# The news of whose death shocked you most? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 17, 2007, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359 "2007-03-17T19:21:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359/41 "2007-03-18T01:06:51Z")
John Lennon for me. I was in my first year of college, picked up the paper outside my dorm door, and my world changed forever. You have to understand, that, thanks to the next-door neighbor kids (Me: precocious preschooler. Them: Hip Teens whom I worshipped) the Beatles are buried _very_ deep in my subconscious. Before he died there way always hope that they would get back together. ---
**Author:** ![Stainz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Stainz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stainz)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359/42 "2007-03-18T01:36:04Z")
Princess Di JFK Junior ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359/43 "2007-03-18T01:37:23Z")
The only one that ever really shocked me was Jeff Buckley. I was a huge fan at the time he went missing and it just seemed like he was going to be found alive. What probably made it such a shock was that it’s the first and only time a famous person ever died where I felt like I was personally going to lose out on something. To me it was such a tragedy that there wouldn’t be more CDs. Plus it was just one of those things where his body didn’t turn up for days and days so you kept thinking it would turn out to be a joke. Felt really bad for his mother. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359/44 "2007-03-18T01:51:51Z")
Dimebag Darrell River Phoenix Layne Staley Phil Hartman Cozy Powell ---
**Author:** ![Alistair\_McCello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@Alistair\_McCello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alistair_McCello)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359/45 "2007-03-18T01:54:07Z")
> [@](#): > > Most certainly Jim Henson. I just jumped back in to add that one. I was only six at the time, but I still remember seeing the memorial service on TV. While I am not sure that I completely understood what was going on I did get the idea that the guy who made the muppets (and especially Sesame Street) was gone. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359/46 "2007-03-18T01:58:27Z")
Dick Scobee Greg Jarvis Crista McAuliffe Judy Resnik Ellison Onizuka Michael Smith Ron McNair None have ever hit me so hard. Probably because I watched it happen. Part of the Dream died that day. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359/47 "2007-03-18T02:00:27Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] For me, it would be a tie between JFK and Asimov. Kennedy’s death was, of course, an immense shock to everyone, and the group reaction in my dorm was like a disturbance in The Force. Isaac Asimov was someone with whom I enjoyed several years of playful correspondence, and I lost a friend when he died. I have since lost other friends to AIDS, but Isaac was the first. God, I miss that man. [/QUOTE] Everytime you post you just get cooler and cooler to me. Although you just shocked me since I had never heard he died of AIDS. His death saddened me because I thought he seemed a very interesting intelligent person and I always hoped to meet him one day. For me the most shocking death was Douglas Adams. He was just several years older than me and he was the author I’d wanted to meet most. I’d always hoped to see more books from him. I did buy The Salmon of Doubt which was published after his death, but I admit to not being able to finish it because I know that once I’m done that’s the last new thing of his I’ll ever read. John Ritter’s death touched me more than I ever expected. I wasn’t really a fan but he’s someone I grew up watching. I had been going through some other things at the time that probably made me more emotional about it. I think the thing that bothered me the most is when I heard that his little daughter was born on September 11 1998, then had both the 9/11 attacks and her father’s death occur on that same date. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359/48 "2007-03-18T02:03:11Z")
John Lennon. I still get a little twinge when I think of it. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359/49 "2007-03-18T02:12:22Z")
Jim Henson–that someone that age could die from pneumonia disturbed me. (still does). John Lennon–more the way he died–that and the dream of a reunion died with him. Bing Crosby–I was young, but I loved the old movies with him in them. I loved his voice (never was a Frankie fan–keep in mind that my mother was barely old enough to be a Frankie bobby-soxer, so I was some kind of throwback). Bob Hope cancelled his act the night Crosby died-the first and only time he did so in all his career. Princess Diana–she may have been a bit odd, but who among us wouldn’t be, living in the fishbowl that became her life? I felt so badly for her sons–still do. Peter Jennings–because I liked and respected him as a journalist/anchor. Network news was already in a downward slide, but his passing accelerated it. ---
