Noteworthy – Page 9

11May

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India, Noteworthy, Profiles

Hari Vasudevan, historian

Harishankar Vasudevan, a professional historian who was a specialist on Russian and European history, and Indo-Russian relations, died after contracting COVID-19 on May 10, 2020, at a private health facility in Kolkata, India. He was 68. Son of an aeronautical engineer at the Defence Science Organisation (later Defence Research and Development Organisation) Methil Vasudevan and Sreekumari Menon, Professor Vasudevan — “Hari” to all — grew up in many places in India, Europe and Africa. He had just finished a memoir, largely focussed on life of his mother, who passed away recently. After completing studies at Cambridge University in the early 1970s, Prof. Vasudevan settled in Kolkata as a Reader in European History at Calcutta University. He set up the Central Asia programme at Jamia ...

10May

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Germany, Noteworthy, Profiles

Johannes Beck, social ethicist

Johannes Beck SJ ‑ a German Jesuit and social ethicist – contracted Covid-19 and died due its complications on 9 May 2020. Beck joined the Jesuit order in 1948. After the theological training he received, on July 31, 1956 he was ordained at the St. Michael's Church in Munich. He was particularly involved in the worker and company pastoral care and campaigned for social justice and Catholic social teaching, in particular for the principle of solidarity in large industrial companies. Among other things, he served for many decades as a spiritual advisor to the Catholic Workers' Movement (KAB). As the successor to Franz Prinz SJ, he headed the Werkgemeinschaft christischer Arbeiter in Munich. From 1979 to 1991, Beck was director of the "Social Seminar" at M&...

10May

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Noteworthy, Profiles, United States

Paul “Bear” Vasquez, video personality

Paul "Bear" Vasquez – known for his viral video Double Rainbow died on May 9, 2020, after contracting Covid-19. In a May 3, 2020 Facebook post, Vasquez spoke of feeling feverish and having trouble breathing, but also indicated he would not be going to a hospital, as he looked forward to reincarnating and "enjoying the ride". On May 9, Vasquez died in the emergency room of John C. Fremont Hospital in Mariposa, California. The Double Rainbow clip, filmed in Vasquez’s front yard just outside Yosemite National Park, in the U.S. state of California, shows his ecstatic reaction to a double rainbow which he described as the "Eye of God". As of July 2019, the 53-year-old farmer's video has accumulated more than 46 million views on YouTube. Vasquez was a native of East Los Angeles, where he...

10May

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Brazil, Noteworthy, Portugal, Profiles

Abraham Palatnik, artist and inventor

Abraham Palatnik a Brazilian artist and inventor whose innovations include kinechromatic art – died from COVID-19 on May 9, 2020 at the age of 92 in Rio de Janeiro. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Ukraine. He is considered a pioneer of technological art in Brazil for his early use of mechanical systems and light. He exhibited some of his works in the First Biennial of São Paulo in 1951. Palatnik was born in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, lived from 1932 to 1947 in Israel before settling in Rio de Janeiro, where he spent most of his adult life. Two works by Palatnik are in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

10May

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Belgium, Noteworthy, Profiles

Marc Engels, film sound engineer

Marc Engels –a Belgian film sound engineer who won the César Award for Best Sound in 2017 for his work on The Odyssey ‑ died of COVID-19 on 9 April 2020. His filmography includes Calvaire (2004), Komma (2006), Ex Drummer (2007) Outside the Law (2010), The Pack (2010), Largo Winch II (2011), A Happy Event (2011), Möbius (2013) À toute épreuve (2014), Prêt à tout (2014) Waste Land (2014), I'm Dead but I Have Friends (2015), Our Futures (2015), After Love (2016), Louis-Ferdinand Céline (2016) and The Odyssey (2016). He won César Award for Best Sound for The Odyssey (2017) and was nominated for Magritte Award for Best Sound for I'm Dead but I Have Friends (2016).

10May

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Brazil, Noteworthy, Profiles

Sérgio Sant’Anna, writer

Sérgio Sant'Anna a Brazilian writer, born in the city of Rio de Janeiro died on May 10, 2020 in Rio de Janeiro, after being hospitalized with symptoms of the Covid-19 disease. He wrote poems, plays, short stories, novellas and novels. His works have been translated to German and Italian. His works are heavily metafictional and had influenced a newer generation of Brazilian writers.

9May

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Germany, Noteworthy, Profiles, United States

Roy Horn, magician

Roy Horn Roy Horn, one-half of the popular Las Vegas animal and magic act Siegfried and Roy, died on May 5, 2020, due to complications from the coronavirus. He was 75. Roy Uwe Ludwig Horn and Siegfried Fischbacher began their upbeat performances in Europe, later becoming regulars in Las Vegas, where they performed for four decades. "Roy was a fighter his whole life including during these final days," Fischbacher said in a statement. "I give my heartfelt appreciation to the team of doctors, nurses and staff at Mountain View Hospital who worked heroically against this insidious virus that ultimately took Roy's life." Their revue ended after Horn was attacked on stage by a white tiger named Mantecore in October 2003, severing his spine. Horn believed the attack was a reaction ...

9May

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Brazil, Noteworthy, Profiles

Jesus Chediak, artist & journalist

Jesus Chediak ‑ a Brazilian actor, film director, film producer, journalist, and theatre director – passed away after contracting Covid-19 virus on May 8, 2020. During his cinematic career, Chediak was responsible for six feature films, working at various functios such as, actor, diretor, producer and writer. Aside from his career in cinema, he also worked as a professor at Federal University of Bahia. In 2017, he was apointed Casa França-Brasil's new director. At the time of his death, Chediak held the post of Cultural manager of the Associação Brasileira de Imprensa. Chediak was married to journalist Glória Chediak. The couple had four kids. He had two brothers, Braz ...

8May

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Brazil, Noteworthy, Profiles

Ciro Pessoa, singer-songwriter

Ciro Pessoa Mendes Corrêa Ciro Pessoa Mendes Corrêa, also known by his Dharma name Tenzin Chöpel, died on May 5, 2020, after contracting COVID-19 while being treated for cancer. He was a Brazilian singer-songwriter, lyricist, guitarist, screenwriter, journalist, writer and poet, famous for being one of the founding members of the influential rock band Titãs and for his later work with pioneering post-punk/gothic rock band Cabine C. He also formed numerous other short-lived and lesser known projects in the late 1980s/early to mid-1990s before beginning a solo career in 2003. Ciro Pessoa was born in São Paulo on June 12, 1957. When he was seven years old, he learned how to play the classical guitar. At the age of 12, he began to perform in music festivals around the city. As a t...

8May

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Nigeria, Noteworthy, Profiles, United Kingdom

Ty, rapper

Ben Chijioke aka Ty died on May 7, 2020 Ben Chijioke ‑ a British rapper better known by his stage name Ty – died on 7 May 2020 due to pneumonia after intensive treatment for COVID-19 had seemed successful on 19 April. Ben Chijioke, 47, released the albums Awkward (2001), Upwards (2004), Closer (2006), Special Kind of Fool (2010) and A Work of Heart (2018). Upwards was nominated for a Mercury Prize. Ty collaborated with musicians such as Shortee Blitz, Drew Horley and Tony Allen. Benedict Chijioke was born in London, into an Igbo family from Nigeria. He spent many years of his youth in the care of private foster parents in Jaywick, Essex, as reported in a 2019 Channel 4 News feature by Symeon Brown. Chijioke was one of over 10,000 West African children sent from the inner citie...