How Does Who Died in 2016 Compare to 2015? Was 2016 Notably Bad? (movie, actor)

[echo7tango]

People say, Wow, we lost a lot of people in 2016! But did we really, or was it only a perception? As a quick check, to generate a very limited data set, I browsed Wikipedia's list of deaths in 2015 to extract the entries I readily recognize and compared them with 2016 (my 2016 list is here, Who Died in 2016?). Of course, this is strictly IMHO and my lists are admittedly biased. My wife says I have a lot of sports personalities she doesn't recognize - yes I am a sports fan.

2015: 86 are in the list below.
2016: 87 are in that list. So, about the same as 2015. Pretty close, in fact.

But the notable deaths (IMHO) of 2015 are less than half those from 2016.

2015 (3): Omar Sharif, Maureen O'Hara, Helmut Schmidt.
2016 (7): David Bowie, Antonin Scalia, Nancy Reagan, Prince, Muhammad Ali, Arnold Palmer, Debbie Reynolds.

2016 seems at least doubly worse.


2015 Deaths, an excerpt from Wikipedia's list

January 2015
1: Mario Cuomo, 82, American politician, Governor of New York (1983–1994), heart failure
1: Donna Douglas, 82, American actress (The Beverly Hillbillies, Frankie and Johnny, The Twilight Zone), pancreatic cancer.
3: Allie Sherman, 91, American football player (Philadelphia Eagles) and coach (New York Giants)
4: Stu Miller, 87, American baseball player (San Francisco Giants, Baltimore Orioles)
4: Stuart Scott, 49, American sports journalist (SportsCenter), appendix cancer.
6: Buffalo Tiger, 94, American politician, Chairman of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida (1962–1985)
7: Jethro Pugh, 70, American football player (Dallas Cowboys)
7: Rod Taylor, 84, Australian actor (The Time Machine, The Birds, 101 Dalmatians, Inglorious Basterds), heart attack
8: William E. Boeing Jr., 92, American businessman, son of the founder of Boeing airplanes
9: Samuel Goldwyn Jr., 88, American film producer (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World), heart failure
9: Roy Tarpley, 50, American basketball player (Dallas Mavericks).
11: Anita Ekberg, 83, Swedish-Italian actress (La Dolce Vita, Paris Holiday, Back from Eternity)
12: Darrell Winfield, 85, American rancher and model, Marlboro Man (1968–1989)
19: Peter Wallenberg, Sr., 88, Swedish financier and industrialist, patriarch of the Wallenberg family.
23: Ernie Banks, 83, American Hall of Fame baseball player (Chicago Cubs), heart attack
31: Vic Howe, 85, Canadian ice hockey player (New York Rangers)

February 2015
1: Ann Mara, 85, American football team owner (New York Giants), complications from fall.
2: Dave Bergman, 61, American baseball player (San Francisco Giants, Detroit Tigers), bile duct cancer
7: Billy Casper, 83, American Hall of Fame golfer, 51 career PGA Tour wins, complications from pneumonia
9: Ed Sabol, 98, American filmmaker, founder of NFL Films
11: Jerry Tarkanian, 84, American Hall of Fame basketball coach (Long Beach State, UNLV, San Antonio Spurs, Fresno State)
12: Gary Owens, 80, American television announcer (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In) and voice actor (Space Ghost, Garfield and Friends), diabetes
14: Louis Jourdan, 93, French actor (Letter from an Unknown Woman, Gigi, Octopussy)
15: Wendell Kim, 64, American baseball player and coach (San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox).
15: Lesley Gore, 68, American singer ("It's My Party", "Judy's Turn to Cry", "You Don't Own Me"), lung cancer.
27: Leonard Nimoy, 83, American actor and director (Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, Fringe), COPD

March 2015
9: Gene Gene the Dancing Machine, 82, American stagehand and performer (The Gong Show), diabetes
13: Al Rosen, 91, American baseball player (Cleveland Indians)
21: Chuck Bednarik, 89, American NFL Hall of Fame football player (Philadelphia Eagles)
23: Nick Peters, 75, American journalist (Sacramento Bee) and baseball beat writer (San Francisco Giants), recipient of the J. G. Taylor Spink Award (2009)
27: Hot Rod Hundley, 80, American basketball player (Los Angeles Lakers) and television broadcaster (Utah Jazz), Alzheimer's disease

