On this day in 1784, author considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry, Phillis Wheatley Peters, died at the approximate age of 31 in Boston. Born in West Africa c. 1753, she was kidnapped and subsequently sold into enslavement at the age of seven or eight and transported to North America, where she was bought by the Wheatley family of Boston. After she learned to read and write, they encouraged her poetry when they saw her talent.
On a 1773 trip to London with her enslaver’s son, seeking publication of her work, Wheatley met prominent people who became patrons. The publication in London of her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral on September 1, 1773, brought her fame both in England and the American colonies. Figures such as George Washington praised her work. A few years later, African-American poet Jupiter Hammon praised her work in a poem of his own.
Wheatley was emancipated by her enslavers shortly after the publication of her book. They soon died, and she married John Peters, a poor grocer. They lost three children, who died young.
The Final Footprint
Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, Boston.
On this day in 1791, in my opinion, the greatest, most prolific and influential composer of classical music, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, died in Vienna at the age of 35. His baptismal name was Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. Born 27 January 1756 at 9 Getreidegasse in Salzburg, capital of the sovereign Archbishopric of Salzburg, in what is now Austria but at the time was part of the Bavarian Circle in the Holy Roman Empire. Of course my favorite works by Mozart are his operas particularly; Le nozze di Figaro (1786) (The Marriage of Figaro), Don Giovanni (1787), Cosi fan tutte (1790) (Women are like that) and Die Zauberflöte (1791) (The Magic Flute). Mozart married Constanze Weber on 4 August 1782. Mozart met fellow composer Joseph Haydn in Vienna and the two became friends. Haydn Told Mozart’s father; “I tell you before God, and as an honest man, your son is the greatest composer known to me by person and repute, he has taste and what is more the greatest skill in composition.” and “posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years”. Bravo Mozart!
Mozart’s memorial at Sankt Marxer Friedhof
The Final Footprint – In accordance with contemporary Viennese custom, Mozart was buried in a common unmarked grave at the Sankt Marxer Friedhof (St. Marx cemetery) outside of Vienna. In 1855, 64 years after his death, a gravestone was erected at what was presumed to be the correct spot. Later the stone was transferred to the group of famous musician graves at Zentralfriedhof, the largest and most famous cemetery among Vienna’s nearly 50 cemeteries. A cemetery worker replaced it with a memorial tablet, which was again expanded by several contributors. Other notable Final Footprints at Zentralfriedhof include; Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Antonio Salieri, Franz Schubert, Johann Strauss I, and Johann Strauss II. Amadeus a 1984 drama biopic film directed by Miloš Forman and written by Peter Shaffer, adapted from Shaffer’s stage play Amadeus, is based loosely on the lives of Mozart and Salieri. The movie features F. Murray Abraham as Salieri and Tom Hulce as Mozart. Amadeus was nominated for 53 awards and received 40, including eight Academy Awards (including Best Picture), four BAFTA Awards, four Golden Globes, and a DGA Award. In 1998, the American Film Institute ranked Amadeus 53rd on its 100 Years… 100 Movies list. One of my very favorite movies. Perhaps the best line from the movie, by Salieri: “This was no composition by a performing monkey! This was a music I’d never heard. Filled with such longing, such unfulfillable longing, it had me trembling. It seemed to me that I was hearing the very voice of God.”
On this day in 1870, writer Alexandre Dumas, died at the age of 68 in Puys (near Dieppe), Seine-Maritime, France. Born Dumas Davy de la Pailleteriein Villers-Cotterêts in the department of Aisne, in Picardy, France. Perhaps best known for his historical novels of high adventure. Translated into nearly 100 languages, these have made him one of the most widely read French authors in history. His novels include; The Nutcracker (Histoire d’un casse-noisette, 1844) (a revision of E. T. A. Hoffmann‘s story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, later set by composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to music for a ballet), The Three Musketeers (Les Trois Mousquetaires, 1844), and The Count of Monte Cristo (Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, 1845–1846). His novels have been adapted since the early twentieth century for nearly 200 films. Dumas’ last novel, The Knight of Sainte-Hermine, unfinished at his death, was completed by scholar Claude Schopp and published in 2005, becoming a bestseller. It was published in English in 2008 as The Last Cavalier. Dumas married the actress Ida Ferrier (born Marguerite-Joséphine Ferrand, but had numerous affairs, said to total 40. He was known to have at least four illegitimate or “natural” children, including a boy who became a successful novelist and playwright, and was known as Alexandre Dumas, fils (son). Among his affairs, in 1866 Dumas had one with Adah Isaacs Menken, an American actress then at the height of her career and less than half his age.
The Final Footprint – Dumas was cremated and his cremains were originally interred at his birthplace of Villers-Cotterêts in the department of Aisne. In 2002 for the bicentennial of Dumas’ birth, the French President, Jacques Chirac, had a ceremony honouring the author by having his cremains inurned at the mausoleum of the Panthéon of Paris, where many French luminaries were buried. The proceedings were televised: the new coffin was draped in a blue velvet cloth and carried on a caisson flanked by four mounted Republican Guards costumed as the four Musketeers. It was transported through Paris to the Panthéon. In his speech, President Chirac said:
“With you, we were D’Artagnan, Monte Cristo, or Balsamo, riding along the roads of France, touring battlefields, visiting palaces and castles—with you, we dream.”
Other notable Final Footprints at the Panthéon include: Victor Hugo, Louis Braille, Pierre and Marie Curie, André Malraux, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, and Émile Zola.
