Transitions 2017

People who have passed on during 2017, whose life or works have influenced me:

Kenneth Arrow (1921-2017), American economist
John Berger (1926-2017), British writer and art critic
Chuck Berry (1926-2017), American musician
John Clarke (1948-2017), New Zealand & Australian comedian
John Charles Rowell Fieldsend CJ (1921-2017), Zimbabwean Chief Justice
Jerry Fodor (1935-2017), American philosopher
Joel Goodman Joffe (1932-2017), South African lawyer and defender of Nelson Mandela at Rivonia trial
Ahmed Kathrada (1929-2017), South African democracy activist and political prisoner
Liu Xiaobo (1955-2017), Chinese writer and democracy activist
Peter Luck (1944-2017), Australian TV journalist
Maryam Mirzakhani (1977-2017), Iranian & American mathematician
Rory O’Donoghue (“Thin Arthur”, “Flash Nick from Jindavick”) (1949-2017), Australian comedian
Josh Parsons (1973-2017), New Zealand philosopher
Raymond Smullyan (1919-2017), American logician and taoist
Timothy Stamps (1936-2017), Zimbabwean doctor and Minister for Health (1986-2002)
Herman Toivo ya Toivo (1924-2017), Namibian freedom fighter and politician
Tony Vinson (1935-2017), Australian sociologist
Vladimir Voevodsky (1966-2017), Russian & American mathematician
Heathcote Williams (1941-2017), British poet, writer, playwright, actor
Daniel Yankelovich (1924-2017), American pollster and market researcher.

Past editions of Transitions can be found here.

Transitions 2016

Published by peter on 2016-12-25 in Obituaries and Transitions. 0 Comments

People who have passed on during 2016, whose life or works have influenced me:

Edward Albee (1928-2016), American playwright
Myrtle Berman (1924-2016), South African political activist and resistance fighter
Daniel Berrigan SJ (1921-2016), American priest and political activist
Pierre Boulez (1925-2016), French composer and conductor
Victoria Chitepo (1928-2016), Zimbabwean politician
Harold Cohen (1928-2016), British-American artist and AI pioneer
Ronnie Corbett (1930-2016), British comedian
Umberto Eco (1932-2016), Italian writer
Bob Ellis (1942-2016), Australian playwright and journalist
Tom Hayden (1939-2016), American political activist
Chip Heathcote (1931-2016), Australian statistician
Bobby Hutcherson (1941-2016), American vibraphonist
Peter Maxwell Davies (1934-2016), British composer
Diana Mitchell (1932-2016), Zimbabwean historian
Yukio Ninagawa (1935-2016), Japanese theatre director
John Satterthwaite (1928-2016), Australian engineer and Bishop
Thomas Schelling (1921-2016), American game theorist and strategist
Garry Shandling (1949-2016), American comedian
Lois Weisberg (1925-2016), Chicagoan connector
Alexander Yessenin-Volpin (1924-2016), Russian-American poet, mathematician and dissident.

People who have passed on during 2015, whose life or works have influenced me:

Yogi Berra (1925-2015), American baseball player
Ornette Coleman (1930-2015), American jazz musician
Robert Conquest (1917-2015), British kremlinologist
Malcolm Fraser (1930-2015), Australian politician
Jaako Hintikka (1929-2015), Finnish philosopher and logician
Lisa Jardine (1944-2015), British historian
Joan Kirner (1938-2015), Australian politician, aka “Mother Russia”
Kurt Masur (1927-2015), East German conductor
John Forbes Nash (1928-2015), American mathematician
Boris Nemtsov (1959-2015), Russian politician
Oliver Sacks (1933-2015), British-American neurologist and writer
Gunter Schabowski (1929-2015), East German politician
Alex Schalck-Golodkowski (1932-2015), East German politician
Gunther Schuller (1925-2015), American composer and musician (and French horn player on Miles Davis’ 1959 album, Porgy and Bess).
Brian Stewart (1922-2015), British intelligence agent.
Ward Swingle (1927-2015), American singer and jazz musician.

Last year’s post is here.

Published by peter on 2014-12-31 in Obituaries and Poetry. 0 Comments

People who have passed on during 2014 whose life or works have influenced me:

Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) (1934- 2014), American poet
Charles Barsotti (1933-2014), American cartoonist
Sid Caesar (1922-2014), American comedian
Bob Crewe (1930-2014), American songwriter
Al Feldstein (1925-2014), American artist and editor of Mad magazine
Nadine Gordimer (1923-2014), South African writer
Alexander Grothendieck (1928-2014), French mathematician
Stuart Hall (1932- 2014), British cultural theorist
Philip Seymour Hoffman (1967-2014), American actor
Wojciech Jaruzelski (1923-2014), Polish soldier and politician
Morris Lurie (1938-2014), Australian comic writer
Rik Mayall (1955-2014), British actor and comedian
Tony Meale (c. 1963-2014), Australian wit
Pierre Ryckmans (Simon Leys) (1935-2014), Belgian-Australian political analyst
Maximilian Schell (1930-2014), German actor
Peter Sculthorpe (1929-2014), Australian composer
Pete Seeger (1919-2014), American folk singer
Eduard Shevardnadze (1928-2014), Georgian politician
Horace Silver (1928-2014), American jazz pianist
Edward Gough Whitlam (1916-2014), Australian statesman
Robin Williams (1951-2014), American comedian and actor
Neville Wran (1926-2014), Australian politician.

Last year’s post is here.

Published by peter on 2014-01-04 in Africa, Communism and Obituaries. 0 Comments

People who have passed on during 2013 whose life or works have influenced me:

Joan Child (1921-2013), Australian politician, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Commonwealth of Australia
Molly Clutton-Brock (1912-2013), British/Zimbabwean community organizer and anti-racism campaigner
Peter Geach (1916-2013), British philosopher and logician
Norman Geras (1943-2013), Zimbabwean/British political philosopher and blogger
Natalia Gorbanevskaya (1936-2013), Russian/Polish poet and political activist
Michael Heath (1956-2013), American USNavy SEAL and businessman
Fr Stan Hosie (1922-2013), Australian/American priest, teacher, swimming coach, life member of the Far North Coast Amateur Swimming Association, and co-founder of the third-world development charity Counterpart International
Doris Lessing (1919-2013), Zimbabwean/British writer and political activist
John Makumbe (1949-2013), Zimbabwean political scientist and democracy activist
Nelson Mandela (1918-2013), South African freedom fighter and political leader
Teresa Toranska (1944-2013), Polish journalist and writer.

Last year’s post is here.

Some who have passed on during 2012 whose life or works have influenced me:

Graeme Bell (1914-2012), Australian jazz band leader
Richard Rodney Bennett (1936-2012), British-American musician (heard perform in Canberra in 1976)
Dave Brubeck (1920-2012), American musician (heard perform in Liverpool in ca. 2003)
Arthur Chaskalson CJ (1931-2012), South African lawyer and judge
Heidi Holland (1947-2012), Zimbabwean-South African writer
Robert Hughes (1938-2012), Australian artist and art critic
Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012), Brazilian architect
Bill Thurston (1946-2012), American mathematician
Ruth Wajnryb (1948-2012), Australian linguist.