In Memoriam

Our place for remembering those whose lives have touched us, especially those whose writing has impacted us.

I don't know how many here know the wit and wisdom of Murr Brewster, but her husband, Dave Price passed away on Christmas Eve, and everyone should get such an obit as she has written for him: https://substack.com/home/post/p-183018390

Idk if this guy was added last years but Rob Reiner was murdered on December 14th, 2025
https://www.cnn.com/entertainment/live-news/homicide-detectives-investigating-at...

>2 laytonwoman3rd: - No idea who they were but awww, that was lovely. Thanks, Linda.

>4 jessibud2: I just noticed that I hadn't put author brackets around her name, so I fixed that. She self-published one collection, and I'm the only person here to have reviewed it. I've been following her blog posts for many many years...she is one funny lady, but she knows a lot of stuff too. She's had a few pieces published in the Christian Science Monitor as well.

Tatiana Schlossberg, writer and activist.

Claudette Colvin has died aged 86.

Claudette Colvin, a black teenage girl in Montgomery, Alabama was arrested on 2 March 1955 for refusing to give up her seat for a white person. 9 months later Rosa Parks' arrest for a similar action was the beginning of the Montgomery bus boycott. Colvin was one of the 4 plaintiffs in a court case started in 1956 which led to segregation on buses being ruled unconstitutional.

Here's an article by Gary Younge telling her story. (The Guardian, December 2000)

https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2000/dec/16/weekend7.weekend12

Catherine O'Hara

https://apnews.com/article/catherine-ohara-dies-9fdc89411b4961c1d599f836503a6203

>8 amanda4242: Loved her on SCTV--one of my favorite shows of all time. I remember here it came on Saturdays at midnight, right after SNL and it was always way funnier (to me) than SNL.

The author and journalist Allan Massie has died. Some of his novels on ancient Rome are well worth a read.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2026/02/04/allan-massie-scotland-high-tor...

Robert Duvall died on Sunday.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/obituaries/robert-duvall-actor-godfather-apocalypse...

>11 amanda4242: saw that. One of the greatest actors of our time.

>11 amanda4242: Great actor. My twin brother after falling out with my late father changed his name by Deed Poll from Peter Cranswick to Peter Duval in a typically ham-fisted tribute as he spelled the name wrongly!

>11 amanda4242: I remember Robert Duvall's incredible rendition of Boo Radley in the movie based on the book To Kill a Mockingbird. He and Gregory Peck were very instrumental in making the movie so wonderfully rendered. Often when I read a book that I like, the movie simply doesn't follow the book as much as I would like it. I think this movie matched the book spot on. All actors were just as I pictured them to be in the book.

Jesse Jackson, Civil Rights Leader Who Sought the Presidency, Dies at 84

>15 lauralkeet: - I just heard this. Any bets that the current president won't have a good word to say? Or any words, in fact. Jackson was a giant and a man of such integrity. He leaves an amazing legacy.

We've lost a wonderful human being there.

Heard that Dan Simmons has passed.

https://arstechnica.com/culture/2026/02/hyperion-author-dan-simmons-dies-from-st...

Always wanted to read Hyperion, guess I should move it up the list.

RIP Neil Sedaka.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/entertainment/other/neil-sedaka-the-singer-songwriter-...

>18 mahsdad: I am with you, Jeff. Hyperion has been in the BlackHole for a while now. I really need to get it read. I have not read a Dan Simmons book that I did not enjoy.

>19 jessibud2: I just saw that. Sad.

>18 mahsdad:, >20 alcottacre: Me too - loved every book of his I’ve read.

Margareta Magnusson: https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/india/margareta-magnusson-author-of-the-gentle-ar...

She wrote The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, which was good and helped me rethink my own relationship to *stuff*.

Len Deighton passed on, March 15. https://crimefictionlover.com/2026/03/len-deighton-1929-2026-remembered/

Actor Nicholas Brendon, best known as Xander on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, died on March 20.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/nicholas-brendon-dead-buffy-the-vam...

Tracy Kidder passed away this week at the age of 80. I was introduced to him with Mountains Beyond Mountains, but have since read several of his wide-ranging nonfiction and have several more on my TBR list.

>25 bell7: - Sad to hear this. He was a very good writer.

Stephen Lewis- former head of the Ontario NDP party, former Ambassador to the United Nations for Canada and special envoy to Africa.