On this day in 1926, a founder of French Impressionist painting, Claude Monet died of lung cancer at the age of 86 in Giverny, France. Born Oscar-Claude Monet on 14 November 1840 on the 5th floor of 45 rue Laffitte, in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. In my opinion, Monet was the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement’s philosophy of expressing one’s perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. The term Impressionism is derived from the title of his painting Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant). Monet’s Camille or The Woman in the Green Dress (La femme à la robe verte), painted in 1866, brought him recognition and was one of many works featuring his future wife, Camille Doncieux; she was the model for the figures in Women in the Garden of the following year, as well as for On the Bank of the Seine, Bennecourt, 1868. Camille became pregnant and gave birth to their first child, Jean in 1867. Monet and Camille married 28 June 1870. Camille became ill in 1876. They had a second son, Michel, on 17 March 1878. This second child weakened her already fading health. In that same year, Monet moved to the village of Vétheuil. On 5 September 1879, Camille died of tuberculosis at the age of thirty-two; Monet painted her on her death bed. Monet later explained that his need to analyse colours was both the joy and torment of his life. He reportedly said, “I one day found myself looking at my beloved wife’s dead face and just systematically noting the colours according to an automatic reflex!” Monet married again, Alice Hoschedé (1892 – 1911 her death).
The Final Footprint – Monet is interred in the Giverny church cemetery. He had insisted that his funeral be simple. His long-time friend Georges Clemenceau removed the black cloth draped over the coffin, stating, “Pas de noir pour Monet!” and replaced it with a flower-patterned curtain. His home, garden and waterlily pond were bequeathed by his son Michel, his only heir, to the French Academy of Fine Arts (part of the Institut de France) in 1966. Through the Fondation Claude Monet, the house and gardens were opened for visits in 1980, following restoration. In addition to souvenirs of Monet and other objects of his life, the house contains his collection of Japanese woodcut prints. The house is one of the two main attractions of Giverny, which hosts tourists from all over the world.
Gallery
Le déjeuner sur l’herbe, (right section), with Gustave Courbet, 1865–1866, Musée d’Orsay, Paris-
View at Rouelles, Le Havre 1858, Private collection.
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Mouth of the Seine, 1865, The Norton Simon Foundation, Pasadena, CA
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The Woman in the Green Dress, Camille Doncieux, 1866, Kunsthalle Bremen.
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Le déjeuner sur l’herbe, 1865–1866, The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow.
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Flowering Garden at Sainte-Adresse, 1866, Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
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Women in a Garden, 1866–1867, Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
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Woman in a Garden, 1867, Hermitage, St. Petersburg
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Jardin à Sainte-Adresse, 1867, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
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The Luncheon, 1868, Städel Museum, Frankfurt
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Pheasant, 1869. Private collection.
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The Magpie, 1868–1869. Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
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Seine Basin with Argenteuil, 1872, Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
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Springtime (1872). The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.
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Jean Monet on his hobby horse, 1872, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
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Camille Monet on a Garden Bench, 1873, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
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The Artist’s house at Argenteuil, 1873, The Art Institute of Chicago
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Poppies Blooming, 1873, Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
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Train in the Snow, 1875, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris.
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Madame Monet in a Japanese Costume, 1875, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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Camille Monet at her tapestry loom, 1875, Barnes Foundation, Merion, PA
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Argenteuil, 1875, Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris.
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The Boat Studio, 1876, Barnes Foundation, Merion, PA
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Saint Lazare Train Station, Paris, 1877, The Art Institute of Chicago
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Rue Montorgueil, 1878, Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
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Vétheuil in the Fog, 1879, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris.
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Camille Monet on her deathbed, 1879, Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
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Street in Vétheuil in Winter, 1879, Gothenburg Museum of Art
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Lavacourt: Sunshine and Snow, 1879–1880 National Gallery, London.
Monet, in his garden, by Étienne Clémentel, c. 1917
Monet, right, in his garden at Giverny, 1922
Port-Goulphar, Belle Île, 1887, Art Gallery of New South Wales
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The Artist’s Garden at Vétheuil, 1880, National Gallery of Art
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The Lindens of Poissy, 1882
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La maison du pêcheur à Varengeville (The Fisherman’s house at Varengeville), 1882, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam
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Rock Arch West of Étretat (The Manneport), 1883, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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The Cliffs at Etretat, 1885, Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts
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Still-Life with Anemones, 1885
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Bordighera, 1884, The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois
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Study of a Figure Outdoors: Woman with a Parasol, facing left, 1886. The pictured woman is Suzanne Hoschedé (c. 1864–1899), eldest daughter of Alice Hoschedé, second wife of Monet, Musée d’Orsay.
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The Port Coton Pyramids, 1886
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Oat and Poppy Field, Giverny, 1890
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Haystacks, (sunset), 1890–1891, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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Poplars, (autumn), 1891, Philadelphia Museum of Art
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Four Poplars on the Banks of the Epte River near Giverny, 1891, Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Rouen Cathedral, Façade (sunset), 1892–1894, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris
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The Seine at Giverny, 1897, National Gallery of Art
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Charing Cross Bridge, 1899, Collection Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid
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Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies, 1899, Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Poplars on the Epte, 1900, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
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The Garden in Flower, 1900
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Garden Path, 1902, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere
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Houses of Parliament, London, c. 1904, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris
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Water Lilies, 1906, Art Institute of Chicago
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Water Lilies, 1907, Bridgestone Museum of Art, Tokyo
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Palace From Mula, Venice, 1908, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
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The Grand Canal, Venice 1908, Boston Museum of Fine Arts
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Water Lilies, 1914–1917, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio
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Nympheas, 1915, Neue Pinakothek, Munich
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Nympheas, 1915, Musée Marmottan Monet
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White and yellow Water Lilies, (1915–1917), Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland
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Nympheas, c. 1916, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris
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Water Lilies, 1916, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo
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Water Lilies and Reflections of a Willow (1916–19), Musée Marmottan Monet
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Water-Lily Pond and Weeping Willow, 1916–1919
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Water Lilies, 1917–1919, Honolulu Museum of Art
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Weeping Willow, 1918–1919
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Weeping Willow, 1918–1919, Kimball Art Museum, Fort Worth
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Water Lilies, 1919, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
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Sea-Roses (Yellow Nirwana), 1920, The National Gallery, London
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Water-Lily Pond, c. 1915–1926, Chichu Art Museum, Naoshima, Kagawa, Japan
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The Rose-Way in Giverny, 1920–1922, Musée Marmottan Monet
#RIP #OTD in 2008 actress (An American in Paris, Executive Suite, The Ten Commandments, Spartacus), acting instructor, Nina Foch died from the blood disorder myelodysplasia at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, aged 84. Cremation
On this day in 2010 Dallas Cowboys quarterback, Monday Night Football sports commentator, actor, Dandy Don, Don Meredith died at St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, after suffering a brain hemorrhage, aged 72. Born Joseph Don Meredith on 10 April 1938 in Mount Vernon, Texas.
