Angela Pleasence obit

Angela Pleasence dead: Coronation Street and Casualty star dies aged 84

Former Coronation Street and Casualty star Angela Pleasence has died at the age of 84, her talent agency has shared in a heartbreaking statement

 

She was not on the list.

A Coronation Street star has died. Angela Pleasance, the daughter of acting legend Donald and his wife, Miriam Raymond, was 84.

Over the course of her career, Angela, from Chapeltown in Sheffield, starred as Monica Sutton on ITV's Coronation Street, before going on to appear in the likes of The Possessed, The Expert, Casualty, The Bill, Doctor Who, during which she played Queen Elizabeth I, and the Doctor Who spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures.

In a statement shared on social media, her agency said: "We are very sad to announce the passing of our dear client, Angela Pleasance. We were honoured to represent Angela, who built a career of quiet distinction spanning more than five decades. After training at RADA, she made her stage debut in 1964 as ‘Titania’ in a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

"She went on to perform at the National Theatre and in the West End in productions including Ghetto, The Hothouse, and The Cherry Orchard.

"Angela also became closely associated with classic British horror, delivering memorable performances in films such as From Beyond the Grave, The Godsend, and Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York. In these roles, she brought remarkable depth and unease to complex, often enigmatic characters.

"Alongside her film work, Angela remained a constant presence on British television, with credits ranging from period drama to modern series such as Doctor Who and Happy Valley. She was also well known for her portrayal of Catherine Howard in the BBC series The Six Wives of Henry VIII.

"While never defined by any one genre, her contribution to the British industry remains a distinctive and much-admired part of her legacy. Our thoughts are with her family at this very sad time."

Tributes have since poured in, with one sad fan writing: "Great talent great loss. Condolences for family and friends. A beautiful actress."

"She was fabulous, very sad to hear this. Rip," said another. While a third penned: "So sad to hear of this. Condolences to her family. She was a wonderful and talented actress."

"Very sad to hear this. She was a wonderful actress," commented another. A friend of the late star typed: "Oh my goodness. I am so sorry to read this. Angela was a great friend of a friend of mine, and happy occasions of shared meals and laughter."

Born in South Yorkshire, Angela studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before making her stage debut. Her first major movie role was in Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973), before she appeared in the films From Beyond the Grave and Symptoms.

Her last movie credit saw her play Mother in the 2011 film Your Highness, alongside Danny McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman, Zooey Deschanel and Justin Theroux. While Angela's last television acting role was in 2016, playing Winnie in two episodes of Happy Valley.

Actress

Sarah Lancashire in Happy Valley (2014)

Happy Valley

8.5

TV Series

Winnie

2016

2 episodes

 

Phil Davis, Steve Pemberton, and Rupert Penry-Jones in Whitechapel (2009)

Whitechapel

7.8

TV Series

Louise Iver

2013

6 episodes

 

John Leeson, Elisabeth Sladen, Yasmin Paige, Daniel Anthony, Tommy Knight, Sinead Michael, and Anjli Mohindra in The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007)

The Sarah Jane Adventures

7.5

TV Series

Mystic Mags

2011

1 episode

 

Natalie Portman, James Franco, and Danny McBride in Your Highness (2011)

Your Highness

5.5

Mother

2011

 

Casualty (1986)

Casualty

6.2

TV Series

CatherineSonia

1993–2009

2 episodes

 

David Suchet in Poirot (1989)

Poirot

8.6

TV Series

Nanny

2008

1 episode

 

Christopher Eccleston, Peter Capaldi, David Tennant, Matt Smith, and Jodie Whittaker in Doctor Who (2005)

Doctor Who

8.5

TV Series

Queen Elizabeth

2007

1 episode

 

The Gigolos (2006)

The Gigolos

5.4

Joy

2006

 

Doctors (2000)

Doctors

4.5

TV Series

Amy Edgeworth

2006

1 episode

 

Waverley (2005)

Waverley

8.4

Short

Waverley

2005

 

Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie in Marple (2004)

Marple

7.9

TV Series

Miss Hartnell

2004

1 episode

 

Colin Blumenau, Nula Conwell, Peter Ellis, Trudie Goodwin, Jon Iles, Gary Olsen, Eric Richard, John Salthouse, Tony Scannell, Jeff Stewart, and Mark Wingett in The Bill (1984)

The Bill

6.7

TV Series

MarthaMrs. Sadler

1995–2003

2 episodes

 

Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, and Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York (2002)

Gangs of New York

7.5

Woman Accomplice (as Angela Pleasance)

2002

 

Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible (2001)

Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible

7.3

TV Series

Lizzy

2001

1 episode

 

The Search for John Gissing (2001)

The Search for John Gissing

6.4

Johanna Frielduct

2001

 

Cider with Rosie (1998)

Cider with Rosie

6.4

TV Movie

Crabby

1998

 

Annette Badland, Neil Dudgeon, and Nick Hendrix in Midsomer Murders (1997)

Midsomer Murders

7.9

TV Series

Doris Winstanley

1998

1 episode

 

Declan Mulholland in The Pig's Family (1997)

The Pig's Family

Short

Rosy

1997

 

Chloë Victoria Annett and Michael French in Crime Traveller (1997)

Crime Traveller

7.2

TV Series

Mrs Beavis

1997

1 episode

 

The Shaman

7.6

Short

Shaman

1996

 

September (1996)

September

5.9

TV Movie

Lottie Carstairs

1996

 

The English Programme (1976)

The English Programme

4.0

TV Series

Anita Fitzpatrick

1994

3 episodes

 

Jeff Goldblum, Bob Hoskins, Natasha Richardson, and Michel Blanc in The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish (1991)

The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish

6.1

Louis' Sister

1991

 

Robin Weaver in Somewhere to Run (1989)

Somewhere to Run

8.1

TV Movie

Anita Fitzpatrick

1989

 

Stealing Heaven (1988)

Stealing Heaven

6.4

Sister Cecilia

1988

 

Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986)

Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna

6.6

TV Mini Series

Clara (madwoman)

1986

2 episodes

 

Tracey Ullman, Dawn French, Joan Greenwood, Jennifer Saunders, and Ruby Wax in Girls on Top (1985)

Girls on Top

6.5

TV Series

R.S.C. Actress #2

1986

1 episode

 

Silas Marner (1985)

Silas Marner

7.3

TV Movie

Molly

1985

 

George C. Scott in A Christmas Carol (1984)

A Christmas Carol

7.8

TV Movie

Ghost of Christmas Past

1984

 

Nicholas Farrell and Sylvestra Le Touzel in Mansfield Park (1983)

