Shane MacGowan obit

Rocker Shane MacGowan, The Pogues Frontman, Dies at 65

 He was not on the list.

Shane MacGowan, the hard drinking, hard living, hard singing performer who gave life to punk aspirations with his band The Pogues in the 1980s has died. He was 65.

NPR reports his wife, Victoria Mary Clarke, announced his death Thursday morning. No official cause was provided, but MacGowan had recently left a hospital in Dublin, Ireland, after a diagnosis of encephalitis.

“It is with the deepest sorrow and heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of our most beautiful, darling and dearly beloved Shane MacGowan,”  Clarke, his sister Siobhan and father Maurice said in a statement.

The lead singer died peacefully with his family by his side, the statement added.

Shane MacGowan was born on Christmas Day in Kent, England, to Irish immigrant parents who moved back to rural Ireland before another return to England.

He attended the elite Westminster School in London, from which he was expelled, and spent time in a psychiatric hospital after a breakdown in his teens.

MacGowan soon embraced the punk scene that exploded in Britain in the mid-1970s before spreading around the world.

He joined a band called the Nipple Erectors, performing under the name Shane O’Hooligan, before forming The Pogues alongside musicians including Jem Finer and Spider Stacey, AP reports.

The Pogues — shortened from the original name Pogue Mahone, a rude Irish phrase — brought punk’s furious energy to traditional Irish melodies and instruments including banjo, tin whistle and accordion.

The songs he wrote melded folk and punk although he became known just as much for his sozzled, slurred performances as for his powerful songwriting. AP set out his musical and performative assets, saying:

His songs blended the scabrous and the sentimental, ranging from carousing anthems to snapshots of life in the gutter to unexpectedly tender love songs.

The Pogues’ most famous song, “Fairytale of New York” is a tale of down-on-their-luck immigrant lovers that opens with the decidedly unfestive words: “It was Christmas Eve, babe, in the drunk tank.”

The duet between the raspy-voiced MacGowan and the velvet tones of the late Kirsty MacColl is by far the most beloved Pogues song in both Ireland and the U.K.

MacGowan had years of health problems and used a wheelchair after breaking his pelvis a decade ago, even then defeating those who saw him passing long before his time came.

“People have given Shane six months to live every year since he’s been 19,” Pogues guitarist Philip Chevron told NPR in 2006.

Australian singer-songwriter Nick Cave called Shane MacGowan “a true friend and the greatest songwriter of his generation.”

The BBC reports Fairytale of New York producer Steve Lillywhite told BBC Radio 5 Live MacGowan was “truly a poet”, crediting him for inventing “a new style of music that was sort of the punk attitude with traditional Irish rhythms.”

In 2018 he was honoured with a lifetime achievement award at a 60th birthday party in Dublin’s National Concert Hall that saw performers including Bono, Nick Cave, Sinead O’Connor and Johnny Depp, applaud his contributions to music and Ireland.

A documentary about his life – Crock Of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane MacGowan – was released in 2020.

He was close friends with Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor who died in July.

Funeral details are yet to be announced by his family.

Paul Snyder obit

Legendary Braves scout Paul Snyder passes away

Snyder played a huge part in the Braves’ success throughout the 90s. 

He was not on the list.

Legendary Atlanta Braves scout and front office executive Paul Snyder has sadly passed away per MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis. Snyder was 88 years old and spent his entire 50-year professional baseball career in the Braves’ organization.

Snyder is best known for his time as the team’s scouting director where he helped bring notable stars such as Tom Glavine, Steve Avery, David Justice and Chipper Jones into the organization. He moved into an assistant’s role to new general manager John Schuerholz in 1990. Snyder retired from the Braves in 2007 when Schuerholz became team president and Frank Wren took over as the team’s GM.

Snyder was born in Dallastown, Pennsylvania in 1935. He signed with the Braves as an outfielder and first baseman in 1958. He peaked at Triple A as a player and never made it to the majors, but later became a manager in their minor league system. Our condolences go out to Snyder’s family.

Paul Luther Snyder was born in Dallastown, Pennsylvania on June 11, 1935. He spent his entire 50-year professional baseball career in the Braves' organization, signing with them as an outfielder and first baseman in 1958 when the team was still based in Milwaukee. As a player, Snyder never reached the Major Leagues, peaking at the Triple-A level in 1963 with the Denver Bears of the Pacific Coast League — a season which also saw his debut as a minor league manager in the Braves' farm system. Snyder, however, was a strong hitter in his playing days, compiling a lifetime batting average of .318 during his seven-year active career. In his finest over-all campaign, 1962 with the Austin Senators of the Double-A Texas League, Snyder hit .312 with 19 home runs and 113 RBI in 132 games played. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed, stood 6'2" (1.9 m) tall and weighed 200 pounds (91 kg).

Snyder managed Braves' farm clubs and scouted for them between 1963 and 1972. In 1973, he joined the team's front office as assistant minor league administrator before taking the reins of the Braves' farm department in 1977. Working with then-general managers Bill Lucas and John Mullen, Snyder was a major architect of the Braves' strong early 1980s teams under manager Joe Torre—despite having suffered a stroke at age 40 that required brain surgery and an extensive period of rehabilitation.

When the MLB Braves went through a prolonged rebuilding process after winning the 1982 National League West Division championship, Snyder, by now scouting director, assisted general manager Bobby Cox in drafting and developing the talent base—players such as Tom Glavine, Steve Avery, David Justice, Jeff Blauser and Chipper Jones—that served as the foundation for the Braves' string of first-place teams of the 1990s through 2005, including the 1995 world champions. He also served as a top assistant to John Schuerholz when he took over the Atlanta front office after the 1990 season and performed several key functions in the Braves' baseball operations department in addition to working as scouting or player development director.

Snyder retired from the Braves after the 2007 season, which saw Schuerholz move upstairs to the team presidency and a new general manager, Frank Wren, assume control of baseball operations. In 2005, he was inducted into the Braves Museum and Hall of Fame. In 2006, he was presented with the King of Baseball award given by Minor League Baseball. In 2013, he was selected for the Professional Baseball Scouts Hall of Fame.

Scott Kempner obit

Scott Kempner Dies: Co-Founder Of The Dictators And The Del-Lords Was 69

 

He was not on the list.

Scott Kempner, a co-founder of The Dictators and The Del-Lords, died today of complications of early onset dementia at a nursing home in Connecticut. He was 69.

Kempner joined with Andy Shernoff and Ross “The Boss” Friedman to form The Dictators in 1972. The band’s debut album arrived in 1974, The Dictators Go Girl Crazy, considered one of the seminal bridges for punk. The band recorded three albums before splitting up for regular appearances, but have reunited sporadically. Their 1977 sophomore album, Manifest Destiny, edged onto the Billboard 200 at No. 193.

