Post by t-bob on Sept 27, 2023 14:59:59 GMT -5
The Sweeper - Brook Robinson 3rd third - great player - Baltimore Orioles
BALTIMORE -- Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson, whose deft glovework and folksy manner made him one of the most beloved and accomplished athletes in Baltimore history, has died. He was 86.
"We are deeply saddened to share the news of the passing of Brooks Robinson," his family and the Orioles said in a joint statement. "An integral part of our Orioles Family since 1955, he will continue to leave a lasting impact on our club, our community, and the sport of baseball."
The statement did not say how Robinson died.
The Orioles held a moment of silence before their game against the Washington Nationals, and the teams lined up outside their dugouts to pay their respects. Also before the game, fans gathered around the 9-foot bronze statue of Robinson inside Camden Yards.
"I think a lot of guys tonight played with a heavy heart," Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said after Baltimore's 1-0 victory. "He's an icon in this game and an icon in this city. There's not many of those."
Coming of age before the free agent era, Robinson spent his entire 23-year career with the Orioles. He almost single-handedly helped Baltimore defeat Cincinnati in the 1970 World Series and homered in Game 1 of the Orioles' 1966 sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers for their first crown.
"Great player, great guy on the field, great guy off," said fellow Orioles Hall of Famer Jim Palmer, who was overcome with emotion. "Respectful, kind. And you don't meet too many guys like that. Brooks was a genuine person. There was no acting. Brooks was just a genuine person."
Robinson participated in 18 All-Star Games and earned the 1964 AL Most Valuable Player award after batting .318 with 28 home runs and a league-leading 118 RBIs. He finished his career with 268 homers, 1,357 RBIs and a respectable .267 batting average in 2,896 career games.
But he will be forever remembered for his work ethic and the skill he displayed at the hot corner, where he established himself as one of the finest fielding third baseman in baseball history, whether charging slow rollers or snaring liners down the third-base line.
Known as the "Human Vacuum Cleaner," Robinson won 16 consecutive Gold Gloves -- second only to pitcher Greg Maddux's (18) for most by a player at one position. Robinson also places third in career defensive WAR at 39.1 behind shortstops Ozzie Smith (44.2) and Mark Belanger (39.5), who was Robinson's teammate for 13 years with the Orioles.
"Brooks was maybe the last guy to get into the clubhouse the day of the game, but he would be the first guy on the field," former Orioles manager Earl Weaver said. "He'd be taking his groundballs, and we'd all go, 'Why does Brooks have to take any groundballs?'
"I wouldn't expect anything else from Brooks. Seeing him work like that meant a lot of any young person coming up. He was so steady, and he steadied everybody else."
Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson collected 16 Gold Gloves during his 23 seasons with the Orioles. Rogers Photo Archive/Getty images
Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker recalled Robinson's friendship during the early years of his career, when he broke in with Atlanta in the late 1960s.
"I'm just sad. Another great one is called to heaven," Baker said. "They got some all-stars up there.
"He was really nice to me when I was a rookie with the Braves. We used to barnstorm with him all the time and he was a real gentleman. ... I never heard anything negative about him, ever. And he was on a team that with the Orioles had a number of African-American players. I think they had 10 or 12. They all loved him. That's saying a lot. Especially back in that day."
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1937, Robinson eventually made Baltimore his home but never really lost his southern twang, which was just fine with fans in blue-collar Baltimore, who appreciated his homespun charm and unassuming demeanor.
Dubbed "Mr. Oriole," he was a sports hero in Charm City, in the pantheon with former Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas and Orioles infielder Cal Ripken, who performed for a different generation.
Ripken was known as The Iron Man because he played in 2,632 consecutive games, but Robinson wasn't fond of sitting on the bench, either. From 1960-1975, he played in at least 152 games in 14 seasons and in 144 games the other two years.
"I'm a guy who just wanted to see his name in the lineup everyday," he said. "To me, baseball was a passion to the point of obsession."
Robinson retired in 1977 after batting only .149 in 24 games. His jersey was retired that year.