April 2015
1: Eddie LeBaron, 85, American football player (Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys)
2: Robert H. Schuller, 88, American televangelist (Hour of Power)
3: Sarah Brady, 73, American gun control campaigner, pneumonia
5: Richard Dysart, 86, American character actor (L.A. Law, Wall Street, The Thing)
5: Lon Simmons, 91, American sports broadcaster
20: Doug Buffone, 70, American football player (Chicago Bears) and radio host
20: Bob St. Clair, 84, American Hall of Fame football player (San Francisco 49ers)
29: Calvin Peete, 71, American golfer, Tournament Players champion (1985).
30: Nigel Terry, 69, British actor (The Lion in Winter, Excalibur, Troy), emphysema.

May 2015
1: Grace Lee Whitney, 85, American actress (Star Trek, Irma la Douce, Some Like It Hot)
4: Marv Hubbard, 68, American football player (Oakland Raiders, Detroit Lions), prostate cancer.
14: B.B. King, 89, American Hall of Fame blues guitarist, singer and songwriter ("The Thrill Is Gone"), complications from Alzheimer's disease.
15: Garo Yepremian, 70, Cypriot-born American football player (Miami Dolphins), brain cancer
19: Happy Rockefeller, 88, American socialite and philanthropist, Second Lady of the United States (1974–1977), First Lady of New York (1963–1973)
22: Marques Haynes, 89, American Hall of Fame basketball player (Harlem Globetrotters)
23: Anne Meara, 85, American comedian (Stiller and Meara) and actress (Archie Bunker's Place, The King of Queens, Like Mike)
23: John Forbes Nash, Jr., 86, American mathematician, laureate of the Nobel Prize in Economics (1994), subject of A Beautiful Mind, traffic collision.
27: William Newman, 80, American actor (Mrs. Doubtfire, The Tick), vascular dementia.
30: Beau Biden, 46, American politician, Attorney General of Delaware (2007–2015), son of US VP Joe Biden, brain cancer.

June 2015
5: Tariq Aziz, 79, Iraqi politician, Foreign Minister (1983–1991), heart attack
7: Sir Christopher Lee, 93, British actor, voice artist, and singer (Dracula, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars), heart failure
17: Nelson Doubleday, Jr., 81, American publisher (Doubleday) and Major League Baseball team owner (New York Mets), pneumonia
21: Darryl Hamilton, 50, American baseball player (Milwaukee Brewers, San Francisco Giants, New York Mets), shot
22: James Horner, 61, American composer (Titanic, Field of Dreams, Apollo 13), Oscar winner (1998), plane crash
23: Dick Van Patten, 86, American actor (Eight Is Enough, Spaceballs, Robin Hood: Men in Tights), complications from diabetes

July 2015
6: Jerry Weintraub, 77, American film producer (Ocean's Eleven, Diner, The Karate Kid), chairman and CEO of United Artists, heart attacks
8: Ken Stabler, 69, American football player (Oakland Raiders), colon cancer
10: Omar Sharif, 83, Egyptian actor (Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, Funny Girl), heart attack
17: Bill Arnsparger, 88, American football coach (New York Giants, LSU Tigers) and athletic director (University of Florida), heart attack
26: Richard Bass, 85, American ski executive and mountaineer, co-founder of Snowbird Ski Resort, first person to climb the Seven Summits, pulmonary fibrosis
30: Lynn Anderson, 67, American country singer ("Rose Garden"), heart attack

August 2015
9: Frank Gifford, 84, American Hall of Fame football player (New York Giants) and broadcaster (Monday Night Football)
10: Buddy Baker, 74, American Hall of Fame NASCAR driver and commentator (CBS Sports), lung cancer.
17: Yvonne Craig, 78, American actress (Batman, Star Trek, Olivia), breast cancer
21: Jimmy Evert, 91, American tennis player and coach, Canadian Open champion (1947), pneumonia.
27: Darryl Dawkins, 58, American basketball player (Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets), heart attack

September 2015
1: Dean Jones, 84, American actor (The Love Bug, Company, Beethoven), Parkinson's disease
6: Martin Milner, 83, American actor (Adam-12, Route 66, Sweet Smell of Success), heart failure
8: Joaquín Andújar, 62, Dominican baseball player (Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals), complications from diabetes.
13: Moses Malone, 60, American Hall of Fame basketball player (Philadelphia 76ers, Houston Rockets), atherosclerosis.
22: Yogi Berra, 90, American Hall of Fame baseball player and manager (New York Yankees, New York Mets), member of 13 World Series championship teams

October 2015
8: Lindy Infante, 75, American football coach (Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts), pneumonia
24: Maureen O'Hara, 95, Irish-American actress (How Green Was My Valley, Miracle on 34th Street, The Quiet Man)
30: Al Molinaro, 96, American actor (The Odd Couple, Happy Days, Joanie Loves Chachi), complications from infected gall bladder.

