Goodbye to Max Wright at the age of 75 from Cancer.
Wright, who retired from acting in 2005, was a character actor for many years before landing the lead role as "Willie Tanner" in ALF in the 1980s.
One would have thought that Wright would have been happy with a hit TV show and finally getting his big break, but Wright reportedly hated the show and everything about it.
ALF was a difficult show to film as the puppet needed to be moved incrementally and the show maintained a long and grueling schedule in the process of performing.
Wright was so miserable on the set that he rarely dealt with any of his co-stars and reportedly performed his last role in the final scene of filming and walked off the set, grabbed his bags and left the facility.
Wright did realize how happy the show made others as a later interview acknowledged "the joy that the show brought to viewers".
Goodbye to Arte Johnson at the age of 90.
Johnson, who was about ten years older than I would have expected, was most famous for his tenure on "Laugh-In", but I remember him better for his guest-starring roles on anthology shows such as Love Boat and Fantasy Island among others.
Johnson also was a regular on game shows such as Match Game etc and did voice-over work for years.
Goodbye to Tony Barone at the age of 72.
Barone, the head basketball coach at Creighton and Texas A&M before joining the Memphis Grizzlies as an assistant and finishing a season as the Grizzlies interim head coach in 2006-07.
Barone was successful at Creighton, winning over 100 games and leading the then mid-major to two NCAA's before struggling in his seven years at Texas A&M in finishing 44 games under .500
Goodbye to Kerry Marbury at the age of 67.
Marbury rushed for over 1,600 yards in two seasons (1971 and 1972) at West Virginia before leaving a season early in an era when the NFL would not take players before their senior class graduated.
Marbury played two seasons in Canada with Toronto and Ottawa before finishing his career in the WFL with a brief appearance with the Birmingham Vulcans.
Marbury played his high school football on the same team as Alabama head coach Nick Saban in winning two West Virginia state titles.
Finally, Goodbye to Jared Lorenzen at the age of 38.
Lorenzen, who became better known for his girth during his playing career, was an excellent quarterback at Kentucky as Lorenzen broke the school records for passing yards and touchdowns previously held by Tim Couch, before winning a Super Bowl ring with the Giants as the backup to Eli Manning.
Lorenzen had lifelong struggles with weight but had recently lost over 100 pounds before his death.
This ESPN article by Tommy Tomlinson looks at that struggle and how Tomlinson relates it to his own weight struggles.
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