"I will always remember Brooks as a true gentleman who represented our game extraordinarily well on and off the field all his life," MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. "On behalf of Major League Baseball, I send my deepest condolences to Brooks' family, his many friends across our game, and Orioles fans everywhere."
Robinson's most memorable performance came as MVP of the 1970 World Series, when the Orioles bounced back from their stunning defeat to the New York Mets the year before and Robinson redeemed himself after batting just 1 for 19 in that series. Because he was so sensational in the field during Baltimore's five-game triumph over the Reds, few remember he hit .429 and homered twice and drove in six runs -- or that he made an error on his first play in the field.
In Game 1, Robinson delivered the tiebreaking home run in the seventh inning. One inning earlier, he made a sensational backhanded grab of a hard grounder hit down the line by Lee May, spun around in foul territory and somehow threw out the runner.
Robinson contributed an RBI single in the second game and became forever a part of World Series lore with his standout performance in Game 3. He made a tremendous, leaping grab of a grounder by Tony Perez to start a first-inning double play; charged a slow roller in the second inning and threw out Tommy Helms; then capped his memorable afternoon with a diving catch of a liner by Johnny Bench. The Series ended, fittingly, with a ground out to Robinson in Game 5, a 9-3 Orioles win.
"I'm beginning to see Brooks in my sleep," Reds manager Sparky Anderson said during the Series. "If I dropped this paper plate, he'd pick it up on one hop and throw me out at first."
Robinson was elected into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 1983. In 1999, he was named to baseball's All-Century team, which honored the best 25 players of the 20th century. His No. 5 is one of just six jerseys retired by the Orioles franchise.
Starting in 2009, Robinson was beset by a string of health scares. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2009, had abdominal surgery in 2010, developed an infection while recovering from the abdominal surgery in 2011 and in 2012 his chair fell off a platform at a banquet, forcing him to spend a month in the hospital.
In his later years, Robinson auctioned off nearly all of his vast memorabilia.
"My children, they have everything they ever wanted from my collection," Robinson said in 2015. "We've been very blessed, my whole family, all the years we've been in Baltimore. So it's time to give back."
Robinson said "every cent" of the proceeds was to go to the Constance and Brooks Robinson Foundation for distribution to worthy causes.
In July 2018, Robinson was announced as the Orioles' special adviser, with Robinson saying he'll be more focused on community events.
"I talked to [chair and managing partner] John Angelos about three weeks ago, and we had lunch," Robinson said. "I told him, 'I'll do anything, but I don't want to have to make any decisions about baseball. That's passed me by, if you want to know the truth.'"
In addition to his role in the Orioles front office, Robinson also served as president of the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The U.N.C.L.E. and “Ducky” NCIS - David McCallum
LOS ANGELES -- Actor David McCallum, who became a teen heartthrob in the hit series "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." in the 1960s and was the eccentric medical examiner in the popular "NCIS" 40 years later, has died. He was 90.
McCallum died Monday of natural causes surrounded by family at New York Presbyterian Hospital, CBS said in a statement.
"David was a gifted actor and author, and beloved by many around the world. He led an incredible life, and his legacy will forever live on through his family and the countless hours on film and television that will never go away," said a statement from CBS.
Scottish-born McCallum had been doing well appearing in such films "A Night to Remember" (about the Titanic), "The Great Escape" and "The Greatest Story Ever Told" (as Judas). But it was "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." that made the blond actor with the Beatlesque haircut a household name in the mid-'60s.
The success of the James Bond books and films had set off a chain reaction, with secret agents proliferating on both large and small screens. Indeed, Bond creator Ian Fleming contributed some ideas as "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." was being developed, according to Jon Heitland's "The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Book."
The show, which debuted in 1964, starred Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo, an agent in a secretive, high-tech squad of crime fighters whose initials stood for United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. Despite the Cold War, the agency had an international staff, with McCallum as Illya Kuryakin, Solo's Russian sidekick.
The role was relatively small at first, McCallum recalled, adding in a 1998 interview that "I'd never heard of the word 'sidekick' before."
