JANUARY
2- Daryl Dragon, 76, of singing duo the Captain & Tennille, best known for pop hits “Love Will Keep Us Together” and “Muskrat Love.”
15- Carol Channing, 97, actress who popularized the role of Dolly Levi in “Hello, Dolly!” on Broadway
21- Harris Wofford, 92, former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, member of President John F. Kennedy’s cabinet and civil rights activist.
26 – Michel Legrand, 86, Oscar-winning composer and pianist
26 –Dr. James Frank, the former commissioner of the Southwestern Athletic Conference and the first black president of the NCAA*
29- James Ingram, 66, Grammy-winning R&B singer who also earned an Oscar nomination for his songwriting.
FEBRUARY
4 – Kristoff St. John, 52. An actor best known for playing Neil Winters on the CBS soap opera “The Young and the Restless.”*
7- Frank Robinson, 83, first Black manager in Major League Baseball, who was also a Hall of Famer and won the MVP award in both leagues, the only player to ever do so.
7- John Dingell, 92, popular former Michigan congressman who was the longest-serving member of Congress in American history. He served for 59 years.
8- Albert Finney, 82, British actor best known for his portrayal of Ebenezer Scrooge in the movie musical “Scrooge,” as well as his roles in “Tom Jones” and “Skyfall,” for which he earned two Academy Award-nominations.
10- Jan-Michael Vincent, 73, “Airwolf” television star
12- Lyndon LaRouche Jr., 96, who ran for president in every election from 1976 to 2004, including a campaign waged from federal prison. *
15- Lee Radziwill, 85, popular socialite and sister of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy.
18- Wallace Smith Broecker, 87, scientist whose climate change research gave rise to the term “global warming.”
19- Karl Lagerfeld, 85, Chanel’s popular couturier and fashion trendsetter
21- Peter Tork, 77, singer-songwriter and instrumentalist from The Monkees.
21- Stanley Donen, 94, popular Hollywood director and choreographer responsible for classic films such as”Singin’ in the Rain” and “Funny Face.”
23- Katherine Helmond, 89, Emmy-nominated and Golden Globe-winning actress best known for her roles on the ABC sitcoms “Who’s the Boss?” and “Soap.”
26- Andy Anderson, 68, British rock drummer who played with The Cure, Steve Hillage and Iggy Pop, among others.
28- Andre Previn, 89, pianist, composer and conductor whose broad reach took in the worlds of Hollywood, jazz and classical music.
MARCH
4- Luke Perry, 52, popular actor who portrayed Dylan McKay on “Beverly Hills, 90210.”
14- Birch Bayh, 91. A former U.S. senator who championed the federal law banning discrimination against women in college admissions and sports*
16- Dick Dale, 83, best known as the “King of the Surf Guitar.”
18- R&B singer and producer Andre Williams
22- Scott Walker, 76, British singer, songwriter and producer best known for his work with the Walker Brothers, known for pop hits like “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore.”
29- Ken Gibson, 86, first Black mayor of a major Northeast city, Newark, New Jersey
31- Nipsey Hussle, 33, Grammy-nominated rapper, successful entrepreneur and community activist
APRIL
6- Ernest F. “Fritz” Hollings, 97. South Carolina Democrat who led the state through the desegregation process as governor, then went on to serve six terms in the U.S. Senate.
8- Audrey Johnson-Thornton, 93, founder of the American Women’s Heritage Society and president emeritus of Philadelphia’s Belmont Mansion
9- Charles Van Doren, 93, infamous 1950s game show contestant who inspired the movie “Quiz Show”
12- Georgia Engel, 70, best known for the role of Georgette on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”
23- Mark Medoff, 79, Tony and Olivier award winning playwright, best known for “Children of a Lesser God”
25- John Havlicek, 79. The Boston Celtics great whose steal of Hal Greer’s inbounds pass in the final seconds of the 1965 Eastern Conference final against the Philadelphia 76ers remains one of the most famous plays in NBA history*
28 –Damon J. Keith, 96, U.S. Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth District and civil rights trailblazer
28- Richard Lugar, 87, former U.S. senator known for leading denuclearization process between the US and the then Soviet Union
29- John Singleton, 51, director and community advocate best known for the Oscar-nominated “Boyz N the Hood.”
