With that being said, here are some famous people who have passed on in 2014 (information from CNN):
January 3---Phil Everly (74), one-half of the legendary 1950s pop rock duo The Everly Brothers. The duo had many famous hits, including "All I Have To Do Is Dream."
January 3---Alicia Rhett (98), former actress best known for her role in the film "Gone with the Wind." Upon her death, Rhett was one of the oldest living cast members.
January 3---Saul Zaentez (92), music producer who became a filmmaker for such movies as "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Amadeus."
January 5---Eusebiso (71), former soccer star from Portugal who was the top scorer in the 1966 world cup.
January 7---Sir Run Run Shaw (106), media tycoon who brought Chinese martial arts films to an international audience.
January 9---Amiri Baraka (79), former poet laureate for the state of New Jersey. Baraka lost his post because of a controversial poem he wrote about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
January 10---Larry Speakers (74), former press secretary who served for President Ronald Reagan.
January 10---Franklin McCain (72), a member of the "Greensboro Four." The four men, all African-American, held a sit-in at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina back in 1960.
January 11---Ariel Sharon (85), former prime minister of Israel who led the country for five years before suffering a massive stroke in 2006. Sharon had been in a coma since suffering that stroke before he died.
January 16---Russell Johnson (89), legendary actor best known as "The Professor" Roy Hinkley in the television series "Gilligan's Island."
January 16---Hiroo Onoda (91), former intelligence officer in the Japanese army during World War II. Onoda was in the Philippines for nearly 30 years, refusing to surrender the War to the allied forces.
January 16---Ruth Robinson Duccini (97), former actor who played one of the Munchkins in "The Wizard of Oz." With her passing, Jerry Maren (93) is the only living person left who portrayed one of the Munchkins in the film.
January 27---Pete Seeger (94), legendary singer and songwriter who wrote the hits "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and "If I Had A Hammer."
January 30---Arthur Rankin, Jr. (89), legendary producer with Jules Bass of holiday TV specials such as "Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer" and "Frosty the Snowman."
February 1---Maximilian Schell (83), former Oscar-winning actor who won for his role in the 1962 film "Judgment at Nuremberg."
February 2---Phillip Seymour Hoffman (46), Oscar-winning actor who won for his role as Truman Capote in the biopic "Capote."
February 6---Ralph Kiner (91), Hall of Fame MLB player who later became a broadcaster with the New York Mets.
February 10---Shirley Temple Black (85), legendary child actress during the 1930s.
February 12---Sid Caesar (91), legendary comedian who helped define the "Golden Age of Television" during the 1950s.
February 13---Ralph Waite (85), legendary actor who played John Walton Sr. on the television series "The Waltons." Waite had been working on recurring roles through last year in shows, including "NCIS," where he played Jackson Gibbs, the father of main character Jethro (played by Mark Harmon).
February 14---Jim Fregosi (71), former MLB player and manager for many teams, including the Angels, where he both played and managed.
February 15---John Henson (48), son of "The Muppets" creator Jim Henson.
February 17---Bob Casale (61), guitarist for the musical group "Devo."
February 18---Maria von Trapp (99), the last living member of the von Trapp singers made famous on the screen in "The Sound of Music."
February 24---Harold Ramis (69), legendary writer, director and actor who starred in "Ghostbuters" and "Ghostbusters 2." Ramis' writing career included "Animal House" and "Caddyshack," which he also directed.
March 6---Shelia MacRae (92), actress who portrayed Alice Kramden in the revived version of "The Honeymooners" in the 1960s.
March 15---David Brenner (78), comedian who was a staple on "The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson."
March 17---L'Wren Scott (49), fashion designer and girlfriend of musician Mick Jagger.
March 21---James Rebhorn (65), character actor who had roles in many different films and television shows. Rebhorn may be most notable as the District Attorney in the series finale of "Seinfeld."
March 23---Dave Brockie (50), lead singer for the heavy-metal group Gwar who performed under the persona Oderus Urungus.
March 25---Ralph Wilson, Jr. (95), longtime owner of the NFL's Buffalo Bills. Wilson was the last living owner of the original AFL teams (circa 1960).
March 25---Lynda Petty (72), known as the Matriarch of the Petty family (wife of legendary NASCAR driver Richard, mother of former NASCAR driver Kyle).
March 30---Kate O'Mara (74), actress best known for her role as the sister of Joan Collins' character in "Dynasty."
