The Wall

People who Died -- May, 2025

We are now into the unofficial part of summer, but the damned rain is making it feel like it’s still April. Soon enough we’ll be sunburned and complaining about the heat, but I’d rather that sooner than later. One thing we can, unfortunately, always rely on, is people making an exit from this life, and this month is no different. So while the Met’s are doing well (the Knicks are on the brink of elimination or the door of fame as I write this), these folks below had great lives that, as all will, came to an end.

Popes and Supreme Court Justices get to occupy the top spot upon death. Last month Pope Francis occupied this spot and now David Souter, who spent 19 years on this Country’s highest Court, died at 85. He was a shy and introspective Justice who never married and never got caught up in attending Washington parties. He preferred to stay home with a good history book. He was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, and took the seat that William Brennan, a Jersey guy, and strong defender of Constitutional rights, had occupied. Bush expected Souter to be conservative and given that he replaced Brennan, many felt the Court would move to the right and overturn Roe v. Wade. Remember that case? When a case came before the Court two years later that would test Roe, Souter was in the majority who felt that Roe was still good law. This, in the face of the National Organization for Women, having opposed his nomination. It’s then President testified at his Congressional hearings that his ascension to the Court would “end freedom for women in this Country.” Shows how wrong you can be. Souter was confirmed by a 90-9 vote with only liberal Democrats voting against the nomination. Thus, while everyone thought President Bush was getting a conservative, he got someone far more liberal. Back when Eisenhower thought the same of Justice Earl Warren, he said it was the worst decision of his Presidency. I doubt Bush felt the same way.

Souter was voted most likely to succeed in his high school class, attended Harvard and then was a Rhodes Scholar. He went to Harvard Law and shockingly, wasn’t on the Law Review. He was the Attorney General of New Hampshire (his Rabbi was Warran Rudman), an appointed position, and was then named to the New Hampshire Superior and Supreme Courts. He was appointed to the First Circuit Court of Appeals and was there only two months before he got the nod for the Supremes. Pretty heady stuff. Apparently, the President wanted to appoint Clarence Thomas to the seat, but his advisors felt that Thomas needed additional judicial experience, so Souter was chosen. Thomas got the nod when the next opening came open and didn’t disappoint the conservatives in the way Souter did. Souter got along with everyone on the Court but was most close with Justices O’Connor and the Notorious RBG. After 19 years on the Court, he chose to retire at age 69 which is rather young for a Justice to leave as they generally await being taken out of the place in a body-bag. While he seemed a hayseed, he was far from it. He parlayed a $160,000 investment in a bank to a nest-egg worth many millions which paid him a yearly dividend of over $100,000, in addition to his judicial salary. Thus, when he returned to New Hampshire, he had it pretty cushy. Named one a Washington’s most eligible bachelors, he remained single, although early in his life he was engaged. Maybe that was the secret to his success.

Last month I followed the Pope with Dennis the Menace. This month I will follow Justice Souter with Sharpe James, who died this month at 89, and who some would say is the functional equivalent. James was a high school teacher in Newark who, through hard-nosed politics, rose to the job of Mayor and did what too many big city, New Jersey, Mayors did – he went to jail. The list of New Jersey mayors convicted of crimes is amazing, making it almost a right of passage. In Newark, there has been Hugh Addonizio, Kenneth Gibson (no jail – but a conviction) and Mr. James. In Camden there was Angelo Errichetti, Milton Milan and Arnold Webster. Trenton sent Tony Mack to the Big House and Patterson saw Marty Barnes and Joey Torres go away. Mind you, none of this made them bad people, and James was a pretty amazing guy whose popularity hardly waned after his conviction. He was charismatic and could look at some great accomplishments during his five terms as mayor. The New Jersey Performing Arts Center was built in his time as was the Prudential Center, home of the Hockey Devils, a rather incongruous sports team for Downtown Newark. These venues were signature achievements. As charismatic as he could be, he could also be gladiatorial, crushing political opponents. When now Senator Corey Booker ran against James, it was a bruising campaign that was chronicled in the movie “Street Fight,” which is what it was. James attacked Booker personally, questioning his sexuality and mocking him for being in the pocket of rich, white donors. James won a close election and four years later chose not to run for a sixth term. Why should he have run? He drove a Rolls Royce and had a 55-foot yacht. As politicians are wont to do, James and Booker seemed to have patched up their differences later in life. For years, the hint of corruption hung in the air around James but when he was convicted, it was for helping a girlfriend make money and not making money himself. How he amassed his own cushy lifestyle has always been a thing of speculation. He was a smooth operator and fiercely loyal to Newark and its people. He gave people in the city a sense of pride that is often as important as anything when money is scarce. He had a great sense of humor and a set of brass balls. What is a better combination than that?

