Author: John

Eunice Mary Kennedy Shriver (July 10, 1921- August 11, 2009) was a member of the Kennedy family and helped to found Special Olympics in the 1960s as a national organization. Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, she was the fifth of nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Kennedy.

Shriver actively campaigned for her elder brother, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, during his successful 1960 U.S. presidential election.

In 1968, she helped Ann McGlone Burke nationalize the Special Olympics movement and is the only woman to have her portrait appear, during her lifetime, on a U.S. coin – the 1995 commemorative Special Olympics silver dollar.

Her daughter, Maria Shriver, is married to actor and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger who is currently Governor of California (elected 2003).

Death of Eunice Shriver
In the early morning of August 11, 2009, Shriver died at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, Massachusetts. The immediate cause of her death has not yet been disclosed, but she was 88 years of age and had suffered from Addison’s Disease for many years. The news of her death was first broadcast on MSNBC’s morning show Morning Joe, following an e-mail to Time magazine guest Mark Halperin

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Mike Seeger (August 15, 1933 – August 7, 2009) was an American folk musician and folklorist. He was a distinctive singer and an accomplished musician who played autoharp, banjo, fiddle, dulcimer, guitar, mouth harp, mandolin, and dobro. Seeger, a half-brother of Pete Seeger, produced more than 30 documentary recordings, and performed in more than 40 other recordings. He desired to make known the caretakers of culture that inspired and taught him

Seeger received six Grammy nominations and was the recipient of four grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. His influence on the folk scene was described by Bob Dylan in his autobiography, Chronicles: Volume One.

Death of Mike Seeger
A week before his 76th birthday, Seeger died at his home in Lexington, Virginia on August 7, 2009, after stopping cancer treatment

John Quade (April 1, 1938 – August 9 , 2009) was an American character actor who starred in film and in television. He was best known for his role as Cholla, the leader of the motorcycle gang "The Black Widows" in the 1978 hit film Every Which Way But Loose and the 1980 sequel Any Which Way You Can with Clint Eastwood.

Career
Quade starred in High Plains Drifter and The Outlaw Josey Wales with Clint Eastwood. Further, he also appeared in Papillon with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. He appeared in many television movies and mini series including Roots and Dream West. Quade starred in two short-lived television series: Flatbush from 1979 and Lucky Luke from 1991.

He made many guest appearances on television shows ranging from Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Knight Rider in the pilot episode "Knight of the Phoenix", Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The A-Team to On the Air.With his drawling accent, stocky build and squinty eyes, he was often called on to play Southern or rural law enforcement officers.

Death of John Quade
On Sunday, August 9, 2009, Quade died. He was 71

Breaking News – More coming 

John Hughes, Jr. (February 18, 1950 – August 6, 2009) was an American film director, producer and writer, responsible for some of the most successful comedy films of the 1980s and 1990s, including National Lampoon’s Vacation, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Weird Science, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Uncle Buck, Home Alone and its sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

Hughes died on August 6, 2009, from a heart attack.

John Hughes’ Filmography continues on next page

Writer
Delta House (1979) (TV Series)
National Lampoon’s Class Reunion (1982)
At Ease (1983) (TV Series)
Mr. Mom (1983)
National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983)
Nate and Hayes (1983) (with David Odell)
Sixteen Candles (1984)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
National Lampoon’s European Vacation (1985; characters)
Weird Science (1985)
Pretty in Pink (1986)
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)
Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
She’s Having a Baby (1988)
The Great Outdoors (1988)
Uncle Buck (1989)
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)
Home Alone (1990)
Career Opportunities (1991)
Dutch (1991)
Curly Sue (1991)
Beethoven (1992) (as Edmond Dantes)
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
Dennis the Menace (1993)
Baby’s Day Out (1994)
Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
101 Dalmatians (1996)
Flubber (1997)
Home Alone 3 (1997)
Reach The Rock (1998)
Just Visiting (2001) (with Jean-Marie Poire & Christian Clavier)
Maid in Manhattan (2002; story) (originally titled The Chambermaid) (as Edmond Dantes)
Drillbit Taylor (2008; story) (as Edmond Dantes)

Director
Sixteen Candles (1984)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Weird Science (1985)
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
She’s Having a Baby (1988)
Uncle Buck (1989)
Curly Sue (1991)

Producer
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Pretty in Pink (1986; executive producer)
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)
Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
She’s Having a Baby (1988)
The Great Outdoors (1988; executive producer)
Uncle Buck (1989)
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)
Home Alone (1990)
Career Opportunities (1991)
Only the Lonely (1991)

Steven Tyler (61 yrs old) is A lead singer of rock band Aerosmith.

On August 5th, 2009 Steven fell backwards off the stage during an Aerosmith concert near Sturgis, South Dakota, injuring his head, neck and shoulder. He had to be airlifted to Rapid City regional hospital. A doctor who attended to Steven after his fall said the singer’s vital signs were stable. He was said to be in good spirits at the time

Maria Corazon "Cory" Cojuangco Aquino (January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was a President of the Philippines and a world-renowned advocate of democracy, peace, women’s empowerment, and religious piety. She served as the 11th president of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992. She was the first female president of the Philippines and was Asia’s first female president.