Mansfield Park

6.7

TV Mini Series

Lady Bertram

1983

6 episodes

 

Alan Rickman in The Barchester Chronicles (1982)

The Barchester Chronicles

8.1

TV Mini Series

Mrs. Grantly

1982

7 episodes

 

Colin Blakely, Anna Cropper, and Maurice Denham in A Slight Ache (1967)

The Hothouse

7.6

TV Movie

Miss Cutts

1982

 

The Walls of Jericho (1981)

The Walls of Jericho

TV Mini Series

Elsie Inglis

1981

2 episodes

 

The Godsend (1980)

The Godsend

5.3

The Stranger

1980

 

Bryan Marshall in Murder at the Wedding (1979)

Murder at the Wedding

7.6

TV Mini Series

Pam Appleyard

1979

3 episodes

 

Les Miserables (1978)

Les Miserables

7.3

TV Movie

Fantine

1978

 

The Axe Murderer

Video

Melanie (voice)

1976

 

Jack Warner in Dixon of Dock Green (1955)

Dixon of Dock Green

6.9

TV Series

Alice Benfield

1976

1 episode

 

A Legacy (1975)

A Legacy

6.2

TV Series

Clara von FeldenClara von Bernin

1975

4 episodes

 

Churchill's People (1974)

Churchill's People

5.6

TV Series

Jorild

1975

1 episode

 

Play for Today (1970)

Play for Today

7.8

TV Series

Nell Hamer

1975

1 episode

 

Aquarius (1970)

Aquarius

6.5

TV Series

Jean

1974

1 episode

 

BBC Play of the Month (1965)

BBC Play of the Month

7.0

TV Series

Julia

1974

1 episode

 

Lorna Heilbron, Marie-Paule Mailleux, Angela Pleasence, and Peter Vaughan in Symptoms (1974)

Symptoms

6.4

Helen

1974

 

From Beyond the Grave (1974)

From Beyond the Grave

6.6

Emily Underwood (Segment 2 "An Act of Kindness")

1974

 

Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973)

Hitler: The Last Ten Days

6.5

Trude

1973

 

The Love Ban (1973)

The Love Ban

4.7

Mick's Secretary

1973

 

Ros Drinkwater and Francis Matthews in Paul Temple (1969)

Paul Temple

7.0

TV Series

Betty Martin

1970

1 episode

 

The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970)

The Six Wives of Henry VIII

8.4

TV Mini Series

Catherine Howard

1970

2 episodes

 

The Ladies: A Double Bill

TV Movie

1969

 

Destiny of a Spy (1969)

Destiny of a Spy

7.2

TV Movie

Peace Girl

1969

 

The Wednesday Play (1964)

The Wednesday Play

7.3

TV Series

LizBeatrice Grayson

1969

2 episodes

 

Ann Bell and Peter Sallis in Plays of Today (1969)

Plays of Today

TV Series

Jackson

1969

1 episode

 

Marius Goring in The Expert (1968)

The Expert

8.0

TV Series

Tina

1969

1 episode

 

The Possessed (1969)

The Possessed

8.1

TV Mini Series

Marie Shatov

1969

2 episodes

 

Peter Adamson, Jean Alexander, Johnny Briggs, Margot Bryant, and Doris Speed in Coronation Street (1960)

Coronation Street

5.6

TV Series

Monica Sutton

1968

4 episodes

 

Judy Geeson, Vanessa Howard, Diane Keen, Adrienne Posta, Angela Scoular, and Sheila White in Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (1968)

Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush

6.1

Scruffy Girl

1968

 

Donald Pleasence and Patricia Routledge in The Good & Faithful Servant (1967)

Seven Deadly Virtues

TV Series

Carol

1967

1 episode

 

Phillip Manikum and Christopher Matthews in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1967)

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

TV Series

Maid

1967

1 episode

 

Reginald Marsh in Seven Deadly Sins (1966)

Seven Deadly Sins

TV Series

Eileen

1966

1 episode

 

Armchair Mystery Theatre (1960)

Armchair Mystery Theatre

6.6

TV Series

Ginny

1965

1 episode

 

Self

Symptoms: An Interview with Angela Pleasence

Video

Self

2016

 

Alan Clarke: Out of His Own Light (2016)

Alan Clarke: Out of His Own Light

6.6

Self

2016

 

Amicus: House of Horrors (2012)

Amicus: House of Horrors

6.8

Video

Self

2012

 

Heroes of Comedy (1992)

Heroes of Comedy

6.6

TV Series

Self

2003

1 episode

 

Call My Bluff (1965)

Call My Bluff

7.1

TV Series

Self

1985

2 episodes

 

There Go I

TV Series

Self - Presenter

1972

4 episodes

Afrika Bambaataa obit

Hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa dies at age 68

 He was not on the list.

Afrika Bambaataa, a man widely considered one of the main pioneers of hip-hop, died in Pennsylvania of prostate cancer on Thursday, according to his lawyer. He was 68.

Bambaataa’s sudden death was met with an outpouring of condolences from friends, family and fans across the world, who paid tribute to his profound and unmistakable impact on one of the world’s most popular and politically influential music genres. But others have said that his impact was overshadowed in recent years after numerous men who knew Bambaataa when they were boys accused him of sexual abuse.

The rapper and producer is best known for breakthrough tracks like 1982’s “Planet Rock” and for founding the Universal Zulu Nation art collective.

“Hip Hop will never be the same without him -- but everything hip hop is today, it is because of him. His spirit lives in every beat, every cypher and every corner of this globe he touched,” his talent agency, Naf Management Entertainment, wrote in an emailed statement on Tuesday.

The birthplace of hip hop

Bambaataa was Lance Taylor born in 1957 in the South Bronx, and he came of age at a time when the New York City neighborhood was rapidly deteriorating after intensifying segregation and years of economic neglect. By the 1970s and 1980s, landlords were burning apartment buildings to collect insurance money instead of investing in repairs, leaving low-income mostly Puerto Rican and Black families without socioeconomic opportunity.

Bambaataa had Jamaican and Barbadian heritage, and he was raised in a low-income public housing complex by his mother, according to an interview he gave Frank Broughton in 1998. He was exposed to music at an early age through his mother’s vinyl record collection.

The ability to repurpose and mix old hits became one of his signatures at the parties he began to throw in community centers across the neighborhood in the early 1970s, Bambaataa said in the interview. He was deeply inspired by the work of Kool Herc, who is often deemed the father of hip-hop.

Bambaataa and the parties where he DJ’ed swelled in popularity throughout the decade and well into the 1980s, when he released a series of electro tracks that helped shaped the burgeoning hip-hop and electro-funk music movements. He also was one of the first DJs to use beat breaks, incorporating the iconic Roland TR-808 drum machine.

