# Who is the most famous person killed by covid-19 so far? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [March 22, 2020, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987 "2020-03-22T00:02:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987/81 "2020-04-14T15:44:34Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Perhaps you have a poor grasp of the meaning of the word “famous”? **Moderator Note** This said, this point could have been made without the snark. See **Machine Elf’s** post for a proper example. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987/82 "2020-04-15T01:31:02Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > I think perhaps you don’t understand the point of the thread. It’s not about which COVID-19 deaths are most significant or crushing; it’s about which celebrity’s death created the biggest shock, and made people realize how big this pandemic is. As Rock Hudson’s did for AIDS. > > The death of this HIV researcher, while important and tragic, doesn’t qualify. This. Conway sounds like a cool and important guy, but I don’t recall having heard of him. John Prine is still the only death I’ve heard about of someone I knew of before all this. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987/83 "2020-04-15T02:51:36Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > This. > > Conway sounds like a cool and important guy, but I don’t recall having heard of him. John Prine is still the only death I’ve heard about of someone I knew of before all this. He was incredibly prominent among those people who might have heard of some mathematicians. Also, I knew him. (I hadn’t actually heard of John Prine, but he sounds famous and important.) ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987/84 "2020-04-15T03:12:57Z")
[Tim Brooke-Taylor](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/apr/13/tim-brooke-taylor-obituary) was very famous in the UK, and a few people in the US might know of him because he originated the Four Yorkshiremen sketch with John Cleese and others. He was a member of the Goodies, which rivalled Monty Python for popular surreal humour, and widely known as a genuinely lovely person. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987/85 "2020-04-15T03:19:02Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > This. > > Conway sounds like a cool and important guy, but I don’t recall having heard of him. John Prine is still the only death I’ve heard about of someone I knew of before all this. The Game of Life is really, really huge for computer scientists and mathematicians, and that was only the most popular thing that Conway developed. To even be known in pop culture as a mathematician in the modern age is incredibly rare; the only others are probably Andrew Wiles and John Nash, and the latter only became really well known after he had a movie made about him. Given that we’re on a internet message board with an intellectual bent, there are going to be plenty more people who know about Conway than compared to the general public. So while I can see that to the world in general, Prine is probably the most famous, to the denizens of this board, Conway is much more likely to be better known. Tim Brooke-Taylor I feel would be more famous to me if I was told what he did; I’m familiar with him being on the At last the 1948 show (or whatever it was) where the 4 Yorkshireman premiered with 2 future Pythons, but I didn’t recognize the name without that. All I could tell you about John Prine is that he was a musician; I’m not familiar with any of his work. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987/86 "2020-04-15T04:01:45Z")
If you don’t know John Prine’s music, you may know [Angel from Montgomery](https://youtu.be/toJ3ZYWRh24), which he wrote and Bonnie Raitt sang. [This is the article](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/john-prine-obit-253684/) Rolling Stone published after his death. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987/87 "2020-04-15T05:49:15Z")
Whether or not you like that rootsy style of music, I think most can appreciate Prine’s off-kilter sensibility as expressed in his lyrics. One of my favorite examples is his duet with Iris DeMint, “In Spite of Ourselves”: Moderator Note: Lyrics removed. Please do not copy and paste the entire lyrics to a song as that goes far beyond fair use. Still makes me smile. Cheeky and bawdy, yet sweet at the same time. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > He was incredibly prominent among those people who might have heard of some mathematicians. Also, I knew him. > > (I hadn’t actually heard of John Prine, but he sounds famous and important.) Yeah, the reverse is the case for me. Although in my case I am fairly familiar with three relatively modern day mathematicians (who were prominent in the past hundred years or so): Godel, von Neumann, and Turing. Funny thing with that is that I know a fair bit about each; I can’t think of any that I’ve just vaguely heard of without being able to say anything specific about them. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987/88 "2020-04-15T06:07:00Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > The Game of Life is really, really huge for computer scientists and mathematicians, and that was only the most popular thing that Conway developed. Check out [the latest XKCD](https://xkcd.com/2293/). ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987/89 "2020-04-15T06:58:03Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > … John Nash, and the latter only became really well known after he had a movie made about him. Conway became _famous_ when Scientific American wrote about him (Gardner, Mathematical Games, 1970). Before the internet, when we read magazines for fun and edification. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987/90 "2020-04-15T09:14:35Z")
