Michael McLendon (1980 - 2009)

Michael Kenneth McLendon (September 19, 1980 – March 10, 2009) was born in southern Alabama to Lisa McLendon (née White) and her husband. After his parents divorced, he was largely raised by his aunt and maternal uncle, Phyllis and James White, of Samson, Alabama. He attended local schools. An “A” student in high school, he […]

James Pough (1948 - 1990)

In December 1988, James Pough traded his old car for a 1988 Pontiac Grand Am, though he soon had difficulties to make his payments. As a result, the car was voluntarily repossessed by GMAC in January 1990. He received a bill for $6,394 of outstanding fees in March, and again on April 6, which was […]

Christopher Harper-Mercer (1989 - 2015)

Christopher Sean “Chris” Harper-Mercer (July 26, 1989 – October 1, 2015) was enrolled in the introductory composition class where he shot his victims. He was born in Los Angeles County, California to Ian Mercer and Laurel Margaret Harper, and lived with his mother during the separation and divorce of his parents, who agreed to shared legal […]

Stephen Paddock (1953 - 2017)

According to court records, Stephen Paddock was married and divorced twice. He was first married from 1977 to 1979, and for the second time from 1985 to 1990, both marriages in Los Angeles County, California. Family members say he stayed on good terms with his ex-wives. His brother Eric said that Stephen had no political […]

Dorothy Porter (1954 - 2008)

Dorothy Porter’s awards include The Age Book of the Year for poetry, the National Book Council Award for The Monkey’s Mask and the FAW Christopher Brennan Award for poetry. Two of her verse novels were shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award: What a Piece of Work in 2000 and Wild Surmise in 2003. In 2000, […]

Roy Porter (1946 - 2002)

Roy Porter grew up in South London and attended Wilson’s School in Camberwell. He won a scholarship to Christ’s College, Cambridge, where he studied under J. H. Plumb. His contemporaries included Simon Schama and Andrew Wheatcroft. He achieved a double starred first and became a junior Fellow in 1968, studying under Robert M. Young and […]

John Saville (1916 - 1970)

John Saville was born Orestes Stamatopoulos in 1916, in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire to Greek parents. He took the surname Saville from his mother’s second husband, and was brought up in Romford. He won a scholarship to Royal Liberty School in London and went on to study at the London School of Economics, where he joined the Communist […]

Asa Briggs (1921 - 2016)

From 1942 to 1945 during the Second World War, Asa Briggs served in the Intelligence Corps and worked at the British wartime codebreaking station, Bletchley Park. He was a member of “the Watch” in Hut 6, the section deciphering Enigma machine messages from the German Army and Luftwaffe. This posting had arisen because at college […]

John Dunsworth (1946 - 2017)

John Dunsworth studied acting at the University of Guelph, but dropped out in his fourth year. He went on to act in numerous CBC radio dramas, and has had starring roles in many stage productions at the Neptune Theatre in Halifax. In 1970, Dunsworth leased an abandoned building on Halifax’s waterfront, and converted it into a […]

Scott Putesky (1968 - 2017)

Scott Putesky and Brian Warner met at a Fort Lauderdale club called The Reunion Room and later at a local after-party in December 1989. The two created the concept of Marilyn Manson & The Spooky Kids poking fun at American media hypocrisy and its obsessions with serial killers and beautiful women. Scott Putesky, who had at […]

Judy Martz (1943 - 2017)

Upon becoming governor, Judy Martz’ first legislative session resulted in the single largest increase in the education budget in Montana history, as well as tax cuts intended to stimulate the stagnant state economy. Martz was put under a statewide microscope in November 2001 when a 1999 real estate deal between the Martzes and ARCO was uncovered. […]

Luciano Berio (1925 - 2003)

Luciano Berio was born in Oneglia (now part of Imperia), on the Ligurian coast of Italy. He was taught how to play the piano by his father and grandfather, who were both organists. During World War II he was conscripted into the army, but on his first day, he injured his hand while learning how […]

Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928 - 2007)

Karlheinz Stockhausen (German pronunciation: [kaʁlˈhaɪnts ˈʃtɔkhaʊzn̩]; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important (Barrett 1988, 45; Harvey 1975b, 705; Hopkins 1972, 33; Klein 1968, 117) but also controversial (Power 1990, 30) composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. A critic […]

Pierre Boulez (1925 - 2016)

Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez CBE (French: [pjɛʁ bu.lɛːz]; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor, writer and organiser of institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of the post-war classical music world. Born in Montbrison in the Loire department of France, the son of an engineer, Boulez studied at the Conservatoire […]

Alban Berg (1885 - 1935)

Alban Berg was a part of Vienna’s cultural elite during the heady fin de siècle period. His circle included the musicians Alexander von Zemlinsky and Franz Schreker, the painter Gustav Klimt, the writer and satirist Karl Kraus, the architect Adolf Loos, and the poet Peter Altenberg. In 1906, Berg met the singer Helene Nahowski, daughter […]

Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918)

