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Obituaries

Highlights

  1. Andy Paley, Whose Imprint Was All Over Pop Music, Dies at 73

    Musician, singer, songwriter, producer and more, he collaborated with Madonna and a raft of other artists and helped resuscitate the career of the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson.

     By Alex Williams

    Andy Paley in 2010. He played many roles over an ever-evolving career that involved singing, songwriting and producing.
    CreditJonathan Reilly

  2. Manfred Ohrenstein, Liberal Lion of N.Y. Legislature, Dies at 99

    He entered the State Senate as a reformer but during 34 years became part of the system he sought to reform.

     By Sam Roberts

    Manfred Ohrenstein in 1988. As leader of the Democratic minority in the State Senate, he achieved an enviable record of passing progressive legislation.
    CreditDavid Jennings/The New York Times

  3. Breyten Breytenbach, Anti-Apartheid Writer in Exile, Dies at 85

    He wrote poetry in Afrikaans and prose in English in his fight against South African racial oppression, an effort that landed him in jail for seven years.

     By Trip Gabriel

    Breyten Breytenbach, who was also a painter, at his Paris studio in 1989. He lived in exile in Paris after his wife, who was from Vietnam, was barred from South Africa because of the country’s race laws.
    CreditJulio Donoso/Sygma, via Getty Images

  4. Paul Caponigro, Photographer in Love with Nature, Dies at 91

    He photographed landscapes, deer, sunflowers and still lifes. “I knew that the forces of nature were a language,” he said. “Nature was really my teacher.”

     By Richard Sandomir

    “Running White Deer,” taken in 1967, was Mr. Caponigro’s most celebrated photograph. A fellow photographer called it “a fleeting moment perhaps in a dream.”
    Creditvia Caponigro Family

  5. Barbara Taylor Bradford, Whose Sagas Were Best Sellers, Dies at 91

    Her own rags-to-riches story mirrored those of many of her resilient heroines, and her dozens of novels helped her amass a fortune of $300 million.

     By Robert D. McFadden

    Barbara Taylor Bradford in her Park Avenue apartment in 2015. “I’m not going to go down in history as a great literary figure,” she said. “I’m a commercial writer — a storyteller.”
    CreditNancy Borowick for The New York Times

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Overlooked

More in Overlooked ›

  1. Overlooked No More: Margaret Getchell, Visionary Force at Macy’s

    As the store’s first female executive, she helped turn it into what it is today, paving the way for other women to hold senior positions in retail.

     By Stephanie Forshee

    Margaret Getchell in an undated photo. “She had a knack for knowing what the world wanted and needed first,” said Kathy Hilt, a division vice president at Macy’s Herald Square store.
    Credit

  2. Overlooked No More: Go-won-go Mohawk, Trailblazing Indigenous Actress

    In the 1880s, the only roles for Indigenous performers were laden with negative stereotypes. So Mohawk decided to write her own narratives.

     By Elyssa Goodman

    The actress Go-won-go Mohawk in costume in an undated photo. Her best-known role was the title character in “Wep-ton-no-mah, the Indian Mail Carrier” (1892), which she performed throughout Europe, Canada and the U.S.
    CreditNational Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

  3. Overlooked No More: Margaret E. Knight, Innovator of the Flat-Bottomed Paper Bag

    She came up with a method of automation so that workers would not have to make the bags by hand. Then she fought for credit for her work.

     By Glenn Rifkin

    Margaret E. Knight in photo from a 1912 newspaper clipping. She was enshrined in the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, in 2006.
    CreditBoston Sunday Post, via Newspaper Archive

  4. Overlooked No More: Mariama Bâ, Voice of African Feminism

    She became a literary star in Senegal with novels that addressed women’s issues as the country, newly free from French colonial rule, was discovering its identity.

     By Steven Moity

    Mariama Bâ in 1980. Her literary career was cut short when she died the next year at 52.
    CreditJörg Schmitt/picture alliance, via Getty Images

  5. Overlooked No More: Ellen Armstrong, ‘Marvelous, Mystifying’ Magician of Mirth

    Carrying on a family tradition, she brought her singular act, full of illusion and humor, to Black audiences in the segregated South and on up to Philadelphia.

     By Vanessa Armstrong

    Ellen Armstrong as a teenager in a costume she would typically wear while performing.
    Creditvia Michael Claxton Collection
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