ɫ��̳ Obituaries – San Bernardino Sun

David Sanborn dies at 78; Grammy-winning musician ‘put the saxophone back into rock ’n’ roll’

Cnn Com Wire Service — Mon, 13 May 2024 22:30:41 +0000

By Lisa Respers France | CNN

David Sanborn, an influential saxophonist, who found success across the genres of pop, R&B, jazz and more, died Sunday.

He was 78.

“It is with sad and heavy hearts that we convey to you the loss of internationally renowned, 6 time Grammy Award-winning, saxophonist, David Sanborn,” reads a statement on his social media accounts. “Mr. Sanborn passed Sunday afternoon, May 12th, after an extended battle with prostate cancer with complications.”

Sanborn’s publicist confirmed the accuracy of the post when reached by CNN.

He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2018, but continued performing until recently.

“Indeed he already had concerts scheduled into 2025,” “David Sanborn was a seminal figure in contemporary pop and jazz music. It has been said that he ‘put the saxophone back into Rock ’n Roll.’”

Born in Tampa, Florida, Sanborn grew up in Missouri. He began playing the saxophone as part of his recovery after contracting polio at age 3, according to his website.

“By the age of 14, he was able to play with legends such as Albert King and Little Milton,” it states in his biography on the site. “Dave went on to study music at Northwestern University before transferring to the University of Iowa where he played and studied with the great saxophonist JR Monterose.”

Sanborn went on to join the Butterfield Blues Band and played Woodstock with Paul Butterfield. His career took off and the saxophone player toured with Stevie Wonder, recording on Wonder’s “Talking Book” album, playing with The Rolling Stones, and touring with David Bowie.

Sanborn’s solo on Bowie’s “Young Americans” was a stand out. His other collaborators include Paul Simon and James Taylor.

He released his debut solo album, “Taking Off,” in 1975. His sophomore album, “Hideaway,” followed four years later. Sanborn’s other albums featured contributions from Luther Vandross, Christian McBride, Eric Clapton and more.

“All I Need Is You” won him his first Grammy Award for best R&B instrumental performance in 1981. He would go on to win five more Grammys, earn eight gold albums, one platinum album and tour successfully for decades.

In March 2024, Sanborn was honored in St. Louis for his lifetime achievement in jazz.

“I’m so glad I am alive to receive this,” “I am deeply grateful and amazingly honored to receive this award in my hometown of St. Louis.”

Firefighter’s negative obituary on his father pulled off internet. Son: ‘It served its purpose’

Pamela Ruddell — Fri, 03 May 2024 17:55:26 +0000

A scathing obituary written by a Connecticut firefighter about his late dad has been abruptly removed from the internet, but that’s OK with the writer, he said, because in the 24 hours it was online, he got his message across.

“Everyone I care to see it has seen it. It served its purpose, take control of the narrative,” Timothy McLaughlin said. “Writing that obituary was very cathartic.”

McLaughlin, whose irreverent obit also has sparked widespread attention on social media, focuses on how he’s been “shunned” by his family for a decade because he formally left the

McLaughlin, raised in the faith he now calls “cult-like,” said that he hadn’t been spoken to by his father since it was announced Oct. 1, 2013, to the congregation, a day before his 32nd birthday, that he was no longer a Jehovah’s Witness. He did reconnect later with a sister who needed help.

He was “disfellowshipped,” McLaughlin said. It all left him “deeply hurt.”

His father, James J. Becker, 81, a retired Milford firefighter, died Sunday.

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The family’s traditional tribute posted online April 28 portrayed James J. Becker as a lover of his Jehovah’s Witness faith most of all, and of camping, road trips to Florida, playing Yahtzee, watching “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune.”

“The quality many will most remember him fondly for though, was his love for people,” the family obituary says.

The obituary penned by McLaughlin, 42, and published online April 29 had a different spin.

While yes, dad liked Yahtzee and all that, McLoughlin said, there were glaring, hurtful omissions in the story.

McLaughlin wanted his obit to set the record straight.

McLaughlin’s version of dad’s obituary reads in part, “the previous obituary written by the family was highly misleading. It was accurate in saying that the part of James’ life that he valued most was his religion as a Jehovah’s Witness, but it failed to mention to what extent…this included disowning and shunning his adult son, Timothy, when he chose to leave the religion in October 2013.”

McLaughlin, who is gay and has been married to Joseph McLaughlin for eight years, was surprised in light of the “shunning” that his name was listed among Becker’s four surviving children.

But he was also hurt that his brothers’ wives names were mentioned along with the word “cherished” to describe them, but his husband, Joseph, was not.

Tim McLaughlin wrote in his version of dad’s obituary: “The previous obituary also failed to mention my cherished husband of eight years, Joseph McLaughlin.

The family could not be reached for comment.

Tim McLaughlin’s version of the obituary was also to appear in a Connecticut newspaper Sunday through Legacy, which he paid for.

But late morning April 30 Legacy informed him the post had to be taken down.

After extending condolences, Legacy wrote, “We are unable to publish this obituary as it references family conflict and includes negative references about the deceased.” McLaughlin received a full refund, he said.

McLaughlin said his father was considered a “stand up guy” in the community.

His decision to leave the faith was made through a lot of academic research, soul searching, McLaughlin said.

