On this day in 1837, Italian poet, essayist, philosopher, and philologist, Giacomo Leopardi died in Naples at the age of 38 during the cholera epidemic. Born Giacomo Taldegardo Francesco di Sales Saverio Pietro Leopardi on 29 June 1798 in Recanati, Papal States. Although he lived in a secluded town in the ultra-conservative Papal States, he came in touch with the main thoughts of the Enlightenment, and by his own literary evolution, created a remarkable and renowned poetic work, related to the Romantic era.
The Final Footprint – Thanks to Antonio Ranieri’s intervention with the authorities, Leopardi’s remains were prevented from being ignominiously buried in the common grave (as the strict hygienic regulations of the time required) and he was entombed in the atrium of the church of San Vitale at Fuorigrotta. In 1939 his tomb, moved to the Parco Virgiliano, was declared a national monument.
#RIP #OTD in 1926 painter, printmaker, one of “les trois grandes dames” of Impressionism, Mary Cassatt died at Château de Beaufresne, near Paris, aged 82. The family vault at Le Mesnil-Théribus, France
On this day in 1968, Italian author and poet, 1959 recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature “for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times”, Salvatore Quasimodo died from a cerebral hemorrhage in a hospital in Naples at the age of 66. Born on 20 August 1901 in Modica, Sicily. Along with Giuseppe Ungaretti and Eugenio Montale, he is one of the foremost Italian poets of the 20th century.
The Final Footprint – He was interred in the Cimitero Monumentale in Milan.
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On this day in 1986, short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, Jorge Luis Borges died of liver cancer in Geneva at the age of 86. Born Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo on 24 August 1899 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was a key figure in Spanish-language literature. His best-known books, Ficciones (Fictions) and El Aleph (The Aleph), published in the 1940s, are compilations of short stories interconnected by common themes, including dreams, labyrinths, libraries, mirrors, fictional writers, philosophy, and religion. Borges’ works have contributed to philosophical literature and the fantasy genre.
In 1914, Borges’ family moved to Switzerland, where he studied at the Collège de Genève. The family travelled widely in Europe, including Spain. On his return to Argentina in 1921, Borges began publishing his poems and essays in surrealist literary journals. He also worked as a librarian and public lecturer. In 1955, he was appointed director of the National Public Library and professor of English Literature at the University of Buenos Aires. He became completely blind by the age of 55; as he never learned braille, he became unable to read. Scholars have suggested that his progressive blindness helped him to create innovative literary symbols through imagination.
In 1961, he came to international attention when he received the first Formentor prize (Prix International), which he shared with Samuel Beckett. In 1971, he won the Jerusalem Prize. His work was translated and published widely in the United States and Europe. Borges himself was fluent in several languages. He dedicated his final work, The Conspirators, to the city of Geneva.
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María Kodama at the 2010 Frankfurt Book Fair
In 1967, Borges married the recently widowed Elsa Astete Millán. Friends believed that his mother, who was 90 and anticipating her own death, wanted to find someone to care for her blind son. The marriage lasted less than three years. After a legal separation, Borges moved back in with his mother, with whom he lived until her death at age 99. Thereafter, he lived alone in the small flat he had shared with her, cared for by Fanny, their housekeeper of many decades.
From 1975 until the time of his death, Borges traveled internationally. He was often accompanied in these travels by his personal assistant María Kodama, an Argentine woman of Japanese and German ancestry. In April 1986, a few months before his death, he married her via an attorney in Paraguay, in what was then a common practice among Argentines wishing to circumvent the Argentine laws of the time regarding divorce. On his religious views, Borges declared himself an agnostic, clarifying: “Being an agnostic means all things are possible, even God, even the Holy Trinity. This world is so strange that anything may happen, or may not happen.”
During his final days in Geneva, Borges began brooding about the possibility of an afterlife. Although calm and collected about his own death, Borges began probing Kodama as to whether she inclined more towards the Shinto beliefs of her father or the Catholicism of her mother. Kodama “had always regarded Borges as an Agnostic, as she was herself”, but given the insistence of his questioning, she offered to call someone more “qualified”. Borges responded, “You are asking me if I want a priest.” He then instructed her to call two clergymen, a Catholic priest, in memory of his mother, and a Protestant minister, in memory of his English grandmother. He was visited first by Father Pierre Jacquet and by Pastor Edouard de Montmollin.
