# 2025 SDMB Celebrity Death Pool **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** death-pool\ **Created:** [December 1, 2024, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010 "2024-12-01T05:01:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 67
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2025, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/1321 "2025-07-13T05:48:11Z")
I think that would be more like 3 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2025, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/1322 "2025-07-13T18:40:11Z")
How would you even score that??? 🤔 ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2025, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/1323 "2025-07-13T18:47:13Z")
Rule 3a clearly states that you cannot chose someone who is already dead. It would have to be applied to the player(s) in the '22 DP that chose him. A quick search of that thread suggests that no one chose anyone named Cortez, hence, it was 17 wasted points. If he had been a choice in this thread, the player(s) who chose him would get an alternate-promotion (which could result in getting points that they did not think they would get because their alternate died and now counts). However, again, no one seems to have chosen him in this year’s game. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2025, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/1324 "2025-07-14T03:52:38Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I think that would be more like 3 years ago. Yeah, typo. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2025, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/1325 "2025-07-14T09:24:27Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > It would have to be applied to the player(s) in the '22 DP that chose him. I’m not Baker, but my recollection is that in the past, the scoreboard has only been held open for a few days after the end of the year, and after that it’s final. Would an exception be made if a death in year N wasn’t made public until mid-January of year N+1? I don’t know. But my personal, uncanonical thought about reopening the scoreboard from a previous year when a death comes to light years later is: if the person’s absence from this life went unnoticed for all that time, then the deceased wasn’t really that much of a celebrity anyway. Let it be. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2025, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/1326 "2025-07-14T10:53:10Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > if the person’s absence from this life went unnoticed for all that time, then the deceased wasn’t really that much of a celebrity anyway. Let it be. You are speaking words of wisdom. mmm ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2025, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/1327 "2025-07-14T11:01:42Z")
I heard “The Happy Organ” for the first time in decades just the other day on Sirius XM’s '60s Hits channel – they’re not fussy about the decade’s borders Looking at his entry on Wiki, it’s kind of sad. > Cortez subsequently left the music industry, which he did not feel respected within.[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_%22Baby%22_Cortez#cite_note-Williams-2) He led an extremely private life over the following decades, variously in New York City and [Cincinnati](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati).[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_%22Baby%22_Cortez#cite_note-Williams-2) His complete living and employment history is unknown, but at one point, he was the organist for a Cincinnati church.[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_%22Baby%22_Cortez#cite_note-Williams-2) In 2009, [Norton Records](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norton_Records) co-founder Miriam Linna tracked him down and asked him to return to recording.[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_%22Baby%22_Cortez#cite_note-Williams-2) In 2011, after a 38-year hiatus, Cortez returned with a new album on Norton Records backed by [Lonnie Youngblood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonnie_Youngblood) and His Bloodhounds, including underground luminary [Mick Collins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Collins) of [the Dirtbombs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dirtbombs) and [the Gories](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gories).[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_%22Baby%22_Cortez#cite_note-Williams-2) > > Cortez lived latterly in [The Bronx](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bronx), New York City. He had a daughter who he was not in regular contact with, though this was not due to estrangement, but because he was highly reclusive.[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_%22Baby%22_Cortez#cite_note-Williams-2) Thus, when he died at his home on May 31, 2022, at the age of 83, she only later learned of his death through [Broadcast Music, Inc.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_Music,_Inc.), which handled his songwriting royalties.[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_%22Baby%22_Cortez#cite_note-Williams-2) As no surviving family were available to claim the body at the time, he was interred in the [potter’s field](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potter%27s_field) at [Hart Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hart_Island).[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_%22Baby%22_Cortez#cite_note-Williams-2) Cortez’s death was not publicly reported until July 2025.[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_%22Baby%22_Cortez#cite_note-Williams-2) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2025, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/1328 "2025-07-14T16:33:21Z")
C’mon, Folks! It was just a joke! 😆 ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2025, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/1329 "2025-07-14T20:05:11Z")
> **[Martin Cruz Smith, acclaimed author of 'Gorky Park,' dies at 82](https://apnews.com/article/martin-cruz-smith-dead-obituary-gorky-park-ab7591618c49766b363aeb9c6de9f5a1)** > > Mystery novelist Martin Cruz Smith, known for such Arkady Renko thrillers as “Gorky Park,” has died at age 82. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2025, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/1330 "2025-07-14T20:25:24Z")
> **[Former Nigerian President Buhari to be buried in hometown on Tuesday](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/14/former-nigerian-president-buhari-to-be-buried-in-hometown-on-tuesday)** > > Muhammadu Buhari, who was the country’s democratic leader between 2015 and 2023, died aged 82 in London on Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2025, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/1331 "2025-07-14T20:28:01Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Scoring alert! > > Pokemon voice actor James Carter Cathcart dead at 71. > > 29 points for moi. Just so this doesn’t get lost in the shuffle of other deaths. @Baker ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/1332 "2025-07-15T00:45:47Z")
Poet [Andrea Gibson](https://apnews.com/article/andrea-gibson-died-49-cancer-documentary-7fd829ad0acee18fe76614f9f1fdeae5) writes about death shortly before throwing 51 points away. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/1333 "2025-07-15T03:36:23Z")
They always say to “Write what you know…” ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/1334 "2025-07-15T10:11:51Z")
Well played, sir! I admit I LOL’d. You are indeed a frood who knows where his towel is. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/1335 "2025-07-15T16:10:04Z")
> **[Fauja Singh, ‘world’s oldest marathon runner’, dies in road accident aged 114](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/15/fauja-singh-worlds-oldest-marathon-runner-dies-road-accident-aged-114)** > > Singh’s east London running club confirms death in India of athlete thought to be first centenarian to run a marathon ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/1336 "2025-07-15T18:08:30Z")
David Kaff died. No confirmation that he died choking on vomit. Not his vomit. They don’t know who’s vomit it was. You can’t dust for vomit. > **[David Kaff, Who Played Spinal Tap Keyboardist Viv Savage, Dead at 79](https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/david-kaff-viv-savage-spinal-tap-dead-obituary-1235385413/)** > > David Kaff, the musician and actor who played keyboardist Viv Savage in 'This Is Spinal Tap,' has died at the age of 79. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/1337 "2025-07-15T19:03:11Z")
[being serious for a bit]Seems to me vomit would have significant DNA[/bsfab] Brian ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/1338 "2025-07-15T19:24:14Z")
**What?** [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/41Q1MOCpjvE/hqdefault.jpg "Viv Savage of Spinal Tap on hearing loss (H.E.A.R. PSA)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41Q1MOCpjvE) ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/1339 "2025-07-15T19:43:59Z")
LOL, my wife and I were watching some detective show recently (Vera?) where they were trying to get DNA from vomit at a murder scene. I couldn’t help but blurt out “You can’t really dust for vomit…” ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/1340 "2025-07-15T20:34:18Z")
Until his death, Singh (born April 1, 1911 per the Guardian link) was the ninth oldest living person, and the oldest living man. According to Wikipedia, there is currently just one man among [the 50 oldest living persons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_living_people). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010.md?page=66) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010.md?page=68)