He said he also wrote the obit because there was “an obligation to speak out” and clarify because others may be struggling with their place in the faith and need to see there’s “hope for happiness,” he said.

“For the people who have left or are thinking about leaving, they need to know they’re not alone,” McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin, who was “disfellowshipped,” a buzzword in the religion, insists that despite what organization leaders say, “shunning” is required by the religion in such a case.

A Jehovah’s Witness spokesperson denied that claim.

“Each congregant who limits or ceases their social interaction with a former congregant does so of their own free will and choice based on their personal religious conscience,” reads a statement from the

McLaughlin came out as gay to his parents and the greater public at 23. Homosexual behavior is considered a sin in the faith, but he was allowed to remain in the faith in good standing as long as he stayed celibate. McLaughlin says now that is an unnatural expectation for a young adult.

He said he finds the religion full of many rules and “control” that it was trauma-inducing to him as a child, he said.

Jehovah’s Witness don’t say the Pledge of Allegiance, vote, serve in the military, celebrate birthdays or holidays, associate with non-believers, and much more, he said. They aren’t allowed to say, “God bless you,” when someone sneezes, he said.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses provided the Courant with a broad statement in response to McLaughlin’s claims. They were told point-by-point what his claims are. The statement reads, in part:

“Jehovah’s Witnesses respect the free will and right of every individual to decide what religious beliefs he or she may have. We believe each individual has a right to change his belief system should he or she decide to do so. With that in view, we do not force our beliefs on anyone.”

Three months after separating from the faith organization, Tim McLaughlin met Joseph McLaughlin and they fell in love.

The obituary he wrote also reads, “Finally, I must say that despite all the hurt they have caused, my life is full of love and happiness and that the loss is truly theirs.”

Tim McLaughlin told the Courant he regrets writing in his obituary piece that the family’s obituary “attempts to humanize my father by mentioning his love of Southern Comfort, playing Yahtzee, watching Wheel of Fortune, etc.”

He said his dad was human and he should have used another word, such as “normalize.”

But he does stand by the line connected with that one, by saying the family’s obituary “fails to mention the dehumanization that he (dad) … (inflicted) upon me simply because I have beliefs that differ from theirs.”

Tim McLaughlin said while he’s critical of the organization, “I’m not trying to vilify the individuals that make up the rank and file membership. “

He said it’s easy to see the appeal of an organization that confidently claims to have an an answer to every big life question: what happens to us when we die? What is the purpose of life? How can you find happiness?

“The organization targets some of the kindest, most well-meaning people who may be at a vulnerable time in their lives or who are desperately searching for answers,” he said.

Duane Eddy dies at 86; legend of ‘twang’ guitar inspired scores of musicians

Associated Press — Wed, 01 May 2024 21:35:35 +0000

NEW YORK — Duane Eddy, a pioneering guitar hero whose reverberating electric sound on instrumentals such as “Rebel Rouser” and “Peter Gunn” helped put the twang in and influenced George Harrison, Bruce Springsteen and countless other musicians, has died at age 86.

Eddy died of cancer Tuesday at the Williamson Health hospital in Franklin, Tennessee, according to his wife, Deed Abbate.

With his raucous rhythms, and backing hollers and hand claps, Eddy sold more than 100 million records worldwide, and mastered a distinctive sound based on the premise that a guitar’s bass strings sounded better on tape than the high ones.

“I had a distinctive sound that people could recognize and I stuck pretty much with that. I’m not one of the best technical players by any means; I just sell the best,” he told The Associated Press in a 1986 interview. “A lot of guys are more skillful than I am with the guitar. A lot of it is over my head. But some of it is not what I want to hear out of the guitar.”

“Twang” defined Eddy’s sound from his first album, “Have Twangy Guitar Will Travel,” to his 1993 box set, “Twang Thang: The Duane Eddy Anthology.”

“It’s a silly name for a nonsilly thing,” Eddy told the AP in 1993. “But it has haunted me for 35 years now, so it’s almost like sentimental value — if nothing else.”

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

Eddy and producer Lee Hazlewood helped create the “twang” sound in the 1950s, a sound Hazlewood later adapt to his production of Nancy Sinatra’s 1960s smash “These Boots Are Made for Walkin.’” Eddy had a five-year commercial peak from 1958-63. He said in 1993 he took his 1970 hit “Freight Train” as a clue to slow down.

“It was an easy listening hit,” he recalled. “Six or seven years before, I was on the cutting edge.”

Eddy recorded more than 50 albums, some of them reissues. He did not work too much from the 1980s on, “living off my royalties,” he said in 1986.

About he told the AP: “It was a good title and it was the rockest rock ‘n’ roll sound. It was different for the time.”

He scored theme music for movies including “Because They’re Young,” “Pepe” and “Gidget Goes Hawaiian.” But Eddy said he turned down doing the James Bond theme song because there wasn’t enough guitar music in it.

In the 1970s he worked behind-the-scenes in music production work, mainly in Los Angeles.

Eddy was born in Corning, New York, and grew up in Phoenix, where he began playing guitar at age 5. He spent his teen years in Arizona dreaming of singing on the Grand Ole Opry, and eventually signed with Jamie Records of Philadelphia in 1958. “Rebel Rouser” soon followed.

Eddy later toured with Dick Clark’s “Caravan of Stars” and appeared in “Because They’re Young,” “Thunder of Drums” among other movies.