The show drew mixed reviews but eventually caught on, particularly with teenage girls attracted by McCallum's good looks and enigmatic, intellectual character. By 1965, Illya was a full partner to Vaughn's character and both stars were mobbed during personal appearances.
The series lasted to 1968. Vaughn and McCallum reunited in 1983 for a nostalgic TV movie, "The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E.," in which the agents were lured out of retirement to save the world once more.
McCallum returned to television in 2003 in another series with an agency known by its initials - CBS' "NCIS." He played Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard, a bookish pathologist for the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, an agency handling crimes involving the Navy or the Marines. Mark Harmon played the NCIS boss.
McCallum said he thought Ducky, who sported glasses and a bow tie and had an eye for pretty women, "looked a little silly, but it was great fun to do." He took the role seriously, too, spending time in the Los Angeles coroner's office to gain insight into how autopsies are conducted.
Co-star Lauren Holly took to X, formerly Twitter, to mourn: "You were the kindest man. Thank you for being you." The previously announced 20th anniversary "NCIS" marathon on Monday night will now include an "in memoriam" card in remembrance of McCallum.
The series built an audience gradually, eventually reaching the roster of top 10 shows. McCallum, who lived in New York, stayed in a one-bedroom apartment in Santa Monica when "NCIS" was in production.
"He was a scholar and a gentleman, always gracious, a consummate professional, and never one to pass up a joke. From day one, it was an honor to work with him and he never let us down. He was, quite simply, a legend, said a statement from "NCIS" Executive Producers Steven D. Binder and David North.
McCallum's work with "U.N.C.L.E." brought him two Emmy nominations, and he got a third as an educator struggling with alcoholism in a 1969 Hallmark Hall of Fame drama called "Teacher, Teacher."
In 1975, he had the title role in a short-lived science fiction series, "The Invisible Man," and from 1979 to 1982 he played Steel in a British science fiction series, "Sapphire and Steel." Over the years, he also appeared in guest shots in many TV shows, including "Murder, She Wrote" and "Sex and the City."
He appeared on Broadway in a 1968 comedy, "The Flip Side," and in a 1999 revival of "Amadeus" starring Michael Sheen and David Suchet. He also was in several off-Broadway productions.
Largely based in the U.S. from the 1960s onward, McCallum was a longtime American citizen, telling The Associated Press in 2003 that "I have always loved the freedom of this country and everything it stands for. And I live here, and I like to vote here."
David Keith McCallum was born in Glasgow in 1933. His parents were musicians; his father, also named David, played violin, his mother played cello. When David was 3, the family moved to London, where David Sr. played with the London Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic.
Young David attended the Royal Academy of Music where he learned the oboe. He decided he wasn't good enough, so he turned to theater, studying briefly at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. But "I was a small, emaciated blond with a caved chest, so there weren't an awful lot of parts for me," he commented in a Los Angeles Times interview in 2009.
After time out for military service, he returned to London and began getting work on live television and movies, In 1957 he appeared in "Robbery Under Arms," an adventure set in early Australia, with a rising actress, Jill Ireland. The couple married that same year.
In 1963, McCallum was part of the large cast of "The Great Escape" and he and his wife became friendly with Charles Bronson, also in the film. Ireland eventually fell in love with Bronson and she and McCallum divorced in 1967. She married Bronson in 1968.
"It all worked out fine," McCallum said in 2009, "because soon after that I got together with Katherine (Carpenter, a former model) and we've been very happily married for 42 years."
McCallum had three sons from his first marriage, Paul, Jason and Valentine, and a son and daughter from his second, Peter and Sophie. Jason died of an overdose.
"He was a true Renaissance man - he was fascinated by science and culture and would turn those passions into knowledge. For example, he was capable of conducting a symphony orchestra and (if needed) could actually perform an autopsy, based on his decades-long studies for his role on NCIS," Peter McCallum said in a statement.
In 2007, when he was working on "NCIS," McCallum told a reporter: "I've always felt the harder I work, the luckier I get. I believe in serendipitous things happening, but at the same time, dedicating yourself to what you do is the best way to get along in this life."