He spent all nine seasons of his professional playing career (1960–1968) with the Cowboys. He was named to the Pro Bowl in each of his last three years as a player. He subsequently became a color analyst for NFL telecasts from 1970 to 1984. As an original member of the Monday Night Football broadcast team, he famously played the role of Howard Cosell’s comic foil. Meredith was also an actor who appeared in a dozen films and seven major television shows, some of which had him as the main starring actor. He is probably familiar to television audiences as Bert Jameson, a recurring role he had in Police Story.
The Final Footprint
Mount Vernon City Cemetery.
On this day in 2012, jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck died of heart failure in Norwalk, Connecticut, at the age of 91. Born David Warren Brubeck on December 6, 1920 in Concord, California. In my opinion, he is one of the foremost exponents of cool jazz. Many of his compositions have become jazz standards including “In Your Own Sweet Way” and “The Duke”. Brubeck’s style ranged from refined to bombastic, reflecting both his mother’s classical training and his own improvisational skills. His music is known for employing unusual time signatures as well as superimposing contrasting rhythms, meters, and tonalities.
Brubeck experimented with time signatures throughout his career, recording “Pick Up Sticks” in 64, “Unsquare Dance” in 74, “World’s Fair” in 134, and “Blue Rondo à la Turk” in 98. He was also a composer of orchestral and sacred music and wrote soundtracks for television, such as Mr. Broadway and the animated miniseries This Is America, Charlie Brown.
Often incorrectly attributed to Brubeck, the song “Take Five”, which has become a jazz standard, was composed by Brubeck’s long-time musical partner, alto saxophonist Paul Desmond.[1] Appearing on one of the top-selling jazz albums, Time Out, and written in 54 time, “Take Five” has endured as a jazz classic associated with Brubeck.
Brubeck married jazz lyricist Iola Whitlock in September 1942; the couple was married for 70 years, until his death in 2012. Iola died on March 12, 2014, from cancer in Wilton, Connecticut, at the age of 90.
The Final Footprint
Brubeck died one day before his 92nd birthday. A birthday party concert had been planned for him with family and famous guests. A memorial tribute was held in May 2013.
The Concord Boulevard Park in his hometown of Concord, California, was renamed to “Dave Brubeck Memorial Park” in his honor.
While on tour performing “Hot House” in Toronto, Chick Corea and Gary Burton completed a tribute to Brubeck on the day of his death. Corea played “Strange Meadow Lark”, from Brubeck’s album Time Out.
Brubeck is interred at Umpawaug Cemetery in Redding, Connecticut.
In the United States, May 4 is informally observed as “Dave Brubeck Day”. In the format most commonly used in the U.S., May 4 is written “5/4”, recalling the time signature of “Take Five”. In September 2019, musicologist Stephen A. Crist’s book, Dave Brubeck’s Time Out, provided the first scholarly book length analysis of the album.
A new biography of Dave Brubeck, by the British writer Philip Clark, was published by Da Capo Press in the US and Headline Publishing Group in the UK on February 18, 2020.
On this day in 2013, anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader, and philanthropist Nelson Mandela died at his home in Houghton, surrounded by his family, at the age of 95. Born Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela on 18 July 1918 in Mvezo, British South Africa. Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country’s first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by tackling institutionalised racism and fostering racial reconciliation. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as President of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997.
A Xhosa, Mandela was born to the Thembu royal family. He studied law at the University of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand before working as a lawyer in Johannesburg. There he became involved in anti-colonial and African nationalist politics, joining the ANC in 1943 and co-founding its Youth League in 1944. After the National Party’s white-only government established apartheid, a system of racial segregation that privileged whites, he and the ANC committed themselves to its overthrow. Mandela was appointed President of the ANC’s Transvaal branch, rising to prominence for his involvement in the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People. He was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and was unsuccessfully prosecuted in the 1956 Treason Trial. Influenced by Marxism, he secretly joined the banned South African Communist Party (SACP). Although initially committed to non-violent protest, in association with the SACP he co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe in 1961 and led a sabotage campaign against the government. He was arrested and imprisoned in 1962, and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiring to overthrow the state following the Rivonia Trial.
Mandela served 27 years in prison, split between Robben Island, Pollsmoor Prison, and Victor Verster Prison. Amid growing domestic and international pressure, and with fears of a racial civil war, President F. W. de Klerk released him in 1990. Mandela and de Klerk led efforts to negotiate an end to apartheid, which resulted in the 1994 multiracial general election in which Mandela led the ANC to victory and became president. Leading a broad coalition government which promulgated a new constitution, Mandela emphasised reconciliation between the country’s racial groups and created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate past human rights abuses. Economically, Mandela’s administration retained its predecessor’s liberal framework despite his own socialist beliefs, also introducing measures to encourage land reform, combat poverty, and expand healthcare services. Internationally, he acted as mediator in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial and served as Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1998 to 1999. He declined a second presidential term, and in 1999 was succeeded by his deputy, Thabo Mbeki. Mandela became an elder statesman and focused on combating poverty and HIV/AIDS through the charitable Nelson Mandela Foundation.