April 6---Mickey Rooney (93), legendary TV and movie star.
April 8---James Hellwig (54), better known to all as "Warrior" or Ultimate Warrior, was a legendary professional wrestler and former WWE champion. Warrior was recently inducted to the WWE Hall of Fame before his passing.
April 17---Gabriel Garcia Marquez (87), Nobel-Prize winning author who wrote the novels "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Love in the Time of Cholera."
April 19---Kevin Sharp (43), former country singer best known for his hit song "Nobody Knows."
April 20---Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (76), former boxer best known for being wrongfully convicted of murder in the 1960s,
April 25---Tito Vilanova (45), former coach of the Spanish soccer club Barcelona.
April 25---Earl Morrall (79), legendary NFL Quarterback who won 2 Super Bowl championships in his 21 year career. The first championship was with the Baltimore Colts at Super Bowl V, where he would come in for an injured Johnny Unitas...the second one was as part of the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins where he started for an injured Bob Greise from Week 5 to the AFC Title game.
April 26---Lee Marshall (64), the man behind the voice of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes mascot Tony the Tiger since 1999. Before that, he was best known for his role as interviewer for World Championship Wrestling.
April 28---Dr. Jack Ramsay (89), legendary NBA Coach who went on to become a TV and radio analyst for ESPN. Ramsay is best known as a coach for leading the Portland Trail Blazers to the 1977 NBA title and his name is retired at the Moda Center (formally Rose Garden) with the number 77 to commemorate the championship run.
April 29---Bob Hoskins (71), legendary actor who received an Oscar-nomination for his role in the film "Mona Lisa." But Hoskins may be best known for his role as Eddie Valiant in the 1988 live action/animated film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit."
May 13---Malik Bendjelloul (36), Oscar winning director of the documentary film "Searching for Sugar Man."
May 19---Jack Brabham (88), legendary race-car driver who won the Formula One championship three times during his career.
May 28---Maya Angelou (86), world-renowned poet, novelist and actress whose work spanned several generations.
June 1---Ann B. Davis (88), former actress best known for her role as Alice on the TV series "The Brady Bunch."
June 5---Chester Nez (93), last of the original Navajo code-talkers from World War II. The group was known for creating unbreakable codes that were used during WWII.
June 9---Bob Welch (57), former baseball player who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics. Welch won World Series titles with both clubs, but it was with the A's in 1990 where he won the AL Cy Young Award as the best pitcher in the league.
June 12---Ruby Dee (92), legendary actress who had many different roles in film, TV and theater.
June 13---Chuck Noll (82), legendary NFL head coach who led the Pittsburgh Steelers to 4 Super Bowl titles in 6 years.
June 15---Casey Kasem (82), legendary radio personality best known for his role as host of "American Top 40" from 1970-2004. Kasem may also be remembered for his voice-over work on TV, especially as the voice of Shaggy on the original "Scooby Doo" series.
June 16---Tony Gwynn (54), Hall of Fame MLB Player who spent all 20 seasons with the San Diego Padres. In 1994, Gwynn was close to becoming the first player to have a .400 batting average since Ted Williams before the strike shortened the season.
June 24---Eli Wallach (98), Character actor who was in the film "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly."
June 27---Bobby Womack (70), Legendary soul singer.
June 28---Meshach Taylor (67), actor who starred in the TV series "Designing Women."
July 1---Paul Mazursky (84), Oscar-nominated writer and director of the film "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice."
July 2---Louis Zamperini (97), World War II hero who was the subject for the book "Unbroken." The book was being adapted into a movie at the time of his death.
July 5---Rosemary Murphy (89), actress who played the neighbor of Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird."
July 8---Richard Percy Jones (87), the man who gave Pinocchio his voice in the 1940 Walt Disney film.
July 9---Eileen Ford (92), founder of the Ford Model Agency.
July 11---Tommy Ramone (65), last living member of the legendary punk band The Ramones.
July 19---James Garner (86), legendary actor best known for his roles in the TV series "Maverick" and "The Rockford Files." Garner may be best known recently as the grandfather in "8 Simple Rules" who joined the cast after the death of John Ritter.
July 19---Skye McCole Bartusiak (21), former actress who played the youngest daughter of Mel Gibson's character in "The Patriot."
July 28---Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk (93), last living crewman from the US plane that dropped the first atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.
August 4---James Brady (73), former White House press secretary who was shot during the assassination attempt at President Ronald Reagan.
