Those Who Passed, That You Might Have Missed

As the year winds down, one is wont to think back to those we have lost during the year. We hear of quite a few, some with more accompanying news stories than others. Let’s glance back at some you might have forgotten, or never even knew.

As a science fiction kinda guy, I was saddened and surprised by Mira Furlan passing away on January 20th. While I remember her as the great Delenn in the series Babylon 5, others might know her from Lost, or even heard her album Songs from Movies That Never Been Made. She’s also in the cast of the audio production of Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre, available on Playaway at the library.

Melvin Van Peebles (September 23) wasn’t just the “godfather of black cinema,” but also an actor, playwright, and more. After shooting some short films in the late 1950s, a move to France led him to the theater and writing. He returned to movies in 1968 and became a pioneer in independent cinema, as well as a musician, novelist, and even an options trader. The breadth of his work can be summed up by what he said in a 2010 interview: “I do what I want to do.” Excellent advice.

Anne Saxelby, cheesemonger extraordinaire (October 9) would show you that “American cheese” is not necessarily what comes wrapped in individual slices. She opened her small cheese shop in Manhattan in 2006 to highlight the variety of small-scale domestic cheese producers. It quickly took off, resulting in another location opening to help with the demand from both chefs and general cheese-lovers alike. The pandemic couldn’t slow her down, either – folks could take part in a virtual tasting, now that’s a package for which you’d wait by the door!

Growing up in the 1970s and 80s, home video games were part of my childhood. Then the Great Crash of 1983 (a recession amongst said industry) put the kibosh on them and drove us kids outside. But for only a couple of years, thanks to Masayuki Uemura (December 9) of Nintendo. His work on the original Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES, helped re-launch home video games in 1985. He also worked on its successor, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, or SNES, which battled for market share with Sega in the late 80s and early 90s, and here we are today *wink*.

The metal world today would be a different place if it wasn’t for Marsha Zazula (January 10). Her and her husband Jon “Jonny Z” started Megaforce Records in 1982, launching the careers of Metallica, Anthrax, and many other bands. Even after those bands grew under their label, then left for a major, she had no hard feelings about it. She said that success, “. . . which then puts them in a moneymaking position and puts you back on your feet to stand and do it again for some other band. That’s the cool part.”

Dr. Sherif Zaki (November 21) was a legendary disease expert at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A team player who loved to share his knowledge with others, he had a drive to solve the mysteries of diseases in the medical world. He worked on the post-9/11 anthrax discovery, studied the nature of Ebola and SARS, and worked on understanding how the coronavirus affects us all.

Lastly I’d like to recall “The quiet Monkee,” Michael Nesmith (December 10) had passed a few weeks before finishing a small “farewell tour” with the other remaining Monkee, Mickey Dolenz. Nesmith was not only a musician (yes, the show wasn’t completely manufactured) but also worked with early music video, and movie productions like the classic Repo Man.

- Dennis B., West Windsor Branch