He moved to Nashville in 1985 after years of semiretirement in Lake Tahoe, California.

Eddy was not a vocalist, saying in 1986, “One of my biggest contributions to the music business is not singing.”

Paul McCartney and George Harrison were both fans of Eddy and he recorded with both of them after their Beatles’ days. He played on McCartney’s “Rockestra Theme” and Harrison played on Eddy’s self-titled comeback album, both in 1987.

Bob Graham dies at 87; former Florida senator was early critic of Iraq war

Associated Press — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 20:36:13 +0000

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Former U.S. Sen. and two-term Florida Gov. Bob Graham, who gained national prominence as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks and as an early critic of the Iraq war, has died. He was 87.

Graham’s family announced the death Tuesday in a statement posted on X by his daughter Gwen Graham.

“We are deeply saddened to report the passing of a visionary leader, dedicated public servant, and even more importantly, a loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather,” the family said.

Graham, who served three terms in the Senate, made an unsuccessful bid for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, emphasizing his opposition to the Iraq invasion.

But his bid was delayed by heart surgery in January 2003, and he was never able to gain enough traction with voters to catch up, bowing out that October. He didn’t seek reelection in 2004 and was replaced by Republican Mel Martinez.

Graham was a man of many quirks. He perfected the “workdays” political gimmick of spending a day doing various jobs from horse stall mucker to FBI agent and kept a meticulous diary, noting almost everyone he spoke with, everything he ate, the TV shows he watched and even his golf scores.

Graham said the notebooks were a working tool for him and he was reluctant to describe his emotions or personal feelings in them.

“I review them for calls to be made, memos to be dictated, meetings I want to follow up on and things people promise to do,” he said.

Graham was among the earliest opponents of the Iraq war, saying it diverted America’s focus on the battle against terrorism centered in Afghanistan. He was also critical of President George W. Bush for failing to have an occupation plan in Iraq after the U.S. military threw out Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Graham said Bush took the United States into the war by exaggerating claims of the danger presented by the Iraqi weapons of destruction that were never found. He said Bush distorted intelligence data and argued it was more serious than the sexual misconduct issues that led the House to impeach President Bill Clinton in the late 1990s. It led him to launch his short, abortive presidential bid.

“The quagmire in Iraq is a distraction that the Bush administration, and the Bush administration alone, has created,” Graham said in 2003.

During his 18 years in Washington, Graham worked well with colleagues from both parties, particularly Florida Republican Connie Mack during their dozen years together in the Senate.

As a politician, few were better. Florida voters hardly considered him the wealthy Harvard-educated attorney that he was.

Graham’s political career spanned five decades, beginning with his election to the Florida House of Representatives in 1966.

He won a state Senate seat in 1970 and then was elected governor in 1978. He was re-elected in 1982. Four years later, he won the first of three terms in the U.S. Senate when he ousted incumbent Republican Paula Hawkins.

Graham chats with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, after a news conference in 2003 on the 9/11 Memorial Intelligence Reform Act. Graham rose to national prominence after chairing the Intelligence Committee following the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Graham remained widely popular with Florida voters — winning reelection by wide margins in 1992 and 1998 when he carried 63 of 67 counties. In that latter election, he defeated Charlie Crist, who later served as a Republican governor from 2007 to 2011.

“He blew me out of the water, and I came to know even more so why during the course of the campaign,” Crist said Tuesday night. “I learned to respect him even more than I already had, and love him for the good, decent man that he was.”

Crist, who has since switched parties and most recently served as a U.S. representative, said Graham was an influence on him.

“I always felt that when he was governor, that he was trying to govern for the people of Florida — not in any way political or partisan — and I took that to heart and tried to, in some small way, emulate it,” Crist said.

House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi called Graham “a patriotic American” and thanked him for his “distinguished public service.” She highlighted his work on the inquiry into 9/11 and said he “bravely opposed entry into the war in Iraq.”

“He brought his love for his family and for his state of Florida to the Senate, where he served with immense dignity and courage,” she said in a statement Tuesday.

Even when in Washington, Graham never took his eye off the state and the leadership in Tallahassee.

When Gov. Jeb Bush and the Republican-controlled Legislature eliminated the Board of Regents in 2001, Graham saw it as a move to politicize the state university system. He led a successful petition drive the next year for a state constitutional amendment that created the Board of Governors to assume the regents’ role.

Daniel Robert Graham was born Nov. 9, 1936, in Coral Gables, where his father, Ernest “Cap” Graham, had moved from South Dakota and established a large dairy operation. Young Bob milked cows, built fences and scooped manure as a teenager. One of his half-brothers, Phillip Graham, was publisher of The Washington Post and ɫ��̳week until he took his own life in 1963, just a year after Bob Graham’s graduation from Harvard Law.

Graham was president of the student body at Miami Senior High School and attended the University of Florida, graduating in 1959.

In 1966 he was elected to the Florida Legislature, where he focused largely on education and health care issues.

Graham got off to a shaky start as Florida’s chief executive, and was dubbed “Gov. Jello” for some early indecisiveness. He shook that label through his handling of several serious crises.

As governor he also signed numerous death warrants, founded the Save the Manatee Club with entertainer Jimmy Buffett and led efforts to establish several environmental programs.

