Obituary Stories category
Hall of Fame 2nd baseman Ryne Sandberg dies after battling cancer
CHICAGO — Ryne Sandberg, a Hall of Fame second baseman who became one of baseball’s best all-around players while starring for the Chicago Cubs, has died. He was 65. Sandberg was surrounded by his family when he died at his home Monday, according to the team. Sandberg announced in January...
Tom Lehrer, song satirist and mathematician, dies at 97
LOS ANGELES — Tom Lehrer, the popular song satirist who lampooned marriage, politics, racism and the Cold War, then largely abandoned his music career to return to teaching math at Harvard and other universities, has died. He was 97. Longtime friend David Herder said Lehrer died Saturday at his home...
Jazz trumpeter Chuck Mangione of ‘Feels So Good’ fame dead at 84
NEW YORK — Chuck Mangione, the Rochester-born jazz trumpeter who rocketed to worldwide fame with his 1978 album “Feels So Good,” has died. He was 84. Mangione died from natural causes on Tuesday at his home in Rochester, his family told the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. Though “Feels So Good”...
Hulk Hogan, icon in professional wrestling, dies at age 71
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Hulk Hogan, the mustachioed, headscarf-wearing icon in the world of professional wrestling, has died at the age of 71, Florida police and WWE said Thursday. In Clearwater, Florida, authorities responded to a call Thursday morning about a cardiac arrest. Hogan was pronounced dead at a hospital, police...
Legendary singer Connie Francis dead at 87
Connie Francis, the wholesome pop star of the 1950s and 1960s whose hits include “Pretty Little Baby” and who would later serve as an ironic title for a personal life filled with heartbreak and tragedy, has died at age 87. Her death was announced Thursday by her friend and publicist,...
Jimmy Joe Robinson, Pitt’s 1st Black varsity football player, dies at 97
Jimmy Joe Robinson, the first Black varsity football player at Pitt, died Monday at the age of 97, the university announced Wednesday afternoon. Robinson was born in Connellsville and debuted with the Panthers in 1945, when Pitt finished 3-7 under coach Clark Shaughnessy. He lettered at Pitt for two additional...
Reserve native remembered for work helping Pittsburgh HIV/AIDS community
After being diagnosed with HIV in Delaware in 1987, six years after graduating from Shaler Area High School, Bart Rauluk was given a book with what was known about AIDS at the time and told to get ready to die. “He refused to read the book,” said his niece, Arianne...
Former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, a Pittsburgh native, dies at 73
Former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, a native of Pittsburgh, died Monday at age 73. Shooter died after battling esophageal cancer, according to several reports. A 1969 graduate of Bethel Park High School, Shooter plotted stories for DC Comics as a teenager, created dozens of characters for several companies and...
Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, whose ministry was toppled by prostitution scandals, dies at 90
BATON ROUGE, La. — Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, whose multimillion-dollar ministry and huge audience dwindled following his prostitution scandals, has died. He was 90. Swaggart death was announced Tuesday on his public Facebook page. A cause wasn’t immediately given, though Swaggart had been in ill health. The Louisiana native was best...
Bill Moyers, the former White House press secretary turned acclaimed TV journalist, dead at 91
NEW YORK — Bill Moyers, the former White House press secretary who became one of television’s most honored journalists, masterfully using a visual medium to illuminate a world of ideas, died Thursday at age 91. Moyers died in a New York City hospital, according to longtime friend Tom Johnson, the...
Former Tribune-Review business, real estate writer Ron DaParma ‘could cover anything’
Ronald L. “Ron” DaParma, a longtime business editor and business writer for newspapers in McKeesport, Greensburg and Pittsburgh, had the ability to cover a broad spectrum of topics, whether it was real estate, Pittsburgh’s banking behemoths, small business, or steel mill operations and the steelworkers who labored in those factories....
Bobby Sherman, teen idol in the 1960s and ’70s, and later a CPR teacher, dies at 81
Bobby Sherman, whose winsome smile and fashionable shaggy mop top helped make him into a teen idol in the 1960s and ’70s with bubblegum pop hits like “Little Woman” and “Julie, Do Ya Love Me,” has died. He was 81. His wife, Brigitte Poublon, announced the death Tuesday and family...
