Free Republic

Günter Grass, the German novelist, social critic and Nobel Prize winner whom many called his country’s moral conscience but who stunned Europe when he revealed in 2006 that he had been a member of the Waffen-SS during World War II, died on Monday in the northern German city of Lübeck, which had been his home for decades. He was 87. His longtime publisher, Gerhard Steidl, told reporters that he learned late Sunday that Mr. Grass had been hospitalized after falling seriously ill very quickly. The cause of death was not announced.

Sam Simon, a creative force behind “The Simpsons” who left the show after its fourth season in a lucrative arrangement that allowed him to spend much of the rest of his life giving his money away, has died. He was 59. His death was announced on Monday by the Sam Simon Foundation, the organization through which he donated his money. The announcement did not say where or when he died or specify the cause, although Mr. Simon learned he had cancer in late 2012. The cartoonist Matt Groening, recruited by the producer James L. Brooks, invented the Simpson family for...

Multi-talented singer/composer Don Covay lost his two-decades-long battle with debilitating illness resulting from a massive stroke. According publicist Don Brown, Covay died in his sleep on Saturday morning, January 31, at the age of 78. Covay composed a litany of hit tunes, such “Mercy Mercy,” which rocketed to #1 R&B on Cashbox in 1964 and became a huge hit for the Rolling Stones in 1965. In that same year, the catchy song “See Saw” became a top-5 R&B hit for Covay on Cashbox, and his composition “Chain of Fools,” a popular R&B classic, became a hit for Aretha Franklin in...