In Memoriam

Our place for remembering those whose lives have touched us, especially those whose writing has impacted us.

Goodbye to William Christopher, best known as Father Mulcahy on the TV series of "MASH", but also author, with his wife Barbara, of Mixed Blessings, about raising his autistic son Ned in an era when little was known about autism.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/william-christopher-dead-mash-actor/

William Peter Blatty, author of The Exorcist, died yesterday at age 89.

Oh, my. A re-read may be in order.

Children’s author and illustrator Babette Cole has died aged 67 -
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/babette-cole-dies-470486

>5 avatiakh: - Aww, this is sad. She was a favourite in my classroom. Her work was filled with fun and joy. :-(

Miguel Ferrer and Mary Tyler Moore! So sad!

Oh no. Mary Tyler Moore was such an icon. I hope this isn't going to be a year like last year, with such high profile deaths. She was wonderful. RIP

: (

John Hurt

http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-john-hurt-20170127-story.html

Translator Patricia Crampton -aged 90 yrs
'Her career began far from children’s books – as a translator at the Nuremberg trials in 1947... an award-winning translator with an exceptional talent for making some of the best of European children’s literature come alive for English readers...she was fluent in Hindi as well as English, and later rapidly picked up nine European languages: French, which she learnt as a child, German and Russian, which she studied as a student, and Swedish, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Norwegian and Dutch, all of which she taught herself as her professional life developed.
She translated more than 200 books for children and 50 for adults, and was widely acclaimed in both fields for the exceptional quality of her work. Her translations of the Dutch author Dick Bruna’s minimalist Miffy titles were a particular triumph, as Bruna believed they would be difficult to get right in English.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/27/patricia-crampton-obituary

I've read several of the books she translated from Dutch, Danish and German.

Indian American author Bharati Mukherjee has passed away. She was married to Canadian author Clark Blaise

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/books/bharati-mukherjee-dead-author-jasmine.h...

A friend suggested I try to find a book they wrote together, called Days and Nights in Calcutta. She said that the first half is Clark Blaise’s impressions of India, 2nd half is Bharati’s impressions, having been away so long and being pretty westernized by the time she went home for a visit. Highly recommended.

Canadian-centric: RIP, Stuart McLean. Only 68.

He was probably best known as a broadcaster but he was a storyteller extraordinaire and published several books of the stories he told on his radio show, The Vinyl Café.

His voice was an acquired taste, but there is no doubt about his storytelling talent and his humour. He won the Leacock Award for Humour, 3 times, among others.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/stuart-mclean-dead-obit-1.3984826

Wow, this is a huge loss to Canada, nation-wide. For Americans, I'd compare him to Garrison Keilor.

:-(

>13 jessibud2: I just saw the Vinyl Cafe's FB post about Stuart's passing. This American is in tears, I adored his books and radio show and will sorely miss him. Thank you for the CBC link.

>14 Copperskye: - Here is another link. Social media weighs in, from the top down, from coast to coast:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/stuart-mclean-remembered-1.3984928

Yes, it's a sad night in Canada.

>15 jessibud2: It's been a long time since I've felt so sad over the death of someone I didn't know. I feel like I did know him, though, through his books and stories. They are so full of laughter and warmth.

Thanks for the second link too. I had to stop reading for now.

>16 Copperskye: - Not to add to the tears, but here is just one of many quotes popping up tonight. This was from when he was presented with an honourary degree at McMaster's Arts & Science and Humanities Convocation in 2014.

"Your graduation from is also a graduation to; when we walk away we walk towards, it marks your graduation to citizenship. Reflect on the duties and responsibilities that come with that. We have been our best selves and done our best work when we have come together. As humans we are inefficient, but we continue to seek the deepening gift of education."

RIP, Stuart

Dick Bruna, creator of Nijntje (Miffy) has died.

I'm shocked, you mean she wasn't really called Miffy?