>27 torontoc: - And what a legacy he left! I wonder if he was able to hold on just long enough to see his son, Avi, win the leadership of the federal NDP. It wouldn't surprise me.

>28 jessibud2: Apparently he died 2 days after the election, so hopefully he was conscious enough to know.

eluki bes shahar, known as Rosemary Edghill, and James Mallory, died yesterday of sepsis. Sharon Lee mentioned this today on her Patreon.

New Zealand's Neville Peat died in early March.
The widely respected conservationist, photographer and prolific author has died at the age of 78. https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/05-03-2026/vale-neville-peat-1947-2026

I have a copy of his Shackleton's Whisky: The extraordinary story of an heroic explorer and twenty-five cases of unique MacKinlay's Old Scotch.

>31 avatiakh: I have to admit that I have not heard of Neville Peat. I will have to see if I can locate any of his books.

>31 avatiakh:, >32 alcottacre: I haven't either, and I don't know the story of the whisky. Added that one to my list!

>32 alcottacre: >34 drneutron: He mostly wrote about southern New Zealand's natural wonders. More about Shackleton's Whisky here: https://nzaht.org/shackletons-whisky/

Alan Bradley, creator of Flavia de Luce, died yesterday.

>36 laytonwoman3rd: Oh, I’m so sad to read this! Thank you for letting the group know.

Karen O

P.s. There might be a reread of the Flavia books in my future…

>35 avatiakh: Thanks for the link, Kerry.

>36 laytonwoman3rd: While I am not a fan of the Flavia books, I know a ton of people in the group are. I am sorry to hear about Bradley's death.

>38 alcottacre: Flavia didn't do much for me either, Stasia. I read two of them, I think. But like you, it makes me sad to lose any creative mind.

>39 laytonwoman3rd: I think I only read the first couple of the Flavia books too, Linda. Creativity is such a treasure in anyone that I really do not care what their art form is, I hate the loss. Creativity is part of what makes us human, right?

I read and enjoyed the first book though it was some years ago, I think perhaps before I joined LT. I have a couple more TBR.

Romance novelist Piper J. Drake died of cancer this week. Her publisher posted about it on Instagram but I haven't found a real obit yet.

Marjane Satrapi, author of the groundbreaking graphic novel Persepolis, has died at the age of 56.

>43 PawsforThought: I was really shocked by this news, especially as cause of death was given as "morte de chagrin" - her husband died just over a year ago.

So much sadness,

>45 PawsforThought: Same, I literally gasped while on the train home. Such an incredibly sad story.

I adore her writing - Persepolis was one of the works that turned me onto graphic novels (it was recommended to me by a friend).

>44 elkiedee: I read of her death, but not this, that’s really sad. She has reached a lot of people with her books, I think.

>46 EllaTim: Exactly this. Just talked about Marjane Satrapi to my 17 year old son, who as a much younger boy really loved picture her book Monsters are Afraid of the Moon - the original title in French actually translates as The Monsters Do Not Love the Moon, and its about a child being scared of the dark and that the monsters will come. His dad dealt with reading it so many times he started giving the monsters the names of real people who were annoying him. This still makes me laugh as I have met one of my partner's monster contacts at work, in a completely different context, and he really is very irritating at least.

What is happening to Iran, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza is really sad. I will leave it there.

More sad news (ok, that should be obvious!)

"Oh, I heard it through the grapevine
Oh, I'm just about to lose my mind"

Kanya King (12.02.69 to 03.06.26) originally from Kilburn, north London, of Irish and Ghanaian descent, is best known as the founder of the Music of Black Origin awards. She had been diagnosed with bowel cancer, stage 4, at the end of 2024.

BBC Radio London interview with music and style journalist/broadcaster Robert Elms
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0nd3p4j
This is an incredibly London interview.

I've found something about her recommending both Beyonce and Solange, so I've put on A Seat At the Table because the title seems to fit, hopefully now set to reappear later, along with my more usual listening.

Another heavy loss: Anthony Head, probably best known to the world Afro playing Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has died of pneumonia at the age of 72.

>49 PawsforThought: I've just messaged my partner, Mike, out shopping just now. He was a fan of the programme.

72 is definitely too young: others I can think of include my mum after a long illness and Peter Robinson who wrote the Alan Banks books (no 1 in the disambiguation) whose death seemed sudden and unexpected to his readers, whatever the truth.