“We was playin’ everything, everything that was funky,” he said. He later added that what set his parties apart was that “other DJs would play they great records for fifteen, twenty minutes. We was changing ours every minute or two. I couldn’t have no breakbeat go longer than a minute or two.”

At that time, Bambaataa said in previous interviews that he was able to leverage his affiliation with the local street gang the Black Spades in order to form a group he called the Zulu Nation, a nod to a South African ethnic group that he drew inspiration from. His slogan eventually became known as “peace, love, unity and having fun,” and he said that he sought to use hip-hops’ ballooning popularity to resolve local gang conflicts.

Later, Bambaataa changed the name to the Universal Zulu Nation to signal the inclusion of “all people from the planet earth.”

“At the core our music made people feel like they belong to a movement and not a moment, our music offered Hope something positive to believe in, it gave people identity, unity, and a way out,” Ellis Williams, a producer known as Mr. Biggs, wrote in an email to the AP. Mr. Biggs was a member of the group Afrika Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force that included Bambaataa.

Accused of sexual abuse

In recent years, numerous people have accused Bambaataa of sexual abuse.

In 2016, Bronx political activist and former music industry executive Ronald Savage accused Bambaataa of abusing him in 1980, when he was Savage was a young teen.

“I was scared, but at the same time I was like, ’This is Afrika Bambaataa,’ ” Savage told the AP in 2016. At the time he recalled, in detail, that encounter and four others that he said followed.

Bambaataa has vehemently denied those allegations.

After Savage went public with his claims, numerous other men came forward to share similar experiences about Bambaataa. In June 2016, the Universal Zulu Nation released a public letter apologizing to “the survivors of apparent sexual molestation by Bambaataa” saying that some members of the group knew about the abuse but “chose not to disclose” it.

“We extend our deepest and most sincere apologies to the many people who have been hurt,” organization wrote.

Davey Lopes obit

 

Speedy Dodgers great Lopes dead at 80

He was not on the list.

Davey Lopes has died at the age of 80.

The Los Angeles Dodgers confirmed the passing of the four-time All-Star and World Series winner on Wednesday.

A native of East Providence, RI, Lopes spent 16 seasons in the majors, playing his first decade in the league with the Dodgers. Lopes was a member of the Dodgers team that won the 1981 World Series. The Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees in six games.

Known for his speed, Lopes twice led the National League in stolen bases, posting 77 in 1975 and 63 in 1976. He finished his career with 557 swiped bags, 26th-most in MLB history. Lopes was caught stealing 114 times. A second baseman and outfielder, Lopes won a Gold Glove in 1978.

After leaving the Dodgers after the 1981 season, Lopes joined the Oakland Athletics and would later suit up for the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros, with whom he would finish his career win 1987.

Lopes finished his career with as a .263 hitter with 1,671 hits, 155 home runs, 614 runs batted in and an OPS of .737 in 1,812 games. His 42.4 career WAR is 487th all-time and puts him level with Jose Canseco and Don Mattingly.

Following his playing career, Lopes had an extensive coaching career and served as manager of the Milwaukee Brewers for parts of three seasons from 2000 to 2002, posting a mark of 144-195. Lopes also spent time on the staffs of the Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, San Diego Padres, Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals. From 2011 to 2015, Lopes returned to the Dodgers as first base coach.

A rare blend of speed and power, Lopes hit a career-high 28 home runs in 1979, becoming one of only seven second basemen in NL history to have hit that many home runs in a season (Rogers Hornsby, Davey Johnson, Jeff Kent, Ryne Sandberg, Juan Samuel, and Chase Utley are the others)

His 557 career stolen bases rank 26th all-time, but his success rate of 83.01% (557 steals in only 671 attempts) ranks 3rd-best all time among players with 400 or more career stolen bases (behind Tim Raines and Willie Wilson). In 1975, Lopes stole 38 consecutive bases without getting caught, breaking a 53-year-old record set by Max Carey. Lopes' record was later broken by Vince Coleman in 1989. Lopes led the National League with 77 steals in 1975, and again with 63 the following season. He won the Gold Glove Award for second basemen in 1978.

Before the 1982 season, the Dodgers sent Lopes to the Oakland Athletics (for minor leaguer Lance Hudson) to make room for rookie second baseman Steve Sax. With Oakland, Lopes teamed with Rickey Henderson to steal 158 bases, setting a new American League record for teammates. Henderson collected 130 and Lopes 28.

The Athletics traded Lopes to the Chicago Cubs on August 31, 1984, to complete an earlier deal for Chuck Rainey. He was then traded on July 21, 1986, to the Houston Astros for Frank DiPino. He stole 47 bases at the age of 40 and 25 at age 41, before retiring at the end of the 1987 season.

Second baseman / Manager

Born: May 3, 1945

East Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.

Died: April 8, 2026 (aged 80)

Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.

Batted: Right

Threw: Right

MLB debut

September 22, 1972, for the Los Angeles Dodgers

Last MLB appearance

October 4, 1987, for the Houston Astros

MLB statistics

Batting average           .263

Home runs       155

Runs batted in 614

Stolen bases    557

Managerial record       144–195

Winning %      .425

Stats at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata

Managerial record at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata

Teams

As player

Los Angeles Dodgers (1972–1981)

Oakland Athletics (1982–1984)

Chicago Cubs (1984–1986)

Houston Astros (1986–1987)

As manager

Milwaukee Brewers (2000–2002)

As coach

Texas Rangers (1988–1991)

Baltimore Orioles (1992–1994)

San Diego Padres (1995–1999, 2003–2005)

Washington Nationals (2006)

Philadelphia Phillies (2007–2010)

Los Angeles Dodgers (2011–2015)

Washington Nationals (2016–2017)

Career highlights and awards

4× All-Star (1978–1981)

2× World Series champion (1981, 2008)

Gold Glove Award (1978)

2× NL stolen base leader (1975, 1976)

Gwendolyn Chisolm obit

The Sequence’s Gwendolyn Chisolm of ‘Funk You Up’ Fame Dead at 66: ‘A Voice for a Generation’

With fellow members Cheryl Cook and Angie Stone, the trio was first female hip-hop act to chart a hit single. 

She was not on the list.

Gwendolyn “Blondy” Chisolm — who cofounded pioneering female hip-hop trio The Sequence with Cheryl “The Pearl” Cook and the late Angela “Angie B” Brown (aka Angie Stone) — has died. The rapper-singer-songwriter succumbed following a brief illness on Monday (April 6) in Atlanta. She was 66.