The Final Footprint
His burial was preceded by an ecumenical service at the Protestant Cathédrale de Saint Pierre on 18 June. With many Swiss and Argentine dignitaries present, Pastor de Montmollin read the First Chapter of St John’s Gospel. He then preached that “Borges was a man who had unceasingly searched for the right word, the term that could sum up the whole, the final meaning of things.” He explained, however, that no man can reach that word through his own efforts and in trying becomes lost in a labyrinth. Pastor de Montmollin concluded, “It is not man who discovers the word, it is the Word that comes to him.”
Father Jacquet also preached, saying that, when visiting Borges before his death, he had found “a man full of love, who received from the Church the forgiveness of his sins”. After the funeral, Borges was laid to rest in Geneva’s Cimetière de Plainpalais. His grave, marked by a rough-hewn headstone, is adorned with carvings derived from Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse art and literature.
On this day in 1986, American lyricist and librettist, who in collaboration with Frederick Loewe, created some of the world’s most popular and enduring works of musical theatre for both the stage and on film, Alan Jay Lerner died of lung cancer in Manhattan at the age of 67. Born on 31 August 1918 in New York City. He won three Tony Awards and three Academy Awards, among other honors. My favorite Lerner and Loewe musicals are My Fair Lady (1956) and Camelot (1960). He married eight times: Ruth Boyd (1940–1947), singer Marion Bell (1947–1949), actress Nancy Olson (1950–1957), lawyer Micheline Muselli Pozzo di Borgo (1957–1965), editor Karen Gunderson (1966–1974), Sandra Payne (1974–1976), Nina Bushkin (1977–1981) and Liz Robertson (1981–1986 his death).
The Final Footprint – Lerner was cremated and his cremains scattered. He has a memorial plaque in St Paul’s Church, the Actors’ Church in Covent Garden in London.
On this day in 1994, United States Army veteran, composer, conductor and arranger, Grammy, Emmy and Oscar winner, Henry Mancini, died of pancreatic cancer in Los Angeles at the age of 70. Born Enrico Nicola Mancini on 16 April 1924 in Cleveland, Ohio. His parents emigrated to America from the Abruzzo region of Italy. Perhaps his best-known works include the theme to The Pink Panther film series (“The Pink Panther Theme”), the Peter Gunn Theme from the television series, the song “Baby Elephant Walk” from the Howard Hawks’s film Hatari (1962) starring John Wayne, and for the songs “Moon River” from the Blake Edwards‘ film Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) starring Audrey Hepburn and “Days of Wine and Roses” with lyrics by Johnny Mercer, from the 1962 Edwards’s film of the same name starring Jack Lemmon. Mancini was married to Virginia “Ginny” O’Connor (1951-1994 his death). The Final Footprint – Mancini was cremated.
#RIP #OTD in 2014 actress, artist, author, muse of Salvador Dalí, colleague of Andy Warhol and one of his so-called Superstars, Ultra Violet, Isabelle Collin Dufresne died in New York City at the age of 78, from cancer. Final resting place Saint-Égrève, near Grenoble, France
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On this day in 1878, American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post, William Cullen Bryant died at the age of 83 of complications from an accidental fall suffered after participating in a Central Park ceremony honoring Italian patriot Giuseppe Mazzini. Born 3 November 1794 in a log cabin near Cummington, Massachusetts. Perhaps best known for his poem “Thanatopsis”. The title is from the Greek thanatos (“death”) and opsis (“sight”); it has often been translated as “Meditation upon Death”.
On this day in 1963, African American civil rights activist from Mississippi involved in efforts to overturn segregation at the University of Mississippi, Medgar Evers was assassinated by gunshot in front of his home in Jackson, Mississippi. He was 37 years old. Born Medgar Wiley Evers on 2 July 1925 in Decatur, Mississippi.
