obituaries

Music & Culture

Stonecoldboldness: A many-sided memorial to the writing of Greg Tate

9:37am December 11, 2021

A critic whose writing was nearly music itself, Greg Tate — who died this week at 64 — influenced generations of writers. His colleagues, peers and followers offer a guide to his essential works.

Politics & Government

What Russell, Kansas, meant to late Senator Bob Dole

9:25am December 11, 2021

by Frank Morris

Senator Bob Dole's remains lie in repose in his hometown of Russell, Kansas, where residents once raised funds for his recovery from war wounds, and later, helped launch his long political career.

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Remembering Rameshchandra Patel, beloved in his Indian community, lost to COVID

5:09pm December 10, 2021

Rameshchandra Patel got COVID-19 early on in the pandemic, when little was known about the virus. His son, Suhash Patel, shares the guiding principles of life his father left as notes in a textbook.

World News

Masayuki Uemura, Nintendo engineer who created NES and SNES game consoles, dies at 78

5:09pm December 10, 2021

Masayuki Uemurao helped revolutionize the home video game industry with the Nintendo NES, and will forever be remembered for games like Duck Hunt. The Japanese engineer died Monday at the age of 78.

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Nesmith with his bandmates Davy Jones, Mickey Dolenz and Peter Tork, photographed in Los Angeles in 1967

Michael Nesmith — considerably more than a Monkee — dies at 78

2:04pm December 10, 2021

Nesmith rose to fame as one of the Pre-Fab Four — but he had a long and influential career after the Monkees. He helped invent the format that became MTV, and produced the cult film Repo Man.

Lina Wertmüller's most famous film, Seven Beauties, is about a dissolute Italian Army deserter captured by the Germans during World War II. She's shown above in September 1984.

Arts

Lina Wertmüller, first woman nominated for Oscar in directing, has died

5:04pm December 09, 2021

by Neda Ulaby

The Italian filmmaker made extravagant, eye-popping films. She used to say she wasn't surprised to be the first woman nominated for an Oscar in directing — she was only surprised that she didn't win.

Revered cultural critic Greg Tate has died at age 64

4:41pm December 08, 2021

The revered critic Greg Tate, an early and influential hip hop writer, has died. Tate grew up around intellectuals and developed a rabid curiosity about music, film, literature, theory and politics.

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Jazz musician Barry Harris performing at the Henry Fonda Theatre in 2006.

Music & Culture

Barry Harris, beloved jazz pianist devoted to bebop, dies at 91

12:21pm December 08, 2021

by Mark Stryker

Barry Harris, one of the leading musicians to emerge from Detroit's modern jazz explosion in the 1940s and '50s, died Wednesday.

Greg Tate, a powerful chronicler and critic of Black life and culture, has died at 64

5:18pm December 07, 2021

by Andrew Limbong

Tate was a longtime staff writer at The Village Voice, where he documented Black art and culture. He eventually became a leading figure in cultural criticism.

Former Sen. Bob Dole, who fought for disability rights, has died

5:06pm December 06, 2021

by Frank Morris

Bob Dole was a hero for disability rights advocates, especially those who remember the days before the Americans with Disabilities Act, and his role in getting that landmark legislation passed.