Betty Naomi Goldstein Friedan commended women who chose to become wives and mothers, but she also believed that domesticity shouldn’t be the only path available to the female sex. After marrying and having children of her own, Friedan published her thoughts on the subject, and the result was a feminist manifesto that inspired generations of … Continue reading
Rainer “Ray” Lothar Broekel, a science teacher and author who was renowned for his sweet tooth, died on Jan. 26 of heart failure. He was 83. Born in Dresden, Germany, Broekel was only four years old when his family immigrated to America. He served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II, then received … Continue reading
Irving Layton, a prolific Canadian poet and professor, died on Jan. 4. Cause of death was not released. He was 93. Born Israel Pincu Lazarovitch in Tirgul Neamt, Romania, Layton was naturally circumcised at birth, which orthodox Jews considered the mark of the Messiah. His family immigrated to Canada when he was just an infant, … Continue reading
Patricia Anne van Tighem, the author of a best-selling book about a harrowing encounter with a grizzly bear, committed suicide on Dec. 14. She was 47. A native of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, van Tighem trained as a nurse at Mount Royal College and the University of Victoria. She and her husband, medical student Trevor Janz, … Continue reading
Controversial. Authentic. Foul-mouthed. Manic. Pioneering. Genius. These are just some of the words that have been used to describe actor/comedian Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III. But fans and colleagues always add one other adjective to the list: Funny. “He doesn’t fall into the [categories] of comedians we have, like prop comic, black comic, Jewish … Continue reading
For more than 40 years, Stan Berenstain and his wife Jan entertained millions of children while teaching them how to read. Stan and Jan were in their teens when they met in a drawing class at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art. A warm friendship and a mutual love of art soon developed into … Continue reading
Jerome Ravn Juhl was only 23 years old when he and his friend Frank Oz met Jim Henson at a puppeteer’s convention. That fateful encounter in 1961 helped both young men land their dream jobs. Juhl became the first full-time employee of the Jim Henson Co. He worked as a puppeteer on the TV show, … Continue reading
Although Philip J. Klass was a respected, technical journalist for Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine, he was best known for his research into the study of little green men and their flying aircraft. Klass began investigating UFOs in 1966 after participating in a panel discussion on the subject for the Institute of Electrical and … Continue reading
James Edward Dougherty, a retired Los Angeles police detective who was once married to Marilyn Monroe, died on Aug. 15 from complications of pneumonia. He was 84. Norma Jeane Baker was only 16 years old when she wed Dougherty, 21, in 1942. At the time, her only goals in life were to become a homemaker … Continue reading
Joe Ranft, an Oscar-nominated writer and a founding member of the Pixar Animation Studios creative team, was killed on Aug. 16 in a car accident. He was 45. Born in Pasadena and raised in Whittier, Calif., Ranft attended the California Institute of Arts with director John Lasseter. He joined the story department at Walt Disney … Continue reading