obituaries

Mario Vargas Llosa, Nobel Prize-winning Peruvian author, dies at age 89

2:38am April 14, 2025

A giant of Latin American culture, Vargas Llosa used powerful imagery and sometimes fantastical storytelling to explore issues of male violence, societal disruption and authoritarian politics.

Appreciating the many onscreen moods of Val Kilmer

4:57pm April 02, 2025

More than a hundred roles in a nearly four-decade career let Val Kilmer explore a wealth of human experience.

Actress Michelle Trachtenberg, of 'Harriet the Spy' and 'Gossip Girl' dies at 39

2:25pm February 26, 2025

The actress was found dead in an apartment in Manhattan on Wednesday, police said.

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Tom Robbins, at a 2014 reading of his memoir Tibetan Peach Pie at Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing in Beaverton, Ore.

Bestselling novelist Tom Robbins dies at 92

6:48pm February 09, 2025

Robbins dazzled readers with the whimsy and imagination in his books, including Jitterbug Perfume, Skinny Legs and All and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.

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David Lynch, who directed off-kilter classics, dies at 78

2:07pm January 16, 2025

His sinister, surreal vision of America made him a leading counterculture auteur — with movies such as Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart and Mulholland Drive, and the groundbreaking TV series Twin Peaks.

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Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh waves to a crowd in Kolkata, India, in 2011.

Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister from 2004 to 2014, has died

12:53pm December 26, 2024

Singh was known as the father of economic reforms in India. He served as finance minister in the early 1990s, and his policies then set India on the path of economic liberalization and globalization.

What John Amos taught me about having — and being — a father

4:41pm October 02, 2024

Amos, who played James Evans Sr. in the 1970s sitcom Good Times, showed TV critic Eric Deggans what it was like to have a concerned, ethical father at home. Behind the scenes, Amos pushed for more authentic Black characters — sometimes leading to conflict.

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Howard Blatt, stroke survivor who co-founded an aphasia support group, died at 88

5:17pm June 20, 2024

by Sacha Pfeiffer

After a stroke left Howard Blatt unable to speak, he helped create a support group for other people with aphasia, a brain condition that impairs communication. He recently died at age 88.

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Willie Mays is widely considered the best baseball player in history. His speed, his hitting and overall understanding of the game. He's shown here at the 2004 Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Willie Mays - the 'Say Hey Kid' considered baseball's best all-around player - dies at 93

9:39pm June 18, 2024

by Tom Goldman

Willie Mays is widely considered to be the greatest baseball player of all time. The 'Say Hey Kid' had incomparable skills and an infectious smile. He dazzled on the field and off.

Health & Safety

Her father was killed in a climate-driven flood. Here's how she's remembering him

12:02pm May 28, 2024

by Rebecca Hersher

Mandy Messinger is one of hundreds who lose loved ones to climate-linked extreme weather each year in the U.S. Her father Craig Messinger was killed in a 2021 flash flood in the Philadelphia suburbs.