There were many more than presented here.. but they are some of the biggest names that went away in 2021..
JANUARY
Larry King, the celebrated television and radio host, has died at the age of 87, weeks after battling COVID-19.. King’s production company announced his death in a statement on Saturday. ‘With profound sadness, Ora Media announces the death of our co-founder, host, and friend Larry King, who passed away this morning at age 87 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles,’ the company said.’Ora Media sends our condolences to his surviving children Larry, Jr., Chance, Cannon and the entire King family.’ king had COVID-19.. Those who aren’t old enough to remember may not realize how important each night of LARRY KING was, how he had the top political players, Hollywood stars, and pop culture icons. Nightly for years.. And he took calls, too..Larry King was an unlikely TV.. A MASSIVE ego and a huge amount of talent and intelligence..
It was the End of an era with his death..
JOE JORDAN OF THE JORDAN BROTHERS PASSES AWAY →
Joe Jordan of the Jordan Brothers dead at 79 of COVID-19 .. SKOOK NEWS: Known as the first Rock and Roll act from our area, the Jordan Brothers hits the charts with “Gimme Some Lovin”, “Heart’, and “Beach Party”. Many of their fans remember the band playing at the Lakeside Ballroom in Ryan Township, The Spot in Minersville, and Willow Lake
MARVIN HAROLD STAIMAN →
Williamsport lost its most prolific news clipping service and one of its most beloved citizens when Marvin Harold Staiman, 93, passed away from complications of Covid-19 on Sunday, January 17, 2021. Marvin departed this world less than four months after losing his childhood sweetheart and the love of his life, his wife Jean. He was captivated by her at age 10. He and she were inseparable thereafter and happily married for 73 years. A Williamsport native and son of the late Rose and Walter Staiman, Marvin was born on August 10, 1927. Loving father and cherished Zaydie (Yiddish for grandpa), Marvin is survived by Jean’s and his six children – Keith (Eva), Cynthia (Arno), Jeffrey (Chaya), Richard (Allison), Jonathan (Lisa) and Rebecca (Stuart), 19 grandchildren, and 27 great-grandchildren.
FEBRUARY
Broadcasting legend Rush Limbaugh
Hustler magazine founder Larry Flynt
MAY
Charles Grodin dead at 86
JUNE
JOHN MCAFEE.. DEAD IN HIS CELL
Donald Rumsfeld, the two-time defense secretary and one-time presidential candidate whose reputation as a skilled bureaucrat and visionary of a modern U.S. military was unraveled by the long and costly Iraq war, died Tuesday. He was 88.
JULY
Jackie Mason dead at 93
Jackie Mason, the stand-up comic whose career spanned several decades and became a template and poster child of sorts for Jewish self-deprecation, died Saturday at the age of 93. His friend, lawyer Raoul Felder, confirmed Mason’s death to the New York Times. “My humor — it’s a man in a conversation, pointing things out to you,” he told the Times in 1988. “He’s not better than you, he’s just another guy. I see life with love — I’m your brother up there — but if I see you make a fool out of yourself, I owe it to you to point that out to you.”
AUGUST
Charlie Watts, drummer for the Rolling Stones, passed away on August 24th. The sad news was relayed by Watts’ spokesperson, who said in a statement: “He passed away peacefully in a London hospital earlier today surrounded by his family.” Watts joined the Rolling Stones in 1963, and played with the band for nearly 60 years. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the group in 1989. Charlie Watts was 80 years old.
Ed Asner, legendary actor, activist and philanthropist, passed away peacefully Sunday morning, surrounded by family. He was 91.
Asner, former president of the Screen Actors Guild, is best known for his role as Lou Grant during the 1970s and early 1980s, on both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spinoff series Lou Grant, making him one of the few television actors to portray the same character in both a comedy and a drama
SEPTEMBER
Willard Scott, the iconic “Today” show weatherman, died Saturday morning at the age of 87..
Al Roker confirmed today..
An actor best known for his work on “The Wire” was found dead in his apartment in Brooklyn on Monday.
