Former Chicago Congressman Dan Rostenkowski, a tough, behind-the-scenes dealmaker who chaired the powerful Ways & Means Committee for 13 years and ultimately served 17 months in prison on felony corruption charges, has died at 82. [Image: AP]
Author and intellectual Tony Judt died yesterday in New York at 62, after a battle with ALS. His best known book, "Postwar," about Europe after WW2 was called "remarkable" by The New Yorker. Read his final essays, starting here.
Actor Dan Resin, better known as the Ty-D-Bol man, died Saturday of complications from Parkinson's disease. Besides his role as pitchman for the toilet cleaner, Resin also played Dr. Beeper in Caddyshack.
Morrie Yohai, "an accomplished photographer, poet, professor and businessman," as well as one of the dudes that created Cheez Doodles, died of cancer at age 90. Today, we are all Chester Cheeto.
One of the film and television industry's most prolific "Ohhhh that guy!"s has died in Toronto. Chaykin, who recently had a run on Entourage as a Harvey Weinstein-esque movie executive, worked in Canadian and American productions for forty years.
Daniel Schorr, print and broadcast journalist for 70 years, died today. He was 93 years old. Schorr was CNN's first employee and won three Emmys for his coverage of Watergate for CBS. He had been an NPR commentator since 1985.
The aging bandit who dragged an oxygen tank to his Madison Avenue crime spree—then died in his shiny black Cadillac during a high-speed car chase with the cops—was a career criminal and jailhouse preacher.
The oxygen tank-carrying old man accused of robbing a clothing store in Manhattan last week died in a car accident after being chased by police in Maryland this morning. He is identified as 63-year-old Arthur Williams, from Gadsden, Alabama. [AP]
Sugar Minott, a reggae star often credited with being one of the first dancehall artists, died last weekend at the age of 54. He launched his solo career in the late 1970s, and made music with damn near everyone. [Gleaner]
Famed grump and comic book author Harvey Pekar was found dead early this morning in his Cleveland home. The disgruntled and curmudgeonly writer was most famous for his American Splendor comic series, adapted into a well-reviewed film in 2003.
Bob Sheppard, "The Voice of God," who was the New York Yankees' PA announcer for 56 years, died in his New York home today. He was 99 years old. Sheppard worked more than 4,500 major league ballgames.
Let's face it, hockey is only worth watching for the fights. And one man, Bob Probert, made fighting on the ice an art form. He died yesterday in Ontario at 45. He ranks fifth all-time in NHL penalty minutes.
Hollywood talent agent Ed Limato—who represented stars such as Steve Martin, Mel Gibson, Robert Downey Jr., and Denzel Washington during a 44 year career—died in his home today. He was 73 years old.
Rammellzee, the pioneering hip hop artist and Wild Style star whose ten-minute-plus 1983 record Beat Bop is still fresher than just about anything on the radio, has apparently died.
Rodolfo Torre Cantu, the frontrunner in the race for governor of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, was killed today when gunmen opened fire on his campaign van. He's the highest-profile Mexican politician to be murdered since 1994. [Christian Science Monitor]
Nicolas Hayek, the founder and chairman of Swatch Group, the company that fitted the world with colorful, affordable, and loud-ticking plastic wristwatches, died of heart failure today. He was 82 and Swiss. Both you and your '80s watches are old.
West Virginia Senator Robert C. Byrd died today at age 92, after being hospitalized for heat exhaustion and severe dehydration last week. Byrd was the longest serving member of Congress in US history. [Washington Post]
Sergio "El Shaka" Vega, a narcocorrido singer, was shot in Sinaloa while driving his red Cadillac, becoming at least the seventh musician murdered in Mexico in three years. He had denied rumors of his death hours before the killing. [BBC]