Graham pushed through a bond program to buy beaches and barrier islands threatened by development and started the Save Our Everglades program to protect the state’s water supply, wetlands and endangered species.

Graham also was known for his 408 “workdays,” including stints as a housewife, boxing ring announcer, flight attendant and arson investigator. They grew out of a teaching stint as a member of the Florida Senate’s Education Committee and then morphed into a campaign gimmick that helped him relate to the average voter.

“This has been a very important part of my development as a public official, my learning at a very human level what the people of Florida expect, what they want, what their aspirations are and then trying to interpret that and make it policy that will improve their lives” said Graham in 2004 as he completed his final job as a Christmas gift wrapper.

After leaving public life in 2005, Graham spent much of his time at a public policy center named after him at the University of Florida and pushing the Legislature to require more civics classes in the state’s public schools.

Graham was one of five members selected for an independent commission by President Barack Obama in June 2010 to investigate a massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that threatened sea life and beaches along several southeastern Gulf states.

Akebono Taro dies at 54; Hawaii-born sumo champ was considered a legend of the sport

The Associated Press — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 19:54:17 +0000

By Stephen Wade and Audrey McAvoy | Associated Press

TOKYO — Hawaii-born Akebono Taro, one of the greats of sumo wrestling and a former grand champion, has died. He was 54.

He was the first foreign-born wrestler to reach the level of “yokozuna” — or grand champion — in Japan.

“It is with sadness that we announce Akebono Taro died of heart failure earlier this month while receiving care at a hospital in the Tokyo area,” the family said in a statement.

His wife Christine Rowan, in an email to The Associated Press, said he died “within the past week” but declined to give details.

“I had to tend to personal matters that needed to be done prior to publicly announcing my husband’s death,” she said.

Akebono grew up on the rural side of the Koolau mountains from Honolulu and was born Chad George Ha’aheo Rowan. He moved to Tokyo in the late 1980s and won his first grand championship in 1993. At the prime of his career he was a real giant, reported at the time to weigh 500 pounds and stand 6-feet-8.

The United States ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, sent his condolences on social platform X.

“I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Akebono, a giant in the world of sumo, a proud Hawaiian and a bridge between the United States and Japan,” Emanuel posted.

“When Akebono became the first-ever foreign-born grand champion, sumo’s highest rank, in 1993, he opened the door for other foreign wrestlers to find success in the sport. Throughout his 35 years in Japan, Akebono strengthened the cultural ties between the United States and his adopted homeland by uniting us all through sport.”

Akebono was an 11-time grand tournament winner; he retired in 2001.

In 1993, he won the final of the San Jose Sumo Basho, the first accredited sumo tournament held on U.S. soil. Among the 39 other competitors was Konishiki, also U.S.-born and the first non-Japanese sumotori to reach ozeki, the second-highest rank.

The family’s statement said friends and family will hold a “private celebration of his life.” He is survived by his wife, Christine, a daughter and two sons.

“The family kindly asks for privacy during this time of mourning,” the statement said.

Peter Higgs dies at 94; Nobel-winning physicist proposed existence of ‘God particle’

Associated Press — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 17:44:24 +0000

By Danica Kirka, Jill Lawless and Jamey Keaten | Associated Press

LONDON — Nobel prize-winning physicist Peter Higgs, who proposed the existence of the so-called “God particle” that helped explain how matter formed after the Big Bang, has died at age 94, the University of Edinburgh said Tuesday.

The university, where Higgs was emeritus professor, said he died Monday following a short illness.

Higgs predicted the existence of a new particle, which came to be known as the Higgs boson, in 1964. He theorized that there must be a sub-atomic particle of certain dimension that would explain how other particles — and therefore all the stars and planets in the universe — acquired mass. Without something like this particle, the set of equations physicists use to describe the world, known as the standard model, would not hold together.

Higgs’ work helps scientists understand one of the most fundamental riddles of the universe: how the Big Bang created something out of nothing 13.8 billion years ago. Without mass from the Higgs, particles could not clump together into the matter we interact with every day.

Higgs, right, speaks with Belgian physicist Francois Englert in 2012 after scientists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, announced that they had finally found a Higgs boson using the billion particle collider. Higgs and Englert had independently come up with the theory of a “God particle.”

But it would be almost 50 years before the particle’s existence could be confirmed. In 2012, in one of the biggest breakthroughs in physics in decades, scientists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, announced that they had finally found a Higgs boson using the Large Hardron Collider, the $10 billion atom smasher in a 17-mile tunnel under the Swiss-French border.

The collider was designed in large part to find Higgs’ particle. It produces collisions with extraordinarily high energies in order to mimic some of the conditions that were present in the trillionths of seconds after the Big Bang.

Higgs won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work, alongside Francois Englert of Belgium, who independently came up with the same theory.

Edinburgh University Vice Chancellor Peter Mathieson said Higgs, who was born in Newcastle, was “a remarkable individual – a truly gifted scientist whose vision and imagination have enriched our knowledge of the world that surrounds us.”

“His pioneering work has motivated thousands of scientists, and his legacy will continue to inspire many more for generations to come.”

Born in Newcastle, northeast England on May 29, 1929, Higgs studied at King’s College, University of London, and was awarded a PhD in 1954. He spent much of his career at Edinburgh, becoming the Personal Chair of Theoretical Physics at the Scottish university in 1980. He retired in 1996.