After the initial breakup, Kempner, bassist Manny Caiati, and guitarist Eric Ambel formed The Del-Lords, taking their name from a director of Three Stooges shorts. The group released seven albums throughout their career, including 2013’s Elvis Club.

Kempner also was a sideman in several bands, among them The Brandos, The Helen Wheels Band, Little Kings (with Dion DiMucci) and The Paradise Brothers (with Neil Giraldo).

Kempner released three solo albums, Tenement Angels, Saving Grace and Live From Blueberry Hill).

No information on survivors or memorial plans was immediately available.

Henry Kissinger - # 313

Dr. Henry Kissinger Dies at Age 100

 

He was number 313 on the list.

Henry Kissinger, one of the country's most important foreign policy thinkers for more than half a century, has died at the age of 100.

He died on Wednesday at his home in Connecticut, according a statement from his consulting firm, Kissinger Associates, Inc. A cause of death was not provided.

As a secretary of state and national security adviser to Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, Kissinger played the major behind-the-scenes role in building the architecture that enabled more manageable relations with the Soviet Union, China, and major Arab nations. At the same time, he was closely associated with some of the most controversial U.S. foreign policy moves in recent decades, by promoting intensive bombing campaigns in Southeast Asia and repeatedly turning a blind eye to human rights abuses by governments perceived to be supportive of U.S. interests.

Though he never worked directly under a U.S. president again after Ford left office, Kissinger's achievements were long lasting. U.S. superpower relations to this day still bear his imprint, and he remained a sought-after voice on international affairs to the end of his life.

"Kissinger was the leading scholar-practitioner of the post-World War II era," said Richard Haass, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. "There were other great secretaries of state and a long list of impressive historians, but no one who combined the two pursuits as Kissinger did."

Having arrived as a teenage refugee from Nazi Germany, Kissinger never lost his thick German accent, and his pronouncements on foreign policy challenges, delivered in a gruff baritone voice, made him a global celebrity.

"I remember walking down the street in Manhattan with him, and he would attract a crowd like a movie star, a rock star," recalled David Rothkopf, who worked for a time as a managing director at Kissinger's consulting firm. "Everybody, regardless of what they thought of Henry, wanted to see Henry, wanted to be with Henry."

As a superstar ex-diplomat, Kissinger was feted around the world, including in Germany, the land from which he fled with his family in 1938.

Hitler at that point had been in power for five years, and during that time the Kissingers, like other Jews, suffered Nazi persecution. Kissinger once told an interviewer that, growing up in Germany, he would cross the street whenever he saw a group of boys coming his way, because he knew he was likely to be beaten up.

In America, the young Kissinger worked in a factory during the day and went to school at night, until he was drafted into the U.S. Army.

Sent to Germany, Pvt. Kissinger was among the American soldiers who liberated starving Jewish prisoners at a concentration camp in Ahlem. He met some of them again 60 years later, when he spoke at the screening of a documentary film about Ahlem, with many camp survivors present.

"There's nothing I'm more proud of than having been one of those who had the honor of liberating the Ahlem concentration camp," Kissinger said, in an uncharacteristically emotional speech.

Noting how often he spoke to various groups, Kissinger told the Ahlem survivors there was no one who meant more to him than those who showed up for the event.

In that speech, Kissinger dismissed the notion that the harassment he faced as a teenager in Nazi Germany had traumatized him.

"That's nonsense," he said, "They were not yet killing people. A traumatic event was to see Ahlem. It was the single most shocking experience I have ever had."

His experience with the U.S. military in Germany made Kissinger a believer in the idea of peace through strength.

After getting out of the army, he attended Harvard. His 300-page undergraduate thesis was titled, "The Meaning of History." He went on to teach at Harvard, becoming known for his hawkish views.

Kissinger's writings brought him to the attention of Richard Nixon, who made Kissinger his national security adviser. Over the next few years, he directed one of the boldest periods of diplomacy in U.S. history. In 1971, Kissinger arranged Nixon's historic visit to China.

Thinking strategically, Nixon and Kissinger saw the opening to China as a way to challenge the Soviet Union, China's communist rival. Before that visit, no U.S. leader had dared make an overture to "Red China," as it was then called. After the visit, no U.S. leader dared to question the wisdom of the move.

In Kissinger's view, it made sense to meet with brutal dictators, if there were important issues to discuss. In a conversation at Harvard in 2012, he cited his dealings with Mao Tse Tung, Communist China's legendary but murderous leader.

"Chairman Mao caused unspeakable suffering," Kissinger acknowledged. "It's an indisputable fact. But it is also a fact that he was a considerable strategic thinker in foreign policy."

During the time of the opening to China, Kissinger was also meeting with Soviet leaders in Moscow. For more than 40 years, the spectre of a nuclear confrontation had hung over the two superpowers. Kissinger's diplomacy ushered in a new period of détente, dialog, and arms control agreements and helped defuse the persistent and dangerous tensions between Washington and Moscow.

And then there was Vietnam, where the limits of Kissinger's abilities became evident. Nixon sent Kissinger to Paris to negotiate a peace agreement. After three and a half years of on-again, off-again talks with his North Vietnamese counterpart, Le Duc Tho, Kissinger made a dramatic announcement in October 1972 that he would live to regret.

"We believe that peace is at hand," he said. "We believe that an agreement is in sight."

Kissinger and Le Duc Tho won the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts, but their agreement did not end the war.

No foreign policy adviser to a U.S. president before or since had the power Kissinger had. He spoke to Nixon as much as a dozen times a day. Kissinger saw Nixon as an insecure man, and tapes of White House phone conversations show how he catered to Nixon's emotional needs.

"Mr. President," Kissinger told Nixon, following an April 1971 presidential address on the Vietnam War, "That was the best speech you've delivered since you've been in office." When Nixon demurred, Kissinger pressed his point. "It was a powerful speech,," he insisted, "really movingly delivered."

Kissinger traveled constantly, engaging directly with world leaders on matters of war and peace. His frenetic search for an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict gave rise to the term "shuttle diplomacy."

Though not possessed with movie star looks, Kissinger had a brilliant intellect and a razor sharp wit, and as a divorced man he dated glamorous women, leaving him exposed to Nixon's teasing.

"Henry? Where are you?" Nixon scolded him in one phone call. "Just let me say that as soon as you take care of the ladies, if you could work it into your schedule, I want you to get back here to the White House."

Before long, Nixon was mired in the Watergate scandal, preoccupied with political crises. He essentially let Kissinger take charge of foreign policymaking.

