Obituary Stories

Joan Bennett Kennedy, the first wife of the late Massachusetts Sen. Edward “Ted” Kennedy, has died. She was 89. Kennedy died in her sleep at her Boston home on Oct. 8, according to a family statement provided to the Cape Cod Times, part of the USA Today Network. “Besides being...

Gil Snyder, keyboardist for the Iron City Houserockers and collaborator with several other groups, died Sunday. He was 72. The Iron City Houserockers were a legendary Pittsburgh band fronted by Joe Grushecky, who posted the news of Snyder’s death on Facebook. “It is with great sadness that our Houserocker family...

Shannon Dornauer recalls how Trafford Elementary School teacher Mike Martinelli knew how to make all of his students feel welcome in his classroom. “I just remember him being very friendly and outgoing. He always made everybody feel very included and comfortable,” said Dornauer, 37, of Latrobe. “Back in elementary school,...

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Russell M. Nelson, the oldest-ever president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died Saturday night at the age of 101, church officials announced. Nelson died at his home in Salt Lake City, the church announced. Nelson, a former heart surgeon, spent four...

Leo Gerard spent nearly two decades running the United Steelworkers, a Pittsburgh-based union with profound ties to American industry, but it was his frequent gaze abroad that labor figures say best defined his leadership. He set the tone early in his tenure, backing Liberian rubber workers in their fight for...

ORLANDO, Fla. — UCF offensive line coach Shawn Clark died Sunday at 50 years old nearly two weeks after he was hospitalized with a medical emergency, the school announced. Clark suffered the medical emergency on Sept. 9 and had been away from the team. He was said last week to...

Grammy award-winning country songwriter Brett James, whose string of top hits includes “Jesus Take the Wheel” by Carrie Underwood and “When The Sun Goes Down” by Kenny Chesney, died in a plane crash in North Carolina, authorities said Friday. He was 57. The small plane with three people aboard crashed...

Robert Redford, the Hollywood golden boy who became an Oscar-winning director, liberal activist and godfather for independent cinema under the name of one of his best-loved characters, died Tuesday at 89. Redford died “at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah — the place he loved, surrounded by...

MANCHESTER, England — Former world boxing champion Ricky Hatton, who rose to become one of the most popular fighters in the sport, has died. He was 46. Hatton was found dead at his home in Greater Manchester, Britain’s Press Association reported Sunday. Police said they are not treating the death...

LONDON — Rick Davies, the co-founder, singer and songwriter of British band Supertramp, has died after a long battle with cancer, the band said Monday. He was 81. Davies, who co-wrote the band’s music with Roger Hodgson, was “the voice and pianist behind Supertramp’s most iconic songs, leaving an indelible...

MILAN — Giorgio Armani, the Italian designer who turned the concept of understated elegance into a multibillion-dollar fashion empire, has died, his fashion house confirmed. He was 91. Armani died at home, the fashion house said. Armani, one of the most recognizable names and faces in the global fashion industry,...

The Ross community mourned the recent passings of two longtime public servants in the township, who died two weeks apart in August. Howard Boyd, a former Ross police officer and code enforcement officer, died on Saturday, Aug. 16. He was 83. Ralph C. Freedman Jr., a former police officer, chief...

Mark Knoller, a longtime White House correspondent for CBS News, has died, according to the network. He was 73. A cause of death was was not disclosed, but he had reportedly suffered from diabetes and was in poor health. “Mark Knoller was the hardest-working and most prolific White House correspondent...

William Ronald Todd was more than a football coach and teacher in the Washington, Pa. School District. “Ron Todd was a great guy. He’s going to be dearly missed,” said one of his colleagues, Mike Bosnic Sr. The elder Bosnic, like Todd, is on the Prexies coaching staff led by...

Mariam Dagga, a visual journalist who freelanced for The Associated Press and other news organizations and produced harrowing images of the war in Gaza, was killed Monday by an Israeli strike on a hospital. She was 33. Through photographs and video, Dagga captured the lives of ordinary Palestinians facing extraordinary...

Matthew “Dutch” Rooney, grandson of Pittsburgh Steelers founding owner Art Rooney, has died. An obituary says he died Aug. 15 at his home in East Hampton, New York. He was 51. Steelers spokesman Burt Lauten confirmed his death to TribLive and said the Rooney family is mourning his loss. A...

Brent Hinds, the former singer-guitarist for the Grammy-winning heavy metal band Mastodon, has died in a motorcycle accident in Atlanta, the band and authorities said. He was 51. Hinds was killed while riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle late Wednesday night when the driver of a BMW SUV failed to yield while...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Co. — James Dobson, who founded the conservative Christian ministry Focus on the Family and was a politically influential campaigner against abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, died on Thursday. He was 89. Born in 1936 in Shreveport, Louisiana, Dobson was a child psychologist who launched a radio show to...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Frank Caprio, a retired municipal judge in Rhode Island who found online fame as a caring jurist and host of ” Caught in Providence,” died. He was 88. His official social media accounts said Wednesday he “passed away peacefully” after “a long and courageous battle with pancreatic...

Janice Smarto made a name for herself in real estate and community service, but it was dedication to her family where she stood tall, her daughter said Wednesday. Smarto, 82, died Aug. 10 from injuries sustained in a fall two weeks earlier in her Jeannette home. “She was a spitfire...

Danielle Spencer, the former child star who played sassy tattletale Dee Thomas on the 1970s sitcom “What’s Happening!!,” has died. She was 60. Spencer died Monday after she “lost her battle with cancer,” her brother, jazz trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, announced on Instagram. Spencer had suffered other health issues — including...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A veteran stock-car driver at a North Carolina short track died over the weekend after suffering a medical emergency while competing in a race, officials said. Robbie Brewer’s car struck head-on a wall on the quarter-mile track at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem and came to a...

CHICAGO — James Lovell, the commander of Apollo 13 who helped turn a failed moon mission into a triumph of on-the-fly can-do engineering, has died. He was 97. Lovell died Thursday in Lake Forest, Ill., NASA said in a statement Friday. “Jim’s character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach...

Brandon Blackstock, Kelly Clarkson’s ex-husband and talent manager, has died of cancer, his family said Thursday. He was 48. “Brandon bravely battled cancer for more than three years,” a representative for the Blackstock family shared in a statement to The Associated Press. “He passed away peacefully and was surrounded by...