From “Hang on Sloopy” with the McCoys, to “Rock and Roll Hootchie Koo” on his first solo Album, “All American Boy;” from playing with Johnnie and Edgar Winter, Peter Frampton, Joe Bonamassa, Ringo, Meat Loaf, Todd Rundgren, and others, Rick Derringer, who died this month at 77, has had quite the musical life. He recorded “Hang on Sloopy,” when he was 17, only a year older than Alex Chilton was when he recorded “The Letter,” with the Boxtops. The line in “Rock and Roll Hootchie Koo,’ where he refers to a group called the Jokers who were “layin’ it down,” referred to a band of that name fronted by Dicky Betts, before he hit it big with the Allmans. From the McCoys, Derringer went to play with Johnnie Winter And…, who had a classic live album. From Johnny, he moved to Edgar Winter’s White Trash, where they put out another incredible live album entitled “Roadwork.” He later produced The Edgar Winter Group’s “Frankenstein,” and “Free Ride,” both hits. I probably saw Derringer 15 times with The Edgar Winter Group. He worked with everyone from Barbara Streisand to Cyndie Lauper, to Steely Dan. He played on Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Sun.” After Tim Bogart and Carmine Appice split with Jeff Beck, in what had been BBA, they formed DBA, Derringer, Bogart and Appice and this live clip shows a more biting side of his play. He was with Ringo Starr’s All Stars, and Peter Frampton’s Guitar Circus tour with a number of notable players. I’ll skip over his politics because he didn’t support the type of politicians, say, the Boss would back. For all this incredible musical work, his lone Grammy came from working on a Weird Al Yankovic album. Go figure. He was a big baseball fan and collaborated with Tom Seaver and Gary Redus (Reds, Phillies, White Sox, etc.) on a version of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” That alone would have sealed it for me. “Lordy Mama, light my fuse.”

Big time sitcoms took it on the chin this month. Passaic native and graduate of the Katherine Gibbs School in Montclair, New Jersey (and Pope Pius XII High School), the woman known as “Hot Lips” Houlihan, Loretta Swit, died this month at 87. Born Loretta Jane Szwed, to parents of Polish descent, she also attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and, against the will of her parents, pursued acting as a career. She made her off-Broadway debut in “An Enemy of the People,” and was one of the Pigeon Sisters in the Los Angeles run of “The Odd Couple,” with Don Rickels and Earnest Borgnine playing the roles of Felix and Oscar. While they both to me seem like they would be Oscar, shockingly, Rickles played the role of Felix. They should have switched nightly. On television, she appeared in shows such as “Mannix, (a favorite of mine), “Hawaii Five-0,” “Bonanza,” and “Mission Impossible.” As to “M*A*S*H,” which was based on a 1967 novel by Richard Hooker, Sally Kellerman, who died last year, had done the movie. Swit got the gig after a meet and greet with the producers and a call-back process. Before she was hired, she got a movie role, and her agent notified the “M*A*S*H” folks that she was no longer available. They convinced her to forego the movie to film the pilot for the series and the rest is history. Over the years, they softened the sexual angle of her character which today, you could never even think about doing. Her long-term affair with Maj. Frank Burns (played by Larry Linville), and her monicker “Hot Lips,” waned over time. She became Margaret, and her professionalism as a nurse and her leadership in the OR was played up. While I still believe that the ending of “The Newhart Show,” was the best ever, the ending of “M*A*S*H” rates right up there, having been seen by over 60% of homes in the U.S. Swit and Alan Alda (Hawkeye Pierce), were the only actors to have been in both the pilot and the finale and Swit, along with Alda, Jamie Farr (Klinger) and William Christopher (Father Mulcahey) were the only actors of the ensemble to appear in all eleven seasons of the show, which ran from 1972 until 1983. During the show’s run, Swit was nominated for an Emmy for best supporting actress in a comedy series ten years in a row, and took home the hardware twice (in 1980 and 1982). In 1981 Swit did the pilot for “Cagney and Lacey,” along with Tyne Daley but couldn’t take the part due to her contractual obligations with CBS on “M*A*S*H,” and the role of Christine Cagney went to Sharon Gless. During “M*A*S*H” she did movies and theater and continued after the show’s run. Heck, she even did “The Love Boat,” which I deem beneath her stature. Because of the show, she worked with a lot of veterans, and her quote about that, coming so close to Memorial Day (I know, Veterans Day would have been the more appropriate day since Memorial Day commemorates those we lost) is fitting as she once said, “I worked for a long time with WWII vets and got to know them pretty well. It made you realize how much work we need to do in this Country to support them. So many came back to a life that was foreign to them.... They endured so much and faced those struggles in silence. It has been the honor of my life to help the get their stories out there.” Way to go Hot Lips.

