Barbara Sinatra (1927 - 2017)

Barbara Marx Sinatra (née Blakeley; March 10, 1927 – July 25, 2017) was an American model and showgirl who was married to Zeppo Marx from 1959 to 1973, and was the fourth and final wife of Frank Sinatra from 1976 until his death in 1998. Barbara Ann Blakeley was born on March 10, 1927, in Bosworth, Missouri, the […]

Harley Hotchkiss (1927 - 2011)

Harley Norman Hotchkiss, CC AOE (July 12, 1927 – June 22, 2011) was a Canadian business and community leader who was best known for his contributions to health and sports development in Canada. He was part of the consortium that brought the National Hockey League’s Atlanta Flames to Calgary in 1980, and remained a part-owner […]

Frank Arthur Calder (1915 - 2006)

Frank Arthur Calder, OC OBC (August 3, 1915 – November 4, 2006) was a Nisga’a politician in Canada, the first First Nations person to be elected to any legislature in Canada. Born in Nass Harbour, British Columbia, Calder was the first Indian to graduate from the Anglican Theological College of the University of British Columbia. Mr. […]

Bill Wirtz (1929 - 2007)

Bill Wirtz (via his stake in the Wirtz Corporation) was most notable as owner of the Chicago Blackhawks; Wirtz Realty, a large real estate owner in Chicago; and Judge & Dolph Ltd., a major liquor distributor selling over 33 percent of all liquor in Illinois. Wirtz Corp. also has interests in banking and insurance, and […]

Frank Calder (1877 - 1943)

In 1917, the NHA’s owners decided to drop Eddie Livingstone’s Toronto Blueshirts franchise and took his players. The NHA’s president, Frank Robinson, seeing he was as powerless as his predecessor Emmett Quinn was, resigned as NHA president. Frank Calder, the league secretary, saw opportunity in the situation. He decided that the NHA owners allied against […]

Ed Litzenberger (1932 - 2010)

Edward Charles John “Eddie” Litzenberger (July 15, 1932 – November 1, 2010) was a Canadian ice hockey right winger from Neudorf, Saskatchewan. Ed Litzenberger was donated to the Chicago Black Hawks by the Montreal Canadiens in his first year in the NHL. At the time the Black Hawks were struggling to survive as a franchise, […]

Len Lunde (1936 - 2010)

Leonard Melvin Lunde (November 13, 1936 – November 22, 2010) was a professional ice hockey player who played 321 games in the National Hockey League and 72 games in the World Hockey Association. He played for the Chicago Black Hawks, Minnesota North Stars, Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, and Detroit Red Wings. Len Lunde was born in […]

Dave Balon (1938 - 2007)

Dave Balon played his junior hockey for the Prince Albert Mintos of the SJHL before turning pro in 1958 and joining the New York Rangers farm system. He would make his NHL debut in the 1959–60 season with a three-game callup to the Rangers. Over the next two years, he would be a frequent callup, […]

Harvey Atkin (1942 - 2017)

Harvey Atkin was born in 1942 in Toronto, Ontario to parents of Russian-Jewish descent. He developed his interest in acting during high school. After school, he initially worked at his father’s construction company. He then became a real estate agent, eventually transitioning to acting in commercials. Atkin played Morty Melnick in the comedy film Meatballs (1979), […]

Red West (1936 - 2017)

In 1976, Red West was involved in a series of heavy-handed incidents in Las Vegas with aggressive fans that got out of hand, drawing criticism by the media. More than that, West was becoming more vocal about Presley’s drug problem and how he needed help. As a result, West, his cousin Sonny West, and a […]

George A. Romero (1940 - 2017)

George A. Romero was born in the New York City borough of the Bronx, to a Cuban-born father and a Lithuanian American mother. His father has been reported as born in A Coruña, with his family coming from the Galician town of Neda, although Romero once described his father as of Castilian descent. His father […]

Chester Bennington (1976 - 2017)

Chester Charles Bennington was born on March 20, 1976, in Phoenix, Arizona. His mother was a nurse, while his father was a police detective who worked with child sex abuse cases and took double shifts. Bennington took interest in music at a young age, citing bands Depeche Mode and Stone Temple Pilots as his early […]

John Heard (1945 - 2017)

In the 1970s, John Heard appeared on the stage, television and film. He appeared off-Broadway in 1974 in Mark Medoff’s play The Wager and at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in 1977 in a series of new plays. In 1979 he played Arthur Dimmesdale in a television production of The Scarlet Letter. Heard won Obie […]

Ron Santo (1940 - 2010)

Ronald Edward Santo (February 25, 1940 – December 3, 2010) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) third baseman who played for the Chicago Cubs from 1960 through 1973 and the Chicago White Sox in 1974. In 1990, Santo became a member of the Cubs broadcasting team providing commentary for Cubs games on WGN radio […]

Ernie Banks (1931 - 2015)

Ernest Banks (January 31, 1931 – January 23, 2015), nicknamed “Mr. Cub” and “Mr. Sunshine”, was an American professional baseball player who starred in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a shortstop and first baseman for the Chicago Cubs between 1953 and 1971. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977, and […]