Bob Thomas, a longtime Associated Press journalist who died in 2014, was the principal writer of this obituary.
BALTIMORE -- Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson, whose deft glovework and folksy manner made him one of the most beloved and accomplished athletes in Baltimore history, has died. He was 86.
"We are deeply saddened to share the news of the passing of Brooks Robinson," his family and the Orioles said in a joint statement. "An integral part of our Orioles Family since 1955, he will continue to leave a lasting impact on our club, our community, and the sport of baseball."
The statement did not say how Robinson died.
The Orioles held a moment of silence before their game against the Washington Nationals, and the teams lined up outside their dugouts to pay their respects. Also before the game, fans gathered around the 9-foot bronze statue of Robinson inside Camden Yards.
"I think a lot of guys tonight played with a heavy heart," Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said after Baltimore's 1-0 victory. "He's an icon in this game and an icon in this city. There's not many of those."
Coming of age before the free agent era, Robinson spent his entire 23-year career with the Orioles. He almost single-handedly helped Baltimore defeat Cincinnati in the 1970 World Series and homered in Game 1 of the Orioles' 1966 sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers for their first crown.
"Great player, great guy on the field, great guy off," said fellow Orioles Hall of Famer Jim Palmer, who was overcome with emotion. "Respectful, kind. And you don't meet too many guys like that. Brooks was a genuine person. There was no acting. Brooks was just a genuine person."
Robinson participated in 18 All-Star Games and earned the 1964 AL Most Valuable Player award after batting .318 with 28 home runs and a league-leading 118 RBIs. He finished his career with 268 homers, 1,357 RBIs and a respectable .267 batting average in 2,896 career games.
But he will be forever remembered for his work ethic and the skill he displayed at the hot corner, where he established himself as one of the finest fielding third baseman in baseball history, whether charging slow rollers or snaring liners down the third-base line.
Known as the "Human Vacuum Cleaner," Robinson won 16 consecutive Gold Gloves -- second only to pitcher Greg Maddux's (18) for most by a player at one position. Robinson also places third in career defensive WAR at 39.1 behind shortstops Ozzie Smith (44.2) and Mark Belanger (39.5), who was Robinson's teammate for 13 years with the Orioles.
"Brooks was maybe the last guy to get into the clubhouse the day of the game, but he would be the first guy on the field," former Orioles manager Earl Weaver said. "He'd be taking his groundballs, and we'd all go, 'Why does Brooks have to take any groundballs?'
"I wouldn't expect anything else from Brooks. Seeing him work like that meant a lot of any young person coming up. He was so steady, and he steadied everybody else."
Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson collected 16 Gold Gloves during his 23 seasons with the Orioles. Rogers Photo Archive/Getty images
Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker recalled Robinson's friendship during the early years of his career, when he broke in with Atlanta in the late 1960s.
"I'm just sad. Another great one is called to heaven," Baker said. "They got some all-stars up there.
"He was really nice to me when I was a rookie with the Braves. We used to barnstorm with him all the time and he was a real gentleman. ... I never heard anything negative about him, ever. And he was on a team that with the Orioles had a number of African-American players. I think they had 10 or 12. They all loved him. That's saying a lot. Especially back in that day."
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1937, Robinson eventually made Baltimore his home but never really lost his southern twang, which was just fine with fans in blue-collar Baltimore, who appreciated his homespun charm and unassuming demeanor.
Dubbed "Mr. Oriole," he was a sports hero in Charm City, in the pantheon with former Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas and Orioles infielder Cal Ripken, who performed for a different generation.
Ripken was known as The Iron Man because he played in 2,632 consecutive games, but Robinson wasn't fond of sitting on the bench, either. From 1960-1975, he played in at least 152 games in 14 seasons and in 144 games the other two years.
"I'm a guy who just wanted to see his name in the lineup everyday," he said. "To me, baseball was a passion to the point of obsession."
Robinson retired in 1977 after batting only .149 in 24 games. His jersey was retired that year.
"I will always remember Brooks as a true gentleman who represented our game extraordinarily well on and off the field all his life," MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. "On behalf of Major League Baseball, I send my deepest condolences to Brooks' family, his many friends across our game, and Orioles fans everywhere."