"That worked for Nixon," said Rothkopf, the Kissinger aide and later the author of a book on national security advisers. "Because Nixon didn't want to interact with people so much. He was a little paranoid. And then when he went into the crisis years, Kissinger essentially became deputy president for foreign policy."

In 1973, Nixon made Kissinger his secretary of state, while keeping him as his national security adviser. When Gerald Ford took over after Nixon's resignation in 1974, he retained Kissinger as secretary of state, though not as national security adviser.

In fact, Kissinger had already made his mark. The hard-nosed foreign policy approach he advocated was associated more with Kissinger himself than with the presidents under whom he served. Indeed, his promotion of détente with Moscow was later criticized by some conservatives in his own Republican Party.

Kissinger's guiding principle was that U.S. national interests take precedence over more idealistic aims, like the promotion of democracy and human rights.

"I used to say to my colleagues," Kissinger told an interviewer in 2007, "we're a country, not a foundation. We have to conduct foreign policy for America."

With that unwavering commitment, Kissinger advocated bombing campaigns in Vietnam and Cambodia to strengthen the U.S. negotiating position. He was comfortable with the U.S. giving a green light to the "dirty war" in Argentina and to Indonesia's invasion of East Timor, because those governments were U.S. allies. Likewise, the U.S. could welcome a coup against Salvador Allende, the elected socialist president in Chile.

Kissinger's detractors said his identification with such policy decisions meant he was liable for war crimes. At public events, like his 2012 appearance at Harvard, accusations were inevitable.

"How do you justify receiving the Nobel Peace Prize when you were the architect of, with Richard Nixon, of killing four million southeast Asians during the Vietnam War?" one audience member asked, going on to highlight the deaths of East Timorese and the coup in Chile, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of Chileans.

"Do you deny these war crimes?" the man said. "Basically, how do you sleep with yourself at night?"

Kissinger was accustomed to such questions and regularly encouraged his critics to consider "the big picture."

"Just study who did what, not people who live off proving their country is evil and their leaders are criminal," Kissinger told the Harvard questioner. "Start from the assumption that rational people were in government. What led to what decisions?" He urged his critic to go through the minutes of a national security meeting.

"You may not agree with it," he said, "but you won't throw around words like war criminal then."

Kissinger knew something about criminal leaders from his own experience in Nazi Germany, but it did not keep him from engaging with other governments that executed their opponents. It may have been that Kissinger's own life experience made it easier for him to be dispassionate about tough policy choices.

David Rothkopf, his one-time assistant, thinks Kissinger's view of the world was in part a result of his childhood experience in Germany and then his service as a young man in the U.S. Army.

"Those are the formative years," Rothkopf said. "I think to understand Kissinger, you have to understand a man who escaped the Holocaust, a man who went back to fight in this big grand war, a man who saw the United States as the champion against an almost absolute evil."

Having seen the United States as being on the side of good, Rothkopf suggests, Kissinger may have been more willing to justify questionable U.S. actions around the world.

"That helps to explain, if not to entirely forgive, some of the things that happened later," Rothkopf said.

Kissinger's approach to foreign policy put him "squarely in the realist tradition," said Haass, who served as director of policy planning at the U.S. State Department during the George W. Bush administration. In that regard, Kissinger emphasized the importance of "buttressing world order ... and shaping the foreign policies of great powers more than their internal political or economic behavior," Haass said.

Kissinger stayed active to the end of his life, writing books on international affairs and giving speeches and interviews.

Donald Trump's "America First" bravado initially impressed him. Interviewed on CBS's Face the Nation just after the 2016 election, Kissinger suggested that "something remarkable" might emerge from a Trump presidency.

"I'm not saying it will," Kissinger said. "I'm saying it's an extraordinary opportunity."

Nearly four years later, however, Kissinger said in an interview with the Council on Foreign Relations that he was worried that if the Trump administration continued to withdraw from global alliances and international engagement, U.S. influence on world events would diminish.

"Over a period of time in which history is judged," he said, "we will be isolated and become, to some extent, irrelevant."

For a diplomat who always saw America as a pre-eminent player in the global power game, that was a virtually unthinkable prospect.

Kissinger is survived by his wife, Nancy Maginnes Kissinger, and two children from his first marriage, Elizabeth and David.

Mildred Miller obit

Opera star Mildred Miller, founder of Pittsburgh Festival Opera, dies at age 98

 

She was not on the list.

Opera star Mildred Miller, who founded what is now known as the Pittsburgh Festival Opera, has died at age 98.

Mildred Miller Posvar, known professionally as Mildred Miller, charmed audiences of major opera houses across the United States and Europe. As the First Lady of the University of Pittsburgh, married to Chancellor Wesley Posvar, she charmed incoming freshmen, faculty, alumni and visiting dignitaries at countless dinners and receptions.

According to Miller's obituary, she died on Wednesday, just weeks before her 99th birthday, at her home in Pittsburgh, surrounded by her three children. She had Parkinson's disease, and until last year, she maintained an active calendar of board meetings, the symphony, opera and football games.

Her obituary calls her a mentor and coach who inspired countless careers and founded the Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, now known as the Pittsburgh Festival Opera. For 20 years, until her retirement at age 95, she was a full-time voice teacher at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Music.

Miller debuted at the Met on Nov. 17, 1951, as Cherubino in "The Marriage of Figaro," which she performed a record 61 times. During her 23 years at the Met, she sang 338 performances, singing 21 different roles. 

Wesley Posvar, a high school classmate Miller reconnected with later in life and married in 1950, served as the chancellor of Pitt from 1967 to 1991, where Miller was the first lady.

"Mildred Miller Posvar excelled in every role she played, whether it was as Cherubino or Carmen, mentor and teacher, or wife, mother and, later in life, as Nana to her seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren," her obituary reads.

Visitation will be at John A. Freyvogel Sons from 1-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 8. A funeral is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 9 at Calvary Episcopal Church. There are also plans for a memorial service at a date and location yet to be announced.

In lieu of flowers, her obituary asks for donations to be made in her honor to either the Pittsburgh Festival Opera, the Mildred Miller Scholarship at the University of Pittsburgh or the Carnegie Mellon University School of Music.

Jack Axelrod

Jack Axelrod, Actor on ‘General Hospital,’ ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and ‘My Name Is Earl,’ Dies at 93

He also made it to Broadway and appeared in films including ‘Bananas,’ ‘Little Fockers’ and ‘J. Edgar.’ 

He was not on the list.

Jack Axelrod, who played a mob boss on General Hospital for three years and had notable guest-starring turns on My Name Is Earl and Grey’s Anatomy, has died. He was 93.

Axelrod died Nov. 28 of natural causes in Los Angeles, his rep Jennifer Garland announced.