August 11---Robin Williams (63), legendary comedic actor whose work included hit films such as "Mrs. Doubtfire," "Dead Poet's Society" and "Good Will Hunting." He was also the voice of the genie in the Disney hit movie "Aladdin" and recently was on the CBS show "The Crazy Ones" (the show was cancelled after its inaugural season).
August 12---Lauren Bacall (89), legendary actress who starred in films with her then-husband Humphrey Bogart, including the classic film "Key Largo."
August 19---Don Pardo (96), legendary announcer who was better known for his decade-long career with NBC's late night show "Saturday Night Live."
August 24---Richard Attenborough (90), acclaimed actor-director who may be best known on-screen for his roles in "Jurassic Park" and a remake of "Miracle on 34th Street." He is also known for working on the 1982 film "Gandhi."
September 2---Jimi Johnson (63), lead singer for the legendary band Survivor.
September 4---Joan Rivers (81), legendary comedian who later hosted her own talk show in the 1980s. Rivers was recently part of certain programs on the "E!" network.
September 10---Richard Kiel (74), actor best known as Jaws in certain James Bond movies. Kiel is also known for his role as the former boss to the main character in the film "Happy Gilmore."
September 17---George Hamilton IV (77), country music singer best known for the hit song "Abilene"
September 20---Polly Bergen (84), actress whose career lasted more than six decades.
October 4---Paul Revere (76), the leader of the rock band Paul Revere and the Raiders.
October 4---Jean-Claude Duvalier (63), the self-proclaimed "President" of Haiti until an uprising of his regime led to a 25-year exile.
October 6---Geoffrey Holder (84), former actor, dancer and pitchman for 7UP.
October 9---Jan Hooks (57), actress and comedian who was a former cast member of "Saturday Night Live."
October 13---Elizabeth Norment (61), actress whose recent work was on the Netflix series "House of Cards."
October 14---Elizabeth Pena (55), actress whose recent work was in the TV series "Modern Family."
October 16---Misty Upham (32), actress who was in the movie "August: Osage County."
October 20---Oscar de la Renta (82), legendary fashion designer.
October 21---Ben Bradlee (93), former editor of the Washington Post during the time of both the Pentagon Papers and Watergate.
October 24---Marcia Strassman (66), actress most notably remembered as Julie Kotter in the TV Series "Welcome Back, Kotter."
October 25---Oscar Tavares (22), baseball prospect of the St. Louis Cardinals who played for the team in 2014, was killed in a car crash in his home country of the Dominican Republic.
October 30---Thomas Menino (71), former mayor of the city of Boston, Massachusetts from 1993-January, 2014.
November 3---Tom Magliozzi (77), former radio host of NPR's "Car Talk" with his brother, Ray.
November 11---Henry Jackson (57), rapper who went by the name "Big Bank Hank" as a member of the Sugarhill Gang. The group brought hip hop to mainstream audiences with their hit song "Rapper's Delight."
November 11---Carol Ann Susi (62), actress who may be best known for giving the voice to Mrs Wolowitz in the hit TV series "The Big Bang Theory."
November 14---Glen A. Larson (77), longtime producer of such TV series as "Knight Rider" and "Battlestar Gallactica."
November 19---Jimmy Ruffin (78), singer who had a major hit with the song "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted."
November 19---Mike Nichols (83), legendary director of such films as "The Graduate" and "The Birdcage."
November 23---Marion Barry (78), former mayor of Washington D.C. who was revered nationally as a symbol of African-American political leadership. But personal scandals (some drug-related) often overshadowed his accomplishments.
November 23---Pat Quinn (71), former NHL player and coach who won the Jack Adams award (coach of the year) twice in his career.
November 23---Viktor Tikhonov (84), the head coach of the Soviet Union hockey team in 1980 when the team lost to the United States in the "Miracle on Ice." Tikhonov would coach Soviet teams to the Gold Medal in 1984, 1988, and a post-Soviet unified team in 1992.
November 26---Sabah (87), legendary Arabic singer and actress from Lebanon.
November 28---Roberto Gomez Bolanos (85), legendary Mexican comedian best known to the world as "Chespirito."
December 2---Bobby Keys (70), longtime saxophonist for the Rolling Stones. Keys played the saxophone in many songs for the Stones, including "Brown Sugar."