Robinson's most memorable performance came as MVP of the 1970 World Series, when the Orioles bounced back from their stunning defeat to the New York Mets the year before and Robinson redeemed himself after batting just 1 for 19 in that series. Because he was so sensational in the field during Baltimore's five-game triumph over the Reds, few remember he hit .429 and homered twice and drove in six runs -- or that he made an error on his first play in the field.
In Game 1, Robinson delivered the tiebreaking home run in the seventh inning. One inning earlier, he made a sensational backhanded grab of a hard grounder hit down the line by Lee May, spun around in foul territory and somehow threw out the runner.
Robinson contributed an RBI single in the second game and became forever a part of World Series lore with his standout performance in Game 3. He made a tremendous, leaping grab of a grounder by Tony Perez to start a first-inning double play; charged a slow roller in the second inning and threw out Tommy Helms; then capped his memorable afternoon with a diving catch of a liner by Johnny Bench. The Series ended, fittingly, with a ground out to Robinson in Game 5, a 9-3 Orioles win.
"I'm beginning to see Brooks in my sleep," Reds manager Sparky Anderson said during the Series. "If I dropped this paper plate, he'd pick it up on one hop and throw me out at first."
Robinson was elected into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 1983. In 1999, he was named to baseball's All-Century team, which honored the best 25 players of the 20th century. His No. 5 is one of just six jerseys retired by the Orioles franchise.
Starting in 2009, Robinson was beset by a string of health scares. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2009, had abdominal surgery in 2010, developed an infection while recovering from the abdominal surgery in 2011 and in 2012 his chair fell off a platform at a banquet, forcing him to spend a month in the hospital.
In his later years, Robinson auctioned off nearly all of his vast memorabilia.
"My children, they have everything they ever wanted from my collection," Robinson said in 2015. "We've been very blessed, my whole family, all the years we've been in Baltimore. So it's time to give back."
Robinson said "every cent" of the proceeds was to go to the Constance and Brooks Robinson Foundation for distribution to worthy causes.
In July 2018, Robinson was announced as the Orioles' special adviser, with Robinson saying he'll be more focused on community events.
"I talked to [chair and managing partner] John Angelos about three weeks ago, and we had lunch," Robinson said. "I told him, 'I'll do anything, but I don't want to have to make any decisions about baseball. That's passed me by, if you want to know the truth.'"
In addition to his role in the Orioles front office, Robinson also served as president of the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The U.N.C.L.E. and “Ducky” NCIS - David McCallum
LOS ANGELES -- Actor David McCallum, who became a teen heartthrob in the hit series "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." in the 1960s and was the eccentric medical examiner in the popular "NCIS" 40 years later, has died. He was 90.
McCallum died Monday of natural causes surrounded by family at New York Presbyterian Hospital, CBS said in a statement.
"David was a gifted actor and author, and beloved by many around the world. He led an incredible life, and his legacy will forever live on through his family and the countless hours on film and television that will never go away," said a statement from CBS.
Scottish-born McCallum had been doing well appearing in such films "A Night to Remember" (about the Titanic), "The Great Escape" and "The Greatest Story Ever Told" (as Judas). But it was "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." that made the blond actor with the Beatlesque haircut a household name in the mid-'60s.
The success of the James Bond books and films had set off a chain reaction, with secret agents proliferating on both large and small screens. Indeed, Bond creator Ian Fleming contributed some ideas as "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." was being developed, according to Jon Heitland's "The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Book."
The show, which debuted in 1964, starred Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo, an agent in a secretive, high-tech squad of crime fighters whose initials stood for United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. Despite the Cold War, the agency had an international staff, with McCallum as Illya Kuryakin, Solo's Russian sidekick.
The role was relatively small at first, McCallum recalled, adding in a 1998 interview that "I'd never heard of the word 'sidekick' before."
The show drew mixed reviews but eventually caught on, particularly with teenage girls attracted by McCallum's good looks and enigmatic, intellectual character. By 1965, Illya was a full partner to Vaughn's character and both stars were mobbed during personal appearances.