Axelrod showed up in Woody Allen’s Bananas (1971) in one of his first onscreen roles, and his big-screen résumé also included Hancock (2008), Winged Creatures (2008), Little Fockers (2010), Super 8 (2011), J. Edgar (2011) and The Lone Ranger (2013).

Axelrod portrayed mobster Victor Jerome on the ABC soap General Hospital from 1987-89 and the “Electrolarynx Guy” on the NBC comedy My Name Is Earl in 2005-08.

And on the ABC drama Grey’s Anatomy in 2006-07, he stole scenes as the patient Charlie Yost, who spent a long time in a semi-conscious state at Seattle Grace before dying — just as he was about to get in a wheelchair to leave.

He continued to work consistently until 2020, when he retired at age 90.

Born in Los Angeles on Jan. 25, 1930, Axelrod served as a corporal in the U.S. Army, stationed in Germany from February 1953 to February 1955. He then majored in architecture at UC Berkeley and eventually became licensed as an architect in the state of Washington.

Axelrod, meanwhile, studied acting with Uta Hagen at HB Studios in New York for six years, and in 1969 he portrayed Banquo in an off-Broadway production of Macbeth. A year later, he appeared off-Broadway in Gandhi and accompanied the play to Broadway, but it closed on opening night.

Axelrod also worked on television in Kojak, Hill Street Blues, Dallas, Dynasty, Night Court, Knots Landing, Murphy Brown, Everybody Loves Raymond, Star Trek: Voyager, Frasier, Scrubs, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Hot in Cleveland, Shameless, The Office, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Ray Donovan, Baskets and Modern Family.

Axelrod was a theater faculty member at colleges including the University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan, Boston University, Penn State, Temple University, Cal State Northridge, CalArts and Brandeis University and was a guest instructor at the Aaron Speiser Acting Studio in L.A.

 

Actor

Alicia Silverstone, Rob Corddry, and Michaela Watkins in Bad Therapy (2020)

Bad Therapy

4.4

Dr. Cherbenko

2020

 

Sofía Vergara, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Sarah Hyland, Ed O'Neill, Eric Stonestreet, Beatrice the Dog, Ariel Winter, Nolan Gould, Rico Rodriguez, Reid Ewing, Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, and Jeremy Maguire in Modern Family (2009)

Modern Family

8.5

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Bert

Harvey

2015–2019

2 episodes

 

No Activity (2017)

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6.8

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Steve

2018

3 episodes

 

Station 19 (2018)

Station 19

7.0

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2018

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Minnie Driver, John Ross Bowie, Cedric Yarbrough, Kyla Kenedy, Mason Cook, and Micah Fowler in Speechless (2016)

Speechless

7.5

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Older Man

2018

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Andrew Dice Clay in Dice (2016)

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7.4

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2017

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Baskets (2016)

Baskets

7.6

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2017

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Alexis Bledel and Lauren Graham in Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life (2016)

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life

7.5

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Martin

2016

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Liev Schreiber in Ray Donovan (2013)

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8.3

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2016

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Animals. (2016)

Animals.

7.3

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Old Mike (voice)

2016

1 episode

 

Dirk Blocker, Andre Braugher, Terry Crews, Melissa Fumero, Joe Lo Truglio, Joel McKinnon Miller, Andy Samberg, and Stephanie Beatriz in Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013)

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

8.4

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Henry Coles

2016

1 episode

 

Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Clair in Playing House (2014)

Playing House

7.7

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2015

1 episode

 

Adulthood (2015)

Adulthood

6.8

Uncle Al

2015

 

Mulaney (2014)

Mulaney

4.1

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Elderly Veteran

2014

1 episode

 

Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling in Mystery Girls (2014)

Mystery Girls

4.0

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Bill Sanderson

2014

1 episode

 

Legit (2013)

Legit

8.1

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Old Man

2014

1 episode

 

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Kirstie

5.0

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Hal Kleinman

2014

1 episode

 

Scott Caan, Jorge Garcia, Chi McBride, Meaghan Rath, Ian Anthony Dale, Alex O'Loughlin, and Beulah Koale in Hawaii Five-0 (2010)

Hawaii Five-0

7.4

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Ezra Clark

2013

1 episode

 

Glenn Howerton, Steve Little, and Ben Schwartz in Coffee Town (2013)

Coffee Town

6.5

Elderly Man

2013

 

Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer in The Lone Ranger (2013)

The Lone Ranger

6.4

Telegraph Operator

2013

 

Family Tools (2013)

Family Tools

5.4

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Mr. Kurtz

2013

1 episode

 

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7.8

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2012–2013

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Animal Practice (2012)

Animal Practice

5.7

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Old Man

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Raising Hope

8.1

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Henry

2012

1 episode

 

Topher Grace and Mary Elizabeth Winstead in The Beauty Inside (2012)

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8.0

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2012

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The Office

9.0

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Old Man

2012

1 episode

 

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8.5

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2012

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Dexter (2006)

Dexter

8.7

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Nelson

2011

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Leonardo DiCaprio in J. Edgar (2011)

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6.5

Caminetti

2011

 

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Hot in Cleveland

7.4

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Ernie

2011

1 episode

 

Becki Newton in Love Bites (2011)

Love Bites

7.4

TV Series

Little Old Man

2011

1 episode

 

Peter Cullen, Shia LaBeouf, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

6.2

Simmons Tileman

2011

 

Heather Locklear, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, and Breckin Meyer in Franklin & Bash (2011)

Franklin & Bash

7.6

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Old Man

2011

1 episode

 

Super 8 (2011)

Super 8

7.0

Mr. Blakely

2011

 

Janeane Garofalo, Forest Whitaker, Michael Kelly, Beau Garrett, and Matt Ryan in Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (2011)

Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior

6.2

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Janitor

2011

2 episodes

 

Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Ben Stiller, Jessica Alba, and Owen Wilson in Little Fockers (2010)

Little Fockers: Deleted Scenes

5.3

Video

Chappy (uncredited)

2011

 

Fred & Vinnie (2011)

Fred & Vinnie

5.9

Leo

2011

 

Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Ben Stiller, Jessica Alba, and Owen Wilson in Little Fockers (2010)

Little Fockers

5.5

Chappy

2010

 

Norman Reedus, Chris Hemsworth, and Zach Mills in Ollie Klublershturf vs. the Nazis (2010)

Ollie Klublershturf vs. the Nazis

6.8

Short

Poppy Klublershturf

2010

 

Jada Pinkett Smith in Hawthorne (2009)

Hawthorne

6.0

TV Series

Burt

2010

2 episodes

 

Amy Brenneman, Brian Benben, Benjamin Bratt, Taye Diggs, Kate Walsh, Paul Adelstein, Caterina Scorsone, and KaDee Strickland in Private Practice (2007)