Yes, I am sorry I shocked you. Her original Dutch name is Nijntje. Because the rest of the world can't pronounce that, she became Miffy everywhere, except for the Dutch.

>20 FAMeulstee: Is Nijntje pronounced "nein-che"? (nein as in the German word for "no") That's how I imagine it would be pronounced.

>21 PawsforThought: Almost like that, but with more like "tche" on the end.
Nijntje comes from the Dutch word konijntje (little rabbit), as Dick Bruna started making stories about a little rabbit to his son.

When my sister and I were growing up as two little English girls in the Netherlands, we loved adding the suffix -je or -tje to all kinds of English words to create hybrid ENglish-Dutch diminutives. So we had Mummytje and Daddytje and no doubt bookje for a little book - I can't remember all the silly names we came up with...

And Konijn (rabbit) is related to the older English word 'coney' which you sometimes see especially in historical fiction.

>22 FAMeulstee: Ah, that's how I imagined it - with the ch sort of like check/Czech. My holidays in Amsterdam and Antwerp have taught me well.

Chuck Berry is off to the Promised Land.

Jimmy Breslin has died.

Colin Dexter, the creator of Inspector Morse, has passed away.

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-39342698

>27 lindapanzo: Oh, no! I hadn't heard about that. How sad - though 86 is a good age to make it to.

I'll see if any of my nearby libraries have his books - I've never got around to reading them.

I heard Colin Dexter speak - he was an after dinner speaker at an Oxford college anniversary dinner. Some rather off-colour jokes as I recall ... I think this is one of the rare cases where I prefer the TV adaptation to the original books: I've read a couple but in no rush to read more. Dexter's Morse seemed quite misogynistic compared to John Thaw's portrayal of him - but would be interested to hear what others think.

>29 gennyt: The original TV version of Morse was phenomenal, so I'm not surprised to hear it outshines the original text (and it's not the first time I've heard someone express that view).
Love the spin off shows too - Lewis is a family favourite and I really loved Endeavour.

>29 gennyt: Remarkably, I've never seen the TV adaptations but read of each of Dexter's books not long after they came out.

Yes, I'm the odd person who reads mysteries like a maniac but rarely ever watches them on TV.

>31 lindapanzo: Me too! I have seen bits of the TV versions but don't know iI've watched one properly.

>31 lindapanzo: and >32 elkiedee: See them! They're SO good!

They are very good, not least the theme tune based on Morse Code.

I am also very sad to see that the Booker Prize winning author and playwright, David Storey has died at the age of 83. He had been suffering from Parknson's and the onset of dementia.

Like John Simpson and myself, David Storey hailed from Wakefield and came to prominence with the excellent novel about Rugby League in a working class community (almost certainly Wakefield), This Sporting Life which was made into a successful film starring Richard Harris and Rachel Roberts. He won the Booker Prize for his novel Saville which is one of my favourite winners of the prize.

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2017/mar/27/david-storey-an-instin...



DAVID STOREY R.I.P.

Sad to see that Yevgeny Yevtushenko the Russian poet has passed away in the US today. Famous for his long poem Babi Yar he was also a divisive figure as some felt he was too collaborative with the Soviet regime. It has to be said though that his most renowned piece was a brave one, recognising as it did, anti-semitism in the USSR.

Robert M. Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, has died at age 88.

Historian Hugh Thomas has passed:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/may/09/lord-thomas-of-swynnerton-obituary...

I have several of his books but only read one, Beaumarchais in Seville : an intermezzo which I found rather interesting.

Helen Dunmore has died.

Yes, I caught that on the radio among all the other news - she was interviewed on the radio a few months ago and I knew from that she was terminally ill - she said she had "a very poor prognosis". I'm very sad.

Oh no. Oh no.

RIP, Helen Dunmore.