Mandela was a controversial figure for much of his life. Although critics on the right denounced him as a communist terrorist and those on the far-left deemed him too eager to negotiate and reconcile with apartheid’s supporters, he gained international acclaim for his activism. Widely regarded as an icon of democracy and social justice, he received more than 250 honours—including the Nobel Peace Prize—and became the subject of a cult of personality. He is held in deep respect within South Africa, where he is often referred to by his Xhosa clan name, Madiba, and described as the “Father of the Nation”.
His first marriage was to Evelyn Ntoko Mase in October 1944; they divorced in March 1958. Mandela’s second wife was the social worker Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, whom he married in June 1958. They divorced in March 1996. Mandela married his third wife, Graça Machel, on his 80th birthday in July 1998.
The Final Footprint
His death was publicly announced on television. Ten days of national mourning were proclained, and a memorial service was held at Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium on 10 December 2013. A national day of prayer and reflection was declared on 8 December. Mandela’s body lay in state from 11 to 13 December at the Union Buildings in Pretoria and a state funeral was held on 15 December in Qunu where he was interred in the Mandela Graveyard.
#RIP #OTD in 2022 actress (Cheers, Look Who’s Talking, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn), Kirstie Alley died from colon cancer at her home in Clearwater, Florida, at the age of 71. Cremation
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On this day in 1131 polymath, mathematician, astronomer, historian, philosopher, and poet Omar Khayyam died in his hometown of Nishapur, Persia (now Iran) aged 83. Born 18 May 1048 in Nishapur, the initial capital of the Seljuk Empire.
n this day in 1214, King of Scots from 1165 to 1214, William I, Uilleam mac Eanraig, Garbh (the Rough), founder of Arbroath Abbey, William the Lion, died in Stirling, Scotland at the age of 71. His reign was the second longest in Scottish history. William succeeded the throne upon the death of his brother Malcolm IV, being crowned on 24 December 1165. William was powerfully built and red headed.
The Final Footprint – William was interred before the high altar in Arbroath Abbey in Arbroath, Scotland. The Abbey is cared for by Historic Scotland and is open to the public throughout the year. The distinctive red sandstone ruins stand at the top of the High Street in Arbroath. In My Defens, God Me Defend!
On this day in 1649, poet, the Scottish Petrarch, William Drummond of Hawthornden died at the age of 63. Born on 13 December 1585 at Hawthornden Castle, Midlothian. A noteworthy feature in Drummond’s poetry, is that it owes its birth and inspiration to the English and Italian masters. Amid all his sensuousness, and even in those lines most conspicuously beautiful, there is a dash of melancholy thoughtfulness; a tendency perhaps deepened by the death of his first love, Mary Cunningham. Drummond was called “the Scottish Petrarch”; and his sonnets, which are the expression of a genuine passion, stand far above most of the contemporary Petrarcan imitations. A remarkable burlesque poem Polemo Middinia inter Vitarvam et Nebernam (printed anonymously in 1684) has been persistently, and with good reason, ascribed to him. It is a mock-heroic tale, in macaronic Latin enriched with Scottish Gaelic expressions, of a country feud on the Fife lands of his old friends the Cunninghams. Drummond married Elizabeth Logan in 1632.
The Final Footprint – Drummond was buried in his parish church of Lasswade.
On this day in 1976, guitarist and songwriter Tommy Bolin died from a drug overdose in Miami at the age 25. Born Thomas Richard Bolin on August 1, 1951 in Sioux City, Iowas. Bolin played with Zephyr (from 1969 to 1971), James Gang (from 1973 through 1974), and Deep Purple (from 1975 to 1976), in addition to maintaining a notable career as a solo artist and session musician. Much of his discography was either unreleased at the time of recording, or had gone out of print and was not released again until years after his death.
The Final Footprint
On this day in 1993, musician, songwriter, composer, recording engineer, record producer, and film director, Frank Zappa died in his home in Los Angeles with his wife and children by his side from prostate cancer at the age of 52. Born Frank Vincent Zappa was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on 21 December 1940. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. Zappa produced almost all of the more than 60 albums he released with the band The Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. While in his teens, he acquired a taste for 20th-century classical composers such as Edgard Varèse, Igor Stravinsky, and Anton Webern along with 1950s rhythm and blues music. Zappa was a self-taught composer and performer, and his diverse musical influences led him to create music that was often difficult to categorize. His 1966 debut album with The Mothers of Invention, Freak Out!, combined songs in conventional rock and roll format with collective improvisations and studio-generated sound collages. His lyrics, often humorously, reflected his iconoclastic view of established social and political processes, structures and movements. He was a highly productive and prolific artist and gained widespread critical acclaim. Zappa and the Mothers were involved in a famous incident that inspired the great rock song “Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple. The lyrics of the song tell a true story: on 4 December 1971 Deep Purple had set up in Montreux, Switzerland to record an album using a mobile recording studio, rented from the Rolling Stones, at the entertainment complex that was part of the Montreux Casino. On the eve of the recording session a Zappa and The Mothers of Invention concert was held in the casino’s theatre. In the middle of Don Preston’s synthesizer solo on “King Kong”, the place suddenly caught fire when somebody in the audience fired a flare gun into the rattan covered ceiling. The resulting fire destroyed the entire casino complex, along with all the Mothers’ equipment. The “smoke on the water” that became the title of the song referred to the smoke from the fire spreading over Lake Geneva from the burning casino as the members of Deep Purple watched the fire from their hotel. Zappa was married to Kathryn J. “Kay” Sherman from 1960 to 1964. In 1967, he married Adelaide Gail Sloatman, with whom he remained until his death from prostate cancer in 1993.