Beer bottles with labels that honor Higgs are held in 2013. That same year, he won the Nobel Prize for Physics.

One highlight of Higgs’ career came in the 2013 presentation at CERN in Geneva where scientists presented in complex terms — based on statistical analysis unfathomable to most laypeople — that the boson had been confirmed. He broke into tears, wiping down his glasses in the stands of a CERN lecture hall.

“There was an emotion — a kind of vibration — going around in the auditorium,” Fabiola Gianotti, the CERN director-general told The Associated Press. “That was just a unique moment, a unique experience in a professional life.”

“Peter was a very touching person. He was so sweet, so warm at the same time. And so always interested in what other people had to say,” she said. “Able to listen to other people … open, and interesting, and interested.”

Joel Goldstein, of the School of Physics at the University of Bristol, said: “Peter Higgs was a quiet and modest man, who never seemed comfortable with the fame he achieved even though this work underpins the entire modern theoretical framework of particle physics.”

Gianotti recalled how Higgs often bristled at the term “God particle” for his discovery: “I don’t think he liked this kind of definition,” she said. “It was not in his style.”

Joe Flaherty dies at 82; actor and comedian starred in ‘SCTV,’ ‘Freaks and Geeks’

Associated Press — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 20:07:30 +0000

TORONTO — Comedian Joe Flaherty, a founding member of the beloved Canadian sketch series “SCTV,” has died. He was 82.

His daughter Gudrun said Tuesday that Flaherty died Monday following a brief illness.

Flaherty, who was born in Pittsburgh, spent seven years at The Second City in Chicago before moving north of the border to help establish the theater’s Toronto outpost.

He went on to star alongside John Candy and Catherine O’Hara in “SCTV,″ about a fictional TV station known as Second City Television that was stacked with buffoons in front of and behind the cameras. Flaherty’s characters included network boss Guy Caballero and the vampiric TV host Count Floyd.

Former castmates also included Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas and Andrea Martin.

He won Emmys in 1982 and 1983 for his writing on “SCTV” and continued to work in TV and film for decades.

He was introduced to later generations through memorable turns as a jeering heckler in the 1996 film “Happy Gilmore” and as an old fashioned dad in the TV comedy “Freaks and Geeks,” which ran from 1999 to 2000.

“Oh man. Worshipped Joe growing up,” comedian Adam Sandler said on X. “Always had me and my brother laughing. Count Floyd, Guy Caballero. Any move he made.”

“He crushed as border guard in Stripes. Couldn’t be more fun to have him heckle me on the golf course. The nicest guy you could know. Genius of a comedian. And a true sweetheart. Perfect combo. Much love to his kids and thanks to Joe for all the greatness he gave us all.”

Flaherty maintained deep ties to Toronto, serving as an artist-in-residence at Humber College.

“Dad was an extraordinary man, known for his boundless heart and an unwavering passion for movies from the ’40s and ’50s,” his daughter wrote in Tuesday’s statement. “Cinema wasn’t merely a hobby for him; it profoundly influenced his career, particularly his unforgettable time with ‘SCTV.’ He cherished every moment spent on the show, so proud of its success and so proud to be part of an amazing cast.”

‘Babar’ author Laurent de Brunhoff dies at 98; revived popular children’s book series created by his dad

The Associated Press — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 20:25:22 +0000

By Hillel Italie | Associated Press

NEW YORK — “Babar” author Laurent de Brunhoff, who revived his father’s popular picture book series about an elephant-king and presided over its rise to a global, multimedia franchise, has died. He was 98.

De Brunhoff, a Paris native who moved to the U.S. in the 1980s, died Friday at his home in Key West, Florida, after being in hospice care for two weeks, according to his widow, Phyllis Rose.

Just 12 years old when his father, Jean de Brunhoff, died of tuberculosis, Laurent was an adult when he drew upon his own gifts as a painter and storyteller and released dozens of books about the elephant who reigns over Celesteville, among them “Babar at the Circus” and “Babar’s Yoga for Elephants.” He preferred using fewer words than his father did, but his illustrations faithfully mimicked Jean’s gentle, understated style.

“Together, father and son have woven a fictive world so seamless that it is nearly impossible to detect where one stopped and the other started,” author Ann S. Haskell wrote in The New York Times in 1981.

The series has sold millions of copies worldwide and was adapted for a television program and such animated features as “Babar: The Movie” and “Babar: King of the Elephants.” Fans ranged from Charles de Gaulle to Maurice Sendak, who once wrote, “If he had come my way, how I would have welcomed that little elephant and smothered him with affection.”

De Brunhoff would say of his creation, “Babar, c’est moi” (“that’s me”), telling National Geographic in 2014 that “he’s been my whole life, for years and years, drawing the elephant.”

The books’ appeal was far from universal. Some parents shied from the passage in the debut, “The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant,” about Babar’s mother being shot and killed by hunters. Numerous critics called the series racist and colonialist, citing Babar’s education in Paris and its influence on his (presumed) Africa-based regime. In 1983, Chilean author Ariel Dorfman would call the books an “implicit history that justifies and rationalizes the motives behind an international situation in which some countries have everything and other countries almost nothing.”

“Babar’s history,” Dorfman wrote, “is none other than the fulfillment of the dominant countries’ colonial dream.”

