The Blog of Death published more than 100 obits this year. Here's a quick look back at a few of our favorite entries from 2006:
* Eric J. Namesnik, an Olympic swimmer who took home two silver medals
* Joan Root, a British wildlife filmmaker and African conservationist
* Vinny "The Chin" Gigante, a Mafioso who managed to elude prosecution for decades by pretending to be crazy
* Dorothy Godfrey, the co-founder of a non-profit organization for survivors of suicide victims
* Octavia Butler, a science fiction writer who won both the Hugo and Nebula awards
* Dana Reeve, a talented entertainer, a loving mother, a devoted wife and a champion of spinal cord research
* Bill Moran, an innovator in custom knifemaking
* Don Knotts, an Emmy Award-winning actor who entertained generations in television shows, movies and on stage
* Thomas J. Abercrombie, a writer and photographer for National Geographic magazine
* Arthur Winston, a man who spent more than seven decades helping Los Angelinos get safely to and from work each day
* Moose, a canine actor best known for playing Eddie on the Emmy Award-winning NBC sitcom "Fraser"
* Harry Olivieri, the co-creator of the Philly cheese steak sandwich and a Philadelphia legend
* Ken Lay, the disgraced former chairman and chief executive of Enron who defrauded his stockholders and employees of billions of dollars
* Susan Butcher, a champion musher who won The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race four times
* Michael Mosey, "Scotland's Unluckiest Man"
* Bruce Ruth, the entrepreneur who made the town of Severence, Colo., famous for selling Rocky Mountain Oysters
* Steve Irwin, the popular Australian TV personality known as "The Crocodile Hunter"
* Tyron Garner, a plaintiff in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down sodomy bans in 13 states
* Steam Train Maury, the Grand Patriarch of the Hobos
* Ed Bradlee, an Emmy Award-winning journalist who appeared on the CBS news program "60 Minutes" for more than a quarter century
* Basil Poledouris, an Emmy Award-winning film composer
* Jeffrey Newbauer Jr., a terminally ill college student who tried to raise awareness about childhood cancer and research by visiting every Major League Baseball park in a single season
* Dewey Readmore Books, the feline mascot of the Spencer Public Library in Spencer, Iowa
* Robert Volpe, the Sherlock Holmes of the art world
* Rosalie Bradford, who once held world records for being the heaviest woman on the planet and for losing the most weight
Posted on December 31, 2006 8:59 PM