On this day in 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman were stabbed to death in front of her home 875 South Bundy Drive, Brentwood, Los Angeles, at the ages of 35 and 25 respectively. Nicole Brown was born 19 May 1959 in Frankfurt, West Germany. Ronald Lyle Goldman was born 2 July 1968 in Cook County, Illinois.
Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village, California. O. J. Simpson was tried for the murders of both his ex-wife and Goldman. In October 1995, after a public trial that lasted nearly nine months, Simpson was acquitted of both murders. In a 1997 civil trial, a jury found Simpson liable for the wrongful death of Goldman and awarded $33 million (USD) in damages to the Goldman family. The rights to O. J. Simpson’s book, If I Did It, a first-person account of how he would have committed the murders, had he committed them, were awarded to the Goldman family in August 2007. The family was granted the proceeds from the book in 2007 as part of the
civil jury award against the ex-football star they had been trying to collect for over a decade. The Goldmans own the copyright, media rights and movie rights. They also acquired Simpson’s name, likeness, life story and right of publicity in connection with the book, according to court documents, ensuring Simpson would not be able to profit from the book. After renaming the book If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer, the Goldmans published it in September 2007 through Beaufort Books. The Goldman family contributed a portion of proceeds from the book sale to the newly founded Ron Goldman Foundation for Justice. The foundation provides grants for multiple organizations and programs that provide resources to victims and survivors of violent crimes. In 1994, Nicole Brown’s sister Denise established The Nicole Brown Charitable Foundation to help victims of domestic violence.
On this day in 2003, Academy Award winning actor Gregory Peck died at his home in Los Angeles from bronchopneumonia at the age of 87. Born Eldred Gregory Peck on 5 April 1916 in La Jolla, California. My favorite Peck movie roles include: as John Ballantyne in Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound (1945) with Ingrid Bergman; as Harry Street in The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952) based on the Ernest Hemingway short story of the same title, with Ava Gardner; as Joe Bradley in William Wyler’s Roman Holiday (1953) with Audrey Hepburn; as James McKay in Wyler’s The Big Country (1958) with Jean Simmons and Charlton Heston; as Sam Bowden in Cape Fear (1962) based on John D. McDonald’s novel The Executioners, with Robert Mitchum; as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) based on the Harper Lee novel of the same name, with Robert Duvall. Peck was married twice; Greta Kukkonen (1942-1955 divorce) and Veronique Passani (1955-2003 his death).
The Final Footprint – A Requiem Mass was held for Tracy on June 12 at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in East Hollywood. Active pallbearers included George Cukor, Stanley Kramer, Frank Sinatra, James Stewart and John Ford. Out of consideration for Tracy’s family, Hepburn did not attend the funeral. Tracy was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Other notable Final Footprints at Forest Lawn Glendale include; L. Frank Baum, Humphrey Bogart, Lon Chaney, Nat King Cole, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis, Jr., Jean Harlow, Sam Cooke, Walt Disney, Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Michael Jackson, Louis L’Amour, Carole Lombard, Tom Mix, Casey Stengel, Jimmy Stewart, and Elizabeth Taylor.
On this day in 1937, actress, Baby, the Blonde Bombshell, the Platinum Blonde, Jean Harlow died of renal failure in Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles at the age of 26. Born Harlean Harlow Carpenter on 3 March 1911 in Kansas City, Missouri. Howard Hughes signed Harlow to a contract and she appeared in his film Hell’s Angels (1930). She was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood in the 1930’s and appeared in five films with Clark Gable. Harlow married three times: Charles McGrew (1927-1929 divorce), Paul Bern (1932-1932 his death), Harold Rosson (1933-1934 divorce). After her third marriage ended in 1934, Harlow met William Powell, another MGM star, and quickly fell in love. Reportedly the couple were engaged for two years, but differences kept them from formalizing their relationship (she wanted children; he did not). Harlow also said that Louis B. Mayer would never allow them to marry.
