NOTABLE DEATHS
Bob Edwards, 76, the news anchor many Americans woke up to as founding host of National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” for nearly a quartercentury, has died. Edwards joined NPR in 1974 and became co-host of “All Things Considered” with Susan Stamberg soon thereafter. The Louisville, Kentucky, native was the founding voice on “Morning Edition” in 1979. He left NPR after being replaced on the show in 2004. Edwards received a Peabody Award in 1999 and was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2004.
Don Gullett, 73, a standout major league pitcher who played for four consecutive World Series champions in the 1970s. TGullett went 109-50 with a 3.11 ERA in nine seasons with the Reds and Yankees. Gullett helped Cincinnati win the World Series in 1975 and 1976. He then signed with New York in free agency, and the Yankees won it all in 1977 and 1978. Gullett retired after the 1978 season.
Alexei Navalny, 47, who crusaded against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests as President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe, died in the Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence. The stunning news comes less than a month before an election that will give Putin another six years in power. It brought renewed criticism of the Kremlin leader who has cracked down on all opposition at home. Navalny had been jailed since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow to face certain arrest after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin. He was later convicted three times, saying each case was politically motivated.
Steve Ostrow, 91, the founder of the Continental Baths, a trailblazing New
York City gay bathhouse where Bette Midler, Barry Manilow and other famous artists cut their teeth. Ostrow opened the Continental Baths in 1968 in the basement of the Ansonia Hotel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. He transformed the hotel’s massive basement, with its dilapidated pools and Turkish baths, into an opulently decorated, Roman-themed bathhouse. The 24/7 venue became a destination for groundbreaking music.
William “Bill” Post, 96, who is credited as a co-creator of Pop-Tarts. Post was serving as the plant manager of Keebler Co. in the early 1960s, when he welcomed some executives from Kellogg’s who discussed the idea of a new product – a shelf-stable toaster pastry – they had in mind.
J.M. “Jimmy” Van Eaton, 86, a pioneering rock ’n’ roll drummer who played behind the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis and Billy Lee Riley at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. TVan Eaton was known for a bluesy playing style that powered classic early-rock hits of the 1950s at Sun like “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” by Lewis and “Red Hot” by Riley.