Adam Gopnik, a Paris-based correspondent for The New Yorker, defended “Babar,” writing in 2008 that it “is not an unconscious expression of the French colonial imagination; it is a self-conscious comedy about the French colonial imagination and its close relation to the French domestic imagination.”

De Brunhoff himself acknowledged finding it “a little embarrassing to see Babar fighting with Black people in Africa. He especially regretted “Babar’s Picnic,” a 1949 publication that included crude caricatures of Blacks and American Indians, and asked his publisher to withdraw it.

(Nathan Denette /The Canadian Press via Associated Press Archives)

Laurent de Brunhoff drew upon his own gifts as a painter and storyteller and released dozens of books about the elephant who reigns over Celesteville, among them “Babar at the Circus” and “Babar’s Yoga for Elephants.”

De Brunhoff was the eldest of three sons born to Jean de Brunhoff and Cecile de Brunhoff, a painter. Babar was created when Cecile de Brunhoff, the namesake for the elephant’s kingdom and Babar’s wife, improvised a story for her kids.

“My mother started to tell us a story to distract us,” de Brunhoff told National Geographic in 2014. “We loved it, and the next day we ran to our father’s study, which was in the corner of the garden, to tell him about it. He was very amused and started to draw. And that was how the story of Babar was born. My mother called him Bebe elephant (French for baby). It was my father who changed the name to Babar. But the first pages of the first book, with the elephant killed by a hunter and the escape to the city, was her story.”

The debut was released in 1931 through the family-run publisher Le Jardin Des Modes. Babar was immediately well received and Jean de Brunhoff completed four more Babar books before dying six years later, at age 37. Laurent’s uncle, Michael, helped publish two additional works, but no one else added to the series until after World War II, when Laurent, a painter by then, decided to bring it back.

“Gradually I began to feel strongly that a Babar tradition existed and that it ought to be perpetuated,” he wrote in The New York Times in 1952.

De Brunhoff was married twice, most recently to the critic and biographer Phyllis Rose, who wrote the text to many of the recent “Babar” publications, including the 2017 release billed as the finale, “Babar’s Guide to Paris.” He had two children, Anne and Antoine, but the author did not consciously write for young people.

“I never really think of children when I do my books,” he told the Wall Street Journal in 2017. “Babar was my friend and I invented stories with him, but not with kids in a corner of my mind. I write it for myself.”

‘The lifeblood of the community’: States invest to save rural grocery stores

Tribune ɫ��̳ Service — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 20:50:14 +0000

Kevin Hardy | Stateline.org (TNS)

EMERSON, Neb. — Corliss Hassler rushes in the front door of Post 60 Market and heads straight for the produce case.

“I’m back,” she announces.

It’s around lunchtime, but it’s already her second trip in today — this time, she’s picking up a few items for the Friday fish fry at the local Catholic church.

Hassler is a regular customer and investor in the small grocery store, . The store provides convenience, sure: It’s the only place in town to buy fresh fruits, vegetables and meats. But it’s also a social hub for the northeast Nebraska town of Emerson, population 891.

“The store is the lifeblood of the community,” Hassler said. “We have to keep our store, we have to keep our schools, we have to keep our churches — and it’s all a struggle right now.”

The market opened four years after the closure of the town’s only grocery store. Some 110 community members bought shares, which funded the transformation of a shuttered American Legion post into a brightly lit store packed with fresh and packaged foods.

Preserving grocery stores has been a perennial challenge for rural communities. Small, often declining populations make it tough to turn a profit in an industry known for its razor-thin margins. Increased competition from online retailers, the onslaught of chains such as Dollar General stores and an aging lineup of independent grocers have only made things tougher.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has of rural grocery stores.

By 2015, USDA research showed a total of 44 counties had no grocery store at all — all but four of the counties were rural.

In Kansas, 1 in 5 rural stores closed between 2008 and 2018, according to . No new store has opened in half of the 105 communities that lost grocers over that time.

at Nebraska’s capitol in Lincoln could provide some relief for stores like Post 60 Market.

If passed, the new law would provide grants and loans for small grocers. It’s among several legislative efforts in the region that aim to tackle the complex problem. In neighboring Kansas and Iowa, lawmakers have introduced bills with similar goals, following the lead of states — including Illinois, Minnesota, North Dakota and Oklahoma — that have enacted laws setting up special funds to boost rural grocery stores.

“We’re in a global economy and Amazon’s dominating, but that doesn’t mean we should surrender,” said Kansas state Sen. Rob Olson, a Republican.

For two years in a row, that would provide tax incentives for the development of rural grocery stores. A native of rural Kansas who now represents a suburban Kansas City district, Olson said lawmakers should be investing in grocery stores, broadband and housing to improve rural communities.

“If we think about it and we’re smart about it, there’s plenty of opportunities — all throughout the Midwest especially — to grow these economies,” he said.

The pandemic underscored both the importance and fragility of rural grocery stores, said Jillian Linster, interim policy director at the nonprofit Center for Rural Affairs.

“After the pandemic, we have seen a lot of these local grocery stores just struggling to keep the doors open with all the economic and workforce challenges we face in the current economy and the competition from the big-box retailers,” she said.

Based in Lyons, Nebraska, the center has backed bills in both Nebraska and Iowa this session to provide small grants or loans to grocery stores with fewer than 25 employees in underserved communities. The hope is that providing money to replace a broken freezer or leaky roof could make the difference in keeping stores open.

