Mirikitani was interned with her family during WWII, and later called poetry the language of liberation. She was the founding president of a social service organization and, according to San Francisco Mayor London Breed, "one of our city's true lights." - The New York Times
The leader of the Blue Moon Orchestra and a generous promoter of others' work as well as her own, Griffith's "best-loved songs were closely observed tales of small-town life, sometimes with painful details in the lyrics, but typically sung with a deceptive prettiness." - The New York Times
The two concerts he gave with Lady Gaga at Radio City Music Hall last week were his finale, says his son and manager, and a tour scheduled for this fall is cancelled. Bennett revealed last year that he is living with Alzheimer's. - Variety
The museum was a once renowned San Francisco tourist destination where a vinyl Michelin Man rubbed elbows with a lifesize statue of Colonel Sanders. - The Guardian
"(He) was a mainstay of NPR programming for most of (its) half-century, joining the outlet in 1977 as a producer and departing in 2013 after hosting Talk of the Nation for 11 years." He then moved to Hawaii to farm macadamia nuts. - The Washington Post on MSN
A student of Sergiu Celibidache, Gelmetti served as principal conductor or music director of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony (1989-1998), the Rome Opera (2000-2009), Sydney Symphony (2004-2008), and Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo (2012-2016). - Limelight (Australia)
"(He was) as famous for guiding the megastar careers of Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand, Bob Dylan and Billy Joel as for his profane, sometimes uproarious feuds with Paul Simon, David Geffen and the entirety of Warner Bros. Records." - Billboard
While she acted in other films, radio and TV before retiring to raise her children, she's best known for key supporting roles in several of her father's classics, including the heroine's truth-telling sister in Strangers on a Train and Marion Crane's pill-pushing co-worker in Psycho. - The Hollywood Reporter
Even if you aren’t in the market for a rotisserie or a youth serum, infomercials can be enticing. The most sales-resistant person might start wondering whether there isn’t something to it. - Los Angeles Times
Waxman founded Kitchen Arts & Letters in a former butcher shop in 1983, and for decades, he provided what he called "professional tools" for chefs, food writers, food and wine historians, and thousands of other culinary workers. - The New York Times
"Desvarieux and the founder of Kassav’, the bassist Pierre-Edouard Décimus, created a style called zouk by fusing Afro-Caribbean traditions of the French Antilles with sleek electronic dance music." Even French president Emmanuel Macron paid the musician tribute after his death. - The New York Times
Withers was "an antidote to the cloying sweetness of Shirley Temple," and later became moderately famous as Josephine the Plumber in Comet ads. - Washington Post
Smithkin was "an orange-haired nonagenarian with matching two-inch eyelashes caught fire in the world of fashion, starring in a documentary film and joining fashion campaigns for brands like Coach, while flinging embers into many other fields as a muse for photographers, filmmakers and entertainers." - The New York Times
Reid created Baltimore's iconic statue of Billie Holiday, and took a case with important impacts on intellectual and creative property all the way to Justice Thurgood Marshall's Supreme Court. - Baltimore Sun
Patricia Wilde performed more than 40 roles with City Ballet, and Balanchine, who created many roles for her, "often liked to throw her into a part with little rehearsal." - The New York Times
