Remembering The Passed

Remembering Tony Mendez, Luke Perry, Katherine Helmond, Kevin Roche

Tony Mendez was the CIA operative who masterminded a scheme to secret six American hostages out of the Canadian Embassy in Iran by having them pose as a movie crew. The story was the basis for the 2012 Academy Award winning movie Argo. Luke Perry was the 1990’s heartthrob for his role in the popular television series Beverly Hills 90210 (1990-2000). He later appeared in movies and in the series Riverdale (2017-2018). Katherine Helmond was the actress who specialized in playing dotty middle-aged women in television shows such as Soap (1977- 1981) and Who’s the Boss (1984-1992). Kevin Roche was one of the world’s foremost architects, responsible for over 200 projects, and a Pritzker Prize winner

Remembering Andre Previn, Stanley Donen, Peter Tork

Andre Previn was one of the great conductors of the postwar generation. He conducted a number of symphonies, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra. He won four Academy Awards for his movie scores. Stanley Donen was the great musical director of the 1950’s who frequently worked with Gene Kelly. His greatest work was Singing in the Rain (1952). Peter Tork was the carefree spirit who was one of America’s most popular television stars as one of The Monkees, four guys who aspired to be a rock and roll band.

Remembering Albert Finney, Bruno Ganz, Lee Radziwill, Airbus A380, Lady Perez

Albert Finney was one of the finest British actors of our generation. He began in the late 1950’s in British television and “kitchen-sink” dramas. He was an accomplished Shakespearean actor who got his big break in Tom Jones (1963). He was nominated for Oscars five times, never winning. Bruno Ganz was the great Swiss actor who is best known for his portrayal of Adolf Hitler in the 2004 German film Downfall. Lee Radziwill was best known as the sister of Jacqueline Kennedy. The Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger plane, will be ceasing production after 16 years. Lady Perez was a faithful and loving dog to the Perez family for over a decade

Remembering Gordon Banks, Stewart Adams, Walter Munk

Gordon Banks was recognized as perhaps the greatest goalie in the history of English football. He was the goalie on the 1966 World Cup champions and made what is often regarded as the greatest save in World Cup history, off a header by Pele against Brazil in 1970. Stewart Adams was the English pharmacist who led the team that discovered ibuprofen, one of the world’s most widely used drugs. Walter Munk was the venerable oceanographer from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at University of California San Diego. His work on oceanic wave formation was critical to the 1944 Normandy landing. He worked at Scripps for eight decades.

Remembering Don Newcombe, Karl Lagerfeld, George Mendonsa

Don Newcombe was the African-American pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the late 1940’s and 1950’s who dominated the National League for several years. He was brought up several years after Jackie Robinson to support Robinson on the great Dodger teams of the era. He was the National League MVP and Major League Cy Young winner in 1956. Karl Lagerfeld was the German fashion designer with an international reputation who helped restore the house of Chanel. George Mendonsa was the sailor immortalized in the famous photograph taken on V-J Day by Alfred Eisenstaedt known as The Kiss.

Remembering Lt. Col. Jim Nicholson

Jim Nicholson was many things in his career - among them an investigative reporter, a military intelligence officer, and the best obituary writer in the country. From 1982-2001, he wrote obituaries, primarily for The Philadelphia Daily News, and he specialized in “common man” obits. He is widely regarded as one of the pioneers in that field, and recognized for his skill in capturing the essence of his subjects. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize six times, and his work as an investigative reporter helped bring down some of Philadelphia’s leading crime figures. His book on military intelligence, Because No One Else Can is considered a classic in the field. He was one of America’s most talented writers and thinkers.

Remembering Manfred Eigen

Manfred Eigen was awarded one half of the 1967 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, along with Ronald Norrish and George Porter, for his work on the study of ultrafast chemical reactions. He studied physics and chemistry under a number of Nobel Prize Laureates including Werner Heisenberg. As part of his work at the Max Planck Institute, Dr. Eigen used sound waves to measure chemical reactions at the nanosecond level. This ultimately led to discoveries in a number of fields including organic and inorganic chemistry, and eventually his work led to a new field of science: evolutionary biotechnology.

Remembering Julie Adams, Morton Sobell, Capt. Rosemary Mariner, Harold Bradley

Julie Adams was the curvaceous star of the iconic 1954 horror film “The Creature From the Black Lagoon.” Morton Sobell was the Soviet spy arrested and tried with the Rosenbergs. He received a lesser sentence but did not admit his guilt until fifty years later. Rosemary Mariner was one of the fist women to earn her wings as a United States Naval Aviator and the first to fly a tactical jet. Harold Bradley was one of the most prolific Nashville Cats, the studio musicians for Nashville’s country music sound.

Remembering Frank Robinson, Bob Friend, Dick Miller, Jacqueline Steiner, C.Y. Lee

Frank Robinson was one of the great baseball players of the second half of the 20th Century, as well as being the first black manager in baseball. He was the only man to be named Most Valuable Player in both the American and National League, and he was a Triple Crown winner for the Baltimore Orioles in 1966. Bob Friend was an ace pitcher for the legendary Pittsburgh Pirate World Series team of 1960. Dick Miller was the star of the 1959 horror-comedy classic “A Bucket of Blood”. Jacqueline Steiner was a folk singer who wrote the iconic folk tune M.T.A., popularized by the Kingston Trio in 1959. C.Y. Lee wrote the novel The Flower Drum Song, which was adapted into a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical and a popular 1961 movie.

Remembering Lt. Col. Charles Kettles

Lt. Col. Charles Kettles was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2016 for his heroic extraction of 88 men from an overrun position in South Vietnam at Duc Pho in 1967. During the early morning hours of May 15, 1967, personnel of the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, were ambushed in the Song Tra Cau riverbed by an estimated battalion-sized force of the North Vietnamese army with numerous automatic weapons, machine guns, mortars and recoilless rifles. The enemy force fired from a fortified complex of deeply embedded tunnels and bunkers, and was shielded from suppressive fire. Upon learning that the 1st Brigade had suffered casualties during an intense firefight with the enemy, then-Maj. Charles S. Kettles, volunteered to lead a flight of six UH-1D helicopters to carry reinforcements to the embattled force and to evacuate wounded personnel. As the flight approached the landing zone, it came under heavy enemy attack. Deadly fire was received from multiple directions and soldiers were hit and killed before they could leave the arriving lift helicopters. Major Kettles made an emergency extraction of the wounded and subsequently made three more flights into the combat zone under great duress to rescue the remaining force.