Dead Celebrity Alert

Jim Jontz, whose environmental activism sparked a political career that led him to three terms in Congress, has died, his stepfather said.

Jontz died Saturday afternoon at his home in Portland, Ore., said his stepfather, Paul A. Lennon of Indianapolis. He was 55. … Read full obituary

Barry Nelson, an MGM contract player during the 1940s who later had a prolific theater career and was the first actor to play James Bond onscreen, has died. He was 89. … Read full obituary

Aviation historians have paid tribute to one of Britain’s most decorated World War II fighter pilots who died shortly after his last flight. Sqn Ldr Neville Duke, 85, flew 485 sorties achieving 28 air combat victories, including seven aircraft shot down in seven days. … Read full obituary

French free-diving champion Loic Leferme has died in a training accident off the south of France. The 36-year-old former free-diving world record holder died when his rapid ascent system snagged, according to latest reports. … Read full obituary

After his son was killed by a mobster in 1975, Charles F. Marsland Jr. turned the murder into inspiration to fight organized crime.

As Honolulu’s first elected prosecuting attorney, he relentlessly battled mobsters and killers, significantly reducing the island’s crime rates, his friends and fellow prosecutors said. … Read full obituary

Services are set for April 20 in West Palm Beach for Vernie A. Boots, whose ordeal as a 14-year-old in the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane was one of the most compelling stories of America’s second-deadliest natural disaster. … Read full obituary

About the Okeechobee Hurricane

Kurt Vonnegut, whose dark comic talent and urgent moral vision in novels like “Slaughterhouse-Five,” “Cat’s Cradle” and “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater” caught the temper of his times and the imagination of a generation, died Wednesday night in Manhattan. He was 84 and had homes in Manhattan and in Sagaponack on Long Island. … Read full obituary

Hollywood writer A.J. Carothers, best-known for the 1987 Michael J. Fox movie “The Secret of My Success” and Fred MacMurray’s 1968 film “The Happiest Millionaire,” has died. He was 75. … Read full obituary

Actor Roscoe Lee Browne, whose rich voice and dignified bearing brought him an Emmy Award and a Tony nomination, has died. He was 81. … Read full obituary

Stan Daniels, an Emmy-winning TV writer and producer who worked on two of the most acclaimed comedies of the 1970s, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” and “Taxi,” has died. He was 72. … Read full obituary

Port Jervis — A small city mayor who pulled off one of the biggest political upsets of the 1980s is dead. E. Arthur Gray died last night at age 82. … Read full obituary

Celebrated character actor, George Sewell, has died aged 83.

Famous for roles in 1970s cop show Special Branch as Detective Chief Inspector Alan Craven, and as Colonel Alec Freeman in cult sci-fi series UFO, he also appeared in many films including Mike Hodge’s Get Carter starring Michael Caine. … Read full obituary

Terry Hall, who was one of the earliest children’s television entertainers, along with his sidekick Lenny the Lion, has died after a long illness, aged 80. Hall, of Earlsdon, in Coventry, first appeared on the BBC with Lenny in 1956 and they had their own show from 1957.

The Beatles made one of their early TV appearances in a 1963 episode of Pops and Lenny, singing Please, Please Me. … Read full obituary

PHILADELPHIA — U.S. Senior District Judge Herbert J. Hutton, who spent nearly 20 years on the federal bench and presided over a 2001 mob racketeering trial, died Sunday. He was 69. … Read full obituary

Kevin Crease, the first face on South Australian TV and a viewers’ favourite for almost half a century, has died of cancer. … Read full obituary

Colin Graham, longtime artistic director of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and a celebrated opera director, whose productions found acclaim in North American and European opera houses, has died at the age of seventy-five. A spokeswoman for the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis reported that Graham died on Friday of respiratory and cardiac arrest at St. John’s Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur, Missouri. … Read full obituary

HARTFORD, Conn. — Sol LeWitt, an artist known for his dynamic wall paintings and as a founder of minimal and conceptual art styles, died Sunday in New York, according to published reports. … Read full obituary

Friends and family are remembering a state senator who died early Sunday morning. Friends say 79 year old Senator William Mescher died from a stroke. He represented District 44 — that’s the Berkeley County area. He was originally elected in 1992 and was currently serving his third term in office. … Read full obituary

Cartoonist Johnny Hart, whose award-winning “B.C.” comic strip appeared in more than 1,300 newspapers worldwide, died at his home on Saturday. He was 76. … Read full obituary

Berres, a talented defensive catcher, struggled to get a chance in the Major Leagues and in 1933, after boosting his average to .294 with Birmingham in the Southern Association, he got the call from Brooklyn. … Read full obituary

NASSUA, Bahamas: Calvin Lockhart, a Bahamian-born actor who won acclaim for his captivating roles as underworld figures in the 1970s “blaxploitation” film genre, has died, his wife Jennifer Miles-Lockhart said. He was 72. … Read full obituary

Cumberland native Edward Mallory starred in the hit NBC daytime drama “Days Of Our Lives” for 14 years. He played the part of Dr. Bill Horton until 1980. … Read full obituary

Former Kiss guitarist Mark St. John died Thursday morning from an apparent brain hemorrhage. He was 51. … Read full obituary

Rice sophomore guard Jonathan Bailey was stabbed to death early Thursday outside a bar in College Station, Texas, police and schools officials said.

Bailey and his twin brother, Janson, were involved in a fight inside the bar, about 100 miles northwest of Houston. … Read full obituary