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Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, who has died aged 80, was a conductor who delivered memorable interpretations of the works of his Spanish compatriots while championing the Germanic canon on the Iberian P eninsula. His work took him to orchestras around the world, but he was best known for his associations with the Philharmonia in London and the Philadelphia Orchestra in the United States.

Eric Hill, whose effort to entertain his young son with a simple drawing of a mischievous dog named Spot blossomed into a popular series of children's books that have sold more than 60 million copies, has died at his home in central California. He was 86.

Former Dodgers and Athletics pitcher Bob Welch has died at age 57, the A's announced in a press release Tuesday afternoon. The cause of death is unavailable at this point. “We are deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Bob Welch,” A's president Michael Crowley said in a statement. “He was a legendary pitcher who enjoyed many of his best seasons with the Oakland A's. He will always be a significant part of our franchise's history, and we mourn his loss. We send our greatest sympathies to his family and friends.” Welch pitched in the majors for 17 seasons, 10...

Bob Welch, a former Cy Young Award winner and the last Major League pitcher to win at least 25 games in a season, has passed away at the age of 57, the Oakland Athletics announced Tuesday. Welch, a two-time All-Star who posted a 27-6 record as the Cy Young Award winner on the Athletics' 1990 American League championship team, passed away in Seal Beach, Monday night. Cause of death was unavailable. "We are deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Bob Welch," said A's President Michael Crowley. "He was a legendary pitcher who enjoyed many of his best seasons with...

Burton Wilson’s camera was Austin’s memory during the hippie era when, as the saying went, if you could remember it, you weren’t there. The former Vermont farmboy who documented the vibrant scene at the Vulcan Gas Company in the 1960s and the Armadillo World Headquarters in the 1970s passed away Monday morning. He was 95. Wilson got it down while those around him were only concerned with getting down. In the process, he created the defining documents of an enchanting era in Austin’s history. “Burton was one of my mentors,” said photographer Todd V. Wolfson. “He made me want to...

Elias Saavedra, one of the last survivors of the Bataan Death March, died Wednesday. He was 96. Saavedra died of natural causes at his San Rafael, New Mexico, home after battling a number of illnesses, his son Alfred Saavedra said. Born in 1918 in San Rafael, Saavedra joined the New Mexico National Guard at the outset of World War II. He was one of 75,000 Filipino and American soldiers taken captive by the Japanese in World War II when U.S. forces surrendered in the province of Bataan and Corregidor Island in April 1942. In all, tens of thousands of troops...

Don Zimmer, the stubby, Popeye-muscled baseball lifer with the unforgettable jowls whose passion for the game endured through more than 60 years as a player, manager, coach and adviser, died Wednesday in Dunedin, Florida. He was 83. His death was announced by the Tampa Bay Rays, a team he served recently as a senior adviser. Zimmer had surgery April 16 to repair a leaky heart valve, according to The Tampa Tribune.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —Chester Nez, the last original Navajo Code Talker, has passed away in his Albuquerque home. Nez was recruited with 28 other Native Americans by the U.S. Marines to create a code the Japanese couldn't crack during World War II. Nez went into kidney failure Wednesday morning. He was 93. "Many people have met him," said Judy Avila, a friend and author of Nez's memoir. "When you meet him, you're charmed by him." He was the last living member of the group. "There were a lot of people and naysayers who said, 'How can these young Navajo men help...

David Brockie, frontman for the Grammy nominated "extraterrestrial" metal band Gwar, died of an accidental heroin overdose in March, the Virginia State Medical Examiner's Office said on Tuesday. Brockie, 50, who gained an international fan base performing as a 43bn-year-old alien vocalist for the satirical band, was found by his roommate on 23 March dead in his Richmond home. Brockie died from "acute heroin toxicity and the manner of death is accident," Arkuie Williams, administrator of the medical examiner's office, said in an email. US deaths from heroin have soared as prescription painkiller abusers turn to the drug because it...