Harmon Killebrew (1936 - 2011)

Harmon Clayton Killebrew (/ˈkɪlᵻbruː/; June 29, 1936 – May 17, 2011), nicknamed “The Killer” and “Hammerin’ Harmon”, was an American professional baseball first baseman, third baseman, and left fielder. During his 22-year career in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the Minnesota Twins, Killebrew was a prolific power hitter who, at the time of his […]

Johnny Logan (1927 - 2013)

John Logan, Jr. (March 23, 1927 – August 9, 2013) was a shortstop in Major League Baseball. Logan was signed by the Boston Braves in 1947, having been discovered by Braves scout Dewey Briggs. He was a four-time All-Star and led the National League in doubles in 1955. Logan was the first major league batter […]

Bill Burton (1925 - 1995)

William Havon Bruton (November 9, 1925 – December 5, 1995) was a Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder who played for the Milwaukee Braves in 1953 through 1960, and for the Detroit Tigers in 1961 through 1964. Bruton batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Bruton was born in Panola, Alabama. Bill Bruton started his career right […]

Wes Covington (1932 - 2011)

John Wesley Covington (March 27, 1932 – July 4, 2011) was a left fielder in Major League Baseball who played from 1956 through 1966 for the Milwaukee Braves, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers. Listed at 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m), 205 lb, he batted left-handed […]

Johnny Callison (1939 - 2006)

Johnny Callison became a fan favorite in Philadelphia; Supreme Court Justice and lifelong Phillies fan Samuel Alito recalls he “adopted Johnny Callison out there in right field” as a boy. Over the next decade, Callison would be named to the NL All-Star roster three times (1962, 64-65).[b] In 1962, he batted an even .300, the […]

Chris Short (1937 - 1991)

Christopher Joseph “Style” Short (September 19, 1937 – August 1, 1991) was a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies (1959–1972), and in his final year, for the Milwaukee Brewers (1973). He was a left-handed pitcher, but batted righty. He was born in Milford, Delaware. Chris Short was considered a top pitcher from 1964 […]

Jim Bunning (1931 - 2017)

James Paul David Bunning (October 23, 1931 – May 26, 2017) was an American professional baseball pitcher and later a politician who represented constituents from Kentucky in both chambers of the United States Congress. He is the sole Major League Baseball athlete to have been elected to both the United States Senate and the National […]

Betsy Drake (1923 - 2015)

Betsy Drake began looking for work as an actress in New York City, supporting herself by working as a Conover model. She met the playwright Horton Foote, who offered her a job as an understudy in his play Only the Heart, which enabled her to join the Actors’ Equity Association and thus become a professional […]

Cheryl Holdridge (1944 - 2009)

Cheryl Holdridge first performed professionally at the age of nine in the New York City Ballet’s version of The Nutcracker in Los Angeles. Her first screen appearance was as an uncredited extra in the 1956 film production of Carousel. She auditioned for Walt Disney’s The Mickey Mouse Club in the spring of 1956, was hired […]

Gottfried von Cramm (1909 - 1976)

In 1932, Gottfried von Cramm earned a place in the German Davis Cup team and won the first of four straight German national tennis championships. During this time he also teamed up with Hilde Krahwinkel to win the 1933 Mixed Doubles title at Wimbledon. Noted for his gentlemanly conduct and fair play, he gained the […]

Lance Reventlow (1936 - 1972)

Lance Reventlow began his racing career in America in the mid-1950s, initially with a Mercedes before moving to an 1100cc Cooper in 1956. The next year he went to Europe to buy a Maserati, which he crashed heavily at Snetterton, escaping unhurt. He also briefly drove a Cooper Formula 2 car, before returning to the […]

Porfirio Rubirosa (1909 - 1965)

In 1931, Porfirio Rubirosa met Rafael Trujillo at a country club. The “Benefactor” asked to see him the next morning, and made him a lieutenant of his Presidential Guard. Their relationship lasted throughout their lives, went up and down, mostly close, but not without episodes of danger for Porfirio Rubirosa, and defined his professional career […]

Barbara Hutton (1912 - 1979)

Barbara Woolworth Hutton (November 14, 1912 – May 11, 1979) was an American debutante, socialite, heiress and philanthropist. She was dubbed the “Poor Little Rich Girl,” first when she was given a lavish and expensive debutante ball in 1930, amid the Great Depression, and later due to a notoriously troubled private life. Heiress to the […]

Eleanor Post Hutton (1909 - 2006)

On April 12, 1930, Eleanor Post Hutton eloped with the playwright and director Preston Sturges (1898–1959). In 1932, she sought an annulment on the grounds that he was not legally divorced from his first wife when they eloped. Sturges’ screenplay for the 1933 film The Power and the Glory was loosely based on her stories […]

Edward Francis Hutton (1875 - 1962)

Edward Francis Hutton (September 7, 1875 – July 11, 1962) was an American financier and co-founder of E. F. Hutton & Co., one of the most respected financial firms in the United States. Hutton was born in Manhattan, New York City, the son of James Laws Hutton (1847–1885), who left an Ohio farm to work […]