December 2---Jean Beliveau (83), former NHL player who played most of his career for the Montreal Canadiens. Beliveau is best known as the first ever Conn Smythe trophy winner (Stanley Cup playoff MVP) in 1965.
December 3---Ian McLagan (69), keyboardist who recorded with the Rolling Stones and Bruce Springstein. McLagan was also the keyboardist for his own band the Small Faces and its successor the Faces.
December 6---Ralph Baer (92), the inventor of the first home video game console.
December 7---Ken Weatherwax (59), former child actor who played Pugsley on the TV Series "The Addams Family."
December 9---Mary Ann Mobley (77), 1959 Miss America from the state of Mississippi who later became a movie actress.
December 12---Norman Bridwell (86), creator of the hit children's book "Clifford: The Big Red Dog."
December 13---Sy Berger (91), known as the father of modern day baseball cards. Berger was involved in the Topps company, where he helped make and produce the cards from 1952-2002.
December 17---Richard Hottelet (97), former CBS news radio correspondent who covered the Battle of the Bulge and D-Day in Normandy during his tenure. Hottelet was the last surviving member of the "Murrow Boys," named after legendary reporter Edward R. Murrow, that was at the front of CBS' coverage of World War II.
December 22---Joe Cocker (70), legendary singer whose first big hit was his version of the Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends." Cocker would also have hits with "You Are So Beautiful" and the duet "Up Where We Belong."
December 22---Christine Cavanaugh (51), voice actress to characters such as "Babe," Dexter from "Dexter's Labratory" and Chuckie from "Rugrats."
December 30---Luise Rainer (104), actress who won Oscars in the 1930s for her roles in "The Great Ziegfeld" and "The Good Earth."
December 31---Edward Herrmann (71), actor whose credits include roles as Richard Gilmore on "Gilmore Girls," a law professor on "The Practice" and as Franklin D. Roosevelt in TV Movies about the President and his family.
And one final personal In Memoriam for 2014...a special one of sort since it relates to my Lyndon State family. During my time at Lyndon, I considered the people who I was with to be my brothers and sisters, most notably those who I was with at the college TV station, News 7. I spent a good amount of time with them over my 5 years in college (both in the newsroom and outside of classes) and I am proud to call them my friends.
So it came as a surprise and shock to me earlier in the month of December to find out that one of my friends, Ed Horan, had passed away unexpectedly. It may have been over 3 weeks since his passing, but I still cannot find the words to describe what hole he has left for all of us. What I can say is this: I hope that I can be as better a person as he was here on this earth...so I can see him again someday. RIP.
December 12---Norman Bridwell (86), creator of the hit children's book "Clifford: The Big Red Dog."
December 13---Sy Berger (91), known as the father of modern day baseball cards. Berger was involved in the Topps company, where he helped make and produce the cards from 1952-2002.
December 17---Richard Hottelet (97), former CBS news radio correspondent who covered the Battle of the Bulge and D-Day in Normandy during his tenure. Hottelet was the last surviving member of the "Murrow Boys," named after legendary reporter Edward R. Murrow, that was at the front of CBS' coverage of World War II.
December 22---Joe Cocker (70), legendary singer whose first big hit was his version of the Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends." Cocker would also have hits with "You Are So Beautiful" and the duet "Up Where We Belong."
December 22---Christine Cavanaugh (51), voice actress to characters such as "Babe," Dexter from "Dexter's Labratory" and Chuckie from "Rugrats."
December 30---Luise Rainer (104), actress who won Oscars in the 1930s for her roles in "The Great Ziegfeld" and "The Good Earth."
December 31---Edward Herrmann (71), actor whose credits include roles as Richard Gilmore on "Gilmore Girls," a law professor on "The Practice" and as Franklin D. Roosevelt in TV Movies about the President and his family.
And one final personal In Memoriam for 2014...a special one of sort since it relates to my Lyndon State family. During my time at Lyndon, I considered the people who I was with to be my brothers and sisters, most notably those who I was with at the college TV station, News 7. I spent a good amount of time with them over my 5 years in college (both in the newsroom and outside of classes) and I am proud to call them my friends.
So it came as a surprise and shock to me earlier in the month of December to find out that one of my friends, Ed Horan, had passed away unexpectedly. It may have been over 3 weeks since his passing, but I still cannot find the words to describe what hole he has left for all of us. What I can say is this: I hope that I can be as better a person as he was here on this earth...so I can see him again someday. RIP.