Mick Ralphs, founding member of Bad Company and Mott the Hoople, dies at 81
Mick Ralphs, a guitarist, singer, songwriter and founding member of the classic British rock bands Bad Company and Mott the Hoople, has died. A statement posted to Bad Company’s official website Monday announced Ralphs’ death at age 81. Ralphs had a stroke days after what would be his final performance...
Food Network star Anne Burrell dead at 55
NEW YORK — Anne Burrell, the Food Network star best known for leading the channel’s hit show “Worst Cooks in America,” died on Tuesday. She was 55. Burrell died at her home in Brooklyn, according to TMZ. Her cause of death was not immediately reported; sources told the outlet she...
Brian Wilson, Beach Boys visionary leader and summer’s poet laureate, dies at 82
Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys’ visionary and fragile leader whose genius for melody, arrangements and wide-eyed self-expression inspired “Good Vibrations,” “California Girls” and other summertime anthems and made him one of the world’s most influential recording artists, has died at 82. Wilson’s family posted news of his death to his...
Brandt recalled as man of deep faith, made difficult decisions
Bishop Emeritus Lawrence E. Brandt, who led the Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg for 11 years, was not afraid of making difficult decisions at a time of declining church membership, according to those who knew him. “He will be remembered by me as a man of courage and grace, always...
Sly Stone, leader of funk revolutionaries Sly and the Family Stone, dies at 82
NEW YORK — Sly Stone, the revolutionary musician and dynamic showman whose Sly and the Family Stone transformed popular music in the 1960s and ’70s and beyond with such hits as “Everyday People,” “Stand!” and “Family Affair,” has died. He was 82 Stone, born Sylvester Stewart, had been in poor...
Former Franklin Regional, North Allegheny basketball coach was ‘dedicated to excellence’
Robert Greenleaf’s slogan with his Franklin Regional basketball team was “Dedicated to Excellence.” And the longtime educator and basketball aficionado lived the motto in all aspects of his life, friends and family said. “He was well-known and well-loved,” said Bob Bozzuto, who worked with Greenleaf in both the Franklin Regional...
Vikings’ Purple People Eater Jim Marshall, the ‘all-time iron man,’ dies at 87
EAGAN, Minn. — Former Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jim Marshall, one of the four members of the famed Purple People Eaters front that formed the backbone of four Super Bowl teams, died Tuesday after a long hospitalization for an undisclosed illness. He was 87. The Vikings announced Marshall’s death Tuesday...
Loretta Swit, Emmy winner who played Houlihan on ‘M.A.S.H.,’ dies at 87
NEW YORK — Loretta Swit, who won two Emmy Awards playing Major Margaret Houlihan, the demanding head nurse of a behind-the-lines surgical unit during the Korean War on the pioneering hit TV series “M.A.S.H.,” has died. She was 87. Publicist Harlan Boll says Swit died Friday at her home in...
Former Pirates president Mark Sauer, who called for changes to baseball’s inequities, dies at 78
Mark Sauer transformed from an executive for three major sports franchises, including the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1990s, to become a passionate advocate for educational equality in retirement. Sauer died May 22 in Delray Beach, Fla. He was 78. After serving as deputy chief operating officer of MLB’s St. Louis...
Former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, who pleaded guilty to federal tax fraud, dies at 69
NEW YORK — Bernard Kerik, who served as New York City’s police commissioner on 9/11 and later pleaded guilty to tax fraud before being pardoned, has died. He was 69. FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed his death on Thursday on social media, saying it came “after a private battle with...
Rick Derringer, who had a hit with ‘Hang On Sloopy’ and produced ‘Weird Al,’ dies at 77
Guitarist and singer Rick Derringer, who shot to fame at 17 when his band The McCoys recorded “Hang On Sloopy,” had a hit with “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo” and earned a Grammy Award for producing “Weird Al ” Yankovic’s debut album, has died. He was 77. Derringer died Monday...
Marcel Ophuls, the Oscar-winning filmmaker who forced France to face its WWII past, is dead at 97
PARIS — Marcel Ophuls, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker whose landmark 1969 documentary “The Sorrow and the Pity” shattered the comforting myth that most of France had resisted the Nazis during World War II, has died at 97. The German-born filmmaker, who was the son of legendary filmmaker Max Ophuls, died...
Former U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel of New York has died at age 94
NEW YORK — Former U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, an outspoken, gravel-voiced Harlem Democrat who spent nearly five decades on Capitol Hill and was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, died Monday at age 94. His family confirmed the death in a statement provided by City...