Just saw on [Military.com](https://www.military.com/off-duty/2020/04/06/wwii-veteran-star-gomer-pyle-dies-94-after-coronavirus-diagnosis.html) that the actor, Forrest Compton, who played Gomer Pyle’s battalion commander, Lt. Col. Edward Gray, died from COVID-19, back on 4 April 2020. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987/91 "2020-04-15T13:55:27Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Check out [the latest XKCD](https://xkcd.com/2293/). Oh, that is perfect. Esp. love that it produces a glider that moves on forever. Very symbolic. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987/92 "2020-04-15T15:56:39Z")
The cause of death is ambiguous, but given the timing and where he lived, covid seems likely. > **[Mendel Mendlowits, founder of Adorama, has passed away](https://www.dpreview.com/news/1140248282/mendel-mendlowits-founder-of-adorama-has-passed-away)** > > Adorama's charismatic founder, Mendel Mendlowits, passed away on April 8th at the age of 76. I doubt many people know his name, but his photo shop was huge and influential, so I feel like he belongs in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987/93 "2020-04-15T16:14:16Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Oh, that is perfect. Esp. love that it produces a glider that moves on forever. Very symbolic. And he isn’t fudging it–that’s the actual way that configuration plays out. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987/94 "2020-04-15T17:57:05Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > And he isn’t fudging it–that’s the actual way that configuration plays out. I figured Randall would do a real one. But that leaves open the question of whether it is original. The glider thing from such a small configuration while maintaining a human shape isn’t trivial. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987/95 "2020-04-15T18:06:53Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > The cause of death is ambiguous, but given the timing and where he lived, covid seems likely. > > [Mendel Mendlowits, founder of Adorama, has passed away: Digital Photography Review](https://www.dpreview.com/news/1140248282/mendel-mendlowits-founder-of-adorama-has-passed-away) > > I doubt many people know his name, but his photo shop was huge and influential, so I feel like he belongs in this thread. **Moderating** I would request that posters name the person they are talking about, and why they are known, rather than requiring them to click on a link to figure out who you are talking about. Colibri Quarantine Zone Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987/96 "2020-04-15T18:39:02Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I figured Randall would do a real one. But that leaves open the question of whether it is original. The glider thing from such a small configuration while maintaining a human shape isn’t trivial. Donno about that–I’ve never seen it before. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987/97 "2020-04-15T23:07:37Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > **Moderating** > > I would request that posters name the person they are talking about, and why they are known, rather than requiring them to click on a link to figure out who you are talking about. > > Colibri > Quarantine Zone Moderator Sorry, it’s in the link’s name if you hover over it, no need to click. It’s the founder of Adorama Cameras. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987/98 "2020-04-16T00:13:49Z")
Who? ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987/99 "2020-04-16T00:16:54Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > This. > > Conway sounds like a cool and important guy, but I don’t recall having heard of him. John Prine is still the only death I’ve heard about of someone I knew of before all this. If wikipedia page views in the days after someone’s death are a measure of their fame, [Prine is more famous than Conway](https://tools.wmflabs.org/pageviews/?project=en.wikipedia.org&platform=all-access&agent=user&redirects=0&range=latest-20&pages=John_Horton_Conway%7CJohn_Prine) (but not by as much as I would have expected) ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987/100 "2020-04-16T00:20:24Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Sorry, it’s in the link’s name if you hover over it, no need to click. Just to note that this doesn’t occur for all. (Could be the browser or the forum-style, but to see what a link says I have to paste to a word-processor–hover doesn’t work, here, for me.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-person-killed-by-covid-19-so-far/849987.md?page=6)