Thanks, Sternvogel, for posting about Mike Mailway. I was thinking about doing it when I came in here. I saw a piece about him and his wife on Evening Magazine about him about 5 or 6 years ago. They seemed like genuinely nice people.
A couple of decades ago I found his original book, published in the mid-60’s, at a thrift store. I bought it but it later got lost during a move. I still wish I had it or that I could find another.
Rest in peace, Mr. Boyd.
(Slightly) interesting story as to how I learned of his death. I used to read several comics on the King Features site, which stopped posting daily updates a while back. When Googling one of the strips (forget which one), I was directed to the Post-Intelligencer’s Comics & Games page, and subsequently bookmarked it. I’d thus often seen the Mike Mailway link, but since I was unaware that it led to Boyd’s creation, I never clicked it. However, I did notice the headline when I visited the P-I site yesterday.
Another death to report: Eleanor McGovern, who gained fame while campaigning for husband George during his unsuccessful 1972 run as the Democratic Party’s nominee for President of the United States, has passed away at the age of 85.
Marcheline Bertrand, actress and mother of Angelina Jolie, has died of cancer.
Barbaro the Kentucky Derby winner who broke his leg during the Preakness has been euthanized
Sorry he was under 18 years old. Doesn’t count.
Emma Faust Tillman has died at 114, four days after becoming the world’s oldest living person.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/29/oldest.person.ap/index.html
As cazzle stated, Emma Tillman was the world’s oldest living person for four days.
As has been discussed previously on the SDMB, there seems to be a curse when that title is achieved.
Is Yone Minagawa next?
She had also become the oldest living woman when Julie Bertrand, 115, died in Montreal on January 18.
Here’s an obituary for Emiliano Mercado del Toro, who was the current champion supercentenarian when he passed away last week in Puerto Rico. Yone Minagawa’s countryman, Tomoji Tanabe (born 1895), succeeded Mercado del Toro as most elderly living male.
Or not; recent Cuban releases suggest an upswing. That’s a bad sign for a whole bunch of people here with Castro.
Author Sidney Sheldon has died at age 89.
Sidney was still alive? I thought he died years ago.
Thanks, Sidney, for introducing me to sex and convoluted plot lines. Mostly, thanks for Armand Assante in Rage of Angels.
I swear, Shirley Ujest and I have the same “I thought he/she died years ago!” way of thinking.
I thought Sidney Sheldon was dead, too.
I always confused him with Sheldon Leonard – and now that they’re both dead, I probably always will.
Stu Inman, who joined the National Basketball Association’s Portland Trail Blazers organization as a scout in the team’s first year (1970) and helped build the club into the league’s 1976-77 champion, has died at the age of 89. As vice president of player personnel, he was responsible for selecting such stars as Bill Walton, Geoff Petrie, and Maurice Lucas in various drafts.
Molly Ivins, dead at 62: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Obit-Ivins.html
Damn. I went with an all-female cast, but didn’t include Ivins because we needed her. Still do.
Italian opera composer, probably best known for “Amahl & The Night Visitors”, dead at age 95: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070201/ap_en_mu/obit_menotti_3
Oh look, my first points ever. Can’t say I’m too happy about it, though. 
I just horrified my roommate by saying, “Oh no, Menotti died! …but oo, I get five points in the SDMB Death Pool!”
Wait a second, shit. I could have sworn Menotti was on my list. Never mind, no points for me. sigh
Tige Andrews, the veteran character actor best known for his role as Captain Adam Greer on The Mod Squad, has died at the age of 86.