>50 elkiedee: I loved Buffy and I loved Giles. The show started airing when I was in my early teens, and it was perfect timing - it showed a strong female main character who wasn’t perfect but who didn’t need to wait for some guy to solve her problems and who loved her friends. Just what I needed at that age.
I was sad to find out that the reboot wasn’t going to happen - I had been looking forward to it.

>49 PawsforThought: My favorite was his turn as "Mr. Finch" in the episode 'School Reunion', season 2 of the Doctor Who reboot, in which Sarah Jane Smith returned with Tennant as The Doctor.

Jane Yolen (1939–2026), author of many books including The Devil's Arithmetic, dies at 87 on Thursday, June 11.

'Yolen’s more than 40 novels were mostly aimed at young adults and children, and she produced many series: To name a few, the Mythopoeic Award-winning Young Merlin trilogy included Passager (1996), Hobby (1996), and Merlin (1997); the Great Alta series included Sister Light, Sister Dark (1988), White Jenna (1989), and The One-Armed Queen (1998); the Pit Dragon series included with Dragon’s Blood (1982), Heart’s Blood (1984), A Sending of Dragons (1987), and Dragon’s Heart (2009); and the Seelie Wars series, written with her son Adam, was The Hostage Prince (2013), The Last Changeling (2014), and The Seelie King’s War (2016). She also wrote standalones The Devil’s Arithmetic (1988), which was nominated for a Nebula Award and a World Fantasy Award; adult fantasy Briar Rose (1992), which won a Mythopoeic Award and was nominated for Locus, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards; and Locus Award winner Pay the Piper (2005), among many others.'
https://locusmag.com/2026/06/jane-yolen-1939-2026/

>53 avatiakh: That is sad to see, Kerry. Her YA novels on the Holocaust are important book.

Artist David Hockney at 88 - may expand this post if needed later.

On Friday, June 12, Gene Shalit died at 100. I hadn't heard anything of him for so long that I assumed he had already died.

Tribute from NPR

>56 LizzieD: - I watched CBS Sunday Morning, expecting Jane Pauley to say a few personal words, memories of having worked with him on the Today show for so many years, but, nothing. A bit surprising.

The link you posted doesn't take me anywhere....

>57 jessibud2: Hmm...link worked fine for me, Shelley.

>58 kac522: I think she edited it. >57 jessibud2: I was surprised at that, too.

>56 LizzieD:, >59 laytonwoman3rd: - Thanks

Roy Hattersley, British Labour politician and author of a number of books, has died aged 93. I seem to have lost a post about him, which is annoying.

>61 elkiedee: That is a shame, Luci, he was a grand old figure of the Labour movement. A little bit more to the right of the party than I was but a decent man.

>62 PaulCranswick:: Not my politics at all really - he was a witch hunter and a horrible figure in my students union (who died young of the after-effects of COVID) was very much his cheerleader in the 1980s, when Derek Draper arranged for Roy Hattersley to visit the students' union.

>56 LizzieD: aw. I used to enjoy reading his punny reviews. I think it was Shalit who said the movie Earthquake had too many faults. 🤭

Very sad to see that Sam Neill the New Zealand actor has passed away suddenly at 78.

Loved him in "Reilly, Ace of Spies"

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/crl1gk55rzet

>65 PaulCranswick: Very sad, though I knew about the cancer diagnosis. He was in so many films, many cameo parts as well as main roles. He was great in Hunt for the Wilderpeople. I remember going to the cinema and seeing him in Sleeping Dogs, his first big role and one of the first big NZ films back in the 1970s.

Incredibly sad about Sam Neill. He seemed like such a gem of a person (his instagram was a real light spot in the dark hole that is social media). And a phenomenal actor, too.

And it wasn’t long at all since he’s been declared cancer free. Such a sad day. (Even my mum, who isn’t really into “famous people”, talked about how sad it was. He is part of a lot of people’s traditions here, as Ivanhoe is broadcast in the afternoon of New Year’s Day every single year. So it’s not New Year’s unless you’re lazing on the sofa, eating pizza and watching Sam.)

I watched him recently in a movie made for T.V. called "Apples Never Fall" about tennis and family. He was wonderful!

Neill wrote a memoir, Did I Ever Tell You This? a few years ago.

>69 avatiakh: I will look for this, Kerry, thank you.