DEATHS ; Notable Passings; The Thread to Pay Last Respects

[Kid Mac]

Also, "Davey and Goliath."

 

[GoldenEraFan]

It is with sadness that I report the death of Arnold Stang at age 91. He is best remembered as the voice of Top Cat. RIP Arnold

He also did the voice of "Shorty" Popeye's friend in 3 cartoons from 1943-1944 and was a gas station attendant with Marvin Kaplan (voice of Choo Choo on Top Cat) along with Jonathan Winters in "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World".

 

[Professor]

In Memory of Art Clokey

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[The Good]

Well, I just found out that my elderly neighbor next-door passed away... I will leave her name anonymous, but she seemed to be in her 80s, and I even helped her with work in her backyard once. May she rejoice in God's presence now...

 

[scotrace]

(CNN) -- Miep Gies, who ensured the diary of Anne Frank did not fall into the hands of Nazis after the teen's arrest, has died. She was 100.

 

[Feraud]

Strongman, 104, run over in B'klyn

Strongman, 104, run over in B'klyn
By JESSICA SIMEONE, REBECCA HARSHBARGER and DAN MANGAN

Last Updated: 6:33 AM, January 12, 2010

Posted: 3:33 AM, January 12, 2010

A legendary, 104-year-old former Coney Island strongman survived shrapnel wounds from World War II, bent a quarter with his bare hands on his last birthday and still walked more than three miles each day -- only to be killed crossing a street in Brooklyn yesterday.

"There wasn't anything he couldn't do," Pete Spanakos, a former boxer, said of tragic pal Joseph Rollino. "And he gets hit by a car? What an irony."

The amazing Rollino, who lived in Bay Ridge with his niece, was walking across Bay Ridge Parkway near 13th Avenue at 6:48 a.m. to buy a newspaper at a bagel shop when he was struck by a 1999 Ford Minivan. The female driver was not at fault but was cited for having a defective horn, cops said.

Rollino, who friends said never lost his mental sharpness, died hours later in Lutheran Hospital.

His death stunned neighbors like Sam Shulter, who recalled that Rollino -- who at his peak weighed just 155 pounds and stood 5-foot-4 -- "had hands like bricks.

"He would walk to the grocery store every day and then carry the groceries home on his pinkies," Shulter said.

One of 14 children, Rollino was born on May 19, 1905. He got his start in the strength game at age 10, when Warren Lincoln Travis -- the most famous strongman of that time -- saw him lift a 250-pound dumbbell five times in a row, according to an article in Iron Man magazine.

Rollino -- who reportedly never ate meat, smoked or drank during his long life -- toured with Travis for decades, boasting at the time that he was "the Strongest Man in the World" for such feats as lifting a carousel with 14 people on it.

He became a boxer -- nicknamed "Kid Dundee" -- after seeing Jack Dempsey knock out Jess Willard in 1919.

Rollino joined the Army in 1939 at age 34 and saw combat in the Pacific Theater during World War II, winning three Purple Hearts for shrapnel wounds to his neck and legs and an injury that left a metal plate in his shoulder. He also was awarded the Silver and the Bronze star.

Spanakos said that when he once asked him what he did to earn the Silver Star, Rollino explained that during one battle, with badly injured men all around him, "he put two guys under one arm . . . [and] two guys under the other arm and he just dragged them [to safety]."

In later years, he routinely swam in the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of winter, worked on the docks and regaled people with jaw-dropping stories of feats of strength and celebrity friendships.

"On his 104th birthday, I gave Joe a quarter, and you know what he did? He bent it with his fingers. And he apologized and said when he was younger, he'd bend a dime," Spanakos said.

Additional reporting by Larry Celona

dan.mangan@nypost.com

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/crusher_killed_vnPIe00iPE1Vcq7vR6OcoI

 

[Carlisle Blues]

Teddy Pendergrass (March 26, 1950– January 13, 2010) is dead of colon cancer. Teddy Pendergrass is a Soul music legend that reached the height of his fame in the 1970s and 1980s. He will be greatly missed...

