Passed Made Present

Michael Hart Michael Hart, father of e-books and founder of Project Gutenberg, died on September 6th, aged 64

"He dreamed that by 2021 he would have provided a million e-books each... to a billion people all over the globe — a quadrillion books, just given away."

#MichaelHart
1947-2011
Born on this day

www.economist.com/obituary/201...

Andrea Levy obituary Prize-winning author of Small Island and The Long Song whose novels explored the intertwined histories of Britain and Jamaica

"The novel was selected in 2007 as the text for a mass read event to accompany commemorations of the abolition of slavery."

#AndreaLevy
1956-2019
Born on this day

www.theguardian.com/books/2019/f...

Man who invented Lorenzo's Oil to save son dies ROME (AP) — Augusto Odone, a former World Bank economist, defied skeptical scientists to invent a treatment to try to save the life of his little boy, wasting away from a neurological disease, and to ...

"After scouring medical journals and consulting scientists and doctors, he taught himself enough science that in 1987 he came up with a concoction derived from natural cooking oils."

#AugustoOdone
1933-2013
Born on this day

apnews.com/general-news...

Obituary: Momofuku Ando Obituary: Entrepreneur behind Japan's postwar craze for instant noodles.

"Ando's most brilliant move was to package it in individual portions."

#MomofukuAndo
1910-2007
Born on this day

www.theguardian.com/news/2007/fe...

"Her voice became a potent symbol of the anti-apartheid struggle, expressing both the sorrow and tragedy of black South Africa and also its joy and resilience..."

#MiriamMakeba
1932-2008
Born on this day

www.thetimes.com/travel/desti...

Spider Webb, Tattoo Artist With a Defiant Streak, Dies at 78 (Published 2022)

"... known for his intricate designs and for his efforts to overturn the law that made tattooing illegal in New York City..."

#SpiderWebb
1944-2022
Born on this day

www.nytimes.com/2022/07/12/a...

Soviet and Russian fashion icon Slava Zaitsev dead at 85 Vyacheslav "Slava" Zaitsev, the couturier behind world-famous Soviet fashion that was often adorned with colourful Russian folkloric motifs, died on Sunday at age 85.

"... Zaitsev's first international recognition came in 1963 when the French Paris Match magazine wrote about his collection of overalls for female workers..."

#SlavaZaitsev
1938-2023
Born on this day

www.reuters.com/lifestyle/so...

Harry Belafonte obituary: A US icon of music, film and civil rights The actor, legendary Calypso singer and committed civil rights campaigner dies at the age of 96.

"Belafonte supported Dr King financially... He also stood bail when his idol was thrown in Birmingham City jail."

#HarryBelafonte
1927-2023
Born on this day

www.bbc.com/news/enterta...

N. Scott Momaday, Pulitzer Prize winner and giant of Native American literature, dead at 89 N. Scott Momaday has died at age 89 after becoming a Pulitzer Prize-winning storyteller, poet, educator and folklorist.

"... Momaday became the first Native American to win the fiction Pulitzer, and his novel helped launch a generation of authors, including Leslie Marmon Silko, James Welch and Louise Erdrich."

#NScottMomaday
1934-2024
Born on this day

apnews.com/article/nati...

The Inescapable Fats Domino The legendary pianist, who recorded what’s widely considered one of the first rock-and-roll records, died this week, at the age of eighty-nine.

"In 1949, while working in a mattress factory, Domino cut his first 78-r.p.m. record... It’s widely considered one of the first rock-and-roll records ever made."

#FatsDomino
1928-2017
Born on this day

www.newyorker.com/culture/post...

A. Leon Higginbotham Jr.; Influential Black Judge A.

"... a civil rights defender who was one of the country’s most prominent and influential African American judges..."

#LeonHigginbotham
1928-1998
Born on this day

www.latimes.com/archives/la-...

Kaycee Moore, Star of ‘Killer of Sheep’ and ‘Bless Their Little Hearts,’ Dies at 77 Kaycee Moore, who appeared in 'Killer of Sheep' and 'Bless Their Little Hearts,' died on Aug. 13. She was 77.

"Moore was also a philanthropist... mobilizing funding and legislation benefiting Sickle Cell patients and their families."

#KayceeMoore
1944-2021
Born on this day

variety.com/2021/film/ob...

Sylvia Chase, Pioneering Television Newswoman, Is Dead at 80 (Published 2019)

"... an Emmy Award-winning correspondent whose professionalism and perseverance in the 1970s helped a generation of women infiltrate the boys club of television news..."

#SylviaChase
1938-2019
Born on this day

www.nytimes.com/2019/01/07/o...

John C. Koss, Stereo Headphone Innovator, Is Dead at 91 (Published 2022)

"Koss headphones became standard equipment for music listeners, disc jockeys and recording artists in the studio — even... during President Richard M. Nixon’s impeachment inquiry."

#JohnKoss
1930-2021
Born on this day

www.nytimes.com/2022/02/02/b...

Peter Moore, designer of first Air Jordan sneaker, dies at 78 As creative director of Nike and Adidas, he was influential in shoe design and the athletic wear business.

"Peter Moore, who designed the first Air Jordan basketball shoe in 1985 and whose ''Jumpman' logo helped propel the Jordan brand of shoes and athletic wear into a multibillion-dollar industry..."

#PeterMoore
1944-2022
Born on this day

wapo.st/3Oq9sic

Obituary: Tony Wilson Obituary: Record label boss and broadcaster with twin passions: music and Manchester.

