In the past few days, we have lost film critic Roger Ebert, comic book penciller Carmine Infantino (probably my favorite penciller from the Silver Age) and comic book writer George Gladir.
Category Archives: Obituary
R.I.P. Neil Armstrong (1930-2012)
The first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong, has passed away at age 82. Further details are available here and here.
R.I.P. Harry Harrison
Mary Tamm dead at 62
Mary Tamm, the first actress to play the companion Romana opposite Tom Baker in Doctor Who, is dead at 62 after an 18-month fight with cancer. Romanadvoratrelundar (her full name) was the second “Time Lady” to act as companion, and perhaps the only companion who could really be considered the Doctor’s equal in abilities. Tamm is the third companion to pass recently.
Sally Ride, First American Woman in Space, Dead at 61
A true American pioneer, Sally Ride has passed away at age 61 after a 17 month battle with Pancreatic Cancer.
Flying aboard the Challenger in 1983, she made US history. She flew again on the same shuttle a year later. A physist as well as an astronaut, she helped design the robotic arm that made the shuttles (and later the ISS) so versatile and successful.
She also served on the two review boards overseeing the destruction of the Challenger and the Columbia.
Ray Bradbury passes away at the age of 91
Grand Master of SF Ray Bradbury passed away this morning in Los Angeles, at the age of 91. While Bradbury was best known for the frequently challenged and/or banned novel Fahrenheit 451, he was also known for being a prolific short story writer, with his story The Veldt being reading among many high school textbooks. In addition to Fahrenheit 451, the short story collection The Illustrated Man was adapted to an anthology film, and The Martian Chronicles was adapted to a television miniseries. Several stories where adapted to episodes of the radio series X Minus One and Dimension X, both of which can be found at Archive.org.
The staff of Bureau42.com would like to offer their condolences to Bradbury’s family. He will be missed.
Maurice Sendak Dead at 83
Known the world over for his picture books and art, Maurice Sendak was an influence to children born from 1960 and onward. His most famous work, “Where the Wild Things Are” won Caldecott Award (considered the Pulitzer Prize for children’s books). In later years, he moved from books to designing theater sets.
On a personal note, his work is what got me into the fantastical as a child and taught me how much fun books could be. For that, I will be eternally grateful.
Jean “Moebius” Giraud passes away
We’re a little late getting the article up on this, but Jean “Moebius” Giraud passed away today after a long illness at the age of 73. Moebius was well known for his detailed art style, which inspired (among other things) the mechanical designs for the Nostromo in Alien, as well as influencing artists in the US as well as Japan (including Katsuhiro Otomo, who would write the manga Akira, as well as write and direct the film adaptation). Continue reading →
Anne McCaffrey, R.I.P.
R.I.P. Dennis Ritchie: 1941-2011
Computer software pioneer Dennis Ritchie passed away yesterday according to many articles such as this one. He may not be a household name, but you’d be hard pressed to find a household in a developed nation that doesn’t use some sort of technology made possible by Ritchie. He will be missed.