 

[MrBern]

SpaghettiOs Creator

SpaghettiOs Creator Donald Goerke Dies at 83
Donald Goerke, Campbell Soup executive behind SpaghettiOs and Chunky soups, dies at 83
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9553277

 

[Bruce Wayne]

SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! AT BEAUTIFUL US 30 DRAG STRIP!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-obit-gabriel-13-jan13,0,3003069.story

 

[Bruce Wayne]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDYzidMqq4o

 

[HadleyH]

For what is worth...

Beverly Fisher became famous at 17 as Beverly Aadland when she was Errol Flynn's last girlfriend.... she was the one who was there when he had his final heart attack at 50.

She was 67 years old when she died .... she always said she never stopped loving Flynn.

 

[skyvue]

Eric Rohmer, 89, French New Wave film director
Dennis McLellan, Los Angeles Times
Friday, January 15, 2010

Eric Rohmer, a former film critic who became one of France's most respected filmmakers and was internationally known for movies such as "My Night at Maud's" and "Claire's Knee," died Monday in Paris. He was 89.

Rohmer's death was announced by his producer, Margaret Menegoz. Relatives said he was hospitalized a week ago but offered no further explanation, according to Agence France-Presse.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy called the writer-director a "great auteur who will continue to speak to us and inspire us for years to come."

"Classic and romantic, wise and iconoclast, light and serious, sentimental and moralist, he created the 'Rohmer' style, which will outlive him," Sarkozy said in a statement....

Read more.

 

[HadleyH]

^
^
^

omg Rohmer!!! French New Wave Director !!!

Rest in Peace Eric and THANK YOU for all the beautiful films you gave us!

 

[Story]

Helen Lewis, who has died aged 93, survived the Auschwitz concentration camp, and owed her life to her talent as a dancer.

After the war she became an award-winning choreographer and pioneer of modern dance in Northern Ireland. A diminutive, gentle and graceful woman who stood scarcely 5ft tall, she found the inner strength to endure Terezin, Auschwitz and Stutthof camps, as well as a deadly march across Europe at the end of the war.

When asked how she survived when so many had not, Helen Lewis refused to talk of miracles. At Stutthof, near the Baltic Sea, extreme cold, disease and hunger had brought her close to death; but the women's commandant of the camp became aware of her prewar career as a dancer.

Put on special rations, Helen Lewis was ordered to direct and perform a series of Christmas shows at the camp. She was nursed back to rudimentary health, and despite frostbitten feet she directed and performed a Valse from Coppelia for her SS captors and fellow prisoners. Once the last show was over, on New Year's Eve 1944, she was returned to slave labour.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obi...ies/dance-obituaries/6998609/Helen-Lewis.html

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Glen W. Bell, Jr., Founder of Taco Bell, Passes Away at 86
IRVINE, Calif., Jan 18, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE)

Glen W. Bell, Jr., 86, founder of the Taco Bell restaurant chain, passed away last evening in his home in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. Bell was born September 3, 1923 in Lynwood, Calif. He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Martha ("Marty"); three sisters, Delores, Dorothy and Maureen; daughter, Kathleen; two sons, Gary and Rex; and four grandchildren, Brandon, Jordan, Valerie and Christopher. Private funeral services are being planned for family members.

One of the founding fathers of fast food and pioneer of the Mexican Quick Service Restaurant, Glen Bell is best known for founding Taco Bell, the world's leading and most successful Mexican QSR chain. His leadership philosophy and customer focus inspire a culture of innovation that lives on today and positions the brand for a bright future. Today Taco Bell serves more than 36.8 million consumers each week in more than 5,600 restaurants in the U.S. More than 2 billion tacos and 1 billion burritos are served throughout the United States each year.

"The entire Taco Bell family of franchisees and employees are deeply saddened by the loss of the founder of Taco Bell. Glen Bell was a visionary and innovator in the restaurant industry, as well as a dedicated family man," said Greg Creed, president and chief concept officer of Taco Bell. "His innovative business acumen started out of humble beginnings and created one of the nation's largest restaurant chains in Taco Bell. Mr. Bell introduced an entire nation to the taco and Mexican cuisine."