Police say the 54-year-old Michael K. Williams, who played the character Omar, was discovered by a family member.
MORE…
Police are stating “drug paraphernalia” was found at the scene, whatever that means..
x x x
HBO released the following statement:
“We are devastated to learn of the passing of Michael Kenneth Williams, a member of the HBO family for more than 20 years. While the world is aware of his immense talents as an artist, we knew Michael as a dear friend who was beloved by all who had the privilege to work with him. We send our deepest condolences to his family for this immeasurable loss.”
Norm Macdonald dead at 61. Private ten year battle with cancer
Anthony Johnson, the actor and comedian who appeared in the movies Friday and House Party, died Sept. 6 at the age of 55.
His death was confirmed to Deadline by his rep LyNea Bell, owner and president of BH Talent.
“The world of comedy has truly been shaken, again,” said Bell in a statement. “Our BH Talent family is heartbroken about the loss of the iconic legend of stage and screen Mr. Anthony ‘AJ’ Johnson. He has left with us amazing memories of his laughter, dynamic acting skills, but most of all his enormous personality and heart of gold. We will be in constant prayer for his entire family including his wife Lexis, 3 children, brother Edward “Peanut” Smith, sister Sheila, and lifetime manager and friend Mike D. Please give them the time they need to process and grieve such a huge loss.”
OCTOBER
George Holliday, the Los Angeles plumber who shot grainy video of four white police officers beating Black motorist Rodney King in 1991, has died of complications of COVID-19, a friend said Monday.
Holliday, 61, died Sunday at a Los Angeles hospital, where he had been for more than a month, according to Robert Wollenweber, a longtime friend and former coworker. Holliday was not vaccinated and was on a ventilator in recent days after contracting pneumonia, Wollenweber said.
Alan Kalter, the legendary on-air announcer with a melodramatic flair for two decades of “The Late Show with David Letterman,” died Monday at Stamford Hospital in Connecticut. He was 78.
His wife Peggy Kalter confirmed his death to the Hollywood Reporter.
Colin Powell, the first Black US secretary of state whose leadership in several Republican administrations helped shape American foreign policy in the last years of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st, has died from complications from Covid-19, his family said on Facebook. He was 84.
“General Colin L. Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, passed away this morning due to complications from Covid 19,” the Powell family wrote on Facebook.
“We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American,” they said, noting he was fully vaccinated.
NOVEMBER
RITA SHARON SMOLOCK, THE GREATEST MOTHER OF ALL TIME
DECEMBER
Bob Dole, a Republican Party stalwart and presidential hopeful who espoused a brand of plain-spoken conservativism as one of Washington’s most recognizable political figures throughout the latter half of the 20th century, died Sunday.
“Senator Robert Joseph Dole died early this morning in his sleep. At his death, at age 98, he had served the United States of America faithfully for 79 years,” according to a statement from his family
Anne Rice dead at 80..
Her son broke the news on her social media.
She died from complications of a stroke, 19 years to the day after her husband…
May she Rest In Peace.
Joan Didion, a literary icon who chronicled 60s and 70s US culture, with screenwriting credits including 1976 film A Star Is Born, has died aged 87.
The incisive US novelist and essayist examined the fragmentation of US life in books like 1968’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem and 1979’s The White Album.
Her Pulitzer Prize-winning The Year of Magical Thinking mined her own grief following the death of her husband.
She died of Parkinson’s disease..
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and veteran of South Africa’s struggle against white minority rule, died on December 26 at the age of 90
John Madden, famed NFL coach and announcer, dead at 85..
Harry M. Reid, the Democrat who rose from childhood poverty in the rural Nevada desert to the heights of power in Washington, where he steered the Affordable Care Act to passage as Senate majority leader, died in Henderson, Nev. He was 82.
UPDATED LATE DECEMBER 31: BETTY WHITE DEAD ON NEW YEARS EVE.. Perhaps the most fitting end to a miserable year. She was just about 100.. And the world will miss the fact she is with us.
