led England to a 2–0 Ashes victory in 1970–71, the only time a touring team has played a full Test series in Australia without defeat. The future Australian captain, Greg Chappell, later wrote: Ray Illingworth's England side in 1970–71 were mentally the toughest English side I played against, and the experience of playing against them first up in my Test career reinforced what I had learnt in the backyard. Test cricket was not for the faint of heart. Illingworth subjected us to a mental intimidation by aggressive field placings, and physical intimidation by constant use of his pace attack, ably led by one of the best fast bowlers of my experience, John Snow. Winning to Illingworth was something he expected of himself and demanded of his team.
Cause of death:	In November 2021, he advocated assisted suicide, revealing that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of oesophageal cancer. He died on 24 December 2021, at the age of 89.

DESMOND TUTU
Date of death:	December 26, 2021
Age at death:	90
About:	South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. According to the New York Times, he was “… the cleric who used his pulpit and spirited oratory to help bring down apartheid in South Africa and then became the leading advocate of peaceful reconciliation under Black majority rule . . .” As leader of the South African Council of Churches and later as Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, Archbishop Tutu led the church to the forefront of Black South Africans’ decades-long struggle for freedom. His voice was a powerful force for nonviolence in the anti-apartheid movement, earning him a Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. Archbishop Tutu preached that the policy of apartheid was as dehumanizing to the oppressors as it was to the oppressed. At home, he stood against looming violence and sought to bridge the chasm between Black and white; abroad, he urged economic sanctions against the South African government to force a change of policy.
By the way:	Archbishop Tutu had always said that he was a priest, not a politician, and that when the real leaders of the movement against apartheid returned from jail or exile he would serve as its chaplain. While he acknowledged that there was a political role for the church, he prohibited ordained clergy from belonging to any political party.
Cause of death:	Tutu died from cancer at the Oasis Frail Care Centre in Cape Town on 26 December 2021, at the age of 90. His daughter Naomi Nontombi said, "He was ready. He went to meet his God, ready and willing."