Bell's first venture in the restaurant business was in 1948, when he opened Bell's Drive-In, in San Bernardino, Calif. Bell founded his restaurant after he and his San Bernardino High School classmate Neal Baker, who also started his own restaurant Baker's, had closely studied the success of the McDonald's brothers and their namesake burger establishments first founded in San Bernardino. The car culture was booming in 1948 and Bell was on the cusp of developing restaurants that offered revolutionary changes to its customers. These restaurants had drive-ins, streamlined menus and quick service, which met a growing need of customers to eat on the go.

Between 1954 and 1955, Bell and a fellow business partner built three drive-thru taco stands in Southern California called Taco Tias. Since Bell's partner was not in favor of expanding the Taco Tias into Los Angeles, Bell sold his interest in the taco stands. In 1958, Bell and a new group of business partners opened El Tacos in the Long Beach area. While El Tacos expanded throughout California and was extremely profitable, Bell sold his share of the business to his partners because he was ready to start his own venture

In 1961, not content with just perfecting the quick-service Mexican food concept, Bell, together with his employee John Galardi, started Der Wienerschnitzel. Later, John went on to build Der Wienerschnitzel into a chain of his own. Another employee, Ed Hackbarth, also left to open his own drive-in, a chain that would become Del Taco.

Taco Bell became a reality in 1962 when Glen Bell opened his first restaurant in Downey, California. He followed with eight small Taco Bell units in the Long Beach, Paramount and Los Angeles areas. From there, he expanded his restaurant chain and sold the first Taco Bell franchise in 1964. In 1978, Bell sold his 868 Taco Bell restaurants to PepsiCo. Taco Bell is now owned by Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM), the world's largest restaurant company.

A World War II veteran, Bell served in the Marine Corps and his unit participated in Battles at Guadalcanal and Guam as well as post-war service in China before heading home to California. After selling Taco Bell to PepsiCo in 1978, he made his full-time home in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. About that same time he became enthralled by Valley Center, a farming community in San Diego County that reminded him of the San Bernardino of his youth.


http://www.zibb.com/article/5791325/Glen+W+Bell+Jr+Founder+of+Taco+Bell+Passes+Away+at

 

[John in Covina]

There is a really great episode of Huell Howser where they visit with Mr. Bell and members of his family and friends for a retrospective on his career and influence on fast food restaurants. He invented the deep fryer holder for doing the hard shell tacos.

I believe that both the city of Bell and Bell Gardens are named after him or his family as movers and shakers in the Southern California community.

 

[Professor]

Bell's first venture in the restaurant business was in 1948, when he opened Bell's Drive-In, in San Bernardino, Calif. Bell founded his restaurant after he and his San Bernardino High School classmate Neal Baker, who also started his own restaurant Baker's, had closely studied the success of the McDonald's brothers and their namesake burger establishments first founded in San Bernardino. The car culture was booming in 1948 and Bell was on the cusp of developing restaurants that offered revolutionary changes to its customers. These restaurants had drive-ins, streamlined menus and quick service, which met a growing need of customers to eat on the go.

It's the biggest secret of San Berdoo, we're the birthplace of "fast food"...for better or worse!

 

[The Good]

Well, it has been an entire year since two of my uncles have passed away... it's not recent, but I would like to pay my respects once more. One of them even served during World War II in the Pacific Front as an aviator/pilot.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Glen Bell was quite a fascinating person. I read his autobiography. In it he talks about how, as a teen during the Depression, he spent his summers riding the rails and working odd jobs here and there and then would return home when school started in the Fall. His mother would even pack some food for him and see him off at the railroad yard.

As a Marine during World War II he was assigned to the general officers' mess as an orderly where he served such notable figures as Admirals Nimitz and Halsey, an experience that inspired him to go into the restaurant business.

I remember the original faux adobe, Mission-style Taco Bell buildings which were all over Southern California. Many of them are still standing and serving different purposes.

 

[Story]

Robert B Parker, the American crime novelist, who has died aged 77, helped revive and modernise the hard-boiled private eye genre through his Spenser series of novels.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obi...books-obituaries/7038200/Robert-B-Parker.html