“My sister gave a lot of herself to the music industry. Everyone knows her famous lyrics and melodies, which continue to bring joy to millions of people,” Chisolm’s sister Monica Scott said in a statement on behalf of the Chisolm and Scott families. “She was a creative force who touched countless hearts.”

Calling Chisolm “the star of our family,” Scott added, “We’re heartbroken right now. But we take comfort in knowing that her beautiful spirit lives on through the songs she shared with the world. We hope the world will remember her as a passionate artist and a voice for a generation. You can honor her memory by turning up her music.”

Recognized as the first female hip-hop act and the first such act signed to Sugar Hill Records, The Sequence is best known for its 1979 Gold-certified hit “Funk You Up.” Peaking at No. 15 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, the single also made history as the first chart hit released by a female hip-hop group. With its bass-thumping, body-bopping beat, “Funk You Up” played a key role in hip-hop’s evolution.

Over the ensuing decades, the song has continued to connect with music fans thanks to being sampled by artists such as Dr. Dre (“Keep Their Heads Ringin’”), En Vogue (“Whatever”) and Erykah Badu (“Love of My Life Worldwide,” also featuring Sequence member Stone). Katy Perry interpolated the song in a commercial (“Did Somebody Say”) for a food delivery service.

That creative force was sparked when Chisolm teamed up with C.A. Johnson High School friends Cook and Stone as The Sequence. While backstage at a Sugarhill Gang concert in 1979, the trio got the chance to perform an impromptu audition for Sugar Hill Records CEO Sylvia Robinson. After signing them to the label, Robinson also produced the group-penned “Funk You Up.”

Before disbanding in 1985, The Sequence charted two more singles. “Funky Sound (Tear the Roof Off)” and “I Don’t Need Your Love (Part One)” reached No. 39 and No. 40, respectively, on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The group also recorded three albums: Sugar Hill Presents The Sequence (1980), The Sequence (1982) and The Sequence Party (1983).

According to the press release sent to Billboard, Chisolm continued to work in the music industry, collaborating with established and emerging artists, booking/producing shows and writing/recording her own music. The latter includes the 2011 song “On Our Way to the Movies” with Sequence’s Cook. Following Stone’s death in 2025, Chisolm worked with Tyler Perry to arrange the former’s memorial and funeral services.

Having earlier relocated from Charlotte, N.C., to Atlanta, Chisolm spent time speaking to students at HBCUs about hip-hop’s influence and the music business. At the time of her death, she was completing her memoir and collaborating with Nashville’s National Museum of African American Music to present a permanent exhibit spotlighting The Sequence’s iconic legacy.

A private memorial service for Chisolm will be held at a future date.

Jim Whittaker obit

Famed mountaineer Jim Whittaker, first American atop Mount Everest, dies at 97

 

Longtime Port Townsend resident inspired generations of alpinists, defined an active NW outdoor lifestyle

He was not on the list.

Until his dying day, Northwest icon and alpine legend Jim Whittaker remembered his first glimpse at Mount Everest from the window of a Nepalese airliner while heading to climb the world’s tallest mountain in 1963. He saw the 29,028-foot peak not as something to be conquered, but embraced.

“I wanted to become its friend,” he would recall, decades later. The famed peak ultimately became something much more than just a “friend” to Whittaker, of Port Townsend, the first American to step on its summit.

The historic ascent on May 1, 1963, catapulted Whittaker, who died peacefully at home with family April 7 in Port Townsend at the age of 97, to the pinnacle of fame as a genuine 20th-century American folk hero. 

Landmarks in Whittaker’s long life include being the first full-time employee of Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) and later its chief executive, and a close friendship with former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy that turned into a longer connection to the Kennedy family. But his fame grew from exploits as a celebrated climber with a legacy of both daredevil and humanitarian feats on the world’s tallest peaks.

The Seattle native reflected 50 years later on how much the Everest climb had shaped the rest of his life, explaining that he embraced a spirit of gratitude and childlike wonder with every experience thereafter. 

“I think I will probably take it with me into my next life, if I have one,” Whittaker once said.

Known as Big Jim to the climbing community, the 6-foot-5 mountaineer clutched those sacred ideals to the end. 

Whittaker, however, never let the worldwide Everest acclaim define him; he left a broader, crampon-deep imprint on American outdoor recreation, with a distinct Northwestern flavor the famed mountaineer literally embodied.

The gentle climbing giant always seemed ready to forge ahead to the next summit, whether it was diving to the dangerous depth of 180 feet underwater or organizing Himalayan expeditions for purposes greater than his own glory.

“He didn’t just arrive at the summit and then stay there forever as a shrine to his singular accomplishment,” said Melissa Arnot Reid, the first American woman to successfully summit Everest without the aid of supplemental oxygen. “One of the major impacts for me is this idea that no one accomplishment is like your arrival point in adventure. Adventure is the forever unfolding thing that we’re always on.” 

Active until the end

Whittaker skied until 87 and was a familiar figure walking his dog around the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in his hometown of Port Townsend well into his 90s.

“He didn’t let his age and fear of getting hurt stop him from doing what he loved,” son Leif Whittaker said. 

Added Christopher Kennedy, one of Bobby and Ethel Kennedy’s 11 children: “He was not somebody who stood apart as a god, but somebody who saw himself as a conduit between us and nature.”

Big Jim chronicled his heterogeneous experiences in “A Life on the Edge, Memoirs of Everest and Beyond” (Mountaineers Books, 1999). 

By the time he reached the summit of Everest, Whittaker had built a reputation as one of the country’s most experienced mountain climbers with his identical twin, Lou Whittaker, who died in 2024 at age 95.

Jim Whittaker’s ability to speak poetically about the ’63 Everest expedition helped bring the mountains into the American living room. He inspired legions to become mountaineers, including Leif, the youngest of five sons. 

“Seldom do you have one person epitomize the most admired, treasured and inspiring value of a whole state and that’s what Jim Whittaker does,” said former Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, one of the climber’s many political friends.

1963 expedition brought fame — and tragedy

Whittaker’s vivid descriptions of the dangers of climbing Everest in 1963 brought terrifying details to life, particularly the saga of crossing a 2,000-foot-high maze of broken glacial ice called the Khumbu Icefall.

“The icefall is a living, moving, groaning, white fang homicidal mass of glacial debris,” he wrote of the route just beyond base camp.

The team lost climber Jake Breitenbach, of Jackson Hole, WY., on the second day while building a route over the icefall. Breitenbach and his climbing partners, who survived, got knocked off course by a block of ice as big as two railroad cars. 

