Thursday, July 10

Noteworthy

Hal Willner, music producer
Noteworthy, Profiles, United States

Hal Willner, music producer

Hal Willner – an American music producer working in recording, films, TV and live events – passed away after contracting Covid-19 on April 7, 2020.   He was best known for assembling tribute albums and events featuring a wide variety of artists and musical styles (jazz, classical, rock, Tin Pan Alley).   Willner was born in Philadelphia in 1956. His father and uncle were Holocaust survivors. Willner moved to New York City in 1974 to attend New York University, but did not graduate.   In the late 1970s, Willner worked under record producer Joel Dorn, credited as associate producer on Leon Redbone's albums Double Time and Champagne Charlie, and The Neville Brothers' Fiyo on the Bayou.   Willner became the sketch music prod...
Leib Groner, theologist
Noteworthy, Profiles, United States

Leib Groner, theologist

Yehuda Leib "Leibel" Groner ‑ a Hasidic Jewish teacher, scholar, and author – died on April 7, 2020 from Covid-19. He had served as the personal secretary to Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, for 44 years. His parents were Rabbi Mordechai Avrohom Yeshaya Groner and Menucha Rochel Groner. Groner studied at the Central Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where he excelled as a student. Groner is a co-author, with Volf Greenglass of Montreal, of Sefer HaMinhagim, the authoritative book describing Chabad-Lubavitch customs. He was also an editor of Otzar HaChasidim, the editorial group that publishes works on Chabad Chassidut. He also taught at Beis Rivka in Crown Heights, a school for girls who are part of t...
Roger Matthews, criminologist
Noteworthy, Profiles, United Kingdom

Roger Matthews, criminologist

Roger Matthews, a British criminologist, died on 7 April,2020 due to COVID-19. He was a Professor of Criminology at the University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom. Prior to joining the University of Kent, he was a professor of criminology at London South Bank University and Middlesex University. Matthews is known as one of the key figures in left realism, a criminological critique of both the dominant administrative criminology and the critical criminology. He died on 7 April 2020 at the age of 71 from the effects of the COVID-19 virus.
Henri Madelin, theologian
France, Noteworthy, Profiles

Henri Madelin, theologian

Henri Madelin –a French Jesuit priest and theologian – passed away on 8 April 2020 after contracting Covid-19.   Madelin was born on 26 April 1936 in a family of nine children. His family moved to Blois in 1939, where Madelin practiced scouting.   After studying philosophy at the Jesuit formation in Vals-près-le-Puy, two years at Collège Libermann in Douala, and studying theology in Fourvière, Madelin was ordained a priest of the Society of Jesus in 1967.   In 1973, Madelin became director of Action populaire, which became the Center for Research and Social Action (CERAS). After earning a doctorate in political science, he chaired the Centre Sèvres in Paris from 1985 to 1991, when he was appointed national chapl...
Alfonso Cortina, businessman
Noteworthy, Profiles, Spain

Alfonso Cortina, businessman

Alfonso Cortina de Alcocer - a Spanish businessman who was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Repsol YPF, Spain's largest oil and gas group - died on 6 April 2020 of COVID-19. Cortina was born on 13 March 1944 in Madrid. He graduated in Industrial Engineering and held a further degree in Economic Sciences. His father was Pedro Cortina Mauri, foreign minister during the Francoist dictatorship. He began his career in the banking sector, where he held various positions at BBVA, Banco Zaragozano and Banco Central. Alfonso Cortina de Alcocer became president of the Spanish oil firm Repsol in 1996 despite his lack of experience in the petroleum industry. He also served as Vice Chairman and Senior Advisor for Spain and Latin America, Rothschild Europe. He died on ...
Dr Naek L. Tobing, physician, sexologist and author
Indonesia, Medics, Noteworthy, Profiles

Dr Naek L. Tobing, physician, sexologist and author

Dr Naek Lumban Tobing  - an Indonesian physician, sexologist and author. He wrote Problems and Solutions (1994) and Premarital Sex, Extramarital Sex, and Building Marital Harmony ‑ died on April 6, 2020 age 79 due to COVID-19. Often appearing to fill sexology rubrics in various national magazines and newspapers. In addition, he was often invited as a speaker in a health rubric program related to sexology issues at various television and radio stations throughout Indonesia. He was born on Samosir Island, Tapanuli.  He earned a medical degree from The University of North Sumatra in 1966, and psychiatrist degree from The University of Indonesia in 1976. He also earned certified sex educator from The University of Minnesota in 1983. He died at the Pertamina Central ...
Brahm Kanchibhotla, journalist
India, Noteworthy, Profiles, United States

Brahm Kanchibhotla, journalist

Brahmanandam "Brahm" Kanchibhotla ‑ an Indian-American journalist known for his extensive writings on the development of the Telugu community in the USA – died of coronavirus on 6 April 2020. He was a writer for India Abroad, News-India Times, United News of India, and The Indian Panorama, among others. Brahm Kanchibhotla was born in Edubadu village of Parchur Mandal in the Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh, India. In 1992, Kanchibhotla came to the United States working as Business Editor for the News-India Times, handling front-page articles while also reporting on financial news. He later moved to India Weekly USA followed by The Urban Indian, both New York-based publications for the South Asian commmunity. His work as a writer involved work on tiger conservation, restaurant worker...
Mary Bradford Kilgore, bowler
Noteworthy, Profiles, United States

Mary Bradford Kilgore, bowler

Mary Bradford Kilgore, a championship bowler and dedicated mother, died on April 6, 2020, of COVID-19 complications. She was 86 years old.  “My sister and I were in charge of dusting and keeping my mom’s bowling trophies clean,” her daughter Sharon Kilgore-Smith of Cottage Grove said. “She had around 300 trophies.” Bradford Kilgore built her extensive trophy collection during a 23-year career in mostly the 1960s and 1970s as one of the top female bowlers in the nation. She was a member of a team sponsored by Motown Records owner Berry Gordy. The highly successful team was perennially one of the top women’s teams in the country. Bradford Kilgore won several individual state titles while the Motown team was winning numerous Michigan ...
Stephen Sulyk, archbishop
Noteworthy, Profiles, Ukraine, United States

Stephen Sulyk, archbishop

Stephen Sulyk ‑ a Ukrainian-American hierarch who was an archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church ‑ died on April 6, 2020 due to complications brought on by COVID-19. He was born in Ukrainian village Balnica, Poland. On March 1, 1981, Sulyk was appointed Archbishop of Philadelphia. On February 27, 2001 he was succeeded by Stefan Soroka as Archbishop of Philadelphia.  On April 5, 2020 he was taken to hospital due to COVID-19 where he died at the age of 95.
Riay Tatary, religious leader
Noteworthy, Profiles, Spain

Riay Tatary, religious leader

Riay Tatary Bakry - a Syrian religious leader, chairman of the Union of Islamic Communities of Spain ‑ -  died on 6 April,2020 due to COVID-19. He was imam of the Central Mosque in Madrid, Spain, as well as president of the Islamic Commission of Spain. He was born in Damascus on 19 March 1948. He settled in Spain in 1970 and studied Medicine at the University of Oviedo. He took part in the advisory committee for Freedom of Religion of the Ministry of Justice, being endowed the Encomienda of the Order of Civil Merit in 1998. He was interned in March 2020 in the Hospital de la Paz due to COVID-19 along with his wife; Tatary died weeks later, on 6 April, at the age of 72. He was buried at the Muslim cemetery of Griñón.