obituaries

American novelist, journalist and essayist Joan Didion dies at 87

6:41am December 24, 2021

NPR's Sarah McCammon speaks with Los Angeles Times columnist Patt Morrison about the literary legacy of iconic writer Joan Didion, who died Thursday at her home in New York from Parkinson's disease.

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Author Joan Didion poses for a portrait in her New York apartment on Sept. 26, 2005.

Books
Arts

Writer Joan Didion, whose 'electric anxiety' inspired a generation, has died at 87

6:12pm December 23, 2021

by Susan Stamberg

When Didion started writing in the 1960s, she put a certain kind of voice on the page — neurotic, female — that hadn't been there before.

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National

'Service above self': Remembering Dr. Horatio Cabasares, who died from COVID-19

4:56pm December 23, 2021

Dr. Horatio Cabasares died from COVID-19 just over a year ago. His son, Hubert, remembers his father, who immigrated from the Philippines and made his mark as the only surgeon in a small Georgia town.

Jazz legend Chick Corea, shown here in 2018, died on Feb. 9, 2021.

'Fresh Air' remembers the jazz notables who died in 2021

1:26pm December 22, 2021

by Kevin Whitehead

Earlier this year, Kevin Whitehead noted the passing of Chick Corea and Mario Pavone. Now he remembers a few more players who died in 2021, including Milford Graves, Ralph Peterson and Dave Frishberg.

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Remembering rapper Drakeo the Ruler, fatally stabbed at a Los Angeles music festival

5:13pm December 20, 2021

by Andrew Limbong

Rapper Drakeo the Ruler, killed backstage at a Los Angeles concert on Dec. 19, overcame significant legal troubles to achieve renown with his distinctive flow and idiosyncratic wordplay.

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In this Feb. 14, 2019 photo, Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., leads a meeting on Capitol Hill. Isakson, an affable Georgia Republican who rose from the ranks of the state legislature to become a U.S. senator, has died at age 76.

Politics & Government

Johnny Isakson, former GOP senator known for building consensus, dies at age 76

11:44am December 19, 2021

by The Associated Press

The former Georgia lawmaker rose from the ranks of the state Legislature to become a U.S. senator known as an effective, behind-the-scenes force for compromise.

Alan B. Scott pictured with his wife Ruth in 1960. Scott is credited with developing Botox for medical treatments.

Alan Scott, the doctor credited with developing Botox for medicine, dies at 89

7:29pm December 18, 2021

by Deepa Shivaram

Scott, a California native, was looking to help his patients who had eye disorders and discovered a way for the dangerous chemical to be used in medicine.

Kangol Kid, pictured in 2017 in New York City, has died at age 55 after being diagnosed with colon cancer.

Music & Culture

Kangol Kid, hip-hop pioneer, has died at 55

7:07pm December 18, 2021

by Hazel Cills

As a member of the hip-hop group UTFO, he was part of a pioneering era of New York City rap in the early 1980s. The Brooklyn group was best known for their 1984 hit song "Roxanne, Roxanne."

Arts

Hollywood bard, muse and reveler Eve Babitz dies at 78

10:44am December 18, 2021

by The Associated Press

With warmth and candor, Eve Babitz chronicled the excesses of her native world in the 1960s and 1970s and became a cult figure to generations of readers.

Author and cultural critic bell hooks poses for a portrait on December 16, 1996 in New York City, New York.

Books
Arts

With the death of bell hooks, a generation of feminists lost a foundational figure

8:15pm December 17, 2021

by Lisa B. Thompson

A groundbreaking feminist thinker, writer and activist, bell hooks was clearly uninterested in being safe, respectable or acceptable, and charted a career on her own terms.