The expedition continued despite the incident. After more than a month of slowly moving up the South Col route, Whittaker and Sherpa Nawang Gombu left Camp VI for the summit early on May 1 in a blizzard. 

They fought through a whiteout with 60-mile-per-hour winds and temperatures dropping to minus-30. 

“I didn’t know what was happening below,” Whittaker told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 2005. “Do you go up or down? All I knew was what I had to do. We wanted to summit so bad. You can see how people die.” 

The climbers stumbled to the top, some seven hours after leaving the high-altitude camp. They had no more bottled oxygen. Whittaker’s two water bottles had frozen. He recalled suffering frostbite in one eye. Whittaker planted an American flag and posed for what would become an indelible image of the pioneering spirit with the climber holding a wooden ice ax.

“It wasn’t sublime or a moment of clarity,” Whittaker said in 2010. “I just suddenly thought, we’ve got to get down.”

The climb’s enduring lesson: humility

The descent to Camp VI in hurricane-force gales proved risky. Whittaker wrote that they had not gone far when an entire summit-ridge cornice directly before him slid off into Tibet. “There was no noise; the roaring wind drowned out any other sound,” he wrote. “I stared dumbfounded at the gigantic hole in front of me.”

Whittaker and Gombu became the 10th and 11th climbers to successfully summit, following the route of Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay’s landmark ascent in 1953. In their wake, some 7,300 climbers have ascended to the highest point on the planet. The two also became lifelong friends.

Whittaker recalled not feeling special sitting atop the world. 

“I felt only, as I said later, like a frail human being,” he wrote. “The mountain is so huge and powerful, and the climber so puny, exhausted, and powerless. The mountain is forever; Gombu and I, meanwhile, were dying every second we lingered.”

At his death, Whittaker was the last surviving member of the 1963 expedition, which involved 19 climbers and cost more than $400,000. The group carried 27 tons of food and equipment, and had about 900 porters and 32 Sherpas. 

In all, six U.S. climbers reached the summit, including Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld, who performed the historic first traverse of an 8,000-meter (26,246-foot) peak. The men climbed the technically challenging West Ridge route of sheer cliffs and had to spend a night without oxygen at 27,900 feet. Unsoeld eventually lost nine toes to frostbite. 

They survived, just as Whittaker had in his lifelong pursuit of peaks, often alongside his accomplished brother, the co-founder of guide service Rainier Mountaineering, Inc.

Whittaker twins took climbing world by storm

Born on Feb. 10, 1929, the West Seattle boys discovered their love of the mountains while living along Puget Sound, surrounded by the Olympic and Cascade ranges. 

They began honing their outdoor skills as members of Boy Scout Troop 272. Then they became regular fixtures of Seattle’s famed Mountaineers Club (now known simply as The Mountaineers), learning technical skills in rock and alpine climbing.

The Whittakers’ climbing prowess grew through their years at Seattle University, where Jim played on the basketball team while earning a degree in biology and a minor in philosophy. The brothers belonged to the National Ski Patrol, worked as professional guides on Mount Rainier and joined the Northwest Mountain Rescue and Safety Council.

While in the military after graduating from college, the Whittakers taught skiing and mountaineering to Special Forces troops in the Colorado Rockies as part of the Army’s Cold Weather Training Command.

Jim Whittaker “is one of those guys who created what we know about Northwest climbing,” said Ed Viesturs, the first American to reach the world’s 14 highest peaks without supplemental oxygen. “He lived a very full life, something you aspire to do personally.”

Two years after Whittaker’s Everest exploit, the National Geographic Society asked him to lead an expedition on 13,095-foot Mount Kennedy in Canada’s Southwest Yukon Territory. The unclimbed peak had been renamed in honor of the U.S. President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated a half year after the ‘63 Everest climb.

Whittaker led the slain president’s brother, Sen. Bobby Kennedy, to become the first climber to reach the summit. The experience cemented a close friendship between Whittaker and Kennedy. Soon, Whittaker’s family vacationed with the Kennedys on ski and rafting trips.

“He didn’t think of Bobby Kennedy and the Kennedy family as big-deal celebrities,” said Dianne Roberts, Whittaker’s second wife. “They were just his friends.”

Christopher Kennedy recalled Whittaker being a mythical figure at the family home or on vacations. When one of the kids balked at climbing a tree, scaling a wall or jumping off a boat the rest of the siblings called it the “Whittaker Challenge.”

The challenges “made me and my brothers and sisters more accomplished, more confident and all-around better people,” Kennedy said.

Big Jim became the Washington state campaign manager during Bobby Kennedy’s ill-fated presidential run in 1968. 

Whittaker recalled holding his friend’s hand in Los Angeles when Kennedy died from an assassin’s bullet after winning the California primary. Whittaker served as a pallbearer at services for the prominent politician. 

Climbing became his business — Seattle’s, too

Whittaker proved as adept in business as in the Cascades. He became REI’s first full-time employee in 1955 when the store, known as the Co-op, was located in an accountant’s office above the Green Apple Pie Shop in Seattle. The climbing gear outlet was strategically located across the hall from the Mountaineers clubhouse.

In 1971, he became REI’s second president and chief executive officer. Whittaker wrote that sales increased to $10 million in his first year as CEO.

The success of business and mountaineering took a toll on his family life, which included three boys. He and his first wife divorced before the REI promotion in 1971.

Whittaker took a leave from REI’s leadership four years later to attempt to put the first American on the summit of 28,250-foot K2. The world’s second-tallest peak is considered more technically difficult than climbing Everest. The 1975 expedition, which included Whittaker’s wife Dianne, failed because of issues with porters, bad weather and a breakdown among team members, he wrote.

The Whittakers arranged another attempt in 1978. This time, Louis Reichardt, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco, climbing with Seattle lawyer Jim Wickwire, became the first Americans to summit the Pakistani peak. Two other Americans also successfully climbed it.

Whittaker’s life changed course after the K2 success. He announced his retirement at REI’s board meeting in December 1978, shortly after the expedition.

By then, Whittaker and Roberts had become accomplished ocean sailors, turning their attention to the wilderness of the sea.

The couple and sons Joss and Leif relocated from West Seattle to a parcel in Port Townsend in the 1980s. They built a 6,000-square-foot home their friends dubbed the “Taj Macabin.”

“Some of my earliest memories were building that gigantic log cabin and having this forest and beach surrounding us,” Joss Whittaker said. “Dad and Mom let Leif and I grow up as free-range children.”

A summit for peace

Everest called Big Jim back to the Himalayas in 1990 for another adventure. This time, it had nothing to do with climbing history. Whittaker and Roberts organized the Earth Day 20 International Peace Climb to promote friendship among the superpowers.

