Obituaries
Notable deaths reported this week by the obituary desk.
- The GuardianDerrick Harriott obituarySinger, songwriter, producer and record label owner who was a leading figure in Jamaican pop music Derrick Harriott, who has died aged 87 following a long illness, was an influential figure in Jamaican popular music. A…
- The GuardianDanny Ridgeway obituaryMy friend, Danny Ridgeway, who has died suddenly aged 70, worked as a further education teacher for 32 years and was latterly an inspiring principal of Bexley College, in south London. Under his leadership, from 2010…
- The GuardianWalter Koenig obituaryActor beloved by Star Trek fans for his portrayal of the show’s baby-faced Russian navigator Pavel Chekov The American actor Walter Koenig , who has died aged 90, was unimpressed when, as a TV viewer, he caught a…
- The GuardianTom Skerritt obituaryUS actor who often played authority figures and was admired for his film roles in Alien, Top Gun and A River Runs Through It The lean, rugged US actor Tom Skerritt, who has died aged 93, was described by one…
- The GuardianJohn Anderson obituaryAmerican country singer and songwriter who took the music genre back to its unvarnished roots John Anderson, who has died aged 71, reinvigorated country music in the 1980s by returning the genre to its unvarnished…
- The GuardianAndrew Willsmore obituaryMy friend Andrew Willsmore, who has died aged 74, was a documentary film editor. His credits included Paul Hamann’s 14 Days in May (1987), about a prisoner awaiting execution in Mississippi, and The Duty Men (also…
- The GuardianJean Phillips-Martinsson obituaryFounder of an international organisation to encourage research into the rare genetic disorder Prader-Willi syndrome In 1984 Jean Phillips-Martinsson, a British woman living in Sweden, came across an article in the…
- The GuardianLetter: Douglas Dunn obituaryIn the early 1980s I heard a poetry reading by Douglas Dunn in the Morden Tower, Newcastle upon Tyne. After that I kept up to date with his new work. Many years later I discussed his well-known poem St Kilda’s…