To The Absent Friends of 2016

I am not the first person to note what a depressingly sad year 2016 has been in terms of the many famous and prominent people that the world has lost in these twelve months...and there are still three days left in it!

As readers know, I make it a regular feature of this blog to note whenever a prominent person in the world of politics, sports, show business, pop culture, or people who may not be well known or prominent but whose life accomplishments strike me as fascinating dies.  I call them "Absent Friends", and, as I do every year, I credit the late, great sports writer Red Smith, who always used the term Absent Friends when writing of someone no longer with us.

In 2016, I have noted thirty-nine such Absent Friends. There are a lot of famous people who left us this year that are not on my list, but The Grandstander's list is not intended to be all encompassing.  As I said, these are the people whose lives and deaths struck a particular chord to me.  If you care to do so, you can type the names in the search box in the upper left corner of the screen to see what I wrote about them at the time of their deaths.

Herewith, a final A Final Salute to the Absent Friends of 2016.

David Bowie
Glen Frey
Abe Vigoda
Bob Elliott
Edgar Mitchell
Wesley A. Clark
George Kennedy
Nancy Reagan
Al Wistert
George Martin
Joe Garagiola
Ken Howard
Earl Hamner Jr.
Patty Duke
Father Daniel Berrigan
William Schallert
Madeleine LeBeau
Muhammad Ali
Pat Summitt
Scotty Moore
John McMartin
Garry Marshall
Bill Cardille
Marni Nixon
B.E. Taylor
Arnold Palmer
Sally O'Leary
Robert "Keith" Manherz
Ralph Branca
Florence Henderson
Ann Rule
Ron Glass
Al Caiola
John Glenn
Alan Thicke
Craig Sager
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Carrie Fisher
Debbie Reynolds

RIP to All.