LEGENDS LOST
Many helped shape our world
Every death leaves an echo, a memory, a ledger of glories, regrets and sometimes, if the life is lived well enough, lessons for what is to come. The future, after all, has many architects, and they don’t always agree.
Especially when it comes to matters of faith.
Among the most prominent deaths of 2018 was evangelist Billy
Graham, the pulpit-shaking preacher from North Carolina who died in February at age 99. Gra- ham’s more than 400 crusades reached an estimated 2 billion people, with a faith that was unyielding.
“The Bible is not a book of science,” Graham said. “I accept the Creation story. I believe God did create the universe.”
Physicist Stephen Hawking, who succumbed to Lou Gehrig’s disease at age 76 in March, worshipped numbers instead. Paralyzed and speaking with a computerassisted accent long before Siri or Alexa, Hawking insisted his calcu-
lations proved the universe might have simply appeared from nothingness, with no need for a God to balance the equation. “Science,” Hawking said, “has a more compelling explanation than a divine creator.”
Those confused by such cosmic questions could count on another architect, Aretha Franklin, who died in August from cancer at 76, to take them to a church of her own soulful design. “You better think,” she sang, “think about what you’re trying to do to me. Yeah, think, think, think, let your mind go, let yourself be free.”
Whether in music, thoughts or prayer, many such world-builders left us in
2018. And because of extended lifespans, the deaths brought back histories well beyond the recall of the youngest today.
In November, the story was retold of
George H.W. Bush, 94, World War II veteran and Cold War president who saw the Berlin Wall fall, stared down a Middle East dictator and spent his final decades jumping out of airplanes just for the thrill of it. His wife of 73 years, Bar
bara, 92, who died in Houston eight months earlier, spent summers presiding over a brood of Bush politicians on the chilly coast of Maine.
The political stage also lost former Bush rival John McCain, 81, his death recalling a legacy of personal and political courage, along with former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, 80, and South African activist Winnie Mande
la, 81, their fights for tolerance still not done.
The entertainment world saw the passing of Penny Marshall, 75, co-star of “Laverne & Shirley” and director of such cherished hits as “Big” and “A League of Their Own.”
Also: the now politically incorrect macho man Burt Reynolds, 82; 1950s heartthrob Tab Hunter, 86; and sitcom regulars such as Charlotte Rae, 92 (“Facts of Life”), Ken Berry, 85 (“F Troop”), Jerry Van Dyke, 86 (“Coach”),
David Ogden Stiers, 75 (“M*A*S*H”) and Bill Daily, 91 (“I Dream of Jeannie” and “The Bob Newhart Show”).
Character actor Scott Wilson, 76, the doomed patriarch on “The Walking Dead”; wrestling superstar Bruno Sam
martino, 82; the 2-foot-8 Verne Troyer of “Mini-Me” fame, 49; actress Sondra
Locke, 74; and a pair of actor-magicians, Harry Anderson, 65, and Ricky
Jay, 72, are gone, along with Reg E
Cathey, 59, of “The Wire.”
For those old enough to remember, one of the original Mouseketeers from
1955, Doreen Tracey, 74, (or as she would proclaim, “Doreen!”), is gone, along with musical-comedy star of the
1940s Nanette Fabray, 97.
When Superman made his leap to the big screen 40 years ago, Margot Kidder memorably introduced a wisecracking Lois Lane. She was later hobbled by mental illness, and her death in May at age 69 was ruled a suicide. Other suicides included CNN’s world-traveling chef
Anthony Bourdain, 61, and superstar handbag designer Kate Spade, 55, their deaths bringing new focus on an unsettling trend.
Behind the cameras, producer Ste
phen Bochco, 74, brought gritty ensemble dramas “Hill Street Blues” and “L.A. Law” to TV, and Gary Kurtz, 78, produced the first two Star Wars films, sometimes battling director George Lucas. Said Lucas: “Gary’s passing will be felt throughout the Star Wars family.”
A trio of iconoclastic directors Ber- nardo Bertolucci, 77 (“Last Tango in Paris”), Nicolas Roeg, 90 (“The Man Who Fell to Earth”), and Milos Forman, 86 (“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Amadeus”), left techniques emulated by filmmakers today.
The world of fantasy lost Marvel Comics’ Stan Lee, 95, whose creative achievement rivals Walt Disney in impact (just check out the images on kids’ T-shirts and backpacks these days). Also gone, Lee’s co-creator of SpiderMan, artist Steve Ditko, 90.
Fans of one of television’s wackiest characters, Spongebob Squarepants, were shocked to hear that creator Ste-
phen Hillenburg died from ALS at age
57. Also gone: cartoonist Mort Walker,
90, creator of Beetle Bailey. Beyond Aretha Franklin, the music world lost amiable country legend Roy
Clark, 85; smooth jazz vocalist Nancy
Wilson, 81; crooner Vic Damone, 89;
Jefferson Airplane founder Marty Ba
lin, 76; Chicago blues master Otis Rush,
83; Tony Joe White, 75, who wrote “Rainy Night in Georgia”; trumpeter
Hugh Masakela, 78; choreographer
Paul Taylor, 88; French superstar
Charles Aznavour, 94; and D.J. Fon
tana, 87, drummer for no less than Elvis Presley.
Among edgier artists were style icon
Dolores O’Riordan, 46, of The Cranber
ries; Pete Shelley, 63, of The Buzzcocks;
and rappers Mac Miller, 26, and
XXXTentacion, 20.
“Odd Couple” playwright Neil Si
mon, 91, died, along with writers Philip
Roth, 85, science fiction’s Ursula K. Le
Guin, 88, and Harlan Ellison, 84, and
Tom Wolfe, 88, who profiled astronauts in “The Right Stuff.” Two more men who walked on the moon, Alan Bean, 86, and John Young, 87, died this year. Only four of the 12 moonwalkers remain. Superstars of sports included Willie
McCovey, 80, who smashed 521 home runs, most of them for the San Francisco Giants, along with Roger Bannister, 88, who in 1954 was the first runner to break the four-minute mile (3 minutes, 59.4 seconds); seven-time NBA champion
Frank Ramsey, 86, of the Boston Celtics dynasty; 38-time LPGA golf champion Carol Mann, 77; Maria Bueno, 78, who won 19 Grand Slam tennis titles; and Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup champion Stan Mikita, 78, one of the first NHL players to wear a helmet after a puck sheared off part of his ear in 1967. World Series winners included Bruce
Kison, 68 (Pittsburgh Pirates), Red
Schoendienst, 95 (St. Louis Cardinals) and Wally Moon, 87 (Los Angeles Dodgers). New York Mets fans won’t forget
Rusty Staub, 73, a six-time All-Star. Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen, 65, also owned the NBA’s Portland Trailblazers and NFL’s Seattle Seahawks; Pulitzer winner Dave Anderson, 89, of The New York Times elevated sportswriting to literature; and sportscaster Keith
Jackson, 89, was known for his signature call of “Whoa, Nellie!” during college football games.
We cannot forget at least 29 deaths of U.S. servicemembers in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, And there were more than 300 mass-shooting incidents in
2018, including schools in Parkland, Fla., and Santa Fe, a Pittsburgh synagogue and a bar in Thousand Oaks, Calif.
For others, like political commentator Charles Krauthammer, 68, a Pulitzer Prize winner battling cancer for years, the end seemed never far away. He told readers of his prognosis in a Washington Post column just 13 days before his death.
“I am sad to leave,’’ he wrote, “but I leave with the knowledge that I lived the life that I intended.”