The Final Footprint – Harlow is entombed in a private family room in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California. Her crypt is lettered; OUR BABY. She was buried in the gown she wore in Libeled Lady and in her hands she held a white gardenia and a note which Powell had written: “Goodnight, my dearest darling.” Spaces in the same room were reserved for Harlow’s mother and Powell. Harlow’s mother was entombed there in 1958, but Powell remarried in 1940 and after his death in 1984 was cremated: his ashes were scattered over the Palm Springs Desert area. Gable was a pallbearer. Other notable Final Footprints at Forest Lawn Glendale include; L. Frank Baum, Humphrey Bogart, Lon Chaney, Nat King Cole, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis, Jr., Sam Cooke, Walt Disney, Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Michael Jackson, Carole Lombard, Tom Mix, Casey Stengel, Jimmy Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, and Spencer Tracy.
On this day in 2015, actor, singer, and author Christopher Lee died 
On this day in 1799, attorney, planter, politician, orator, and Founding Father, Patrick Henry died of stomach cancer at Red Hill, his plantation near Brookneal, Virginia at the age of 63. Born 29 May 1736 in Hanover County, Virginia. Remembered for his “Give me Liberty, or give me Death!” speech.
On this day in 1968, politician, civil rights activist, RFK, Robert F. Kennedy died at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles from gunshot wounds sustained at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles at the age of 42. Born Robert Francis Kennedy on 20 November 1925 in Brookline, Massachusetts. He was the younger brother of John F. Kennedy and the older brother of Edward M. Kennedy. RFK was a graduate of Harvard and obtained his law degree from the University of Virginia. He served as Attorney General of the United States (1961-1964) first under his brother, JFK, then briefly under LBJ. Following JFK’s assassination, at the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, RFK quoted Shakespeare (from Romeo and Juliet) in speaking of his brother;
The Final Footprint – His body was returned to New York City, where it lay in repose at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral for several days before the Requiem Mass held there on June 8. His brother, Ted, eulogized him with the words:
On this day in 1982, poet, translator, essayist, “The Father of the Beats”, Kenneth Rexroth died in Santa Barbara, California at the age of 76. Born Kenneth Charles Marion Rexroth in South Bend, Indiana on 22 December 1905. In my opinion, one of the central figures in the San Francisco Renaissance. Although he apparently did not consider himself to be a Beat poet, and disliked the association, he was dubbed the “Father of the Beats” by Time. He was among the first poets in the United States to explore traditional Japanese poetic forms such as haiku. Much of Rexroth’s work can be classified as “erotic” or “love poetry,” given his deep fascination with transcendent love. Rexroth married four times; Andrée Dutcher (1927-1940), Marie Kass (1941-1955), Marthe Larsen (1949- ), Carol Tinker ( – 1982 his death).
The Final Footprint – Rexroth is interred on the grounds of the Santa Barbara Cemetery Association overlooking the sea. While all the other graves face inland, his alone faces the Pacific. His epitaph reads, “As the full moon rises / The swan sings in sleep / On the lake of the mind.” According to association records, he is interred near the corner of Island and Bluff boulevards, in Block C of the Sunset section, Plot 18. Other notable Final Footprints at Santa Barbara include actor Laurence Harvey, Fess Parker, and Suzy Parker (no relation to Fess).
On this day in 2006, musician and songwriter, the Fifth Beatle, Billy Preston died in Scottsdale, Arizona, of complications of malignant hypertension that resulted in kidney failure and other complications at the age of 59. Born William Everett Preston on 2 September 1946 in Houston. Preston became famous first as a session musician with artists such as Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and the Beatles, and was later successful as a solo artist with hit pop singles including “Outa-Space”, its sequel, “Space Race”, “Will It Go Round in Circles” and “Nothing from Nothing”, and a string of albums and guest appearances with Eric Clapton, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and others. In addition, Preston was co-author, with The Beach Boys’ Dennis Wilson, of “You Are So Beautiful,” recorded by Preston and later a #5 hit for Joe Cocker.
The Final Footprint – His funeral was held on June 20 at the Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood, California, where his remains were entombed at Inglewood Park Cemetery. Other notable Final Footprints at Inglewood Park include; Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Betty Grable, Etta James, Robert Kardashian, Gypsy Rose Lee, Cesar Romero, Big Mama Thornton, T-Bone Walker, and Syreeta Wright.