Aside from preserving fresh food access, Linster said, grocery stores serve a wider social role.

“It’s a place where you see your neighbors, where your teenagers get their first job, where there’s a bulletin board with help wanted and things for sale,” she said. “So it’s a really important part of the social infrastructure in our small rural towns.”

Tom Mulholland stands near the site where a 2021 fire destroyed Mulholland Grocery, long a staple of Main Street in Malvern, Iowa. (Kevin Hardy/Stateline/TNS)

‘A service to the community’

Brian Horak knows his customers.

The general manager of Post 60 Market, he knows the busy mom who runs to the frozen foods aisle to find something for dinner that night. He knows the families that only load up their carts on paydays. And he knows when he should check up on someone who hasn’t been in for an unusually long stretch.

Emerson sits at the convergence of three counties, including one of Nebraska’s poorest.

The market can’t compete with the prices of mega retailers like Walmart. But Horak tries to at least beat the costs found at the regional grocery store chain 20 miles away and loads the shelves with plenty of generic options.

Still, some customers will pay with loose change. Others drop in to rummage through the bin of discounted items nearing their expiration dates.

Remote stores like this can struggle to secure vendors. No bakers will deliver fresh bread here, so all the sandwich bread, buns and cupcakes come in frozen. And the store only gets one delivery of fresh food every Wednesday.

“By Tuesday, the bananas start to look pretty sketchy,” Horak said.

But whatever it lacks in variety, the store makes up for in service. Horak will special order just about anything if customers ask.

On a back shelf, he’s set aside a case of Rice-A-Roni for one man, a pack of small Pepsi bottles for a woman in a nursing home and a case of wet cat food for a woman who feeds strays. One man has a standing order for a case of pickled beets every week.

There have been some months when Horak wasn’t sure Post 60 Market’s doors would remain open.

But things changed for the better in January, when a storm blanketed the region with record snow. The two-lane roads connecting Emerson to Sioux City were impassable for days, pushing many locals to try or rediscover Post 60 Market.

“It was kind of a wake-up call,” he said. “People were so happy the grocery store was here.”

The pending legislation could help with a litany of items on the market’s to-do list: a leaky basement, the rubber gaskets that need replacing on the produce cooler — not to mention the dream of a room to butcher fresh cuts of meat.

Named after the town’s former legion post, the co-op sold common shares for $500 and preferred shares for $1,000. While shareholders could one day see dividends, their investments were in reality more like contributions.

Nathan Mueller, who leads the co-op board, said the store just aims to break even.

“At its heart, this is a business,” he said. “But really, the business is being a service to the community.”

Nebraska state Sen. Teresa Ibach said rural grocery stores, whether they’re for-profit, cooperatives or nonprofits, deserve the state’s support.

“I think the trade-off is, if you’re willing to invest in small local communities, we are willing to invest in you.”

A Republican, that would set aside $4 million over two fiscal years for rural grocers. While the legislation got favorable reviews during its January hearing, Ibach was unsure whether it would advance out of committee.

“It’s got legs and it’s got substance and I hope it does, but we’re halfway through the session already,” she said. “And so who knows what will make it to the floor.”

If approved, the measure could help Greg’s Market in Exeter, Nebraska, about 50 miles west of Lincoln. The store has “a honey-do list a mile long,” said Mitchell Schlegelmilch, who leads the board overseeing its operation.

Just before he heard about the legislation, Schlegelmilch said, a freezer sensor failed, costing some $2,500 in spoiled inventory.

“It was a real punch in the gut,” he told lawmakers at the January hearing. “It just took our breath away.”

Investors aren’t looking to make money or even get their money back, Schlegelmilch said in an interview. Greg’s Market just aims to break even. So something as seemingly small as the failed sensor could pose an existential threat.

The legislation “gave me a sense of relief that maybe there is hope,” he said.

Community members in Emerson, Neb., transformed a shuttered American Legion hall into Post 60 Market, a cooperative grocery store serving the town of 891 people. (Kevin Hardy/Stateline/TNS)

Investing in grocery stores

Kathryn Draeger says rural communities need more than just dollar stores and gas stations.

“We need places where you can buy a kiwi, an onion, potato, beets,” she said.

The director of regional sustainable development partnerships at the University of Minnesota, Draeger works with grocery stores across the state. Aside from the health benefits of fresh food, she said, rural stores are key to building more resilient supply chains since they can procure products from a variety of small vendors.

Draeger advocated that began offering grants to rural and urban stores in 2017. Last year, the state agriculture department funded 15 projects at a cost of $426,862 — though nearly five times as much was requested.

“I believe every rural grocery store we lose is at our own peril,” Draeger said. “There’s so much public good in these small private businesses. That is why this public investment in this private sector is really important. “

Draeger recalled one Minnesota grocer who had to choose between fixing her broken front tooth or her store’s leaky roof.

“She chose the roof,” Draeger said. “So she worked at the cash register at the store she owned without a tooth for over a year.”

Just as important as money, though, is leadership, said North Dakota Democratic state Sen. Kathy Hogan. She co-sponsored a new that made $1 million available to help preserve rural grocery stores. That money will only help if communities have strong leaders willing to work together, she said.