Conjure up in your head an amiable, middle-aged, middle manager, with middle paunch, who likes to stop into his local pub every day to chat about nothing in particular with friends he made at the bar, and you have George Wendt, who died this month at 76. It was not really Wendt you were conjuring up, but Norm Peterson, the character he played on the hit series “Cheers,” which ran from 1982 to 1993, an eleven-year run which is rare in comedic television. Interesting that it followed an eleven-year run by “M*A*S*H.” Wendt, as Norm, appeared in every episode of the run, getting his spirited greeting each time he entered the bar. I grew up in Astoria, which in my youth boasted having more bars per capita than anywhere in the Country. True or not, there were some corners were there were four bars. Up the block from my house was Courtney’s, which became Patterson’s which became George’s (probably didn’t have an Irish last name). In Irish neighborhoods, bars were the barber shops of other ethnicity’s gathering places – a place to go have a couple of drinks to wind down the day and bullshit with your friends, who were mostly people you only knew from the bar. There was no jukebox, no television, but there was plenty of talk. And a decent bar always had some reference books to settle disputes because there was no such thing as the internet. And a jar of pickled eggs. Anyway, back to Wendt. Wendt, a Chicago native (something he shares with the new Pope), and one of nine kids (the pope would approve), got his start at Second City, the improvisational comedy collective that spawned so many Saturday Night Live alums. From there he appeared in numerous television shows. Then came “Cheers,” and the Norm character which was custom made for him. There was nothing abrasive about Norm. He was the everyman and hard to dislike. Few did. Perhaps that is why he earned six consecutive Emmy nominations for best supporting actor in a comedy. He was a busy guy. By my inexact count, he appeared in 65 movies and 87 television shows. He even dabbled a bit in the theatre. But it was “Cheers” that made him a household name. In looking back, he once said “I dream about ‘Cheers.’ Like when you go on a diet and dream of pizza. I always think of those wonderful years. I loved working on it.” Lucky for him, he is going to a place where everyone knows his name.

