RIPs, including several journalism legends
I haven’t been writing as much lately because, among other things, I’ve been watching so much tennis. As I’ve mentioned, the U.S. Open is my favorite of the big four events and I don’t miss much of it, which means some other things have got to go.
While all that serving and rallying was going on, we lost several important humans, and a few had major impacts on the worlds of media and journalism.
Of course the big one was Phil Donahue, who was a legend back when daytime talk-show hosts meant something. He’s been accurately described as leading the way for both Oprah Winfrey, with her compassionate and empathetic topical focus, and Jerry Springer, who liked to shock with a wilder TV circus sideshow. Donahue died in mid-August at age 88 in Manhattan. His TV talk show began in 1967 in Dayton, Ohio and went into syndication for a whopping 29 years. He loved two things: hot or controversial topics and audience participation. SOmetimes he took things a little too far, but Donahue was unapologetic to the end, noting that TV is bland without mixing it up a little.
Also loving the excitement was Landon Y. Jones, who was fascinated with celebrities and served as a top editor at People Magazine. He has passed away of myelofibrosis at age 80. Jones’ job was to market test celebraities before putting them on the cover. But he also had other legacies. Young was credited with creating the term “baby boomer” in a book he wrote and he put a story about the day in the life of a pregnant teen on the cover, and President Bill Clinton soon thereafter created a task force on the topic.
Also on the celebrity beat - which was a road I myself considered early in my journalism career - was Linda Deutsch. She covered trials for nearly 50 years at The Associated Press, including O.J. Simpson, Michael Jackson, and Charles Manson and those related to Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination, Patty Hearst, Lyle and Erik Menendez, Rodney King. She passed away from pancreatic cancer, also at age 80.
Other notable recent passings include:
Tito Jackson (age 70, the guitarist and singer was in a band - the Jackson 5 - that meant everything to me for a while in my pre-teen years. I still love my double-vinyl anthology of their groovy Motown pop)
Sergio Mendes (age 83, long covid, his Brazilian bossa nova sounds are among the most beautiful musical sounds ever made)
James Earl Jones (age 93, the rumbling deep sounds of his speech made him the perfect actor to voice Darth Vader, not to mention Mufasa in The Lion King)
John Cassaday (age 52, created a run of comic books called the Astonishing X-Men as well as Planetary).