Jose Alencar - March 29, 2011

Former Brazilian Vice President Jose Alencar died on March 29th after a long battle with abdominal cancer. He was 79. The textile magnate shared eight years of government with Brazil's first working-class president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

NY Times Obit

Christopher Hitchens - Dec 15, 2011

A great thinker has passed. Some of his better thoughts:

ON RELIGION: “ To ‘choose’ dogma and faith over doubt and experience is to throw out the ripening vintage and to reach greedily for the Kool-Aid.” —God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, 2007

ON HYPOCRITES: “Nothing optional—from homosexuality to adultery—is ever made punishable unless those who do the prohibiting (and exact the fierce punishment) have a repressed desire to participate.” —God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, 2007

ON THE AMERICAN LEFT: “One of the many problems with the American left, and indeed of the American left, has been its image and self-image as something rather too solemn, mirthless, herbivorous, dull, monochrome, righteous, and boring.” —Frontpagemag.com, 2004

NY TIme Obit

Eleanor Mondale - Sept 17, 2011

Eleanor began her broadcasting career in the late 1980s as a radio D.J. in Chicago. In 1989, she became an entertainment reporter at WCCO-TV in Minneapolis. She later worked as a D.J. at WLOL-FM, a Minneapolis radio station, and as an on-air personality at the E! Online cable channel, ESPN and “This Morning” on CBS.

She was only 51, but she had a full life. Over the years, she was romantically linked to various celebrities, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Warren Zevon and Don Henley, as well as the financier Ronald O. Perelman. She was married three times, first to Keith Van Horne, a former tackle for the Chicago Bears, in 1988; then to Greg Malban, a D.J. known as Greg Thunder, in 1991. In 2005 she married Chan Poling, a musician and composer, and took his last name. Nice Job!

Ny Time Obit

iDead

Apple founder and all-around cool businessman Steven Jobs died on Wednesday. He was 56 years old. Those 44 points are the first for me this year. And while he was no 'Amy Winehouse' we are getting near the end of 2011. Either way, at least I don't get blanked.

Another Update!!

I missed Jeff Conaway which puts Greg in the lead so far. BTW - It was easy to miss him as he was easily the least famous actor on Taxi.

Update!!!

We have not done a very good job updating this year's death pool. But as of July 23 it looks like we have had 6 deaths - Gerry Rafferty, Elizabeth Taylor, Harmon Killebrew, Betty Ford, Jack Kevorkian and now Amy Winehouse. The famous young, troubled singer gives Jacob 73 points and vaults him into the lead!!!

The first lingerer of the year - Elizabeth Taylor

Finally (respectfully). I believe she has been in the buzzards pool since the inception. I can't relly say much about her as I have seen none of her movies and never married her (she had a few from my understanding).

21 points for me which moves me in to 2nd place.

P.S. - Thanks to the Buzzards #1 fan for alerting me of this.