30- Peter Mayhew, 74, actor best known for his portrayal of the character of Chewbacca in the original “Star Wars” trilogy and two other films.
MAY
11- Peggy Lipton, 72, actress best known for her roles in the 1960s TV show “The Mod Squad” and “Twin Peaks” in the 1990s
13- Doris Day, 97, actress and singer who was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars in the 1950s and ’60s, best known for her roles opposite Rock Hudson.
13- Davida Godett, 43, Philadelphia based stroke awareness advocate, founder and president of Caterpillar to Butterfly organization
14- Tim Conway, 85, beloved Emmy Award winning comedian best known for his roles on The Carol Burnett Show and “McHale’s Navy.”
21 –Binyavanga Wainaina, 48, popular African author and gay rights activist
24- Murray Gell-Mann, 89. The Nobel Prize-winning physicist who brought order to the universe by helping discover and classify subatomic particles.*
27- Bill Buckner, 69, star hitter who made one of the biggest blunders in baseball history when he let Mookie Wilson’s trickler roll through his legs in the 1986 World Series.*
30- Thad Cochran, 81, former senator from Mississippi who served in Congress for 45 years
30- Patricia Bath, 76, groundbreaking ophthalmologist who became the first African American female doctor to receive a medical patent
30- Leon Redbone, 69, blues and jazz artist
30- Frank Lucas, 88. The former Harlem drug kingpin whose life and lore inspired the 2007 film “American Gangster.”*
30- Cam Williams, 66, Film critic,entertainment journalist and Philadelphia Sunday SUN columnist
JUNE
1- Leah Chase, 96, well known New Orleans chef who founded Dooky Chase’s Restaurant, the city’s first formal restaurant catering to Black patrons, and who served as the inspiration for Princess Tiana in Disney’s animated film, “The Princess and the Frog.”
6- Dr. John, 77, popular New Orleans singer and pianist
17- Gloria Vanderbilt, 95, storied heiress — who was also the mother of CNN anchor Anderson Cooper — and designer jeans pioneer.
22- Judith Krantz, 91, best selling novelist
23 –Dave Bartholomew, 100,New Orleans rock n’ roll songwriter and producer who co-wrote Fats Domino’s classic hits “Ain’t That a Shame” and “I’m Walkin'” with the popular artist
26- Beth Chapman, 51, wife and co-star of “Dog the Bounty Hunter” reality TV star Duane “Dog” Chapman.
JULY
2- Lee Iacocca, 94, auto executive who was instrumental in the successful restructuring of Chrysler Corporation
6- Joao Gilberto, 88,innovative Brazilian singer, guitarist and songwriter who helped shape the bossa nova music genre
9- Phil Freelon, 66, architect and co-designer of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
9- H. Ross Perot, 89. self-made Texas billionaire who ran for president twice as a third party candidate.
9- Rip Torn, 88, Emmy Award winning television, theater and movie actor best known such as”Men in Black”
10- Jerry Lawson, 75, best known as the lead singer of the cappella group The Persuasions.
14- Pernell Whitaker, 55, Olympic gold medalist and four-division boxing champion
15- Edith Irby Jones, 91, the first woman to lead the National Medical Association and founding member of the Association of Black Cardiologists. Jones was also the first African American to be accepted as a non-segregated student at the University of Arkansas Medical School.
16- John Paul Stevens, 99, Republican-nominated Supreme Court Justice who later became the Court’s strongest liberal jurist.
