John Lewis Passes Away

The New York Times:

On the front lines of the bloody campaign to end Jim Crow laws, with blows to his body and a fractured skull to prove it, Mr. Lewis was a valiant stalwart of the civil rights movement and the last surviving speaker from the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963.

More than a half-century later, after the killing in May of George Floyd, a Black man in police custody in Minneapolis, Mr. Lewis welcomed the resulting global demonstrations against police killings of Black people and, more broadly, against systemic racism in many corners of society. He saw those protests as a continuation of his life’s work, though his illness had left him to watch from the sidelines.

Ric Ocasek Passes Away

Ric Ocasek, the frontman for The Cars, passed away over the weekend.

Ric Ocasek, the songwriter, rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the Cars, was found dead on Sunday afternoon at his townhouse in Manhattan.

The New York Police Department confirmed the death but did not give a cause. Sources have differed on Mr. Ocasek’s age — some saying he was 70 — but a few public records and previous articles about him suggest that he was 75.

Toni Morrison Passes Away

Margalit Fox, writing at The New York Times:

Toni Morrison, the 1993 Nobel laureate in literature, whose acclaimed, best-selling work explored black identity in America and in particular the experience of black women, died on Monday in the Bronx. She was 88.

Her death, at Montefiore Medical Center, was announced by her publisher, Alfred A. Knopf. A spokeswoman said the cause was complications of pneumonia. Ms. Morrison lived in Grand View-on-Hudson, N.Y.

I think about this quote from Song of Solomon all the time:

Perhaps that’s what all human relationships boil down to: Would you save my life? or would you take it?

R.I.P