Private Practice

6.8

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Oscar Schmitt

2010

1 episode

 

Secret Girlfriend (2009)

Secret Girlfriend

6.5

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Retired Golfer

2009

1 episode

 

Jesse Bradford, Sophia Bush, Jennifer Morrison, and Brandon Routh in Table for Three (2009)

Table for Three

5.4

Musician #1

2009

 

Lindsay Lohan in Labor Pains (2009)

Labor Pains

4.8

O'Keefe

2009

 

Star-ving (2009)

Star-ving

7.6

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Ira Silver

2009

4 episodes

 

Jonny Lee Miller in Eli Stone (2008)

Eli Stone

7.7

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Patient

2008

1 episode

 

Kate Beckinsale, Guy Pearce, Forest Whitaker, and Dakota Fanning in Winged Creatures (2008)

Winged Creatures

5.6

Sam

2008

 

Will Smith in Hancock (2008)

Hancock

6.4

Convict

2008

 

Jason Lee, Jaime Pressly, Ethan Suplee, Eddie Steeples, and Nadine Velazquez in My Name Is Earl (2005)

My Name Is Earl

7.8

TV Series

Electrolarynx Guy

Fake Father

Old Man

2005–2008

8 episodes

 

James Pickens Jr., Ellen Pompeo, and Chandra Wilson in Grey's Anatomy (2005)

Grey's Anatomy

7.6

TV Series

Charlie Yost

2006–2007

3 episodes

 

Christmas Do-Over (2006)

Christmas Do-Over

5.6

TV Movie

Elderly Neighbor

2006

 

Danny DeVito, Charlie Day, Rob McElhenney, Kaitlin Olson, and Glenn Howerton in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005)

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

8.8

TV Series

Father O'Grady

2006

1 episode

 

John C. McGinley, Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, Donald Faison, Neil Flynn, Ken Jenkins, and Judy Reyes in Scrubs (2001)

Scrubs

8.4

TV Series

Italian Man

2006

1 episode

 

Frankie Muniz, Justin Berfield, Bryan Cranston, Jane Kaczmarek, Christopher Masterson, and Erik Per Sullivan in Malcolm in the Middle (2000)

Malcolm in the Middle

8.2

TV Series

Sheldon

2005

1 episode

 

Blowing Smoke (2004)

Blowing Smoke

5.5

TV Movie

Sid

2004

 

Tori Spelling, Antonio Sabato Jr., Keri Lynn Pratt, Mindy Cohn, Marika Dominczyk, Camille Guaty, Al Santos, Brenda Strong, and Megan Fox in The Help (2004)

The Help

6.2

TV Series

Grandpa Eddie

2004

5 episodes

 

It's All Relative (2003)

It's All Relative

6.7

TV Series

Uncle Paddy

2003

1 episode

 

Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce, John Mahoney, Peri Gilpin, and Jane Leeves in Frasier (1993)

Frasier

8.2

TV Series

Old Frasier

2003

1 episode

 

Dennis Farina, Jean Smart, Elon Gold, and Bonnie Somerville in In-Laws (2002)

In-Laws

6.8

TV Series

Mr. Jenkins

2002

1 episode

 

Jennifer Garner in Alias (2001)

Alias

7.6

TV Series

Giovanni Donato

2001

1 episode

 

Kim Delaney, Kyle Secor, Rick Hoffman, Diana Maria Riva, and Tom Everett Scott in Philly (2001)

Philly

7.3

TV Series

2001

1 episode

 

Road to Redemption (2001)

Road to Redemption

5.5

Arnold

2001

 

Bonnie Bedelia, Nancy McKeon, Lela Rochon, Lisa Vidal, and Tracey Needham in The Division (2001)

The Division

6.6

TV Series

Mr. Kanter

2001

1 episode

 

Rubén Blades, Andre Braugher, Eric Dane, Russell Hornsby, Ravi Kapoor, Sophie Keller, Hamish Linklater, and Rhona Mitra in Gideon's Crossing (2000)

Gideon's Crossing

7.6

TV Series

Elderly Man

2000

1 episode

 

Vice (2000)

Vice

7.7

Mr. Reinert

2000

 

Tamera Mowry-Housley, Irma P. Hall, and Darius McCrary in Something to Sing About (2000)

Something to Sing About

7.0

TV Movie

Mr. Thompson

2000

 

Robert Beltran, Jennifer Lien, Robert Duncan McNeill, Kate Mulgrew, Robert Picardo, Jeri Ryan, Roxann Dawson, Ethan Phillips, Tim Russ, and Garrett Wang in Star Trek: Voyager (1995)

Star Trek: Voyager

7.9

TV Series

Chorus #1

2000

1 episode

 

Through Thick and Thin

Short

Gus

1999

 

Dharma & Greg (1997)

Dharma & Greg

6.4

TV Series

Bartender

1999

1 episode

 

Amanda Peet, Ivan Sergei, Justin Kirk, Sarah Paulson, Jaime Pressly, and Simon Rex in Jack & Jill (1999)

Jack & Jill

7.2

TV Series

Husband

1999

1 episode

 

Clayton Rohner and Richard Brooks in Good vs Evil (1999)

Good vs Evil

7.5

TV Series

Jacobus Blitzer

1999

1 episode

 

Danielle Fishel, Ben Savage, Will Friedle, and Rider Strong in Boy Meets World (1993)

Boy Meets World

8.1

TV Series

Organ Grinder

1999

1 episode

 

Peter Boyle, Brad Garrett, Patricia Heaton, Doris Roberts, and Ray Romano in Everybody Loves Raymond (1996)

Everybody Loves Raymond

7.3

TV Series

Lodge Member

1999

1 episode

 

Walking to Waldheim

Short

Eddie Bromberg

1997

 

Eric Roberts, Mädchen Amick, and John Lithgow in Love, Cheat & Steal (1993)

Love, Cheat & Steal

5.1

TV Movie

Mario Columbard

1993

 

Candice Bergen in Murphy Brown (1988)

Murphy Brown

6.9

TV Series

Leon - Gene's Tailor

1992

1 episode

 

Hammer, Slammer, & Slade (1990)

Hammer, Slammer, & Slade

6.5

TV Movie

1990

 

Silvia Seidel in Faith (1990)

Faith

5.3

Don Bassaro

1990

 

Donna Mills, Joan Van Ark, Michele Lee, Constance McCashin, John Pleshette, and Ted Shackelford in Knots Landing (1979)

Knots Landing

6.9

TV Series

Arnie Zimmer

1989–1990

3 episodes

 