Juan Goytisolo, who is widely considered to be one of the greatest Spanish authors of the 20th century, died on Monday in Marrakesh, Morocco at the age of 86. He was born to an aristocratic family, but he fled the country in 1956 due to deep opposition to the fascist government led by Francisco Franco after his father was imprisoned and his mother was killed in a Nationalist air raid of Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War. His decision to live abroad, mainly in France and Morocco, permitted him the freedom to openly criticize the Francoist government in his novels, poems and essays, particularly in his Álvaro Mendiola trilogy, consisting of the novels Marks of Identity (1966), Count Julian (1970), and Juan the Landless (1975). He was awarded the Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the Nobel Prize for the Spanish speaking world, in 2014 for his body of work over more than six decades.

Goytisolo continued to write novels and articles for the Madrid daily El País until he was felled by a stroke earlier this year. Unfortunately he received little recognition in the English speaking world, as few of his works were translated from the Castilian into English.

Michael Bond, who created Paddington Bear and thus enriched generations of childhoods, has died.

Like I'm sure many others here on LT, I loved Paddington as a child, and still love him now that I'm (supposedly an adult). It's at least some comfort to know that Bond got to live to the very respectable age of 91 - when so many people nowadays seem to go way too young.

I just learnt that he also created a series of detective novels featuring a detective called Pamplemousse, which I know will tickle some LTers as much as it did me.

Oh, yes. I think I regret the loss of the author of Pamplemousse even more than that of Paddington. RIP Michael Bond.

Here's the memorial service information for Ellie Moses, mirrordrum:

Alice Elfin (Ellie) Moses.
A remembrance service will be held for Ellie Sat July 15, 2017 at 10:00 am at TVUUC on Kingston Pike, Knoxville. Ellie died June 10 in her home. Those attending will have the opportunity to share thoughts and memories of her during the service.

Donations can be made to: “Doctors without Borders” https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org, “Ocean Conservancy” https://donate.oceanconservancy.org, “ Earth Justice” www.earthjustice.org, “Wildlife Conservancy” https://wildnet.org/donate or the humanitarian or environmental organization of your choice.

George Romero has died at 77 from lung cancer. Time for a zombie marathon.

And Martin Landau has died.

And Anne Golon died.
I don't think I would love the Angelique books now as much as I did in my early teens.

>48 FAMeulstee: Is her husband still alive? I believe he did a lot of the historical research. The copy of Angelique I read years ago listed the author as "Sergeanne" Colon. I often wonder how I'd feel about the book now, too. I read it in secret, because it was "racy", and "too old" for me!

>49 laytonwoman3rd: Her husband Serge Golon (a Russian aristocrat, real name Vsevolod Sergeevich Golubinov) died in 1972, when they were doing research in Canada.
In my twenties I watched all the Angelique movies on VHS.

I just heard that Pulitzer prize winning playwright, and actor Sam Shepard has died from complications for Lou Gehrig's disease. So sad, and a horrible way to go.

June Foray, the voice of Rocky, Natasha, Cindy Lou Who, and many others died last week. When I read her obit, I saw that she'd written her autobiography and I picked up a copy of Did You Grow Up With Me, Too?.

>52 lindapanzo: - Oh, no. I DID grow up with her! Actually, I thought she had died a long time ago. I wonder who I am thinking of....

>53 jessibud2: She was just two months short of 100 when she died last week. She was called the female Mel Blanc though someone said that Mel Blanc should've been called the male June Foray.

Glen Campbell has died. The Universe just keeps chippin' away at the soundtrack of my life.

Food writer turned crime novelist Leslie Forbes died in July 2016. I heard her speak at St Hilda's Crime and Mystery Conference some years ago and she was great. I've read at least 2 of her 3 novels and wonder where they are, as I'd love to reread. Fear they're OOP and out of library stock. I bought a bunch of Sicilian writer Leonardo Sciascia's books after her talk on his work - St Hilda's was great because writers often talked about work by other writers they admired - it still happens I think but I haven't been since 2006, as Danny was born the following May and Oxford was flooded and I wasn't sure about water supplies and stuff. She had also got very involved in human rights work with asylum seekers where she lived.