Speaking of names, the name Isray, as it pertains to football, will always be known for spiriting the Baltimore Colts to Indianapolis on a wintry night in 1984. Those in Baltimore will forever find ugly things to say about what occurred that night, and not without cause. It also, illustrated something to all sports fans – sports are about money, plain and simple. This month, we lost Jim Isray at 65. Now, he was not his father. It was his father, who made his money as a heating and air conditioning contractor, who bought the Los Angeles Rams for $12 million and promptly traded the team for the Baltimore Colts. Jim Isray was nine when his dad acquired the Colts. Jim attended SMU and played on their football team. By this time, the Colts were in Indianapolis and he went to work in the football business which he had a true love for. He was named general manager when he was 24, making him the youngest GM ever to hold the title, although, I am sure his dad owning the team had something to do with it. When his dad died, in 1995, after a legal tussle with his stepmother over control, he became the youngest NFL owner at 37. He was outspoken about the game and didn’t shy away from controversy. When Rus Limbaugh was part of a group seeking to own the St. Louis Rams (another transplant team), he was outwardly opposed, and he was also vocal in wanting the league to boot Dan Snyder. If only for that, people should be grateful. Like Jim Dolan, he was a rock n’ roller, fronting his own rock band, the Jim Isray Band, which would travel with an array of guitars he acquired over the years as a sort of mobile museum. Guitar Player magazine referred to Isray’s collection, valued at about $1 billion, as “the greatest guitar collection on Earth.” He had guitars played by Elvis, and each of the Beatles. He paid $2 million for a set of Ringo’s drums. He also paid $4.6 million for the Fender Mustang that Kurt Cobain played in the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” music video, and $3.9 million for Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour’s Black Beauty. And yes, his collection did include a guitar from EVH as well as the guitar Dylan used at the New port Folk Festival when he shocked the folkies by going electric. Isray was also very philanthropic, donating millions during his life. And, like many a rich guy who played music, he suffered from drug and alcohol dependance, but we shan’t hold that against him. At base, he loved football and really devoted his life to the sport. Wherever he is, he’s not sitting in the cheap seats like I would be.

While you may not know Charles Strouse, who died this month at 96, who amongst us hasn’t sung, “Put On a Happy Face,” or belted out the line “The Sun will come up tomorrow?” A prodigious writer for the theatre, Strouse’s songs have been sung by everyone from Sinatra to Streisand, to Jay-Z. According to his New York Times obit, written by Margalit Fox, the best obit writer to ever pound a keyboard, he was once accosted by a guest at a party who informed him that if his daughter at home sang “Tomorrow,” one more time, he may just kill himself, and Strause as well. His two biggest Broadway hits were “Bye Bye Birdie,” and “Annie,” but he wrote for a dozen others. He won Tony’s for both of those shows as well as “Applause,” for which he wrote “But Alive,” originally sung by Lauren Bacall. A lot of his songs were co-written with the lyricist Lee Adams. Aside from Broadway, he composed for films such as “Bonnie and Clyde,” and “The Night they Raided Minsky’s,” amongst others. He also wrote, with Lee Adams, “Those Were the Days,” for the opening of “All in the Family.” The idea for having everyone sit around the piano at the end of the show was Strouse’s from when his family did something similar when he was a child. A self-described Jewish atheist, he won The Emperor Has No Clothes Award from the Freedom of Religion Foundation in 2011, given to the “public figures who make known their dissent from religion.” Thus, there’s no telling where he is now.

Congressman Charles Rangel died at 94. Now I have to admit, when I saw is obit, I had to check the byline date because I thought this guy died years ago. That’s what happens when you are in the press on a regular basis and then totally drop off like he did. Well, he was apparently still going until this month, and he makes the cut here. Rangel was a firebrand Congressional leader who represented Harlem since 1970 when he beat out Adam Clayton Powell who was crippled by ethics allegations. After winning 23 times, he himself faced ethics violations when he decided to retire in 2016. At his retirement, he was the ninth longest continuously serving congressman, or person. He was the first Black Chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight, making him arguably the most powerful Black politician in New York or, at the time, the Country. He was firm but always amiable. He dropped out of high school and served in the Army in Korea and was awarded a Purple Heart. Hit in the back by shrapnel, he and his compatriots were under attack from Chinese troops in sub-zero temperatures. He was only a private but looked up to by his peers and he led 40 men, who were hemmed in by the Chinese troops, over a mountain to safety, earning him a Bronze Star. He viewed his time in the Army as a turning point in his life. He returned from the war and finished high school, earned a degree from New York University and a law degree from St. John’s. He worked as a federal prosecutor under then U.S. Attorney Robert Morgenthau. In Congress, he always sought full funding for anti-poverty programs and pushed hard for his constituents. He pulled no punches and was always his own man, which would have made him an outcast in the present political landscape. He was also a big supporter of Hillary Clinton, being the first to call for her to replace the Senate giant, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, when he retired. Ultimately, the various ethics charges that dogged him had their effect and he retired. His legacy, however, is far greater than the allegations of impropriety. He was asked at one point how he would like to be remembered and evoking “Gone with the Wind,” said, “well … if I’m gone, frankly I don’t give a damn.” Somehow, I suspect he did give a damn, and he shouldn’t worry, because his legacy is cemented.