Maurice Benard, Ingo Rademacher, Julie Berman, Steve Burton, Tyler Christopher, Nancy Lee Grahn, Rebecca Herbst, Kelly Monaco, Kirsten Storms, Laura Wright, Dominic Zamprogna, and Chad Duell in General Hospital (1963)

General Hospital

6.6

TV Series

Victor Jerome

1987–1989

40 episodes

 

Harry Anderson, Selma Diamond, Ellen Foley, John Larroquette, Richard Moll, and Charles Robinson in Night Court (1984)

Night Court

7.7

TV Series

Mr. Williams

1989

1 episode

 

Outlaws (1986)

Outlaws

7.2

TV Series

Livingston

1987

1 episode

 

Dynasty (1981)

Dynasty

6.3

TV Series

Charlie

1987

1 episode

 

The Judge (1986)

The Judge

7.8

TV Series

Dr. Ben Foster

1986

1 episode

 

Not My Kid (1985)

Not My Kid

5.8

TV Movie

Harlan Crockett

1985

 

Victoria Principal, Barbara Bel Geddes, Patrick Duffy, Larry Hagman, Charlene Tilton, Jim Davis, Linda Gray, and Steve Kanaly in Dallas (1978)

Dallas

7.1

TV Series

Bobby's Employee

1983–1984

2 episodes

 

Robert Clohessy, Michael Warren, and Bruce Weitz in Hill Street Blues (1981)

Hill Street Blues

8.2

TV Series

Salesman

1984

1 episode

 

Kojak (1973)

Kojak

7.1

TV Series

Forensics Man

1977

1 episode

 

Bananas (1971)

Bananas

6.9

Arroyo

1971

Lawrence Steven Meyers obit

Lawrence Steven Meyers Dies: Meyers Media Group Founder Was 67

 

He was not on the list.

Lawrence Steven Meyers, the veteran sales agent and producer who set up Meyers Media Group, has died in London. He was 67.

Meyers was a recognizable figure in the film world on both sides of the pond.

He was born in Mount Vernon, New York in 1956 and spent his early years growing up in Spring Valley before going to the University of Florida, where he majored in Communications and Public Relations. 

He joined JAD Films, an international sales company founded by his uncle, Bobby Meyers, and within a few years he was recruited by mini-major New World Pictures to head up the international sales division, becoming the youngest person to hold the post.

Exec roles at Trilogy, Morgan Creek Entertainment and Media 8 followed, along with a 10-year stint at Lorimar Motion Pictures.

After decades in international sales, where he worked alongside filmmakers and was ever present at festivals and film markets, he founded Meyers Media Group in 2011, becoming far more involved in productions including Giles Borg feature Lead Heads starring Rupert Everett, Derek Jacobi and Tom Felton.

He relocated from LA back to London in 2021 to concentrate on an extensive film development slate. His colleagues associated with Meyers Media Group, Randy Dannenberg and John Evangelides, will move several titles, notably Shia LaBeouf-starrer Mace, into production during 2024.

John Kelly Colaianni obit

John Kelly Colaianni

1962 - 2023

 

He was not on the list.

Colaianni, John Kelly, - formerly of Ventnor, has died at the age of 61 at St. Mary's Medical Center in Langhorne, PA. A virtuoso jazz pianist whose career spanned five decades, John shared the stage with some of the jazz world's all-time greats. While still in high school, John became active on the Washington D.C. jazz scene, playing in jam sessions at well-known venues such as The Pigfoot, One Step Down, Blues Alley, The Bayou, and Frankie Condon's. During this period, John also played gigs directed by Ella Fitzgerald's bassist, Keter Betts, who recruited 16-year-old John for "Jazz Stars of The Future," a troupe of young, local jazz musicians. While John was in tenth grade, he was invited to play regularly with the University of Maryland Jazz Ensemble. After moving to Ventnor and just months out of high school, John met the legendary vibraphonist and band leader Lionel Hampton backstage at an Atlantic City casino. After a successful audition in Hampton's New York City apartment, John toured internationally and recorded three albums with the Lionel Hampton Big Band. In the mid-1980s, John made three critically acclaimed albums of his own on the Concord Records Jazz label and was a finalist in the First International Thelonious Monk Piano Competition at The Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. This was followed by four years of international touring with the great Mel Tormé as well as performing on six of Torme's albums. In 2003, the renowned guitarist and inventor Les Paul welcomed John to his Trio. Throughout John's six-year tenure with Les at New York's famed Iridium Jazz Club, the group also toured, recorded, and appeared many times on national media, ending with Les's death in 2009. John was also a member of the late guitarist Larry Coryell's Trio, performing on Coryell's 2011 release, "Montgomery." In 2016, John began organizing a big band at the urging of friends and fellow musicians familiar with his work as an arranger and pianist. The 17-piece band, The John Colianni Jazz Orchestra, performed swing, modern jazz, standards, and original compositions in various venues around New York City. Along the way, John recorded with the great rock idol, Steve Miller, as well as scores of other collaborations with an array of distinguished pop, rock, and jazz performers. Known by friends and fellow musicians as "Johnny Chops," John will be remembered for his speed, intelligence, and wit at the piano. His formidable body of work is a moving testimony to a sensitive artist steeped in the history, values, and culture of jazz, which many consider "America's original art form."

John was preceded in death by his parents, James and Patricia Colaianni of Galloway, and his sister, Pamela. He is survived by his son Torre of New Jersey, Torre's mother Denise Yost of Hawthorne, sister Karen Johnson of Cape May Court House, sister Janice Sosebee and brother-in-law Carl Sosebee of Silver Spring, MD, brother James F. Colaianni Jr. and sister-in-law Lori Colaianni of Ventnor, brother Louis Colaianni of Culver City, CA. nephew Scott Johnson and wife Kerry Johnson of Los Angeles, niece Juliet Sosebee and husband Shan Williams of North Beach, MD, niece Amanda Goudie of Ventnor; and great-nephew and nieces, Grady and Gracie Johnson of Los Angeles, and Bailey Freedman of North Beach, MD. John is also survived by Lorraine Yost of Northfield, her late husband Jim Yost, and countless friends, musicians and extended family.

Julius W. Becton, Jr., obit

Remembering General Julius W. Becton, Jr., former President of Prairie View A&M University

 He was not on the list.

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (Nov. 28, 2023) – It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of General Julius W. Becton, Jr., LTG (Ret.), former President of Prairie View A&M University. General Becton was appointed as the fifth president of his alma mater on December 15, 1989.

Known for his extraordinary career in military service, spanning more than four decades, he was the first Prairie View A&M University graduate to attain a star rank in the military. Among his decorations are the Distinguished Service Medal, two Silver Stars, two Legion of Merit medals, two Purple Hearts, and the Knight Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Germany. General Becton was also the first African American director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1985.