Death of Corazon Aquino
Aquino died of cardiopulmonary arrest after complications of colon cancer  at the age of 76 on August 1, 2009, 3:18 a.m., at the Makati Medical Center. Aquino was diagnosed with the disease in March 2008 but kept up public appearances this year. A devout Catholic, she was a regular at weekend mass until shortly before being admitted to hospital in late June.

"Our mother peacefully passed away at 3:18 a.m. (1918 GMT Friday) of cardio-respiratory arrest," her son, Senator Benigno Aquino III, told reporters in Manila.

Corazon Aquino’s Achievements on next page

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Awards and Achievements
1986 Time Magazine Woman of the Year
1986 Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award
1986 United Nations Silver Medal
1986 Canadian International Prize for Freedom
1986 Nobel Peace Prize nominee
1986 International Democracy Award from the International Association of Political Consultants
1987 Prize For Freedom Award from Liberal International
1993 Special Peace Award from the Aurora Aragon Quezon Peace Awards Foundation and Concerned Women of the Philippines
1994 One of 100 Women Who Shaped World History (by G.M. Rolka, Bluewood Books, San Francisco, CA)
1995 Path to Peace Award
1996 J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding from the U.S. Department of State
1998 Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding
1998 Pearl S. Buck Award
1999 One of Time Magazine’s 20 Most Influential Asians of the 20th Century
2001 World Citizenship Award
2005 David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Awards
2005 One of the World’s Elite Women Who Make a Difference by the International Women’s Forum Hall of Fame
2006 One of Time Magazine’s 65 Asian Heroes
2008 One of A Different View’s 15 Champions of World Democracy
EWC Asia Pacific Community Building Award
Women’s International Center International Leadership Living Legacy Award
Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize
United Nations Development Fund for Women Noel Award for Political Leadership

Honorary doctorates
Doctor of International Relations, honoris causa, from:
Boston University
Eastern University
Fordham University
Waseda University in Tokyo
Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, from:
University of the Philippines
University of Santo Tomas in Manila
Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, from:
Ateneo de Manila University
College of Mount Saint Vincent in New York
Xavier University (Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines)
Doctor of Humanities, honoris causa, from:
San Beda College in Manila, 2000
Seattle University, 2002
Stonehill College in Massachusetts
University of Oregon, 1995

President Sarkozy, a regular jogger and cyclist, spent a night in hospital in July 26, 2009 after he apparently fainted while jogging at the Palace of Versailles because of an incident of vasovagal syncope. Tests were run on his cardiovascular system overnight and he was released on 27th July after "nothing untoward" was found

Gordon Trueman Riviere Waller (June 4, 1945 – July 17, 2009) was a singer–songwriter–guitarist, best known as "Gordon" of the 1960s duo Peter and Gordon, whose biggest hit was "A World Without Love".

Gordon Waller Bio
Waller was born in Braemar, Scotland. While attending Westminster School, he met fellow student Peter Asher, and they began playing together as a duo — Peter and Gordon. Asher mentioned in a 2006 interview that "Our voices are quite different, Gordon’s and mine, but we tried singing together experimentally and we found that we could achieve this very nice harmony".

Asher is the older brother of actress and businesswoman Jane Asher, who in the mid-1960s was girlfriend of The Beatles’ Paul McCartney. Through this connection he and Waller were often given unrecorded Lennon–McCartney songs to perform, most notably their first and biggest hit, 1964’s decidedly Beatlesque "A World Without Love".

Peter and Gordon disbanded in 1968.

Death of Gordon Waller
Gordon Waller went into cardiac arrest on the evening of July 16, 2009 and died early in the morning of July 17, 2009 at a hospital near his home in Ledyard, Connecticut.

A world without love – Peter and Gordon
Gordon Waller on Left

I Go to Pieces – Peter & Gordon
Gordon Waller on Left

Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years (1962–81). During the heyday of CBS News in the 1970s and 1980s, he was often cited in viewer opinion polls as "the most trusted man in America" because of his professional experience and kindly demeanor.

Death of Walter Cronkite
Cronkite died on July 17, 2009 at his home in New York City, at the age of 92. He is believed to have died from cerebral vascular disease.

Walter Cronkite announces death of JFK

Johnny Carson – playing Walter Cronkite, 1981!

Click for a complete article 

A psychiatric expert said California authorities were fearful actress Mischa Barton might have ended up dead within 24 hours when they decided to hospitalize her under the state’s involuntary psychiatric-hold law Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s a 24-hour standard for these statutes,” said Dr. Keith Ablow, a psychiatrist and FOX News contributor. “You have to ask yourself, ‘Would this person die in the next 24 hours?’ They have to be at the brink of complete disaster.”

Online Gossip article on July 8, 2009 a week before hospitalization