The Final Footprint – Zappa was interred in an unmarked grave at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. On Monday, 6 December, his family publicly announced that “Composer Frank Zappa left for his final tour just before 6:00 pm on Saturday.” Zappa was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. 
And on this day in 2015, actor and director Robert Loggia died 
On this day in 1894, Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer Robert Louis Stevenson died, probably of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 44 in Vailima, Samoa. Born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson at 8 Howard Place, Edinburgh, on 13 November 1850. Perhaps best know for his novels; Treasure Island (1883), Kidnapped (1886), and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886). Stevenson married once, Frances (Fanny) Matilda Van de Grift (1880 – 1894 his death). For more on their love story visit our sister site, 
The Final Footprint – Upon his death, the Samoans insisted on surrounding his body with a watch-guard during the night and on bearing their Tusitala (his Somoan name which translates as Teller of Tales) upon their shoulders to nearby Mount Vaea, where they buried him on a spot overlooking the sea. Stevenson had always wanted his ‘Requiem’ inscribed on his tomb:
On this day in 1919, the artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style, a celebrator of beauty and feminine sensuality, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, died in the village of Cagnes-sur-Mer, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France, at the age of 78.
On this day in 1999, actress, comedian, and singer Madeline Kahn died from ovarian cancer in New York City, at the age of 57. Born Madeline Gail Wolfson on September 29, 1942 in Boston. Perhaps best known for comedic roles in films directed by Peter Bogdanovich and Mel Brooks, including What’s Up, Doc? (1972), Young Frankenstein (1974), High Anxiety(1977), History of the World, Part I (1981), and her Academy Award-nominated roles in Paper Moon (1973) and Blazing Saddles (1974).
On this day in 2015, musician, singer and songwriter Scott Weiland died of an accidental drug overdose on his tour bus in Bloomington, Minnesota at the age of 48. Born Scott Richard Weiland né Kline, on October 27, 1967 in San Jose, California. During a career spanning three decades, Weiland was best known as the lead singer of the band Stone Temple Pilots from 1989 to 2002 and 2008 to 2013. He was also a member of supergroup Velvet Revolver from 2003 to 2008 and recorded one album with another supergroup, Art of Anarchy. He also established himself as a solo artist, releasing three studio albums, two cover albums, and collaborations with several other musicians throughout his career.
On this day in 1469, banker, de facto ruler of Florence from 1464 to 1469, during the Italian Renaissance, Piero di Cosimo de’ Medici died from gout and lung disease in Florence at the age of 53. Born in Florence on 19 September 1416, the son of Cosimo de’ Medici the Elder and Contessina de’ Bardi.
On this day in 1740, French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher and writer, famous for his libertine sexuality, Marquis de Sade died at the age of 74 in Charenton, Val-de-Marne, Paris. Born Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade on 2 June 1740 in the Hôtel de Condé, Paris. His works include novels, short stories, plays, dialogues and political tracts; in his lifetime some were published under his own name, while others appeared anonymously and de Sade denied being their author. Perhaps best known for his erotic works, which combined philosophical discourse with pornography, depicting sexual fantasies with an emphasis on violence, criminality and blasphemy against the Catholic Church. He was a proponent of extreme freedom, unrestrained by morality, religion or law. The words “sadism” and “sadist” are derived from his name. De Sade was incarcerated in various prisons and in an insane asylum for about 32 years of his life; 11 years in Paris (10 of which were spent in the Bastille), a month in the Conciergerie, two years in a fortress, a year in Madelonnettes, three years in Bicêtre, a year in Sainte-Pélagie and 13 years in the Charenton asylum. During the French Revolution he was an elected delegate to the National Convention. Many of his works were written in prison.
The Final Footprint – De Sade left instructions in his will forbidding that his body be opened for any reason whatsoever, and that it remain untouched for 48 hours in the chamber in which he died, and then placed in a coffin and buried on his property located in Malmaison near Épernon. His skull was later removed from the grave for phrenological examination.
On this day in 1990, Academy Award-winning and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, teacher, lecturer, critic, writer and conductor, the dean of American composers, Aaron Copland, died in North Tarryton, New York, at the age of 90. Born on 14 November 1900 in Brooklyn. Best known for Billy the Kid (1938) (ballet), Fanfare for the Common Man (1942), Rodeo (1942) (ballet) and Appalachian Spring (1944) (ballet).
On this day in 2008, 
On this day in 1521, Pope Leo X died in Rome, Papal States at the age of 45. Born Giovanni di Lorenzo de’ Medici on 11 December 1475 in the Republic of Florence, the second son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, who was head of the Florentine Republic. Leo was Pope from 9 March 1513 to his death in 1521. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 1489. Following the death of Pope Julius II, Giovanni was elected pope after securing the backing of the younger members of the Sacred College. Early on in his rule he oversaw the closing sessions of the Fifth Council of the Lateran, but failed sufficiently to implement the reforms agreed. In 1517 he led a costly war that succeeded in securing his nephew as duke of Urbino, but which damaged the papal finances. He later only narrowly escaped a plot by some cardinals to poison him. Perhaps best remembered for granting indulgences for those who donated to reconstruct St. Peter’s Basilica, which practice was challenged by Martin Luther‘s 95 Theses. He seems not to have taken seriously the array of demands for church reform that would quickly grow into the Protestant Reformation. His Papal Bull of 1520, Exsurge Domine, simply condemned Luther on a number of areas and made ongoing engagement difficult. He did, however, grant establishment to the Oratory of Divine Love. Leo borrowed and spent heavily. A significant patron of the arts, upon election Leo is alleged to have said, “Since God has given us the papacy, let us enjoy it”. Under his reign, progress was made on the rebuilding of Saint Peter’s Basilica and artists such as Raphael decorated the Vatican rooms. Leo also reorganised the Roman University, and promoted the study of literature, poetry and antiquities.