The series lasted to 1968. Vaughn and McCallum reunited in 1983 for a nostalgic TV movie, "The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E.," in which the agents were lured out of retirement to save the world once more.
McCallum returned to television in 2003 in another series with an agency known by its initials - CBS' "NCIS." He played Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard, a bookish pathologist for the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, an agency handling crimes involving the Navy or the Marines. Mark Harmon played the NCIS boss.
McCallum said he thought Ducky, who sported glasses and a bow tie and had an eye for pretty women, "looked a little silly, but it was great fun to do." He took the role seriously, too, spending time in the Los Angeles coroner's office to gain insight into how autopsies are conducted.
Co-star Lauren Holly took to X, formerly Twitter, to mourn: "You were the kindest man. Thank you for being you." The previously announced 20th anniversary "NCIS" marathon on Monday night will now include an "in memoriam" card in remembrance of McCallum.
The series built an audience gradually, eventually reaching the roster of top 10 shows. McCallum, who lived in New York, stayed in a one-bedroom apartment in Santa Monica when "NCIS" was in production.
"He was a scholar and a gentleman, always gracious, a consummate professional, and never one to pass up a joke. From day one, it was an honor to work with him and he never let us down. He was, quite simply, a legend, said a statement from "NCIS" Executive Producers Steven D. Binder and David North.
McCallum's work with "U.N.C.L.E." brought him two Emmy nominations, and he got a third as an educator struggling with alcoholism in a 1969 Hallmark Hall of Fame drama called "Teacher, Teacher."
In 1975, he had the title role in a short-lived science fiction series, "The Invisible Man," and from 1979 to 1982 he played Steel in a British science fiction series, "Sapphire and Steel." Over the years, he also appeared in guest shots in many TV shows, including "Murder, She Wrote" and "Sex and the City."
He appeared on Broadway in a 1968 comedy, "The Flip Side," and in a 1999 revival of "Amadeus" starring Michael Sheen and David Suchet. He also was in several off-Broadway productions.
Largely based in the U.S. from the 1960s onward, McCallum was a longtime American citizen, telling The Associated Press in 2003 that "I have always loved the freedom of this country and everything it stands for. And I live here, and I like to vote here."
David Keith McCallum was born in Glasgow in 1933. His parents were musicians; his father, also named David, played violin, his mother played cello. When David was 3, the family moved to London, where David Sr. played with the London Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic.
Young David attended the Royal Academy of Music where he learned the oboe. He decided he wasn't good enough, so he turned to theater, studying briefly at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. But "I was a small, emaciated blond with a caved chest, so there weren't an awful lot of parts for me," he commented in a Los Angeles Times interview in 2009.
After time out for military service, he returned to London and began getting work on live television and movies, In 1957 he appeared in "Robbery Under Arms," an adventure set in early Australia, with a rising actress, Jill Ireland. The couple married that same year.
In 1963, McCallum was part of the large cast of "The Great Escape" and he and his wife became friendly with Charles Bronson, also in the film. Ireland eventually fell in love with Bronson and she and McCallum divorced in 1967. She married Bronson in 1968.
"It all worked out fine," McCallum said in 2009, "because soon after that I got together with Katherine (Carpenter, a former model) and we've been very happily married for 42 years."
McCallum had three sons from his first marriage, Paul, Jason and Valentine, and a son and daughter from his second, Peter and Sophie. Jason died of an overdose.
"He was a true Renaissance man - he was fascinated by science and culture and would turn those passions into knowledge. For example, he was capable of conducting a symphony orchestra and (if needed) could actually perform an autopsy, based on his decades-long studies for his role on NCIS," Peter McCallum said in a statement.
In 2007, when he was working on "NCIS," McCallum told a reporter: "I've always felt the harder I work, the luckier I get. I believe in serendipitous things happening, but at the same time, dedicating yourself to what you do is the best way to get along in this life."
Bob Thomas, a longtime Associated Press journalist who died in 2014, was the principal writer of this obituary.