**Author:** ![Caterpillar22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5a626/32.png) [@Caterpillar22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caterpillar22)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359/50 "2007-03-18T02:16:45Z")
Chris Farley Phil Hartman John Ritter You know - I have to admit the death of Steve Irwin did shock me a bit. I mean, I _know_ what he did for a living was dangerous (and to many, stupid)…but I honestly thought he was going to give everyone the finger by living to a ripe old age. If not, I figured if he were to have a tragic death, it would be a car accident or something completely unrelated to his career. ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359/51 "2007-03-18T02:21:23Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] Dick Scobee Greg Jarvis Crista McAuliffe Judy Resnik Ellison Onizuka Michael Smith Ron McNair None have ever hit me so hard. Probably because I watched it happen. Part of the Dream died that day. [/QUOTE] I second this one. I committed the names to memory that day and got into a bit of a physical altercation with one guy for a rude and insensitive joke a couple of days later. I couldn’t bear to watch the re-runs of the parents standing in the grandstands without understanding what they were seeing. **John Lennon**. Even to this day hearing him sing _And so this is Christmas and what have we done…_ still chokes me up. Someone on a radio news program said “They have shot Santa Claus” because of the nature of this man. As a kid in Elementry School I remember the mass shock and loss felt by the adults and the disbelief in myself when **JFK** was killed. I remember thinking “Nobody can kill the President. He’s The President!” For those here too young to have experianced this, the closest thing I can come up with to compair is 9/11. The mass grief, shock, anger and confussion lay like a blanket over the entire country. **silenus** -Did you experiance the Apollo 1 disaster with Grissome, White and Chaffee? That one rocked me to my core. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359/52 "2007-03-18T02:36:53Z")
**John Lennon** : My favorite musician by far, assassinated in his prime. I mourned for days. I was still in Middle School so I could not make the trip to Strawberry Fields with my brother. I spend 2-3 days listening to the non-stop tribute marathon to John Lennon on WCBS-FM and WNEW-FM in NYC. I heard the announcement by Howard Cosell during Monday Night Football. I was watching with my Dad and my Brother. Only 9/11 affected me worse for a non-relative. **Thurman Munson** : The first Yankee Captain since the Iron Horse and my Sports hero as a kid. He died tragically in a plane crash while piloting. I was devastated and last fall when Yankee Pitcher Cory Lidle died in another airplane crash it brought it all back home again. **John Belushi** : He was the man, the heart of the original cast of SNL. He was so great in Animal House and Blues Brothers. He made 1941 viewable. Damn what a waste. Why him? **Jim Henson** : He died too young and too quickly. He was a genius that I grew up with, from the first episode of Sesame Street through the last Episode of the Muppet show; I grew up with this amazing genius. He was my generations Walt Disney. **Robert Heinlein** : The Grand Master of Science Fiction. I was in the Navy at the time and I got permission to were a black armband for the week following his death. It helped that he was a Navy officer and associated with the space program. It was his juveniles along with the Hobbit that jumped my reading level from two grades behind to 5 grades ahead in less than two years. In all honesty he influenced me more than any other person outside my family. A lot of my core beliefs are tied to his writings. **Stevie Ray Vaughan** : I remember the day he died. WNEW-FM broke into a song to announce they just received word the Eric Clapton’s Helicopter went down. They were not positive he was aboard. A few minutes later they got word that Clapton was not aboard. Then they broke in with the stunning news Stevie Ray was on board and was being reported as dead. The put on the Sky is Crying if I remember correctly and I cried and I wept. I was planning to see him in a few months. He had so much more to contribute to Blues Rock. So sad, so tragic. Damn **Silenus** , yes the Crew of the Challenger, especially local hero Crista McAuliffe. **Jimmy Doohan** : one of my favorite actors. I still miss you Scotty. This one is weird, my entire life I have always gotten choked up by **Lou Gehrig** and his famous speech. The tragedy of his life cut short while still in his prime is so very sad. I cannot hear his speech or watch Pride of the Yankees without tearing up. Jim ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359/53 "2007-03-18T02:58:05Z")
[QUOTE=Nic2004] **silenus** -Did you experiance the Apollo 1 disaster with Grissome, White and Chaffee? That one rocked me to my core. [/QUOTE] I remember it. I was 12, and it was the first time any of our people had died pursuing the Dream. But 12 is 12, and it was just on an intellectual level. Challenger happened while I was in college and knew what had happened on many more levels. I walked through the morning in a daze, until one of my profs saw me sobbing in the hall and told me to blow off his class and go home, he understood. Every year on the anniversary the names go on my whiteboard and I devote some class time to making sure that my students know what, who, why, and why the Dream must never die. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359/54 "2007-03-18T03:52:09Z")
**Harold Washington** - the 1st Black Mayor of Chicago. Not because of that particular distinction, but because he was truly a good guy. People who didn’t vote for him or were afraid of a Black man being mayor learned to love him during his tenure. He was never _Mayor Washington_. He was _Harold_. **Marvin Gaye** - I was in another room when my wife heard the news on the TV and called me to tell me what she just heard. “No way”, I said, “it must be a joke”,as it was April Fool’s Day. After changing channels and regretfully confirming it was indeed true I went into a funk and had to go to the local tavern for a drink. Seeing a familiar face I asked him if he had heard the terrible news. His response was - “Marvin Gaye, he was some kind of singer wasn’t he?”. I’ve never come so close to killing someone. **Big Walter Horton** - If you know anything about The Blues you will recognize the name as one of the most influential harmonica players who ever lived. I was fortunate enough to see him many times at his weekly gig in a local blues club in Chicago and even let him borrow one of my harps when he showed up one time without his own. Damn thing tasted like Camel cigarettes when I got it back. Yuk! **9-11-2001** - I mourn every day for the victims and grieve every day for their families. _ **I will never forget…I will never forgive.