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Dick Clark had a heart attack and died on Wednesday morning while at St. Johns Hospital in LA, USA.
He was 82.
Dubbed “the world’s oldest teenager” because of his boyish appearance, Clark went to the hospital on Tuesday for what was expected to be a routine outpatient procedure.
Clark’s death was not unexpected. He has been in declining health since a stroke in 2004, that affected his ability to speak and walk.
Read the 1400 word obituary by the Associated Press here.
Two-time Olympic Medalist in diving, Mark Lenzi, died yesterday in Greenville, North Carolina. He was 43-years old.
Lenzi won the gold medal in the 3 m springboard in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, and the bronze medal in the same category in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. No other American male diver has won a gold medal in the Olympics since Lenzi, and he was the first diver to ever score 100 points on a single dive.
Perhaps most surprising given his great success at competitive diving is that Lenzi was originally a wrestler, not a diver at all, but switched to diving in the 1980s after seeing Greg Louganis’ performance in the 1984 Olympics. He quickly became passionate about his new sport, and many successes followed.
Aside from his two Olympic medals Lenzi also won the Silver in the 1991 Perth World Aquatics Championships for 1 m springboard, and the Gold in the 1991 Havana Pan American Games, also in the 1 m springboard. He held 18 international springboard championships, and was selected as the NCAA’s diver of the year in both 1989 and 1990. He was also the first diver to ever score more than 700 points on a 3 meter, 11-dive competition, and the first American to ever successfully complete a 4½ forward somersault in competition.
Lenzi went on to a successful career in coaching after he stopped diving competitively, and has led four divers to win national age-group titles.
Although the exact cause of death has yet to be released, Lenzi’s mother has stated that he had been in the hospital the past two weeks due to fainting spells caused by low blood pressure. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy, three siblings, his mother and grandmother.
As an Olympic athlete and medalist Lenzi inspired many, and his story will continue to inspire us long following his untimely demise.
Mark, you will be missed.
Hell-raiser and cult favourite author Harry Crews, died on Wednesday in Gainesville, Florida.
He was 76 and had suffered from neuropathy for a number of years.
Crews’ ex-wife, Sally Ellis Crews told The Associated Press:
“He had been very ill. In a way it was kind of a blessing. He was in a lot of pain.”
A wild man and drunken sage in the tradition of Charles Bukowski and Hunter Thompson, he wrote in a style that was at once brutal and beautiful, baroque and as ordinary as dirt. Within a single sentence he could be both tender and terrifying. Crews sported a tattoo with a line from an E.E. Cummings poem, “How do you like your blue-eyed boy Mister Death,” on his right bicep under the tattoo of a skull.
Crews wrote 17 novels, including “Feast of Snakes” and “The Knockout Artist”; numerous short stories and novellas and the memoir “A Childhood.” He also taught graduate and undergraduate fiction writing workshops at the University of Florida from 1968 until his retirement in 1997.Continue Reading
Poet Adrienne Rich has died on Tuesday at her home in Santa Cruz, California from rheumatoid arthritis, which she suffered for many years.
She was 82.
Rich was a pioneering feminist, who received a galaxy of honours, including the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize and National Book Award, for a body of work that spanned seven decades and ranks among the most anthologized of the 20th century.
Rich, who lived and wrote openly as a lesbian for most of her adult life, was perhaps best known for her politically charged work during the Vietnam War era, as typified by her 1973 masterpiece collection Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971-1972, which won the National Book Award.
She also was acclaimed for numerous essays on feminism, racism, politics and other subjects, including the landmark collection Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Institution and Experience, published in 1976.
R.I.P Adrienne Rich
Edd Gould, creator of the popular flash animation web series Eddsworld, passed away on Sunday the 25th of March 2012 following a six-year battle with Leukemia.
He was only 23.
His friends and co-writers Tom Ridgewell and Matt Hargreaves has just posted a video announcing the passing of Edd on Eddsworld YouTube channel.
Chaleo Yoovidhya, creator of energy drink Red Bull, passed away on Saturday March 17th.
Mr Chaleo, listed by Forbes as the richest man in Thailand, with a wealth estimated at $5bn (£3.2bn) died of natural causes.
He was 89.
The self made billionaire launched Red Bull (Krathing Daeng in Thailand) in 1962 through his company, T.C. Pharmaceuticals and in 1984 he partnered with Austrian marketing expert Dietrich Mateschitz to bring the drink to the rest of the world.
Red Bull is now sold in 70 countries.