Under his leadership, PVAMU significantly improved fiscal operations, successfully reaffirmed its accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and the College of Nursing received a full eight-year accreditation from the National League of Nursing.

On August 31, 1994, General Becton retired as President with the distinction of an Honorary Doctorate approved by The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents.

Becton was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, on June 29, 1926. He joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in July 1944, graduated infantry Officer Candidate School in 1945, and served with 93rd Infantry Division. He separated from the Army in 1946 but returned to service after President Harry S. Truman's executive order to integrate the U.S. Armed Forces in 1948.

Becton went on to serve in the Korean War and the Vietnam War, eventually rising to the rank of lieutenant general in 1978 and command of VII Corps in Europe during the Cold War. Among his decorations were the Distinguished Service Medal, two Silver Stars, two Legion of Merit medals, and two Purple Hearts, along with the Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of Germany.

While in the service, Becton graduated from Prairie View Agricultural and Mechanical University (Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics in 1960), the University of Maryland (Master's Degree in Economics in 1966). He also graduated from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, the Armed Forces Staff College, and the National War College.

Becton retired from the U.S. Army in 1983, after nearly 40 years of service. However, his public service career was far from over. From 1984 to 1985, he served as the Director of the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance in the United States Agency for International Development (US AID). He then served as the Director of FEMA from 1985 to 1989 under President Ronald Reagan.

Thomas Augsberger obit

Thomas Augsberger, Eden Rock Founder and International Film Consultant, Dies at 60

The German-born film and opera lover was the North American consultant for German mini-major Tele München Group and Leonine and produced films such as 'Mr. Brooks' and 'Tucker and Dale vs Evil.' 

He was not on the list.

Thomas Augsberger, the producer, international film consultant, former Lionsgate board member and founder of Eden Rock Media, has died. He was 60.

Augsberger died suddenly Tuesday at his home in the Hollywood Hills, members of his family told The Hollywood Reporter.

The German-born and trained attorney was best known as the longtime consultant and North American representative for Herbert Kloiber‘s German mini-major Tele Muenchen Group (TMG). After Leonine acquired TMG in 2019, Augsberger continued to advise the company on film projects and acquisitions.

Over more than two decades, Augsberger acquired hundreds of film and TV projects for the German market from producers, sales agents and studios, making him one of the most important figures on the independent scene. He helped secure prebuys of Marvel’s Iron Man, Summit Entertainment’s Twilight and Lionsgate’s John Wick and Hunger Games franchises, including the recent prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, as well as the upcoming John Wick spinoff Ballerina. For the small screen, he licensed German-speaking rights for such hit series such as Flashpoint, The Night Manager and Anger Management.

Augsberger and Kloiber bonded over their shared love of opera — Augsberger was a trained opera singer — and their passion for a deal. He also oversaw TMG investments in the U.S. including, in 1999, the Munich group’s preferred equity investment in Lionsgate Entertainment and the acquisition of the Mutual Film Library in 2006. He served on the board of Lionsgate from 2002-04.

“Thomas was wholly unique and a special colleague in our business, so many great memories created during 30 years of friendship,” said Lionsgate’s Joe Drake. “Always thoughtful, articulate, tough and deeply human — that was his super power. No surprise that he is so loved and has so many friends.”

Added former Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment boss Patrick Wachsberger: “I am missing a great friend with the most beautiful singing voice; an amazingly bright colleague. Thomas is irreplaceable. A huge loss for anyone who had the amazing chance of knowing him.”

In 2002, Augsberger founded the production and media consulting business Eden Rock Media. He developed and produced more than 15 independently financed features, including the Kevin Costner-starring Mr. Brooks, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil and Solace, starring Anthony Hopkins, Colin Farrell, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Abbie Cornish.

“I am devastated. Thomas was a one-of-a-kind character — one you do not find anymore today — and most of all a friend,” said Leonine’s Fred Kogel. “My thoughts are with his family, that they will get through this horrible loss.”

In addition to Eden Rock, Augsberger was a founding partner of Filmaka, BestEverChannels and Liquid Light. He also served on the boards of BEC, Liquid Light and the U.S. PVOD and sell-through platform ROW8. Most recently, he executive produced the TV series The Professionals, starring Brendan Fraser and Tom Welling, and Spy City, starring Dominic Cooper.

“Knowing Thomas for the better part of 30 years I’ve never stopped admiring his enthusiasm for life and his essential optimism. Truly one of the most affable, gregarious and surprising people you will ever meet,” said Toby Emmerich, an executive producer on Barbie and a longtime friend. “I knew him best as a friend, a passionate film producer and a deeply loving and engaged husband and father. And on the surprising front, an opera singer, former male model, and a shockingly quick and agile tennis and soccer player!”

Noted Ready Player One screenwriter Zak Penn, another longtime friend: “There are people you rarely hear about that are as responsible for films as any director, writer or star. People like Thomas Augsberger — a smart, sunny and relentless force of nature who willed so many films into existence. He was a great lawyer, producer, athlete, opera singer and most of all, husband and father. It pains me to know that I won’t hear that deep baritone again.”

Augsberger is survived by his wife, Jana, daughters Tessa Lili and Helena Lucia and son Nicholas Alfred.

Charlie Munger obit

Charlie Munger, investing genius and Warren Buffett’s right-hand man, dies at age 99

 

He was not on the list.

Billionaire Charlie Munger, the investing sage who made a fortune even before he became Warren Buffett’s right-hand man at Berkshire Hathaway, has died at age 99.

Munger died Tuesday, according to a press release from Berkshire Hathaway. The conglomerate said it was advised by members of Munger’s family that he peacefully died this morning at a California hospital. He would have turned 100 on New Year’s Day.

“Berkshire Hathaway could not have been built to its present status without Charlie’s inspiration, wisdom and participation,” Buffett said in a statement.

In addition to being Berkshire,  vice chairman, Munger was a real estate attorney, chairman and publisher of the Daily Journal Corp., a member of the Costco board, a philanthropist and an architect.

In early 2023, his fortune was estimated at $2.3 billion — a jaw-dropping amount for many people but vastly smaller than Buffett’s unfathomable fortune, which is estimated at more than $100 billion.

During Berkshire’s 2021 annual shareholder meeting, the then-97-year-old Munger apparently inadvertently revealed a well-guarded secret: that Vice Chairman Greg Abel “will keep the culture” after the Buffett era.

Munger, who wore thick glasses, had lost his left eye after complications from cataract surgery in 1980.

Munger was chairman and CEO of Wesco Financial from 1984 to 2011, when Buffett’s Berkshire purchased the remaining shares of the Pasadena, California-based insurance and investment company it did not own.