It took all of Whittaker’s gentle diplomacy to persuade Chinese and Russian officials to agree to the effort.

“This was before glasnost, before perestroika, before the Reagan-Gorbachev summit, before Gorbachev went to Beijing,” Whittaker wrote in a 1991 essay. “We would hold the summit of all summit meetings, enemies becoming friends.”

Whittaker displayed masterful leadership to keep the climbers united, recalled Viesturs, one of the Americans chosen for the expedition.

Whittaker, who did not attempt to summit, helped 21 climbers reach the top of the world. He also organized a cleanup of 2 tons of garbage left by other expeditions. 

“There is something about Jim that causes people to want to do things for him,” Roberts said. “If he even suggests that he wants to do something, people more or less line up to make it happen.”

Former U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the younger brother of John and Robert Kennedy, called Whittaker America’s first high-altitude diplomat. 

Inslee, Washington’s governor from 2013 to 2025, described feeling bittersweet when reflecting on the peace climb. 

“It sure would be great to think somehow that magic that Jim brought to that moment could be restored, given what’s going on in Ukraine,” he said. “His view of the world is contemporary; it’s not historical. It’s something that still exists.”

An environmental legacy

Whittaker also used his celebrity to promote environmental issues, recalled the Mountaineers Club chief executive Tom Vogl.

“I remember him speaking so elegantly about the connection of experiencing the outdoors and developing a love of place and developing a conservation ethic,” Vogl said. “It was so deeply rooted in his life and the way he went about experiencing the natural world.”

Will Dunn, REI’s historian, recalled how Whittaker advocated for saving forests and wilderness to help grow the outdoor industry at a time timber barons argued for logging.

As early as 1968, Whittaker testified in Congress for the creation of North Cascades National Park and the Pasayten Wilderness in Washington state, along with Redwood National Park in northern California.

Whittaker helped inculcate a wilderness ethic at REI and advanced the Leave No Trace movement that has become part of common vernacular in the outdoor industry. 

“What he started is so deeply embedded in our DNA that we don’t understand the impact of that work today,” Dunn said. “Now it is a muscle reflex.”

Inslee credited Whittaker for getting state lawmakers to create some of the country’s most conservation-minded policies. 

“Anything that I was able to do as governor when it came to protecting orcas and the glaciers and the fish stems from his opening the natural world to Washingtonians,” said Inslee, who has an autographed photo of Whittaker atop Everest.

Six years after the peace climb, Whittaker and Roberts were reinventing themselves again. The couple bought a 53-foot steel-hulled ketch named Impossible. They took sons Joss, then 13, and Leif, 11, out of school to sail to Australia and back. The family lived on the sailboat for about four years while traveling almost 20,000 miles.

Whittaker wrote in his memoir: “Here’s what I’ve learned so far. First, risk is an inherent part of a life well lived. It’s a prerequisite. If you stick your neck out, whether it’s climbing mountains or speaking up for something you believe in, your odds of winning are at least 50-50.”

Whittaker never stopped believing it.

“What would memorialize Jim the most is if people took inspiration from him to go out in their own lives and take a little risk now and then, and get to know nature,” Roberts said.

A half century later, still climbing

In 2012, at age 82, he trekked to just below Mount Everest base camp (elevation 17,598 feet) almost a half-century after the notable ascent. The final visit to his old friend had special resonance because Leif Whittaker was making his second Everest climb. But Big Jim got sick and had to be evacuated by helicopter, Roberts recalled.

“I can imagine that Jim would want all of us to remember not his last day but his best day,” said Arnot Reid, the renowned Everest guide who was part of the 2012 trek.

She said her best days were sharing the trail with Whittaker. Reid, 41, got to witness his deep love for a place she was just getting to know.

She cherished the rare chance to spend time with a history maker in his element, but who also showed respect for her accomplishments after learning to guide on Mount Rainier with the Whittaker family.

In the middle of the two-week trek, at an elevation of 12,500 feet, just below Tengboche Monastery, Big Jim stopped to admire the Himalayan countryside, Leif Whittaker recounted.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Jim Whittaker turned to his fellow trekkers, smiled, and took a deep breath of thin air. 

“Every step is health, fun and frolic!” he bellowed.

Whittaker died at home in a bed with a sweeping view of the region he loved: the Olympic Mountains, Port Townsend Bay, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, said his son, Leif, who added that the family was pleased to see Whittaker pass gently at the finish line of “a remarkable life.”

Whittaker is survived by wife Dianne Roberts of Port Townsend; sons Joss Whittaker of Olympia, Leif Whittaker of Port Townsend and Robert Whittaker of Spokane; grandchildren Adam and Anthony Whittaker and Sarah Kanzler; and great-granddaughter Sophie Whittaker. He was preceded in death by former wife Blanche Montbroussous and sons Carl Bernard Whittaker of Hilo, Hawaii and James Scott Whittaker of Kihei, Hawaii.

Memorials in Jim Whittaker’s name can be made to The Mountaineers (mountaineers.org/donate),  the Northwest Maritime Center (nwmaritime.org/support/give/donate-now) or Hospice Foundation for Jefferson Healthcare (hospicefoundationjhc.org/how-we-help).

The family will announce a celebration of life event at a later date.

Michael Patrick obit

Game of Thrones Actor Michael Patrick Dies at 35

Patrick's death came after a years-long battle with an incurable, "life-shortening" neurological disease

 

He was not on the list.

Actor Michael Campbell, known professionally as Michael Patrick, has died aged 35 following a diagnosis of motor neurone disease.

Campbell, from Belfast, was diagnosed with the illness in February 2023.

He died on Tuesday at Northern Ireland Hospice, where he had been receiving care after being admitted 10 days earlier.

His wife, Naomi, announced his death in a social media post, stating he had passed away peacefully surrounded by family and friends.

She described her husband as having lived "a life as full as any human can live" and said his family was "broken-hearted".

Campbell was widely recognised for his work in theatre, including an acclaimed performance as Richard III in a wheelchair.

His adaptation of The Tragedy of Richard III earned him the Judges' Award at the Stage Awards in January 2025.

He also received the Overcoming Adversity Award at the Spirit of Northern Ireland Awards in 2025, recognising his continued work and advocacy following his diagnosis.

As a writer and actor, Campbell created several acclaimed productions with regular co-collaborator Oisín Kearney, including My Left Nut, My Right Foot, The Border Game and The Alternative.

He also featured in BBC TV series This Town and Blue Lights.

Campbell continued writing and performing after being diagnosed, using his work to raise awareness of MND.

