The Graffe's Celebrity Death Pool

[Tinthalas Tigris]

My local toys r us was one of their flagship profit stores, never in the red. It employed over 150 people.

Very sad.

[PPatty]

And just to top it off:

Charles Lazarus, who turned a Washington bike business into Toys R Us, dies at 94

[Delores Mulva]

Old death pool story: Anton Yelchin's parents have settled with Fiat Chrysler in the wrongful death suit:

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-43513901

New death pool story: Wayne Huizenga, former owner of Blockbuster and multiple sports teams in Florida, 80:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43521035

I didn't realize he was behind AutoNation.

[Tinthalas Tigris]

And just to top it off:

Charles Lazarus, who turned a Washington bike business into Toys R Us, dies at 94

Poetic, if ever i saw it.

[Dale]

Sorry I don't have a link. I saw the guy that did Bozo the Clown died this week too.

[Delores Mulva]

Steven Bochco, TV producer (Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue, LA Law, Doogie Howser), 74, leukemia:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/01/tv-sh...bit/index.html

[FilanFyretracker]

I never knew he was sick or that he was involved in Doogie Howser.

[Delores Mulva]

Leukemia can be fast for the elderly. One of the people who sat beside us at Canucks games died recently of leukemia. His grandson told us that when he was diagnosed, he was given one week to live without chemo, two to four weeks with, and died a couple of weeks after diagnosis.

EDIT: oh, and Winnie Mandela died, too.

[Delores Mulva]

Former pro wrestler Johnny Valiant, 71, struck by a car while crossing the road:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43653809

[PPatty]

Isao Takahata dies at 82

I would not call him the best animation director ever (his Ghibli colleague Miyazaki gets that one), but there's an excellent case to made for him as the most creative and original one. If you haven't, go see Grave of the Fireflies (honest but profoundly bleak), Only Yesterday (maybe the best rom-com ever made, and almost surely the most visually striking) and Tale of the Princess Kaguya (I've never seen anything like it, and really it should be seen on the biggest screen you can find). You might not like them, but you won't forget them.

[Dramadon]

I remember watching Grave of the Fireflies in high school. I don't remember which class it was for, but I remember watching it. Tough movie to get through, but then I still vividly remember it so it was effective.

[Delores Mulva]

I saw the Takahata obit on BBC and thought, "I should leave that one for PPatty."

This one is questionable for a celebrity death pool thread, but it's close for the affected communities:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskat...rash-1.4609554

The RCMP confirmed 14 fatalities and 14 injuries in a collision involving a junior hockey team's bus in Saskatchewan on Friday, with rescue efforts ongoing late into the evening.

Police say there were 28 people on the bus at the time of the crash, including the driver. Three of the injuries are critical in nature. RCMP would not confirm whether the deceased were players or coaches as they work with partner agencies to notify and support families.

The Nipawin Hawks of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League say the crash involved the team bus of the Humboldt Broncos, who were on their way to Nipawin for Game 5 of its SJHL semifinal series. The crash happened about 30 kilometres north of Tisdale, Sask.

SJHL is Junior A, meaning one skill level below the players typically selected in the NHL draft. Junior A is the preferred league for players that want to play NCAA hockey, since the NCAA considers Junior A to be amateur for the purposes of eligibility (which Major Junior is not). When one of the Canadian sports channels, Sportsnet, went to their Sports Desk-style program this evening, the anchors looked like they'd seen a ghost as they read the story. Just horrible.

[Bonlainy]

I saw the Takahata obit on BBC and thought, "I should leave that one for PPatty."

This one is questionable for a celebrity death pool thread, but it's close for the affected communities:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskat...rash-1.4609554



SJHL is Junior A, meaning one skill level below the players typically selected in the NHL draft. Junior A is the preferred league for players that want to play NCAA hockey, since the NCAA considers Junior A to be amateur for the purposes of eligibility (which Major Junior is not). When one of the Canadian sports channels, Sportsnet, went to their Sports Desk-style program this evening, the anchors looked like they'd seen a ghost as they read the story. Just horrible.

I saw a photo of the aftermath in the paper yesterday, and it was horrific. Very, very sad and tragic.

[FilanFyretracker]

Do they even know what happened? As in why the bus was hit by the semi.

[Delores Mulva]

Even more tragic: one of the dead was misidentified as one of the players that's still in hospital. Horrible for the families, and an indication of how bad the accident was that they can't identify someone who is still alive.

Here's an article that shows crash scene photos (no bodies), including aerial shots of the area:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskat...tion-1.4610707

The original theory was that the semi t-boned the bus. Looking at the wreckage, it's difficult to tell what happened. The position would indicate the truck came through the stop sign with speed and hit the bus, carrying the wreckage in the direction the truck was traveling. But the truck shows damage to the middle and not the front, and the bus shows extensive damage to the front and not the middle. That would lead one to conclude that the bus t-boned the semi. The only thing that seems correct is that the semi advanced into the intersection and the bus didn't expect it. The corner is a bit of a blind corner due to the trees (as the article mentions, there was a previous fatal accident here), so I could see the semi either advancing without seeing the bus coming, or just blowing through the stop sign because they didn't spot the bus.

[PPatty]

Milos Forman dies:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/new...D=ansmsnnews11

[Khieran]

Art Bell passed away

One of his stranger calls... even made it onto a Tool album:

[Merkus]

Barbara Bush will be on the list very soon. I wonder how much longer her husband will last after.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/15/polit...lth/index.html

[KelanNaal]

R. Lee Ermey

http://abc7.com/entertainment/actor-...at-74/3347853/

[FilanFyretracker]

Wow. I did not expect him so soon.