On this day in 1986, Texas Longhorn, quarterback, Hall of Famer, Bobby Layne, died in Lubbock, Texas. Born Robert Lawrence Layne on 19 December 1926 in Santa Anna, Texas. Layne attended Highland Park High School in Dallas and attended the University of Texas at Austin.
On this day in 1987, novelist and social critic James Baldwin died from stomach cancer at his home in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, at the age of 63. Born James Arthur Baldwin on August 2, 1924 in Harlem. His essays, as collected in Notes of a Native Son (1955), explore intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in Western societie. Some of Baldwin’s essays are book-length, including The Fire Next Time (1963), No Name in the Street (1972), and The Devil Finds Work (1976). An unfinished manuscript, Remember This House, was expanded and adapted for cinema as the Academy Award–nominated documentary film I Am Not Your Negro.
On this day in 1989, choreographer and activist Alvin Ailey died from HIV/AIDS complications in Manhattan, at the age of 58. Born on January 5, 1931 in Rogers, Texas. Perhaps best know as the founder of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Ailey School in New York City. He is credited with popularizing modern dance and revolutionizing African-American participation in 20th-century concert dance. His company gained the nickname “Cultural Ambassador to the World” because of its extensive international touring. Ailey’s choreographic masterpiece Revelations is believed to be the best known and most often seen modern dance performance. In 1977, Ailey was awarded the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP. He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1988. In 2014, President Barack Obama selected Ailey to be a posthumous recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
On this day in 1900, writer, playwright, poet, aesthete, Oscar Wilde died in Paris at the age of 46. Born Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde on 16 October 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. One of my favorite writers. Notable works: The Importance of being Earnest and The Picture of Dorian Gray. Wilde is also well known for his witty quotes. For example: “A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.” “A man can be happy with any woman as long as he does not love her.” “Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.” “Arguments are to be avoided; they are always vulgar and often convincing.” “I always like to know everything about my new friends, and nothing about my old ones.” “I am not young enough to know everything.” “I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability.” “If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you.” “Illusion is the first of all pleasures.” “A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone’s feelings unintentionally.” “In married life three is company and two none.” “Life is too important to be taken seriously.” “One should always be in love. That is the reason one should never marry.” “Women are made to be loved, not understood.” “I’m not saying we should misbehave, but we ought to look as though we might.” There are literally hundreds more. Wilde was married to Constance Loyd (1898 her death).
The Final Footprint – Wilde was initially buried in the Cimetière de Bagneux outside Paris. In 1909 his remains were disinterred and entombed in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. His large rectangular granite tomb was designed by Sir Jacob Epstein, commissioned by Robert Ross, who asked for a small compartment to be made for his own ashes which were duly transferred in 1950. The modernist angel depicted as a relief on the tomb was originally complete with male genitalia which have since been vandalised; their current whereabouts are unknown. In 2000, Leon Johnson, a multimedia artist, installed a silver prosthesis to replace them. The epitaph is a verse from The Ballad of Reading Gaol:
On this day in 1967, Irish poet and novelist Patrick Kavanagh died at the age of 63 in a Dublin nursing home. In my opinion, one of the foremost poets of the 20th century. Perhaps his best known works include the novel Tarry Flynn and the poems Raglan Road and The Great Hunger. Born in rural Inniskeen, County Monaghan on 21 October 1904.
The Final Footprint – His grave is in Inniskeen adjoining the Patrick Kavanagh Centre. His wife Katherine died in 1989; she is also buried there. His epitaph…
On this day in 2007, stunt performer Evel Knievel died from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in Clearwater, Florida at the age of 69. Born Robert Craig Knievel on 17 October 1938 in Butte, Montana. In his career, he attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps between 1965 and 1980. In 1974, he attempted and failed a jump across Snake River Canyon in the Skycycle X-2, a steam-powered rocket. He suffered more than 433 bone fractures in his career, thereby earning an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the survivor of “most bones broken in a lifetime”. Knievel was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999. Knievel said; “You can’t ask a guy like me why I performed. I really wanted to fly through the air. I was a daredevil, a performer. I loved the thrill, the money, the whole macho thing. All those things made me Evel Knievel. Sure, I was scared. You gotta be an ass not to be scared. But I beat the hell out of death.” Fanfare Films produced Evel Knievel, a 1971 movie starring George Hamilton as Knievel. Knievel married twice; Linda Joan Bork (1959–97 divorce) and Krystal Kennedy (1999–2001 divorce).
The Final Footprint – Knievel was buried at Mountain View Cemetery in his hometown of Butte on December 10, 2007, following a funeral at the 7,500-seat Butte Civic Center presided over by Pastor Dr. Robert H. Schuller with actor Matthew McConaughey giving the eulogy. Prior to the Monday service, fireworks exploded in the Butte night sky as pallbearers carried Knievel’s casket into the center.
On this day in 2013, actor Paul Walker died from injuries sustained as a passenger in a single-car crash alongside friend and driver Roger Rodas, on Hercules Street near Kelly Johnson Parkway in Valencia, Santa Clarita, California, at the age of 40. Born Paul William Walker IV on September 12, 1973 in Glendale, California. Perhaps best known for his role as Brian O’Conner in The Fast and the Furious franchise. Walker first gained prominence in 1999 with roles in the teen films She’s All That and Varsity Blues. In 2001, he gained international fame for his role in the street racing action film The Fast and the Furious (2001), a role he reprised in five of the next six installments.
On this day in 2017, actor, singer, comedian Jim Nabors died at his home in Honolulu, at the age of 87. Born James Thurston Nabors on June 12, 1930 in Sylacauga, Alabama. Perhaps best known for his signature character Gomer Pyle.