Alexander Shulgin earned his nickname, the Godfather of ecstasy, after honing a way to make the drug - and testing it out on himself to check it had worked. A Facebook post by his wife and research partner, Ann, said he died "surrounded by family and caretakers and Buddhist meditation music". He lived out his final years at his home in Northern California. Shulgin began his study of organic chemistry at Harvard University in his teens and, after a stint in the US Navy during World War Two, returned to Berkeley to get his PhD in biochemistry at the University...

The last of the 29 Navajos who developed a code that stumped the Japanese during World War II has died. Chester Nez, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, died Wednesday morning of kidney failure, said Judy Avila, who helped Nez write his memoirs. He was 93. Before hundreds of men from the Navajo Nation became Code Talkers, 29 Navajos were recruited to develop the code based on the then-unwritten Navajo language. Nez was in 10th grade when he enlisted, keeping his decision a secret from his family and lying about his age, as did many others. "It's one of the greatest parts...

Ann B. Davis, aka Alice from “The Brady Bunch,” passed away this past weekend. This morning, MSNBC took a moment to remember her — by showing a picture of someone else:

.....Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston issued a statement Monday mourning the death Sunday of Monroe Udell, the founder of Jaxson's Ice Cream Parlor in Dania Beach.... ...“Monroe turned Jaxson’s into a nationally recognized institution for their ice cream and food, and was recently cited by President Obama for their commitment to their employees."

A truly remarkable woman: SIR Winston Churchill's last surviving child, Lady Soames, has died. Mary Soames, who was 91, died peacefully at home yesterday evening surrounded by her family, after a short illness. She was the youngest of the five children of the wartime prime minister and his wife Clementine. One of her sons, Nicholas Soames, who is also Tory MP for Mid Sussex, said: "She was a truly remarkable and extraordinary woman, who led a very distinguished life." Her death has been described as having "extraordinary timing", as Britain prepares to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the Normandy landings...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Award-winning author, renowned poet and civil rights activist Dr. Maya Angelou has died. She was 86. Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines confirmed Angelou was found by her caretaker on Wednesday morning.

Bunny Yeager, a model turned pin-up photographer who helped jump-start the career of then-unknown Bettie Page, died Sunday, her agent said. She was 85 years old. Yeager died at a North Miami hospice where she had been for about a week, her agent, Ed Christin said. Yeager’s legacy is her cultural impact, from pin-up photography and fashion, helping to popularize the bikini, and influencing other artists such as Cindy Sherman, who read Yeager’s guides on photographing nudes and making self-portraits, Christin said. “Anyone in Miami in the 1950s who wanted a bikini would come to her, and she’d make one,”...

Donald Levine, the Hasbro executive credited as the father of G.I. Joe for developing the world's first action figure, has died. He was 86. He died of cancer early Thursday at Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island, said his wife, Nan. They were just about to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. Levine shepherded the toy through design and development as Hasbro's head of research and development. He and his team came up with an 11½-inch articulated figure with 21 moving parts, and since the company's employees included many military veterans, it was decided to outfit the toy in the...

Gordon Willis, the acclaimed cinematographer behind the Godfather trilogy and such Woody Allen films as Annie Hall, Manhattan, Broadway Danny Rose and Zelig, has died. He was 82.

Jimmy Ellis, a heavyweight champion who sparred with an up-and-coming Muhammad Ali and later fought some of the era's best boxers, died Tuesday. He was 74. Ellis died at a Louisville hospital, brother Jerry Ellis said. Jimmy Ellis had Alzheimer's disease in recent years.

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Actor Efrem Zimbalist Jr., star of the smash 60s and 70s TV drama “The FBI,” has died. Zimbalist was 95. The actor played unflappable Inspector Erskine in the series that ran on ABC from 1965-1974. The show dramatized real FBI cases. Zimbalist Sr. was a concert violinist, the actor’s mother was opera singer Alma Gluck. Zimbalist Jr.’s daughter, Stephanie, had her own successful acting career — most notably as the female lead in the hit “Remington Steele” (1982-87) opposite Pierce Brosnan. The actor was born in New York City on November 30, 1918. He died peacefully...