THEY SHAPED OUR WORLD
Lost legends ranged from faith to science, from the White House to Motown
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 the age of 99. Graham’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.”
But physicist Stephen Hawking, who succumbed to Lou Gehrig’s disease at the age of 76 in March, worshipped numbers instead. Paralyzed and speaking with a computer-assisted accent long before Siri or Alexa, Hawking insisted his calculations 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 Frank
lin, 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, Barbara, 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 Mandela, 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 Sammartino, 82; the 2’8” 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. Later hobbled by mental illness, 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 Stephen Boch
co, 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 Bernardo Ber
tolucci, 77 (“Last Tango in Paris”), Nicolas Roeg,
90 (“The Man Who Fell to Earth”), and Milos For
man, 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 Spider-Man, artist Steve
Ditko, 90.
Fans of one of television’s wackiest characters, Spongebob Squarepants, were shocked to hear that creator Stephen Hillenburg died from ALS at the age of 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 Da-
mone, 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. Fontana, 87, drummer for no less than Elvis Presley.
Among edgier artists were style icon Dolores
O’Riordan, 46, of The Cranberries; Pete Shelley,
63, of The Buzzcocks; and rappers Mac Miller, 26, and XXXTentacion, 20.
“Odd Couple” playwright Neil Simon, 91, passed away, along with writers Philip Roth, 85, science fiction’s Ursula K. Le Guin, 88, and Har
lan 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 moonwalkers remain.
Superstars of sports included Willie McCovey,
80, who smashed 521 home runs, mostly for the San Francisco Giants, along with Roger Bannis
ter, 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 Ander
son, 89, of The New York Times elevated sports writing to literature; and sportscaster Keith Jack
son, 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 winner battling cancer for years, the end seemed never far away. He told readers of his fatal diagnosis 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.”