Obituary Stories

Janet Naughton had the spirit of a Broadway hoofer and the calling to share her talent with generations of younger aspiring dancers. Naughton, who died Thursday at 88, wasn’t tall enough to realize her dream of becoming a Radio City Rockette. But she was overjoyed when students at her Irwin...

WASHINGTON — Retired Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter, the ascetic bachelor and New Hampshire Republican who became a darling of liberals during his nearly 20 years on the bench, has died. He was 85. Souter died Thursday at his home in New Hampshire, the court said in a statement...

Julia Parsons, a U.S. Navy code-breaker during World War II who kept a military secret about her assignment for decades, including from her Army husband, Don, died April 18 A longtime resident of Forest Hills, she was 104. “Julia was a pioneer for women’s roles in American Society,” said Todd...

The Ligonier Valley School District community was shocked this week by the unexpected death of school board member Joseph Vella. Vella, 54, who was midway through his first term on the board, died Tuesday at his Ligonier Township home. The cause of death has yet to be determined, according to...

LOS ANGELES — Wink Martindale, the genial host of such hit game shows as “Gambit” and “Tic-Tac-Dough” who also did one of the first recorded television interviews with a young Elvis Presley, has died. He was 91. Martindale died Tuesday at Eisenhower Health in Rancho Mirage, California, according to his...

NEW YORK — Denis Arndt, a character actor and favorite of TV writer and producer David E. Kelley, getting cast in “L.A. Law,” “Picket Fences” and “Chicago Hope,” and later earning a Tony nomination for his Broadway debut at age 77 in a play about mismatched lovers, has died. He...

Were it not for a summer vacation, the fortunes of Greg Millen and the Penguins could have been very different. After the Penguins nearly upset the St. Louis Blues in a preliminary round series during the 1981 playoffs, Millen was a restricted free agent in the ensuing offseason. He and...

LAKE BUTLER, Fla. — Jay North, who starred as the towheaded mischief maker on TV’s “Dennis the Menace” for four seasons starting in 1959, has died. He was 73. North died Sunday at his home in Lake Butler, Florida, after battling colon cancer, said Laurie Jacobson, a longtime friend, and...

LOS ANGELES — Val Kilmer, the brooding, versatile actor who played fan favorite Iceman in “Top Gun,” donned a voluminous cape as Batman in “Batman Forever” and portrayed Jim Morrison in “The Doors,” has died. He was 65. Kilmer died Tuesday night in Los Angeles, surrounded by family and friends,...

Friends are recalling longtime radio host Jim Quinn as a force in Pittsburgh media. Quinn died Sunday at 82. A cause of death was not immediately released. The New Jersey native spent decades on Steel City stations, from his start at KQV in the 1960s to WTAE in the late...

LOS ANGELES — Richard Chamberlain, the handsome hero of the 1960s television series “Dr. Kildare” who found a second career as an award-winning “king of the miniseries,” has died. He was 90. Chamberlain died Saturday night in Waimanalo, Hawaii of complications following a stroke, according to his publicist, Harlan Boll....

BROOKLINE, Mass. — Kitty Dukakis, the wife of former Massachusetts governor and Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, who spoke openly about her struggles with depression and addiction, has died. She was 88. Dukakis died on Friday night surrounded by her family, her son, John Dukakis, said on Saturday by telephone....

Émilie Dequenne, the Belgian actor who won a top Cannes Film Festival prize for her breakout role in “Rosetta,” has died, a news report says. She was 43. Her family and agent told the news agency Agence France-Presse that Dequenne died Sunday of a rare cancer in a hospital outside...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson, a political legend whose quick wit bridged partisan gaps in the years before today’s political acrimony, has died. He was 93. Simpson died early Friday after struggling to recover from a broken hip in December, according to a statement from his family...

WASHINGTON — John Feinstein, one of the country’s foremost sports writers and the author of numerous bestselling books, including the groundbreaking “A Season on the Brink” about college basketball coach Bob Knight, died unexpectedly Thursday. Feinstein was 69. He died of natural causes at his brother’s home in McLean, Virginia,...

SANTA FE, N.M. — Authorities revealed Friday that actor Gene Hackman died of heart disease and showed severe signs of Alzheimer’s disease a full week after his wife died of hantavirus in their home. Authorities initially ruled out foul play after the bodies were discovered Feb 26. Immediate tests for...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. and former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner has died, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said on Wednesday. He was 70. Turner had been in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday and attended President Donald Trump’s address before Congress. “The House Democratic Caucus family is shocked and saddened by the...

EDINA, Minn. — Joey Molland, a guitarist with the Welsh pop-rock band Badfinger that was known for such 1970s hits as “No Matter What” and “Day After Day,” has died at age 77. Molland was the last to join and had been the last survivor from the most famous lineup...

Carl Dean, Dolly Parton’s devoted husband of nearly 60 years who avoided the spotlight and inspired her timeless hit “Jolene,” died Monday. He was 82. According to a statement provided to The Associated Press by Parton’s publicist, Dean died in Nashville, Tennessee. He will be laid to rest in a...

NEW YORK — Michelle Trachtenberg, a former child star who appeared in the 1996 “Harriet the Spy” hit movie and went on to co-star in two buzzy millennial-era TV shows — “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Gossip Girl” — has died. She was 39. Police responded to a 911 call...

NEW YORK — Roberta Flack, the Grammy-winning singer and pianist whose intimate vocal and musical style on “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and other hits made her one of the top recordings artists of the 1970s and an influential performer long...

ALTUS, Okla. — Eddie Fisher, the right-hander whose 15-year major league career included an All-Star selection for the Chicago White Sox and a World Series title with Baltimore, has died. He was 88. The Lowell-Tims Funeral Home & Crematory in Altus says Fisher died Monday after a brief illness. Born...

When Mario Lemieux joined the Penguins as the franchise’s savior in 1984, there wasn’t an abundance of ways to watch the team’s games outside of the Pittsburgh area. After all, this was decades before the Internet made virtually every sporting contest on Earth viewable through streaming services. But you could...

Mike Lange didn’t think he would make it in Pittsburgh. Beyond the first week. After arriving in Western Pennsylvania to begin his new job as the play-by-play voice of the Penguins, Lange took up temporary residence with a co-worker and the two went out to a local establishment on his...

DENVER — Anne Marie Hochhalter, who was partially paralyzed in the Columbine High School shooting but found strength to forgive and to heal her soul after bonding with another family devastated by the tragedy, has died. She was 43. Hochhalter was found in her home in suburban Denver on Sunday....