I only just found out about it and found a couple of blog post obituaries from friends but no newspaper obituaries.

Jack Rabinovitch died last week- he was the founder of the Giller Prize in Canada.He created a prize and award event that raised the level of interest in Canadian novels and writers. The award honoured the memory of his late wife Doris Giller.

>58 jessibud2: - There were a few really good articles in the papers about him during the last week or so, Cyrel. He really contributed a lot to our literary culture.

Just saw a report that Brian Aldiss, one of the sf writers I loved in my youth, has died at age 92. Time for a reread.

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-41003085

J.P. Donleavy:
J.P. Donleavy, best-selling author of ‘The Ginger Man,’ dies at 91

I found out from Lois (avaland) earlier this afternoon that Sibyl Golden, known as (rebeccanyc) on LT, died on August 12th due to complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, at the age of 65. Sibyl was a member of a prominent NYC family, and was a philanthropist, a supporter of the arts, and worked as an editor of science books and other scientific publications. She was an active and very prominent member on LibraryThing, as she served as the administrator for Club Read for several years until she became ill. I had the great fortune of spending a half day with her several years ago, when we met to take advantage of the New Year's Day sale at Book Culture on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and had a long lunch afterward. She was my "book sister", as I called her, as our tastes in books matched as well as anyone else on LibraryThing, particularly in our fondness for the Nobel Prize winning author Mario Vargas Llosa. She announced that she was seriously ill on her Club Read thread two or three years ago, and I could tell from the tenor of her statement that she likely had a progressive and terminal illness, although she didn't mention what it was at that time (and, respecting her privacy, I didn't ask).

Lois has set up a thread in Club Read in memory of Rebecca/Sibyl (she did tell me when we met that Sibyl was her real first name, but she asked me to keep it a secret):

http://www.librarything.com/topic/270019

The American Academy for the Advancement of Science also posted an obituary about Sibyl:

https://www.aaas.org/news/memoriam-philanthropist-sibyl-r-golden-0

I will greatly miss Sibyl as a friend, and her loss in Club Read will be felt deeply by many of us who knew and loved her.

Thank you for that AAAS link, Darryl. It includes a photo, which is greatly appreciated. I had seen one picture of Rebecca a few years back, after an LT meet-up that I could not attend, but this one is quite lovely. She left her mark on a lot of us.

>63 laytonwoman3rd: 'Rebecca' was a lovely, hugely intelligent lady whose carefully considered reviews and wide range of reading helped attract me to the 75ers in my initial time here in 2011. She was a person of conviction and obvious courage. I remember when I had a scattergun approach to the group and was sending out friend requests left, right and centre she sent me a very honest PM informing me why she was not accepting my friend request at that time. I would like to think we became friends later, indeed I know so.
Thank you so much, Darryl, for putting up this post.

To have lost two such dear ladies in Ellie and Sibyl in the same year from LT is such a hard blow.

>63 laytonwoman3rd: You're welcome, Linda. Sibyl was one of my oldest friends, just after Akeela (akeela) and DeeBee (deebee1), who invited me to join the 75 Books group in, I think, 2009. I stumbled upon Club Read that same year, and shortly after I became active there she and I realized that our tastes in books were nearly identical. Her case of ALS must have been a rapidly progressive one, as she seemed to be in good health when we met in 2011 or 2012, and demonstrated no signs of that horrible disease. As you said, she did leave a mark on many of us and particularly since we did meet I will treasure that memory, and her, for years to come.

>65 kidzdoc: You're welcome, Paul. I was planning to wait until the weekend to catch up on my thread, but after Lois let me know about Sibyl's passing a few hours ago I vowed to let everyone here know as soon as I was able to. Sibyl was a very private and reserved person, and because of this we only met once and she did not choose to join any of the numerous LT meetups in NYC that I attended. Her thoughtful reviews and comments will be greatly missed by me, and many of us on LT.

>63 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks for posting this Darryl, and my sympathy for your loss. I only found her thread relatively recently, but she was very kind and knowledgeable and I have missed her thread. So good to see her contribution acknowledged.