In previous interviews, he said writing allowed him to focus away from his illness and remain positive and creative.

Several members of the extended Irish theatre community paid tribute via social media, including Abbey Theatre Executive Director Mark O'Brien.

The Lyric Theatre Belfast, where Campbell regularly performed, also paid tribute in a statement.

Executive producer Jimmy Fay said the theatre community had "lost a great artist" and said that Campbell "used the slings and arrows of the outrageous fortune thrown at him and turned them into visceral and vibrant art".

He is survived by his wife Naomi, his mother Pauline, siblings Kate, Maurice and Hannah, and his nephew Micheál.

Actor

Odine Johne in Mordlichter - Tod auf den Färöer Inseln (2025)

Mordlichter - Tod auf den Färöer Inseln

5.3

TV Movie

Thomaa Johnson

2025

 

Levi Brown and Jordan Bolger in This Town (2024)

This Town

7.4

TV Series

Bonny

2024

3 episodes

 

Nathan Braniff, Katherine Devlin, and Sian Brooke in Blue Lights (2023)

Blue Lights

8.2

TV Series

Martin Corrigan

2023

1 episode

 

Unhinged (2023)

Unhinged

Short

Darragh

2023

 

Blasts from the Past (2020)

Blasts from the Past

6.1

TV Series

CS LewisPaul McCartneyEamon DeValera ...

2022

6 episodes

 

Bad Vibes

Short

Sean

2022

 

Snuff

Short

Steven

2022

 

The Spectacular (2021)

The Spectacular

7.4

TV Mini Series

Robin

2021

4 episodes

 

Remote Anthology (2020)

Remote Anthology

TV Series

Kevin

2020

1 episode

 

My Left Nut (2020)

My Left Nut

7.5

TV Series

PC Hughes

2020

1 episode

 

RSC: Measure for Measure (2019)

RSC: Measure for Measure

7.7

Elbow

2019

 

Krypton (2018)

Krypton

6.8

TV Series

Sagitari Officer

2019

1 episode

 

RSC: The Taming of the Shrew (2019)

RSC: The Taming of the Shrew

7.3

Tailor

2019

 

Soft Border Patrol (2018)

Soft Border Patrol

7.6

TV Series

Ryan

2019

1 episode

 

Matthew Rhys, Liam Ward, Ann Skelly, and Billy Winters in Death and Nightingales (2018)

Death and Nightingales

6.4

TV Mini Series

Cassidy (uncredited)

2018

1 episode

 

Ali Hardiman in Bernard Dunne's Mythical Heroes (2018)

Bernard Dunne's Mythical Heroes

TV Series

Conor MacNeasa

2018

 

John Henshaw, Gary Lewis, David Kross, and Freya Mavor in The Keeper (2018)

The Keeper

7.3

Journalist

2018

 

Bravery Under Fire (2018)

Bravery Under Fire

5.4

Soldier

2018

 

The Black Wedding (2016)

The Black Wedding

Short

Bodyguard

2016

 

Game of Thrones (2011)

Game of Thrones

9.2

TV Series

Wildling Rioter

2016

1 episode

 

Aspire (2015)

Aspire

Short

Phil

2015

 

Writer

So You're Going to Die

creator and writer

CompletedShort

2026

 

Helpless

6.6

TV Movie

written by

2025

 

My Left Nut (2020)

My Left Nut

7.5

TV Series

written bybased on the stage play by

2020

3 episodes

 

Soft Border Patrol (2018)

Soft Border Patrol

7.6

TV Series

story writer

2019

1 episode

 

Self

The Russell Howard Hour (2017)

The Russell Howard Hour

7.9

TV Series

Self

2020

1 episode

 

Alex Hilton obit

Boxer Alex Hilton was gifted with talent, but cursed by alcohol

 

He was not on the list.

It was a life torn from Greek tragedy — if the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides were performed, not in outdoor amphitheatres in ancient Greece, but in seedy roadside bars in small Quebec towns, in cheap motels where Alex Hilton and his brothers slept in dresser drawers as infants, in boxing rings from Montreal to Las Vegas, in bloody battles under the bright lights circled with cigar smoke, and in the most dour and dangerous of prisons.

The second oldest of the boxing Hilton Brothers, Alex died early Tuesday at 61, the mixed family legacy he inherited woven into his life and death.

Like most of the Hilton brothers, Alex was touched with ability by the boxing gods — and robbed of success by a fatal flaw shared by brothers Davey and Matthew, an inability to handle alcohol and stay out of trouble.

Younger brother Jimmy Hilton (the only one of the five brothers who never turned pro) announced the death in a heartbreaking Facebook post.

“Words cannot explain the shock and sadness that we all feel for the loss of our beloved brother and son and one of the best true men I have ever known. Alex Stewart Hilton passed in his sleep today at age 61, he was the best son, brother, friend that has ever lived and will be sadly missed loved and cherished forever. I love you my brother, may the angels protect and keep you safe and I will see you in the next life.”

So linked are the brothers that it is impossible to write about one without writing about all of them.

Like his brothers, Alex was boxing by age 5 under the tutelage of his father, Dave Sr. The training paid off: Davey Hilton, the oldest and most talented, became world champion, as did the hard-punching third brother, Matthew. Alex himself became a Canadian middleweight champion.

As they grew, the Hilton brothers graduated from sleeping in dresser drawers to sharing beds in their father’s trailer as they travelled hundreds of kilometres to boxing tournaments.

Make that crowded beds. When he was riding high in the 1980s, Matthew told the Los Angeles Times that he had “learned to fight in bed. I mean, I’d wake up in the middle of the night after Alex or Davey had run an elbow in to my mouth or something, so I’d wake up fighting. We’d fight for a minute or two, a lot of yellin’, the other brothers would wake up, break it up, then everyone would go back to sleep.”

“There’s no taking away from what they accomplished in the ring,” former world champion Otis Grant said Tuesday. “Two world champions and one Canadian champion, that’s their legacy, along with the other stuff. And Stewart had talent, too. He probably would have been a world champion if he had lived.”

Stewart, however, died at 17 with his companion on Sept. 4, 1986, when his car ran into a bridge abutment and exploded.

Stewart’s death was never linked to alcohol, but the family curse pursued them all. In 2007, Alex was sentenced to six months in jail for assaulting and threatening a police officer and for breach of probation for an incident that happened the day after he had been released from jail.

“In spite of good intentions,” lawyer Clemente Monterosso told Montreal Municipal Court at the time, he headed for a bar and consumed “five or six quarts of beer.” Police were called to the Sport Rock Café in Montreal’s Ville Émard neighbourhood after Hilton threatened patrons and overturned tables and chairs. He pleaded guilty to three counts of uttering threats and one of assaulting police by spitting and to eight counts of breaking probation conditions.

