gcreptile

I didn't even realise it at first, but that's the guy who wrote a very important book on the Alger Hiss case, a book I had to read during my ill-fated history studies. The Alger Hiss case was about the promising bureaucrat Alger Hiss in the 50s, basically he was a personified liberal (in the american sense) dream story, but then he was "outed" as a former communist by a fan of Joseph McCarthy named Whittaker Chambers, a deeply troubled and unsympathetic man. The case turned into an ideological battlefield where the tribalism of American politics was revealed.

Edit: covering up my double post with the relatively minor death of political scientist Byron Daynes at 77: http://www.depauw.edu/news-media/latest-news/details/31742/

Frederick Pei Li, discoverer of the Li-Fraumeni Syndrome, which indicates a higher genetic disposition towards cancer, has died at 75, of Alzheimer's nor of cancer: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/22/health/frederick-p-li-who-proved-a-genetic-cancer-link-dies-at-75.html?_r=0

That would be a bit ironic, considering that he was (if we believe the official story) recovering from a severe heart attack for months, only to succumb to a virus shortly after they had stabilized his condition.

One of Germany's most important historians, Gerhard A. Ritter, has become a part of history at 86: http://www.tagesspiegel.de/wissen/berliner-grosshistoriker-gerhard-a-ritter-ist-tot/11947444.html(link in german)

Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski, one of the most powerful men during the last months of communist East Germany has died at 82: http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/alexander-schalck-golodkowski-ist-tot-a-1040014.html(link in german) The East Germany theme team didn't have him.

Zito has died aged 82. Either of the other two would be obitable and potential DL top 50 fodder, right? I guess the committee will definitely start to list Pelé soon.

Current president of the Washington State University, Elson Floyd, passes away at 59 from cancer: http://www.cougcenter.com/2015/6/20/8818481/wsu-president-elson-floyd-cancer

Yeah, I guess, this is the place, 1000th post!

Livelong railway steward John Bennett, who set such standards that "he was regularly called to Buckingham Palace to serve at state banquets", has died at 99: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11686501/John-Bennett-railway-steward-obituary.html He also served regularly on the Royal train (!) and had enough time to do some investing on the side which he apparently did with a lot of success. He served in the War and received the Russia's Ushakov medal for bravery, but only after a delay of several decades.

American comedian and writer Phil Austin, dead at 74: http://dangerousminds.net/comments/nick_danger_rip_firesign_theatres_phil_austin_1941_2015 He was a member of the comedy troupe The Firesign Theatre, mainly known for their comedy recordings.

Ummmm where to begin. According to the numbers you've quoted, he retired 5 years before he was born, and led Hamburg to the European Cup when he was 3. He mistranslated a sentence of the article. "Bereits im Alter von 35 Jahren beendete er seine Karriere." translates to: "Already at age 35 he ended his carreer." He died aged 75. Yes, sorry the 75/35/1975 thing apparently confused me. There must be something wrong with me today.

Former coach of the Hamburg football team HSV, Klaus-Dieter Ochs, dead at 35: http://www.goal.com/de/news/827/bundesliga/2015/06/18/12854192/ehemaliger-hsv-trainer-ochs-gestorben(link in german) He began the development of the club that eventually led to its dominance in the early 80s, including winning the European Cup in 1983. He retired in 1975 and became a teacher...

It would have to be some kind of sabotage, although his Secret Service seems incompetent enough. But I think someone would have to give the assassin access. But he's a duck getting lamer by the day, so why risk it?

Jackie Kennedy's brother in law, Hugh D. Auchincloss, dead at 87: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3130135/Hugh-D-Auchincloss-III-stepbrother-Jackie-Kennedy-dies.html

Former president of the University of Tennessee, Dr. Ed Polling, passes away at 93: http://www.local8now.com/home/headlines/Former-UT-president-Dr-Ed-Boling-passes-away-308280641.html

John David Crow Jr., Bear Bryants only Heisman Trophy winner (I don't know what it means), dead at 79: http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2015/06/john_david_crow_bear_bryants_o.html

great news ! Or is he still alive? http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/mokhtar-belmokhtar-was-not-killed-in-air-strikes-says-alqaeda-10331191.html

René Angélil "fighting for his life": http://montrealgazette.com/entertainment/celebrity/celine-dions-husband-rene-angelil-in-fight-for-his-life-against-cancer-reports Edit: Eh, clickbait...

Oleg Vedernikov, Russian cellist who became principal cellist of the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, and then got expelled from China after a drunken incident, is dead at 48: http://slippedisc.com/2015/06/principal-cellist-expelled-by-china-has-died-aged-48/ Thankfully, the obit provides the video of that incident, in which he apparently insulted a chinese woman on a train. He had announced he was undergoing a difficult operation. And indeed, he did not survive.

How can you make children care about John Hurt? It's simple, just say "A 'Harry Potter' actor gets diagnosed with cancer": http://www.j-14.com/posts/john-hurt-cancer-harry-potter-actor-ollivander-61016

Placido Domingo has cancelled a couple of appearances after the death of his sister: http://slippedisc.com/2015/06/placido-domingo-cancels-comic-roles/

Hmm, he was nominated for 13 Golden Raspberry awards and won 2 of these.

gcreptile was the 500th reply. If you think you're the 500th, it's possible there have been a couple of replies deleted due to spam, etc. No prize then? Sorry, afraid not. Charon is the 500th to me Technically, rockhopperpenguin is correct, because the #1 post of this thread was not a reply, but simply the initial post. So post #501 is the 500th reply. (But maybe the 500th post is mor edeserving of a prize? Or what about the 500th suggestion?)

I still remember Diana's death very vividly, because my mom was a huge fan of her (she has noted how my sister and I were born when Princes William and Harry were). My parents are divorced and it happened at a weekend my sister and I were under her care (Indeed, the main carer for us was our father). It was morning and I turned on the TV and saw it. I immediately woke up my mother and we watched the coverage the whole morning. During 9/11, I was at the beach in Barcelona because of a school trip. I remember how the two of my classmates who reported it first, came back from the hotel to the beach and said how the Twin Towers and the Pentagon were hit, but also the White House and the Empire State Building. I guess there were lots of rumours going around at first... If I recall correctly, the first guess was Saddam Hussein, but the second suggestion, by me, was Osama Bin-Laden, mainly because just the week before I read about him in connection with the USS Cole bombing. I think I learned of Michael Jackson's death in front of the computer. No special story. But I remember how I watched the colossal funeral at work.