Goodbye to Jim McDivitt at the age of 93.
McDivitt commanded two missions in space, one Gemini and one Apollo, and both were key missions in American space history.
McDivitt's Gemini mission would see the first American (Ed White) take a spacewalk outside the capsule and his Apollo 9 mission that took place in Earth orbit was important in testing the lunar module before sending it to the moon.
An Air Force fighter pilot during the Korean War, McDivitt was selected as one of the second group of astronauts in 1962 and his Gemini flight established McDivitt as the first American astronaut to command his first flight in space.
McDivitt claimed, at first, to have seen a UFO during the Gemini flight but shortly after changed his story to the UFO's merely shadows of bolts on the outside of the spacecraft.
McDivitt would also appear as himself in an episode of "The Brady Bunch" during the show's final season in the episode where Greg is pulling a hoax on Peter and Bobby about UFOs.
Goodbye to Louise Fletcher at the age of 88.
Fletcher was a longtime character actress in television with two memorable roles with one winning the Oscar for best actress in 1975 for her role in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" which starred Jack Nicholson and would win the Oscar for best film with Nicholson adding best actor, Milos Forman for best director, and best-adapted screenplay for a clean sweep of the five largest awards.
Fletcher never capitalized on her role as "Nurse Ratched" to move onto stardom but she continued to work in television and film in supporting roles with her most memorable performances as the ruthless and pious Bajoran religious leader "Kai Winn" in the Star Trek series "Deep Space Nine".
Goodbye to Jim Bohannon at the age of 78.
The long-time host of the Westwood One radio network had hosted "The Jim Bohannon Show" which replaced "The Larry King Show" on the night owl shift in 1993 and Bohannon retired from the show only last month due to the illness that would take his life.
Bohannon also hosted "America in the Morning" for Westwood One (Formerly Mutual) from 1984-2015 and my favorite Bohannon program, a brief daily snippet entitled "The Offbeat" which would also air on his other two programs.
Bohannon is an inductee in two broadcasting Hall of Fames, the national Radio (2003) and the NAB version in 2021.
Goodbye to Robert Clary at the age of 96.
Known best for his portrayal of " Corporal LeBeau" on the 60s sitcom "Hogan's Heroes", Clary was an actual prisoner in World War II and spent almost three years in German concentration camps.
Clary was the final surviving member of the ensemble cast of "Hogan" and was part of the show for the entire six-season run.
Goodbye to John Y. Brown at the age of 88.
Brown's varied resume' lists owned the Kentucky Colonels to their only ABA title, folded the Colonels and take a buyout instead during the ABA-NBA merger that left Louisville without pro hoops ever since, took the money from the Colonel's sale and bought the Buffalo Braves, traded the Braves for the Boston Celtics with the new owners of the Braves moving them to San Diego, leaving a second town without pro basketball since, drove Red Auerbach nuts to the point that he almost left Boston to run the rival New York Knicks, and without consulting Auerbach, traded three first-rounders for Bob McAdoo.
That's just the sports portion as you then add Brown as the man that bought Kentucky Fried Chicken from the venerable Colonel Harlan Sanders, co-founded Kenny Rogers Roasters, married NFL Today star Phyllis George, served as Governor of Kentucky, and is the father of CNN's Pamela Brown.
Quite a life, even if it wasn't all for the greater good.
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