16- Johnny Clegg, 66, pioneering South African musician who performed in defiance of racial barriers imposed under the country’s apartheid system*
17- Elijah “Pumpsie” Green, 85. The former Boston Red Sox infielder was the first Black player on the last major league team to field one.*
22- Art Neville, 81, musician, member of New Orleans’ Neville Brothers family band, and a founding member of The Meters
22- Chris Kraft, 95. The founder of NASA’s mission control.
26- Robert Mendelsohn, 61, Philadelphia Sunday SUN photographer who also worked with many other Philadelphia based news outlets and organizations over the years.
31- Harold Prince, 91, multiple Tony Award-winning Broadway director and producer best known for popular shows such as “Cabaret,” “Company,” “Sweeney Todd” and the iconic “The Phantom of the Opera.”
AUGUST
3- Henri Belolo, 82, co-founder of popular music group The Village People who also co-wrote their classic hits “In the Navy,” “Macho Man” and “YMCA.”
5- Toni Morrison, 88. Transformative, Pulitzer prize winning African American author of popular novels such as “Beloved,” “Song of Solomon” and many other works now deemed classics in American literature.
16- Peter Fonda, 79, actor and the son of a Hollywood legend Henry Fonda best known for writing and starring in the classic film “Easy Rider.”
18- Kathleen Blanco, 76, Louisiana’s first woman elected governor
23- David H. Koch, 79, billionaire industrialist who formed a conservative lobbying group with his older brother Charles simply known as the Koch Brothers
27- Baxter Leach, 79. A prominent member of the Memphis, Tennessee, sanitation workers union whose historic strike drew the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to the city where he was assassinated.*
29- Jim Leavelle, 99, longtime Dallas lawman featured in one of history’s most iconic photographs as he escorted accused Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in the instant he was fatally shot by nightclub owner Jack Ruby.
30- Valerie Harper, 80, best known as Rhoda Morgenstern on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and its spinoff, “Rhoda.”
SEPTEMBER
6- Robert Mugabe, 95. The former Zimbabwean leader was an ex-guerrilla chief who took power when the African country shook off white minority rule and presided for decades while economic turmoil and human rights violations eroded.*
13- Eddie Money, 70, rock legend best known for such hits as”Take Me Home Tonight” and
“Two Tickets to Paradise.”
15- Ric Ocasek, 75, frontman for The Cars
17- Cokie Roberts, 75, broadcast journalist who covered Washington for four decades
19- Emily Clyburn,80, civil rights advocate and wife of Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.).
19- Barron Hilton, 91, hotel magnate and founding owner of the American Football League.
26- Jacques Chirac, 86. A two-term French president who acknowledged France’s role in the Holocaust and openly opposed the Iraq invasion in 2003.
27– Joseph Wilson, 69. The former ambassador — the husband of outed CIA agent Valerie Plame — who openly disputed U.S. intelligence used to justify the 2003 Iraq invasion.
30– Jessye Norman, 74. Multiple award winning and iconic international opera star
OCTOBER
1- Beverly “Guitar” Watkins, 79, American blues guitarist
4- Diahann Carroll, 84. The Oscar-nominated actress and singer who made history as the first Black woman to star in a non-servant role in a TV series as “Julia” and who later starred in the popular series “Dynasty” as well as the movie “Claudine, among many others
6-Ginger Baker, 80. The storied and talented drummer for Cream, Baker Gurvitz Army and other bands
6-Rip Taylor, 88. The madcap, mustached comedian with a fondness for confetti-throwing who became a television game show mainstay in the 1970s.*
11- James Stern, 55, Black activist who took control of one of the nation’s largest neo-Nazi groups, vowing to dismantle it.*
11-Alexei Leonov, 85, Soviet cosmonaut who was the first person to walk in space.
17- Elijah E. Cummings, 68, beloved U. S. congressman from Maryland, who was a tireless civil rights advocate and chairman of the powerful House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
17- Bill Macy, 97, character actor best known for his role as Walter in the 1970s sitcom, “Maude.”
