Wednesday, May 28

United States

Richard Passman, aeronautical engineer
2Apr By Web TeamNo Comments
Noteworthy, Profiles, United States

Richard Passman, aeronautical engineer

Richard Passman ‑ an aeronautical engineer and space scientist from the United States – succumbed to Covid-19 virus on April 1, 2020. He worked on projects including the Corona, the first spy satellite. He was a volunteer in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and author. Passman was born in Cedarhurst, New York to Ethel and Matthew Passman. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in aeronautical engineering in 1944 and mathematics in 1946. He earned a master's in aeronautical engineering in 1947. He joined the Navy Pilot Training program during WWII, but was discharged for medical reasons. He worked for Bell Aircraft, General Electric, the U.S. Department of Energy, and Grumman Corp. Passman worked on the team that created Bell X-1, the first airplane to ...
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Ellis Marsalis Jr, jazz pianist
2Apr By Web TeamNo Comments
Noteworthy, Profiles, United States

Ellis Marsalis Jr, jazz pianist

Ellis Louis Marsalis Jr. ‑ an American jazz pianist and educator – died from Covid-19 complications on April 1, 2020.   Active since the late 1940s, Marsalis came to greater attention in the 1980s and 1990s as the patriarch of a musical family, with sons Branford and Wynton also becoming notable musicians.   Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Marsalis was the son of Florence Marie (née Robertson) and Ellis Marsalis Sr., a businessman and social activist. Marsalis and his wife Delores Ferdinand had six sons: Branford, Wynton, Ellis III, Delfeayo, Mboya, and Jason. Branford, Wynton, Delfeayo, and Jason also became jazz musicians. Ellis III is a poet and photographer.   Marsalis played saxophone during high school but switched to piano while st...
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David Driskell, artist & scholar
2Apr By Web TeamNo Comments
Noteworthy, Profiles, United States

David Driskell, artist & scholar

David C. Driskell ‑ an artist and a scholar in the field of African-American art – died from coronavirus  on April 1, 2020.   Driskell was emeritus professor at the University of Maryland, College Park.   David Clyde Driskell was born in Eatonton, Georgia, the son of George Washington Driskell, a minister, and Mary Cloud Driskell, a homemaker. When he was five years old, he moved with his family to western North Carolina.   Driskell attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., graduating with a bachelor's degree in art in 1955; he also completed the summer program at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 1953. After teaching for several years at Talladega College in Alabama, he went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree...
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Adam Schlesinger, singer & songwriter
2Apr By Web TeamNo Comments
Noteworthy, Profiles, United States

Adam Schlesinger, singer & songwriter

Adam Lyons Schlesinger ‑ an American singer-songwriter, record producer, bassist, guitarist, keyboardist, and drummer – passed away after suffering from Covid-19 on April 1, 2020.   He won three Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and the ASCAP Pop Music Award, and was nominated for Academy, Tony, and Golden Globe Awards.   He was a founding member of the bands Fountains of Wayne, Ivy, and Tinted Windows, and was a key songwriting contributor and producer for Brooklyn-based synth-pop duo Fever High. Schlesinger grew up in Manhattan and Montclair, New Jersey. He died in the United States due to complications brought on by COVID-19.     Schlesinger was born in New York City, the son of Barbara "Bobbi" (Bernthal), a publicist, and Stephen Schlesinger. He grew up in Manhattan ...
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Wallace Roney, jazz trumpeter
2Apr By Web TeamNo Comments
Noteworthy, United States

Wallace Roney, jazz trumpeter

Wallace Roney ‑ an American jazz (hard bop and post-bop) trumpeter – died on March 31, 2020 from Covid-19.   Roney took lessons from Clark Terry and Dizzy Gillespie and studied with Miles Davis from 1985 until the latter's death in 1991. Wallace credited Davis as having helped to challenge and shape his creative approach to life as well as being his music instructor, mentor, and friend; he was the only trumpet player Davis personally mentored.   Roney was born in Philadelphia. He attended Howard University and Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, after graduating from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts of the D. C. Public Schools, where he studied trumpet with Langston Fitzgerald of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Found to have perfe...
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Bucky Pizzarelli, jazz guitarist
2Apr By Web TeamNo Comments
Noteworthy, Profiles, United States

Bucky Pizzarelli, jazz guitarist

John Paul "Bucky" Pizzarelli, an American jazz guitarist, died due to Covid-19 on April 1, 2020 . He was the father of jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli and double bassist Martin Pizzarelli. He worked for NBC as a staffman for Dick Cavett (1971) and ABC with Bobby Rosengarden in (1952). The list of musicians he collaborated with includes Benny Goodman, Les Paul, Stéphane Grappelli, and Antônio Carlos Jobim. Pizzarelli cited as influences Django Reinhardt, Freddie Green, and George Van Eps.   Pizzarelli was born on January 9, 1926, in Paterson, New Jersey. He learned to play guitar and banjo at a young age. His uncles, Pete and Bobby Domenick, were professional musicians, and sometimes the extended family would gather at one of their homes with the...
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Robert Beck, pentathlete
2Apr By Web TeamNo Comments
Noteworthy, Profiles, United States

Robert Beck, pentathlete

Robert Lee Beck ‑ an American modern pentathlete and fencer who won three gold medals in these disciplines at the Pan American Games in 1963-1971 – died of coronavirus on April 2, 2020.   He also won bronze medals in the individual and team modern pentathlon events at the 1960 Summer Olympics. He was less successful at the 1968 Games, placing 22nd individually and fourth with the American team.   Beck was a practising dentist in San Antonio, Texas, during his professional career. He was hospitalised in February 2020, due to a head injury from a fall in front of his home. He died at age 83 on April 2, 2020, after contracting COVID19 while in the hospital.   As of the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics, he was the last athlete from the United States to ...
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Anick Jesdanun, journalist
2Apr By Web TeamNo Comments
Noteworthy, Profiles, United States

Anick Jesdanun, journalist

Anick "Nick" Jesdanun ‑ an American technology journalist who served as deputy technology editor for the Associated Press (AP) – succumbed to Covid-19  on April 2, 2020.   Jesdanun covered technology, especially the internet, for AP for more than twenty years and sought to help readers navigate the relatively new technology and its impact on daily life, from the 1990s to the 2020s. Jesdanun was the first Associated Press reporter to be assigned as an "internet writer" in the news agency's history.   Jesdanun's parents, Adisak and Orabhin Jesdanun, immigrated to the United States from Thailand. He was originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but was raised in New Jersey. He earned a bachelor's degree from Swarthmore Col...
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