On this day in 1643, composer, string player and choirmaster Claudio Monteverdi died in Venice at the age of 76. Baptized Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi on 15 May 1567 in the church of SS Nazaro e Celso, Cremona. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considered an important transitional figure between the Renaissance and the Baroque periods of music history.
On this day in 1924, composer, Giacomo Puccini, died in Brussels, Belgium at the age of 65 from complications of throat cancer. Born Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini on 22 December 1858 in Lucca, Tuscany, Italy. Puccini’s operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire. Some of his arias, such as “O mio babbino caro” from Gianni Schicchi, “Che gelida manina” from La bohème, and “Nessun dorma” from Turandot, have become part of popular culture. I fell in love with a pretty woman during a performance of La bohème. In the autumn of 1884, Puccini began a relationship with a married woman named Elvira Gemignani (née Bonturi) in Lucca. Elvira became pregnant by Puccini, and their son, Antonio, was born in 1886. Elvira, Antonio and Elvira’s daughter Fosca, began to live with Puccini shortly afterwards. Elvira’s husband, Narisco, was killed by the husband of a woman that Narisco had an affair with. Only then were Puccini and Elvira able to marry, and to legitimize Antonio. The marriage between Puccini and Elvira was apparently troubled by infidelity, as Puccini had frequent affairs himself, including with well-known singers such as Maria Jeritza, Emmy Destinn, Cesira Ferrani, and Hariclea Darclée.
The Final Footprint – News of his death reached Rome during a performance of La bohème. The opera was immediately stopped, and the orchestra played Chopin’s Funeral March for the stunned audience. Puccini was temporarily entombed in the Toscanini Private Mausoleum in the Cimitero Monumentale in Milan. Puccini’s son arranged for the transfer of his father’s remains to a specially created chapel inside the Puccini villa at Torre del Lago, Toscana, Italy in 1926.
On this day in 1981, actress Natalie Wood drowned under suspicious circumstances near Santa Catalina Island, California at the age of 43. Born Natalia Nikolaevna Zacharenko in San Francisco on 20 July 1938. Perhaps best known for her screen roles in Miracle on 34th Street, Splendor in the Grass, Rebel Without a Cause, and West Side Story. After first working in films as a child, Wood became a successful Hollywood star as a young adult, receiving three Academy Award nominations before she was 25 years old. Wood began acting in movies at the age of four and at age eight was given a co-starring role in the classic Christmas film Miracle on 34th Street. As a teenager, her performance in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She starred in the musical films West Side Story (1961) and Gypsy (1962), and received Academy Award for Best Actress nominations for her performances in Splendor in the Grass (1961) and Love with the Proper Stranger (1963). She was married to actor Robert Wagner twice, and to producer Richard Gregson in between her marriages to Wagner. She had one daughter by each: Natasha Gregson and Courtney Wagner. Her younger sister, Lana Wood, is also an actress.
On this day in 1986, actor Cary Grant died in St. Luke’s Hospital in Davenport, Iowa from a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 82. Born Archibald Alexander Leach at 15 Hughenden Road, Horfield, Bristol, England on 18 January 1904.
On this day in 2001, musician, singer and songwriter, lead guitarist of the Beatles, member of the Traveling Wilburys, George Harrison died at the age of 58 at a Hollywood Hills mansion that was once leased by Paul McCartney and was previously owned by Courtney Love. The cause of death is listed on his Los Angeles County death certificate as “metastatic non-small cell lung cancer”. The second Beattle to pass away after John Lennon’s murder. Born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, on 25 February 1943. Among the songs he wrote or co-wrote include; “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, “Here Comes the Sun”, “It Don’t Come Easy”, and “All Those Years Ago.” Harrison married twice, first to Pattie Boyd (1966 – 1977 divorce), and Olivia Trinidad Arias (1978 – 2001 his death).
which shows the young David about to slay the giant Goliath with a stone from his slingshot. The original is in the Galleria Borghese in Rome. A replica in white Carrara marble resides at 
On this day in 1859, short story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat Washington Irving died of a heart attack in his bedroom at Sunnyside at the age of 76. Born on April 3, 1783 in Manhattan. Perhaps best known for his short stories “Rip Van Winkle” (1819) and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1820), both of which appear in his collection, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works include biographies of Oliver Goldsmith, Muhammad, and George Washington, as well as several histories of 15th-century Spain dealing with subjects such as Alhambra, Christopher Columbus, and the Moors. Irving served as the U.S. ambassador to Spain from 1842 to 1846.
Legend has it that his last words were: “Well, I must arrange my pillows for another night. When will this end?” He was buried under a simple headstone at Sleepy Hollow cemetery on December 1, 1859.
On this day in 1960, author of novels, short stories, poems, and non-fiction, Richard Wright died in Paris from a heart attack at the age of 52. Born Richard Nathaniel Wright on 4 September 1908 near Roxie, Mississippi. Perhaps best known for his novel Native Son (1940). Wright married twice; Valencia Barnes Meadman (1939 – 1940 divorce) and Ellen Poplar (1941 – 1960 his death).
The Final Footprint – Wright was cremated and his cremains are inurned in a columbarium in Cimetière du Père Lachaise in Paris. Père Lachaise is the largest cemetery in Paris and one of the most visited cemeteries in the world. Other notable Final Footprints at Père Lachaise include; Guillaume Apollinaire, Honoré de Balzac, Georges Bizet, Jean-Dominique Bauby, Maria Callas, Chopin, Colette, Auguste Comte, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Max Ernst, Molière, Jim Morrison, Édith Piaf, Camille Pissarro, Marcel Proust, Sully Prudhomme, Gioachino Rossini, Georges-Pierre Seurat, Simone Signoret, Gertrude Stein, Dorothea Tanning, Alice B. Toklas, and Oscar Wilde.