November 2015
1: Houston McTear, 58, American sprinter, lung cancer
1: Fred Thompson, 73, American politician and actor (Law & Order, Sinister, Cape Fear), U.S. Senator from Tennessee (1994–2003), minority counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee, lymphoma
9: Carol Doda, 78, American topless dancer, kidney failure
10: Helmut Schmidt, 96, German politician, Chancellor of West Germany (1974–1982), complications from surgery

December 2015
4: Robert Loggia, 85, American actor (Jagged Edge, Scarface, Big), Alzheimer's disease
10: Dolph Schayes, 87, American Hall of Fame basketball player and coach (Philadelphia 76ers), NBA champion (1955), cancer
11: John "Hot Rod" Williams, 53, American basketball player (Cleveland Cavaliers, Phoenix Suns), prostate cancer.
27: Dave Henderson, 57, American baseball player (Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, Oakland Athletics), World Series champion (1989), heart attack
27: Meadowlark Lemon, 83, American Hall of Fame basketball player (Harlem Globetrotters)
31: Natalie Cole, 65, American Grammy-winning singer ("This Will Be", "Sophisticated Lady", Unforgettable... with Love) and actress, heart failure
31: Wayne Rogers, 82, American actor (M*A*S*H, Cool Hand Luke, House Calls), complications from pneumonia

[hertfordshire]

Personally, there are very few losses in 2015 of people whose contributions I will truly miss. Leonard Nimoy, BB King, Maureen O'Hara, and Natalie Cole. Quite honestly, most of the names are people that I don't recognize.

2016, on the other hand, featured a lot of losses that are harder to accept. David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Glenn Frye, Patty Duke, Merle Haggard, Prince, Morley Safer, Muhammed Ali, Garry Marshall, Gene Wilder, Alan Thicke, George Michael, Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds ... the losses seem much more notable, and it's many more of the artists who have affected me at one time or another.

[Labonte18]

Notable to you and to me or someone else can differ.

Stuart Scott was pretty notable for anyone who logged time with ESPN. Fred Thompson was a decent star and politician.

Yogi Berra was a superstar.

BB King was an absolute legend.

Those are just three people that you don't consider 'notable'. (I'm leaving Fred Thompson out, while he's notable, certainly not on the level of others)


There were more people from music that died in 2016, but.. Compare it back to 2009 as well.. That was another year that had alot of highly famous people who passed away.. Michael Jackson, Walter Cronkite, Farrah Fawcett and many others.

[echo7tango]

Originally Posted by echo7tango

<snip> Of course, this is strictly IMHO and my lists are admittedly biased.
<snip> But the notable deaths (IMHO) of 2015 are ...

A death is notable if it is notable to you. That's what this is, really, it's all about you. If a Nelson Mandela dies, and you think he is world renowned (and, of course, he is), then he is notable to you. And you put him on your list. If you were a Houston McTear fan, followed his career closely, and anguished when he died too young at 58, then you put him on your list. Someone may never have been a Star Wars fan and couldn't care less that Carrie Fisher died, so she wouldn't be on that list.

[notnamed]

Big difference is the 2015 likes of BB King and Yogi Berra, while legendary, were not really active/holding current interest in the year of their death. Many folks likely thought they were already dead. No idea who Stuart Scott is, don't watch ESPN.

My wife remembers Carrie more from When Harry Met Sally(fav movie) and The Burbs than Star Wars.

But overall I don't really think it was an exceptional amount. Sad truth is we're just getting older and the stars of our generation are starting to do what older people do. Millenials and younger likely don't see 2016 as a big deal at all.

[PegE]

Maybe not more in number, but more of the really well known.

[echo7tango]

That's exactly what it is.

[CSD610]

Any day that someone dies no matter who it is, is a *notably bad* day/week/month/year to someone.