** _ ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359/55 "2007-03-18T03:55:57Z")
A mentor friend of mine. Got a late night phone call from another friend because his wife couldn’t locate me. **JFK** because I remember my mother crying about it. **Michael Hedges** - A guitar player in a league by himself. Saw him 3 times live. Found out he was dead by surprise. I was in the middle of burning a best-off CD when the person I was talking to on the phone said it was too bad he was dead. Carl Sagan John Lennon Stevie Ray Vaughn Roy Orbison Freddy Mercury Ray Charles Johnny Cash Don’t see the need to list people who off’d themselves on purpose or recreationally. That makes me both sad and angry. John Lennon’s death was brought home when his son released his album and he sounded like his father. Katharine Hepburn Cary Grant Jimmy Stewart Bob Hope Bob Keeshan Jim Henson Mr Rogers use to get home from a hard day at work and turn on Rogers just to hear his voice and relax. too many people to list. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359/56 "2007-03-18T06:17:28Z")
Marilyn Monroe. The public had no idea of her problems and her personal relationships. All we knew was that she was the gold standard by which every other woman was measured. She was alive and radiant and sexy. Then in an instant, she was dead, supposedly of her own hand. It was incomprehensible. ---
**Author:** ![Ellef](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8dc957/32.png) [@Ellef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellef)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359/57 "2007-03-18T06:44:51Z")
For me, Princess Di, the Challenger Astronauts and those who died on September 11. In the latter two cases I had never heard of any of those who died, so strictly speaking in terms of the OP’s question it was the event that shocked me more than the deaths of any particular individuals. In the UK there’s a fresh one - **Sally Clark** , who was wrongly convicted and imprisoned for killing her two young children. Found dead at home yesterday morning, cause unknown. Even if her death turns out not to have been related to her ordeal, it’s revived memories of her case and what she and her family had to go through to get her cleared. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359/58 "2007-03-18T06:53:34Z")
Two individuals came immediately to mind. As a major Formula One racing follower as a teen, [Bruce McLaren](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_McLaren)’s death hit me hard. I had followed Team McLaren for a while, marvelled at his designs, and pored over any details of those incredible racing machines that I could find. The other was already mentioned, but Terry Kath’s death was a difficult one, having always enjoyed _Chicago_’s music. I was in a small radio station with a friend, when the news came over the AP newswire about his death. My friend, who was on the air at the time, immediately started playing Chicago songs, both hits and deep album cuts, until sign off at midnight. But the deepest muddle I ever felt was 9/11. I was simply numb. I had married my high school sweetheart 3 days before (before someone mentions it, there is no time warp - we lost track of each other for many years), and it seemed like the world we envisioned for us would never happen. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359/59 "2007-03-18T07:57:44Z")
JFK…I was in 7th grade and in school at the time. The entire school went into shock, and without any official request or suggestion, suddenly parents were pulling up in cars and kids just started filing out of the school and went home. I still remember businesses closing up as my mother drove me home and there seemed to be absolute silence everywhere. I was also watching television in the living room a few days later, alone, and saw Jack Ruby get shot. I ran to tell my parents and they couldn’t believe it. John Lennon - I was living in Berlin at the time and woke up to hear the local Armed Forces Network announce they would be playing John Lennon music for the entire day. I thought, “great! I love John Lennon!” so I quickly showered and sat down for breakfast and then I learned why they were going to be playing John Lennon songs all day…I broke down and cried like a baby. When I lived in NYC, I had seen John and Yoko walking through Central Park once, and all I could think of is how happy they had seemed that day. Princess Diana - I am not sure why that affected me so much - perhaps because it was so unexpected, or perhaps because I always thought she got treated badly by the Royal Family. I have to admit, the film The Queen has made me look at the story in a somewhat different light, but at the time, it was quite a shock. ---
**Author:** ![tashabot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tashabot/32/6250_2.png) [@tashabot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tashabot)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359/60 "2007-03-18T08:56:30Z")
I’m only 22, so I can’t say JFK or John Lennon, but when George Harrison died I was really shocked and upset. When Aaliyah and Left Eye died, I recall being vaguely disturbed because they were so young. I can’t say I was really upset, but it did shock me. Same with Anna Nicole Smith - I didn’t really care one way or another about her but damned if I wasn’t a little shocked she died, at first (after thinking about it, I really wasn’t, though). I dunno if this counts, but when the Matthew Sheppard thing hit the news it really shocked me into an empathy I didn’t know I had. I kept putting myself there - what if someone beat me up and tied me to a fence? It gave me nightmares for weeks - I think I was in middle school then. ~Tasha [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-of-whose-death-shocked-you-most/396359.md?page=4)