On this day in 8 BC, Roman lyric poet, Horace died in Rome at the age of 56. Born Quintus Horatius Flaccus on 8 December 65 BC in the Samnite south of Italy. The rhetorician Quintillian regarded his Odes as just about the only Latin lyrics worth reading: “He can be lofty sometimes, yet he is also full of charm and grace, versatile in his figures, and felicitously daring in his choice of words.” Horace also crafted hexameter verses (Sermones and Epistles) and iambic poetry (Epodes). The satirist Persius commented: “as his friend laughs, Horace slyly puts his finger on his every fault; once let in, he plays about the heartstrings”. His career coincided with Rome’s momentous change from Republic to Empire. An officer in the republican army defeated at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC, he was befriended by Octavian’s right-hand man in civil affairs, Maecenas, and became a spokesman for the new regime. For some commentators, his association with the regime was a balance in which he maintained a strong measure of independence (he was “a master of the graceful sidestep”) but for others he was, in John Dryden‘s phrase, “a well-mannered court slave”. (Drawing of Horace, as imagined by Anton von Werner.)
On this day in 1895, French author and dramatist, the son of Alexandre Dumas, père, Alexandre Dumas, fils died at Marly-le-Roi, Yvelines, at the age of 71. Born 27 July 1824 in Paris. When he was 20 years old, Dumas moved to Saint-Germain-en-Laye to live with his father. There, he met Marie Duplessis, a young courtesan who would be the inspiration for his romantic novel The Lady of the Camellias (La Dame aux camélias), wherein Duplessis was named Marguerite Gauthier. Adapted into a play, it was titled Camille in English and became the basis for Verdi’s 1853 opera, La Traviata, Duplessis undergoing yet another name change, this time to Violetta Valery. Dumas married Nadjeschda von Knorring (1867 – 1895 her death) and Henriette Régnier de La Brière (1895–1895 his death).
The Final Footprint – Dumas was interred in the Cimetière de Montmartre in Paris. His grave is only some 100 metres away from that of Duplessis. The film Pretty Woman (1990), starring Richard Gere as Edward Lewis and Julia Roberts as Vivian Ward, has a similar plot as La Traviata and Lewis takes Ward to see the opera, her first. Other notable final footprints at Montmartre include; Hector Berlioz, Dalida, Edgar Degas, Marie Duplessis, Théophile Gautier, Gustave Moreau, Henri Murger, Jacques Offenbach, Stendhal, François Truffaut, Horace Vernet, and Alfred de Vigny.
On this day in 1953, playwright and Nobel laureate in literature, Eugene O’Neill, died in room 401 of the Sheraton Hotel on Bay State Road in Boston, Massachusetts, at the age of 65. Born Eugene Gladstone O’Neill on 16 October 1888 in The Barrett Hotel in Times Square. Perhaps best known for his masterpiece Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1957), which waqs published posthumously and won the Pulizer Prize in 1957. In addition to that play I like Mourning Becomes Electra (1931) and The Iceman Cometh (1946). O’Neill married three times; Kathleen Jenkins (divorce), Agnes Boulton (divorce) and Carlotta Monterey (his death). His sons, Eugene Jr. and Shane, both died by suicide. His daughter Oona married actor, director, producer Charlie Chaplin.
The Final Footprint – O’Neill’s reported last words were; “I knew it. I knew it. Born in a hotel room, and Goddamnit, died in a hotel room.” O’Neill is interred in the Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood. The Barrett hotel where O’Neill was born is now a Starbucks, surprise, and there is a commemorarive birth plaque on the outside wall. A statue of the young O’Neill was installed on the waterfront in Boston.
On this day in 1504, Isabella the Catholic, queen of Castile and León (Crown of Castile), Isabella I died in Medina del Campo at the age of 53. Born in Madrigal de las Altas Torres, Ávila, to John II of Castile and Isabella of Portugal on 22 April 1451. She and her husband, Ferdinand II of Aragon, brought stability to the kingdoms that became the basis for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. After a struggle to claim her right to the throne, she reorganised the governmental system, brought the crime rate to the lowest it had been in years, and unburdened the kingdom of enormous debt. Isabella’s reforms and those she made with her husband had an influence that extended well beyond the borders of their united kingdoms. Isabella and Ferdinand are known for completing the Reconquista, ordering conversion or exile of their Muslim and Jewish subjects in the Spanish Inquisition, and for supporting and financing Christopher Columbus’s 1492 voyage that led to the opening of the New World. Isabella was granted the title Servant of God by the Catholic Church in 1974.
The Final Footprint – Isabella is entombed in Granada in the Capilla Real, which was built by her grandson, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (Carlos I of Spain), alongside her husband Ferdinand, her daughter Joanna and Joanna’s husband Philip; and Isabella’s 2-year-old grandson, Miguel (the son of Isabella’s daughter, also named Isabella, and King Manuel I of Portugal). The museum next to the Capilla Real holds her crown and scepter.
On this day in 1883, abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth died at her Battle Creek, Michigan home, at the approximate age of 86. 
The Final Footprint
On this day in 1956, jazz trombonist, trumpeter, composer, bandleader of the Big Band era, younger brother of Jimmy, “The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing”, Tommy Dorsey, died at his Greenwich, Connecticut home at the age of 51. Born Thomas Francis Dorsey, Jr. on 19 November 1905 near Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. Dorsey married three times, Mildred Kraft (divorce), Pat Dane (divorce), Jane Carl New (his death).
The Final Footprint – Dorsey is interred in the Dorsey Private Hedge Estate in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. The estate is marked by a large upright granite marker. His grave is marked by a full ledger granite marker inscribed with a picture of sheet music and a trombone and his nickname, The Sentimental Gentleman.
On this day in 2021 composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim died of cardiovascular disease at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut, at the age of 91. Born Stephen Joshua Sondheim on March 22, 1930, in New York City