22- Willie Brown, 78, NFL Hall of Famer and legendary Oakland Raiders cornerback
23- Kathryn Johnson, 93, Associated Press reporter whose intrepid coverage of the Civil Rights Movement and other major stories led to a string of legendary scoops.*
27- John Conyers, 90, former U.S.congressman from Michighan who was one of the longest-serving members of Congress and whose resolutely liberal stance on civil rights made him a political institution in Washington and back home in Detroit despite several scandals.*
28- John Walker, 82, Arkansas lawmaker and civil rights attorney who represented Black students in a long-running court fight over the desegregation of Little Rock-area schools.
29- John Witherspoon, 77, actor best known for his role as Ice Cube’s father in the “Friday” films.
NOVEMBER
5- Ernest J. Gaines, 86, popular African American novelist
10- Bernard Tyson, 60, chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente, died Nov. 10.*
11- Charles Rogers,38, former wide receiver with the Detroit Lions and Michigan State University star
15- Harrison Dillar, 96,was the oldest living U.S. Olympic gold medal-winner” and “the only male runner in history to win Olympic gold in both a dash and the high hurdles.”*
23- Barbara Hillary, 88, first Black woman on record reach the North and South poles
25- Garth Reeves, Sr.,100, Miami Times publisher known as the “conscience of the Black community”*
25- Rev. George Clements, 87, longtime civil rights advocate from Chicago’s South Side
27- William Doyle Ruckelshaus, 87, who resigned from Justice Department rather than carry out President Richard Nixon’s order to fire the special prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal.*
27- Rev. Clay Evans, 94, popular Chicago civil rights leader, pastor and recording artist, as well as co-founder of Operation PUSH with Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr.
29- Edna Smith Primus, 75, South Carolina civil rights lawyer who was the first black woman to graduate from the University of South Carolina’s School of Law, then went on to win a Supreme Court case redefining free speech rights for attorneys.
DECEMBER
4- Margaret Lawrence, 105, first Black American woman psychoanalyst
4- Christine Chambers, 39, popular photographer and playwright whose work highlighted the work of the Black theater community
8- Juice WRLD, 21, popular rapper and rising star — whose real name was Jarad Higgins — best known for his chart topping hit “Lucid Dreams.”
8- René Auberjonois, 79, popular actor best known for his roles on the television shows “Benson” and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”
8- Caroll Spinney, 85, Sesame Street puppeteer who provided the voices of Big Bird — a lifesize puppet that he actually had to wear — and Oscar the Grouch for nearly 50 years
8- Paul Volcker, 92, former Federal Reserve chairman
9- Pete Frates, 34, former college baseball player whose battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease helped inspire the ALS ice bucket challenge that has raised more than $200 million worldwide.*
12- Danny Aiello, 86, popular character actor whose iconic performance in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing.” earned him an Oscar-nomination.
13- Richard Hatcher, 86, trailblazing lawyer and politician who in 1967 was one of the first Black Americans elected as mayor in a major city — Gary, Indiana — a position he held for 20 years
14- Tanya B. Johnson, 76, educator and long time dance instructor at Philadelphia’s historic Sydney School of Dance
15- Chuck Peddle, 82, creator of the PC microchip that led to the computer being more accessible to everyone.
16- Mama Cax, (Cacsmy Burris) 30, model and disability activist. Walked the runway for Tommy Hilfinger and Savage X Fenty and modeled for Sephora.
18- Herman Boone, 84, legendary football coach whose life story inspired the movie “Remember the Titans”
21- Joseph Segel, 88, Founder of the QVC shopping network.
24- Sirvart “Silva” Kaloustian, 89, local Paris trained fashion designer who catered to Philadelphia’s Main Line elite
24- Edward Ashcroft, 34, ESPN college football reporter
24- Allee Willis, 72, Hall-of-Fame songwriter whose hits included Earth, Wind and Fire’s “September” and the theme from the television show “Friends”
Sources: Associated Press, Miami Herald, NewsOne, The Post and Courier, and Wikipedia
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