On the very long list of Alex’s brushes with the law, that was a relatively minor incident. Even Matthew Hilton, once described by columnist Réjean Tremblay as the “white sheep” of the family, eventually succumbed to the curse of alcohol.

And yet, as anyone who dealt with the Hiltons would attest, when sober they could be gentle, amiable and as polite as gentlemen brought up in English public schools. 

“When they weren’t drunk,” Grant said Tuesday, “they were the nicest guys you ever met. Say what you will about them, they had a following here. No matter what happened, their following stuck with them.”

Grant and Alex Hilton fought in the same weight class but never met in the ring. “There were times we could have fought,” Grant said. “But it never came off. He was a brawler. You didn’t have to look for him in the ring, he was always right in front of you. I loved fighting guys like that.”

Had they fought, Grant would have won handily, but he would have had his work cut out for him because — like his brothers — in the ring, Alex could take a punch.

It was outside the ring, with the family tendency to punch his way through life, that Alex, like his equally famous and infamous brothers, was unable to beat his toughest opponent. Himself.

Mitchell Fink obit

Mitchell Fink, Longtime Entertainment Journalist and Gossip Columnist, Dies at 82

He wrote for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, People magazine and the New York Daily News and was a contributor to CNN’s ‘Showbiz Today.’ 

He was not on the list.

Mitchell Fink, the author and entertainment journalist who wrote gossip columns for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, People magazine and the New York Daily News, died Tuesday in West Palm Beach, Florida, his family announced. He was 82.

Widely recognized for his “golden Rolodex” and list of contacts spanning New York, Washington and Hollywood, Fink also was a contributor to CNN’s Showbiz Today for six years while appearing on such other programs as Access Hollywood, Good Day New York and the CBS Morning News.

After graduating from the State University of New York at Buffalo, Fink served as the editor of Record World magazine before he moved to the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, where he transitioned from music criticism to covering politics and hard news.

In 1987, he took over the newspaper’s “Page 2” column, and that got him on the air as an entertainment reporter for KTTV in Los Angeles.

Following the shutdown of the Herald Examiner in 1989, Fink joined People magazine and launched its popular “Insider” column. He joined the New York Daily News in 1998 and wrote a column six days a week through 2002.

As an author, Fink achieved New York Times Best-Seller status with his 2002 book, Never Forget: An Oral History of September 11, 2001, written with his wife, Lois Mathias.

His other books included 2006’s The Last Days of Dead Celebrities, 2011’s Change of Heart and 2014’s Frank Sinatra, Miriam and Me.

More recently, he completed Second Chances, an oral history of shoe designer Steve Madden; produced the 2017 documentary Maddman: The Steve Madden Story; and served as CEO of 1on1 Public Relations.

In addition to his wife, survivors include sons Jesse and Brian and grandchildren Samson, Alice and Cameron.

Jack Crabtree obit

Prayers Pour In as Oregon Hall of Fame QB Dies at 91

 

He was not on the list.

For a player to be named Rose Bowl MVP, his team almost always has to win. Jack Crabtree was the exception, and the Oregon legend whose iconic losing effort defined a generation of Ducks football, has passed away at 91. On Tuesday, the Oregon sports community confirmed the QB’s passing by sharing a heartfelt tribute to honor his legacy.

“Oregon football mourns the loss of former Duck quarterback Jack Crabtree, MVP of the 1958 Rose Bowl and a 2002 Oregon Hall of Fame inductee,” wrote Oregon Football on their official X account.

Arriving in 1955 as a transfer from San Bernardino Junior College, Crabtree spent his first two seasons at Oregon sharing QB duties before leading the team to a historic season in 1957. That season, he led the Ducks to a tie for the PCC championship with Oregon State, securing the school’s first Rose Bowl appearance in 38 years, completing 55 of 99 passes for 624 yards. However, his most remarkable moment came after that.

Despite the Ducks’ 10–7 loss to #1-ranked OSU, Crabtree’s performance in the Rose Bowl was so exceptional that he was named the Player of the Game. With that, he remained one of only two players in Rose Bowl history to win the award outright while playing for the losing team. In that game, he racked up 10 of 17 passes for 135 yards, which were considered massive passing numbers for the era.

In fact, he earned All-Pacific Coast Conference honorable mention status for his senior season. With this kind of talent on display, he was inducted into the Oregon Athletics Hall of Fame in 2002. Before that, in 1981, he was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and, in 1998, the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame.

While a legendary athlete, Crabtree is also remembered for his character off the field. After being drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1958, he served two years in the U.S. Army before brief stints in the AFL with the Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos. Then he returned to the Pacific Northwest, where he remained an active supporter of local athletics and a mentor to younger players.

Now, with the loss of this great figure, the entire football world is in grief and has taken to social media to pay tribute to him.

An emotional homage to the ex-Oregon QB

Jack Crabtree’s football journey began in Lakewood, California, where he grew up. Then he first gained recognition as a standout QB at Excelsior High School. Before arriving in Eugene, he played for the San Bernardino Valley Wolverines, where he further developed his skills. Following that, he joined the Ducks as a junior transfer, and this journey eventually led him back to Southern California for his most famous moment: the 1958 Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Crabtree is remembered as the primary catalyst for a team that established Oregon as a legitimate national contender. The news of his passing left the football community in deep mourning. “Sad day for Duck nation,” wrote former Kentucky head coach Rich Brooks.

We lost the former Oregon star, but his legacy will never be forgotten. “Rest in Peace. You will be missed dearly,” wrote one fan, while another kept it simple, writing, “🙏❤️”

Even after leaving the Ducks, Crabtree remained loyal to the program and showed his support by attending the 2015 Rose Bowl when No. 2 Oregon defeated No. 3 FSU with a score of 59–20. Played on January 1, 2015, this game served as the first-ever CFP semifinal, and a fan’s comment confirmed the ex-QB’s presence following the sad news.

“Damn. I rode the bus to the Rose Bowl on Jan 1 2015, with Jack and had no idea who he was until after the fact. So down to earth. RIP, legend,” wrote the fan. Last but not least, one fan poured prayers for the Crabtree family and the QB’s loved ones, saying, “Rest In Peace and prayers to your family!”

We also keep the legendary QB’s family in our prayers and wish them strength and well-being during this difficult time.

Career information

College            Oregon

NFL draft        1958: 12 / 136th round

Career history

1958    Philadelphia Eagles

1960    Denver Broncos (AFL)

1960    Los Angeles Chargers (AFL)