“Sometimes people think money is the answer to everything,” she said. “The secret of the success of this is not so much money but local organization.”

Republican state Sen. Janne Myrdal, another co-sponsor, said the legislation was in the northeast corner of the state. After struggling to find vendors willing to make small deliveries to remote areas, three stores that can demand more inventory and better prices from suppliers — benefiting consumers, schools and businesses.

“As a conservative, I love seeing that happen,” Myrdal said.

The legislation required a local match from organizers and aims to pull multiple retailers and community organizations together to help stabilize deliveries and costs.

“I don’t believe in just handing out money from the government,” Myrdal said. “It has to rise from the bottom up.”

A town missing its ‘centerpiece’

People like to say the town of Malvern, Iowa, punches above its weight.

Though it’s home to fewer than 1,300 people, the town touts miles of bicycle trails, a community garden and public art sculptures. On Main Street: two restaurants, medical clinics, a bank, a pharmacy and even a fitness center.

But a fenced-in gaping hole is an obvious reminder of what’s missing: the town’s staple grocery store, lost in a 2021 fire.

Tom Mulholland was the fourth-generation owner of Mulholland Grocery, which traces its history to the 1870s.

Since the fire, the community has rallied around him. Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, funded the grocery store last year.

But even with an Oscar-winning documentarian as the director and scores of headlines, Mulholland has struggled. He’s faced problems with insurance, finances and construction headaches that set the rebuild back.

When the store was open, it was a hub of activity. People would drive long distances to buy from his meat counter. And in times of crisis, such as a recent flood in the area, customers would hand him cash, knowing he’d get it to the folks who needed it most.

“It’s those little things about being human and caring about your community and others that add up,” he said.

Mulholland, 63, could have walked away from the store. But he said it’s too important to the community — and his family. The morning after the fire, he wrote an apology to his ancestors on Facebook.

In an interview, he said: “My great-grandfather and my grandfather, everybody put in so many decades of sweat and tears and frustration and joy. And on my watch, it disappeared.”

After two years, people around town have grown weary of waiting for a store.

“In here it’s a big topic of conversation,” said Janella May, who owns C&M’s Cafe with her husband.

It’s a Main Street institution known for its ice cream and Cheeseburger Saturdays — $4.99 for a burger and fries. Weekday mornings, the place is home to a coffee klatch — a few older men around town have their own key to get in before the place opens.

“We need it here,” she said of the grocery store. “It’s important.”

Without Mulholland Grocery, Malvern residents must drive 15 minutes to reach another small-town grocery store or a half-hour to reach supermarket chains over near Omaha.

The absence of the grocery store is a sharp contrast to Malvern’s otherwise encouraging trajectory.

Some $40 million worth of new projects are in the works in the town, including public school renovations, a new subdivision and a new early education center.

“We’re a growing town,” said Jay Burdic, the president of Malvern Bank.

The third generation of his family to own the bank, Burdic is bullish on the community’s future.

But every day brings a reminder of what’s missing: His desk overlooks Main Street, directly across from the empty grocery store lot.

“It was the centerpiece of our Main Street,” he said. “And now it’s just a hole in the ground.”

is part of , a national nonprofit news organization focused on state policy.

Son of ‘Sister Wives’ stars Janelle and Kody Brown dead at 25

Cnn Com Wire Service — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 18:12:12 +0000

By Alli Rosenbloom | CNN

Garrison Brown, whose large family is at the center of the long-running TLC reality series has died. He was 25.

His mother Janelle Brown and father Kody Brown posted similar statements to social media Tuesday confirming the news.

“Kody and I are deeply saddened to announce the loss of our beautiful boy Robert Garrison Brown. He was a bright spot in the lives of all who knew him,” Janelle Brown . “His loss will leave such a big hole in our lives that it takes our breath away. We ask that you please respect our privacy and join us in honoring his memory.”

TLC said in a statement that the death of Garrison Brown, who was referred to by his middle name on the series, was a “tragic loss.”

“We extend our deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences to the Brown family at this difficult time,” the statement read.

Sgt. J.L. Rintala, a public information officer for the Flagstaff (Arizona) Police Department, told CNN in a statement that Garrison Brown died of an apparent suicide and was found at his residence.

No foul play is suspected, Rintala added.

“Sister Wives” has aired for 18 seasons, most recently concluding a season that explored the various fractures in the family that led to polygamist Kody Brown’s separation from three of his four wives.

Garrison Brown was one of six children shared by Kody and Janelle Brown. They are also parents to Logan, Maddie, Hunter, Gabe and Savanah.

Janelle Brown was Kody Brown’s second wife. They separated in late 2022 after nearly 30 years together.

Kody Brown is currently married to one woman – Robyn Brown, who was the fourth and last wife to join the Brown family.

Throughout its run, “Sister Wives” has explored the lives of both the parental figures and the 18 children in the family.

Garrison Brown’s decision to serve in the Nevada Army National Guard while he was attending college in the state was explored in Season 11 of the series.

Garrison Brown’s first home purchase and his evolving relationships with his siblings and other family members during the pandemic were featured in more recent seasons.

If you or someone you know is struggling with feelings of depression or suicidal thoughts, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline offers free, round-the-clock support, information and resources for help. Call or text the lifeline at 988, or see the website, where chat is available.

ɫ����̳ Obituaries – San Bernardino Sun