"... self-appointed ringleader of the Manchester music business, he was someone you loved, or hated, or loved and hated at the same time."

#TonyWilson
1950-2007
Born on this day

www.theguardian.com/news/2007/au...

Cyrus Chothia obituary Biochemist whose work was at the cutting edge of the understanding of protein structures, their function and evolution

"... he laid much of the groundwork for the field of bioinformatics, which now underpins the study of biodiversity, the global search for links between genes and disease, and the rational development of new drugs."

#CyrusChothia
1942-2019
Born on this day

www.theguardian.com/science/2019...

Obituary: Toni Morrison Toni Morrison was widely seen one of the leading lights of US literature and a champion for minorities.

"'When I began, there was just one thing that I wanted to write about, which was the true devastation of racism on the most vulnerable, the most helpless unit in the society - a black female and a child.'"

#ToniMorrison
1931-2019
Born on this day

www.bbc.com/news/enterta...

Dr Michiaki Takahashi Dr Michiaki Takahashi created a vaccine against chickenpox, which is now used on millions of children around the world, after watching how his baby son was ravaged by the illness. As a young Japanese

"... created a vaccine against chickenpox, which is now used on millions of children around the world, after watching how his baby son was ravaged by the illness."

#MichiakiTakahashi
1928-2013
Born on this day

www.thetimes.com/travel/advic...

Overlooked No More: Vera Menchik, First Women’s Chess Champion (Published 2022)

"Menchik was the world’s first women’s chess champion, and the first woman to regularly play in high-level tournaments alongside men."

#VeraMenchik
1906-1944
Born on this day

www.nytimes.com/2022/09/02/o...

Rommy Hunt Revson, Creator of the Scrunchie, Dies at 78 (Published 2022)

"Col. Pamela Melroy wore a blue one on her space shuttle missions..."

#RommyRevson
1944-2022
Born on this day

www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/s...

Obituary: Willem Kolff Obituary: Artificial heart pioneer and kidney dialysis machine inventor

"... Kolff pioneered the artificial heart and the membrane oxygenator for bypass surgery. But in 1943 he was a member of the resistance, materials were in short supply..."

#WillemKolff
1911-2009
Born on this day

www.theguardian.com/science/2009...

Rubbernecking for Jerry Springer He was sweeter than Howard Stern, realer than Phil Donahue. His coolness gave his show its plausible deniability.

"... there was only a faint lawyerliness to his questions, which weren’t meant to mature into true probes, because there were brawls to be had."

#JerrySpringer
1944-2023
Born on this day

www.newyorker.com/culture/post...

The Hack and the Spar In 1949, Gertrude Jeannette witnessed the Peekskill Riots in New York. “That’s the first time I saw the Ku Klux Klan,” she said. The KKK had come to protest a concert by Paul Robeson, a civi…

"Ms. Hooker, one of the last known survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre, was also the first African-American woman to serve in the United States Coast Guard."

#OliviaHooker
1915-2018
Born on this day

passedmadepresent.org/the-hack-and...

Stompin' Tom Connors dies at 77 | CBC News Canadian country-folk legend Stompin' Tom Connors, whose toe-tapping musical spirit and fierce patriotism established him as one of Canada's strongest cultural icons, has died.

"... his heritage-soaked songs like Canada Day, Up Canada Way, The Hockey Song, Bud the Spud, and Sudbury Saturday Night, have come to be regarded as veritable national anthems thanks to their unabashed embrace of all things Canadiana."

#StompinTomConnors
1936-2013
Born on this day

Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado dead at 81 Sebastiao Salgado, the Brazilian photographer whose black-and-white images of workers, migrants, and humanity's conflicted relationship with nature captivated the world, has died of leukemia at the ag...

"... the Brazilian photographer whose black-and-white images of workers, migrants, and humanity's conflicted relationship with nature captivated the world..."

#SebastiaoSelgado
1944-2025
Born on this day

www.reuters.com/science/obit...

Obituary: Juliette Gréco dies aged 93 The singer survived the Nazis, inspired philosophers and fell in love with jazz legend Miles Davis.

"Just 15 years old, she was thrown into the notorious women's prison in Fresnes..."

#JulietteGreco
1927-2020
Born on this day

www.bbc.com/news/enterta...

"... she will be best remembered by... the find of the fossil footprints at Laetoli, Tanzania, of man-like creatures who walked upright on two legs at least 3.6 million years ago."

#MaryLeakey
1913-1996
Born on this day

www.the-independent.com/incoming/obi...

Drummer Hal Blaine, played on hits of Sinatra, Elvis, dies LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hal Blaine, the Hall of Fame session drummer and virtual one-man soundtrack of the 1960s and '70s who played on the songs of Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and the Beach Boys and laid...

"... his signature moment was the attention-grabbing 'on the four' solo — Bum-ba-bum-BOOM — that launched the classic “Be My Baby,” a hit for the Ronettes..."

#HalBlaine
1929-2019
Born on this day

apnews.com/article/1250...

Times obituary: Rosa Parks ON THE evening of December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks boarded a bus in downtown Montgomery, Alabama. It was to be the most famous bus ride in American history, a bus ride that would spark civil rights

"... the arrest of Parks precipitated a mass bus boycott by blacks in Montgomery that... culminated in the end of segregated transport and the first major breakthrough in the struggle against white supremacy."

#RosaParks
1913-2005
Born on this day

www.thetimes.com/travel/advic...