2016 Celebrity Passings
The year in review 2016
January started off with the deaths of several notable Stars.
David Bowie passed away from cancer at 69. Rene Angelil was better known as Celine Dion’s husband dead at age 73. Next TV star Dan Haggerty 74. Eagles guitarist Glenn Frey dead at 67 and Abe Vigoda from The Godfather and Barney Miller dead at 94.
Although February is a shorter month and 2016, it was a leap year month and had the extra day. Here we lost Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and George Kennedy from Cool Hand Luke.
March continued The Morbid March as we lost former first lady Nancy Reagan, Keith Emerson, Frank Sinatra Jr., Ken Howard, Garry Shandling, and our Flying Nun Patty Duke.
April gave us the continuation of more stars whose light eternally dimmed. Merle Haggard died at 79. Doris Roberts from our sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond died at 90 years old. WWE wrestler Chyna Laurer dead at 45 and pop rock icon Prince dead at 57.
May gave us a shorter list of those who left us, but they did include Morley Safer from 60 minutes and Allen Young from the Mr. Ed Show.
June was full of athletic stars that left us. The number one star was Muhammad Ali after battling years of Parkinson’s died at 74. Pat Summitt legendary basketball coach passed away at age 64 and Gordie Howe, one of the greatest hockey players of all time, dead at 88.
July once again gave us a smaller list but one that was still impactful. Producer Garry Marshall of sitcom fame such as Laverne & Shirley and Happy Days dead at 81. Who can forget Miss Cleo, the TV psychic spokeswoman, after battling cancer, dead at 53? Nate Thurmond former NBA Hall of Famer dead at 74.
In August we lost John Sanders to cancer at 61 and Kenny Baker our favorite R2D2 died at 83. Finally Willy Wonka and Dr. Frankenstein Gene Wilder dead at 83.
For September the Last Cry Baby actress Kim McGuire dead at 60 years old and Sound of Music Charmian Carr dead it 73. We also lost Jose Fernandez the young Miami Marlins pitcher in a boating accident and golf legend Arnold Palmer dead at 87.
October seems to have lightened up on us a bit however that would not be the sentiment for everyone. I’m sure James Earl Jones would not agree with my assessment since his wife Cecilia Hart died after a battle with cancer at 68.
To make up for October, November decided to start pushing it hard. Here we lost Robert Vaughn, the man from u.n.c.l.e. Leon Russell, famous rocker, Sharon Jones, another singer, Brady Bunch mom Florence Henderson, and of course the dictator of Cuba, Fidel Castro. Last but certainly not least, Ron Glass from the Barney Miller show. These are all dead in November.
And that brings us to December here it is with 2 or 3 days still left and we fear for Betty White, but she’s still with us as of this writing, but we did lose a lot of influential people. Greg Lake from Emerson Lake and Palmer died from cancer at 69. John Glenn one of our most famous NASA astronauts and US Senator dead at 95. Alan Thicke died at 69, Zsa Zsa Gabor dead at 99, George Michael at 53, and Carrie Fisher, Princess Leia in Star Wars, after a massive heart attack while on an airplane, died at age 60.
So there you have it the recap of 2016 the passing of many great Souls, and because of this, many people feel that 2016 was a very unfair here. All I can say is I can’t wait for 2017.