Buffett credited Munger with broadening his investment strategy from favoring troubled companies at low prices in hopes of getting a profit to focusing on higher-quality but underpriced companies.

An early example of the shift was illustrated in 1972 by Munger’s ability to persuade Buffett to sign off on Berkshire’s purchase of See’s Candies for $25 million even though the California candy maker had annual pretax earnings of only about $4 million. It has since produced more than $2 billion in sales for Berkshire.

“He weaned me away from the idea of buying very so-so companies at very cheap prices, knowing that there was some small profit in it, and looking for some really wonderful businesses that we could buy in fair prices,” Buffett told CNBC in May 2016.

Or as Munger put it at the 1998 Berkshire shareholder meeting: “It’s not that much fun to buy a business where you really hope this sucker liquidates before it goes broke.”

Munger was often the straight man to Buffett’s jovial commentaries. “I have nothing to add,” he would say after one of Buffett’s loquacious responses to questions at Berkshire annual meetings in Omaha, Nebraska. But like his friend and colleague, Munger was a font of wisdom in investing, and in life. And like one of his heroes, Benjamin Franklin, Munger’s insight didn’t lack humor.

“I have a friend who says the first rule of fishing is to fish where the fish are. The second rule of fishing is to never forget the first rule. We’ve gotten good at fishing where the fish are,” the then-93-year-old Munger told the thousands of people at Berkshire’s 2017 meeting.

He believed in what he called the “lollapalooza effect,” in which a confluence of factors merged to drive investment psychology.

Charles Thomas Munger was born in Omaha on Jan. 1, 1924. His father, Alfred, was a lawyer, and his mother, Florence “Toody,” was from an affluent family. Like Warren, Munger worked at Buffett’s grandfather’s grocery store as a youth, but the two future joined-at-the-hip partners didn’t meet until years later.

At 17, Munger left Omaha for the University of Michigan. Two years later, in 1943, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps, according to Janet Lowe’s 2003 biography “Damn Right!”

The military sent him to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena to study meteorology. In California, he fell in love with his sister’s roommate at Scripps College, Nancy Huggins, and married her in 1945. Although he never completed his undergraduate degree, Munger graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1948, and the couple moved back to California, where he practiced real estate law. He founded the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson in 1962 and focused on managing investments at the hedge fund Wheeler, Munger & Co., which he also founded that year.

“I’m proud of being an Omaha boy,” Munger said in a 2017 interview with Dean Scott Derue of the Michigan Ross Business School. “I sometimes use the old saying, ‘They got the boy out of Omaha but they never got Omaha out of the boy.’ All those old-fashioned values — family comes first; be in a position so that you can help others when troubles come; prudent, sensible; moral duty to be reasonable [is] more important than anything else — more important than being rich, more important than being important — an absolute moral duty.”

In California, he partnered with Franklin Otis Booth, a member of the founding family of the Los Angeles Times, in real estate. One of their early developments turned out to be a lucrative condo project on Booth’s grandfather’s property in Pasadena. (Booth, who died in 2008, had been introduced to Buffett by Munger in 1963 and became one of Berkshire’s largest investors.)

“I had five real estate projects,” Munger told Derue. “I did both side by side for a few years, and in a very few years, I had $3 million — $4 million.”

Munger closed the hedge fund in 1975. Three years later, he became vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway.

‘We think so much alike that it’s spooky’

In 1959, at age 35, Munger returned to Omaha to close his late father’s legal practice. That’s when he was introduced to the then-29-year-old Buffett by one of Buffett’s investor clients. The two hit it off and stayed in contact despite living half a continent away from each other.

“We think so much alike that it’s spooky,” Buffett recalled in an interview with the Omaha World-Herald in 1977. “He’s as smart and as high-grade a guy as I’ve ever run into.”

“We never had an argument in the entire time we’ve known each other, which is almost 60 years now,” Buffett told CNBC’s Becky Quick in 2018. “Charlie has given me the ultimate gift that a person can give to somebody else. He’s made me a better person than I would have otherwise been. ... He’s given me a lot of good advice over time. ... I’ve lived a better life because of Charlie.”

The melding of the minds focused on value investing, in which stocks are picked because their price appears to be undervalued based on the company’s long-term fundamentals.

“All intelligent investing is value investing — acquiring more than you are paying for,” Munger once said. “You must value the business in order to value the stock.”

But during the coronavirus outbreak in early 2020, when Berkshire suffered a massive $50 billion loss in the first quarter, Munger and Buffett were more conservative than they were during the Great Recession, when they invested in U.S. airlines and financials like Bank of America and Goldman Sachs hit hard by that downturn.

“Well, I would say basically we’re like the captain of a ship when the worst typhoon that’s ever happened comes,” Munger told The Wall Street Journal in April 2020. “We just want to get through the typhoon, and we’d rather come out of it with a whole lot of liquidity. We’re not playing, ‘Oh goody, goody, everything’s going to hell, let’s plunge 100% of the reserves’ [into buying businesses].”

Munger donated hundreds of millions of dollars to educational institutions, including the University of Michigan, Stanford University and Harvard Law School, often with the stipulation that the school accept his building designs, even though he was not formally trained as an architect.

At Los Angeles’ Harvard-Westlake prep school, where Munger had been a board member for decades, he ensured that the girls bathrooms were larger than the boys room during the construction of the science center in the 1990s.

“Any time you go to a football game or a function there’s a huge line outside the women’s bathroom. Who doesn’t know that they pee in a different way than the men?” Munger told The Wall Street Journal in 2019. “What kind of idiot would make the men’s bathroom and the women’s bathroom the same size? The answer is, a normal architect!”

Munger and his wife had three children, daughters Wendy and Molly, and son Teddy, who died of leukemia at age 9. The Mungers divorced in 1953.

Two years later, he married Nancy Barry, whom he met on a blind date at a chicken dinner restaurant. The couple had four children, Charles Jr., Emilie, Barry and Philip. He also was the stepfather to her two other sons, William Harold Borthwick and David Borthwick. The Mungers, who were married 54 years until her death in 2010, contributed $43.5 million to Stanford University to help build the Munger Graduate Residence, which houses 600 law and graduate students.

Asked by CNBC’s Quick in a February 2019 “Squawk Box” interview about the secret to a long and happy life, Munger said the answer “is easy, because it’s so simple.”

“You don’t have a lot of envy, you don’t have a lot of resentment, you don’t overspend your income, you stay cheerful in spite of your troubles. You deal with reliable people and you do what you’re supposed to do. And all these simple rules work so well to make your life better. And they’re so trite,” he said.

“And staying cheerful ... because it’s a wise thing to do. Is that so hard? And can you be cheerful when you’re absolutely mired in deep hatred and resentment? Of course you can’t. So why would you take it on?”