Claude Debussy’s private life was often turbulent. At the age of 18 he began an eight-year affair with Marie-Blanche Vasnier, the wife of Parisian civil servant Henri Vasnier. The relationship eventually faltered following his winning of the Prix de Rome in 1884 and obligatory residence in Rome. On his permanent return to Paris and his parents’ […]

Anton Webern (1883 - 1945)

Anton Friedrich Wilhelm (von) Webern (German: [ˈantɔn ˈveːbɐn]; 3 December 1883 – 15 September 1945) was an Austrian composer and conductor. Along with his mentor Arnold Schoenberg and his colleague Alban Berg, Webern was at the core among those within and more peripheral to the circle of the Second Viennese School, including Ernst Krenek and Theodor […]

Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911)

Gustav Mahler (German: [ˈmaːlɐ]; 7 July 1860, Kaliště, Bohemia, now Czech Republic – 18 May 1911, Vienna, Austria-Hungary) was an Austrian late-Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th century Austro-German tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century. While […]

Arnold Schoenberg (1874 - 1951)

Arnold Franz Walter Schoenberg or Schönberg (; 13 September 1874 – 13 July 1951) was an Austrian composer, music theorist, and painter. He was associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School. With the rise of the Nazi Party, Schoenberg’s works were labelled degenerate music, because they […]

Alexander Young (1938 - 1997)

Alexander Young was born in Bridgeton, Glasgow, Scotland. When his family emigrated to Sydney, Australia, in 1963, he chose to remain in Britain to pursue musical interests. At that time he was in a band called the Bobby Patrick Big Six and spent some time in Germany. Later, in 1967, Alexander formed and played bass […]

Stevie Wright (1947 - 2015)

Stevie Wright was born in Leeds, England, in 1947 to George Wright and Dorothy Wright (née Longden); his family migrated to Melbourne, Australia, when he was nine. They moved to Sydney in 1960 and lived in Villawood near the Villawood Migrant Hostel. He was lead vocalist for local band, The Outlaws, and by 1964 had […]

George Young (1946 - 2017)

George Young started his music career in Sydney, where on rhythm guitar he formed a beat pop band, the Easybeats, in late 1964 alongside Dick Diamonde (born Dingernam Vandersluys) on bass guitar, Gordon “Snowy” Fleet on drums (ex-Mojos), Harry Vanda (born Johannes Vandenberg) on lead guitar (ex-Starfighters, Starlighters) and Stevie Wright on lead vocals (ex-Chris […]

James Stacy (1936 - 2016)

James Stacy made his film debut in Sayonara in 1957, and his television debut in Highway Patrol. He had a recurring role as “Fred” in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet from 1958 to 1963. During the 1960s he made guest appearances in television shows, including Gunsmoke, Hazel, The Donna Reed Show, Have Gun – […]

Don Mitchell (1943 - 2013)

Don Michael Mitchell (March 17, 1943 – December 8, 2013) was an American actor, best known for appearing with Raymond Burr in the NBC television series Ironside (1967-1975). He played the role of Mark Sanger, and reprised the role in the made-for-TV “reunion” film in 1993 – his last TV appearance. Don Mitchell, who was a […]

Elizabeth Baur (1947 - 2017)

Elizabeth Baur (December 1, 1947 – September 30, 2017) was an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Teresa O’Brien on the CBS western series, Lancer, with Andrew Duggan, James Stacy, Wayne Maunder, and Paul Brinegar, and as Officer Fran Belding on NBC’s crime drama series Ironside. Elizabeth Baur was born in […]

Eugene Wigner (1902 - 1995)

Eugene Paul “E. P.” Wigner (Hungarian: Wigner Jenő Pál; November 17, 1902 – January 1, 1995), was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist, engineer and mathematician. He received half of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 “for his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles, particularly through the discovery and application […]

Julian Schwinger (1918 - 1994)

After having worked with Oppenheimer, Julian Schwinger’s first regular academic appointment was at Purdue University in 1941. While on leave from Purdue, he worked at the Radiation Laboratory at MIT instead of at the Los Alamos National Laboratory during World War II. He provided theoretical support for the development of radar. After the war, Schwinger […]

Lev Landau (1908 - 1968)

Lev Landau was the head of the Theoretical Division at the Institute for Physical Problems from 1937 until 1962. Landau was arrested on 27 April 1938, because he had compared the Stalinist dictatorship with that of Hitler, and was held in the NKVD’s Lubyanka prison until his release on 29 April 1939, after the head […]

Paul Dirac (1902 - 1984)

Paul Dirac was educated first at Bishop Road Primary School and then at the all-boys Merchant Venturers’ Technical College (later Cotham School), where his father was a French teacher. The school was an institution attached to the University of Bristol, which shared grounds and staff. It emphasised technical subjects like bricklaying, shoemaking and metal work, […]

Robert Herman (1914 - 1997)

Born in the Bronx, New York City, Robert Herman graduated cum laude with special honors in physics from the City College of New York in 1935, and in 1940 was awarded master’s and doctoral degrees in physics from Princeton University in the area of molecular spectroscopy. As a graduate student, Herman already exhibited eclectic tendencies […]