I can remember the day that Dr. Christiaan Barnard did the first heart transplant. I saw it on the newsstand at Valentines candy store (George’s to those of us in the know), on 42^nd Street, and even as a kid, was struck by the enormity of it all. One of the problems, however, is that hearts don’t grow on trees, as the saying goes, and when you need one, they never seem to be around. Enter Dr. Robert Jarvik, who died this month at 79. Ever since his father, also a doctor, died of heart disease, he wanted to create a heart. He got his medical degree but never practiced mainstream medicine. Rather, he went right to heart design, which, when you think about it, is pretty audacious for a newly minted doctor. Working with Dr. Willem Kolff, the Director of the University of Utah’s Division of Artificial Organs (imagine having such a division – probably just lost its funding), Jarvik developed an artificial heart that was implanted into Alfred Lord Tennyson. Not the English poet, but rather a cow. With the artificial heart, the cow lived to 268 days. Sad for the cow since it probably had a great heart to begin with before they wrenched it out of him in the name of science. No word on if it was poetic during its time with the Jarvik device. The first human to get the Jarvik was retired dentist Barney Clarke, who survived only 112 days and never left the hospital as he was hooked up to a 400-pound air compressor. Others faired better as improvements were made. William Schroeder, a retired federal employee lived for 620 days – a little over a year and a half, and another recipient made it a bit over a year. The thing, while good, wasn’t really set up for the long term, but its practical use was in keeping people alive until real hearts came available, which usually involves a really bad car wreck. Jarvik went on to develop other devices that assist with heart disease and receive the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement, which, while it doesn’t sound like it, is a real Academy that does great things with young innovators. After being given his aluminum and plastic heart, Dr. Clarke, told Jarvik, “even though I have no heart, I still love you.” You’ve gotta have heart.

In a true rags to riches story, Monroe Milstein, who turned his wife’s $75,000 in savings into a $1.3 Billion payout when they sold Burlington Coat Factory, died this month at 98. Milstein, described himself as “a very average fellow,” who “got lucky.” Were that true, we all would be rich. He didn’t give himself credit for his hard work and incredible vision. He was working for his father in the wholesale coat and jacket (colloquially known as the “rag”) business. He also worked retail on weekends and was so good a salesman that when Burlington Coat Factory, a then single store in New Jersey was selling, his wife convinced him to use her money as a down-payment to buy the place. His father told him he was crazy to do so. From there they expanded to become the third largest discount retailer with 367 stores in 42 states with annual sales of more than $3 billion. Milstein purchased his wares directly from the manufacturers and from overstocks of department stores and was able to undercut the prices of mainstream retailers. He kept costs low by leasing out-of-the-way properties that had been vacant thereby permitting him to get favorable rents. He flew coach, took busses and had employees share hotel rooms. When Milstein opened his second store on Long Island, his son, who was an observant Jew, wouldn’t open on Saturday. Through a quirk in the law, however, he was able to open Sunday, when most other retailers were closed. This turned out to be a big hit with consumers and the store thrived. Milstein always said that his wife was an equal partner and just as responsible for the success of the business as he was. He would often get on the sound system of the New Jersey store and profess to the shoppers his love for his wife announcing “Hennie Penny, I Iove you.” His rules of retail were simple. “Buy something. If it does well, you buy more. If it doesn’t, you mark it down.” The company, which had gone public in 1983, was sold to Bain Capital in 2006 for more than $2 Billion. That’s buying something that did well.

Hopefully, when next month comes around, I will have a shorter piece and can tout a Knick’s championship. Enjoy the start of Summer. Spoiler alert, the Knicks got blown out ending their run. They gave us a good season however, so I can’t complain. Will admit that it was tough seeing Caitlin Clark rooting against New York.