>63 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks for posting here. I doubt that I would've noticed the Club Read thread for awhile. I'd actually gone looking for any signs of activity from RebeccaNYC a couple weeks ago, since as you say she had written a post that suggested a terminal illness. She was impressive in her anonymity here, and seems to have been even more so in real life.

I never knew her but after reading your comments, as well as her obit, I am sorry I didn't. What an accomplished woman she was and from the comments of those here, it sounds like she was equally as well-loved here on LT. I'm sorry for your loss, Darryl, and everyone.

>63 laytonwoman3rd: Thank you for telling us Daryl. I really liked her concise reviews of books and bought more than a few on the strength of her opinions. I'm glad you got to meet her.

That is so sad about RebeccaNYC/Sibyl! She was a really impressive reader, and it sounds like an impressive person in real life as well.

Science fiction author Kit Reed has passed on. https://www.tor.com/2017/09/25/the-sff-community-mourns-the-loss-of-kit-reed/

>63 laytonwoman3rd: and other messages. That is so sad. Thank you Darryl and others. I was really interested in the books she read and I remember her interest in Victor Serge's writings.

>63 laytonwoman3rd: and other messages. This is so sad. Thank you Darryl and others. I was really interested in the books she read and I remember her interest in Victor Serge's writings.

Just heard Tom Petty was taken off life support after a massive heart attack Sunday evening.

>77 laytonwoman3rd: That's a heartbreaker. No flippancy intended.

RIP Gord Downie of the Tragically Hip. A Canadian poet of music, and activist.

Our dear friend Paul Stalder's wife Suki passed away this afternoon (Swiss time) after a long and very brave battle with cancer. Please drop by his thread if you are able to offer him words of comfort and support in his difficult days.

RIP Iona Opie

IONA AND PETER OPIE Iona (1923-2017) and Peter Opie (1918-1982) began their research together in 1944. Fifteen years later, they published The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren and took their places as, to quote The Guardian, “the supreme archivists of the folklore movement.” Since that time, they have jointly published The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, The Classic Fairy Tales, and Children’s Games in Street and Playground. Since Peter Opie’s death in 1982, Iona Opie has carried on with their work under his name as well as her own.

And also, Fats Domino

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/entertainment/music/fats-domino-rock-n-roll-pioneer-ha...

Author Julian May has gone October 17th.

She wrote nearly 300 books according to Locus. https://locusmag.com/2017/10/julian-may-1931-2017/

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/seattletimes/obituary.aspx?pid=187088807

Children's writer/illustrator Pat Hutchins passed away Nov 7.
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article...

Farewell, Higgins I assume Magnum will now drive the Ferrari whenever he takes a notion.

Sue Grafton has died. From a Facebook post written by her daughter, "as far as we in the family are concerned, the alphabet now ends at Y."

>87 qebo: Oh no! That leaves a lot of us hanging.

>87 qebo: Oh, no.

Oh no!

Ursula LeGuin has left us.

>93 jessibud2: - Oh no. So sad. He was really an excellent actor

Two very different writers:

Penny Vincenzi died at 78 on Sunday 25 February - author of blockbuster novels, contemporary and historical

Michele Hanson died at 75 on Friday 2 March - she was an English newspaper columnist and I first enjoyed her work about bringing up a teenage daughter, Treasure, published later as two books under the pseudonym Gina Davidson.

"“Nothing is better than reading and gaining more and more knowledge.”
― Stephen Hawking"

Stephen Hawking has died.

>96 jessibud2: - Given his health issues, this shouldn't be a surprise yet, somehow, it is. What a life he has led. I also found a comment by Neil deGrasse Tyson: https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/973772335537893377

The obits from everywhere are lovely

2018 In Memorium thread here - http://www.librarything.com/topic/278976#6413597

>98 jessibud2: - How odd. I hadn't even noticed this was the wrong thread. Thanks