What famous person's untimely death saddened you the most?

[iGav]

Same here.

Me too... his loss robbed us of potentially the greatest duel in modern F1

Kurt Cobain's death kind of shook us... my friends and I were all big Nirvana fans at the time, though ultimately it wasn't all that surprising considering the events during the months leading up to it.

1994 was a dark year though... I lost my dad in July that year too.

 

[Dynamyk]

Aaliyah

 

[Lau]

I thought a bit regarding Mother Teresa's death, though. She died at around the same week or so as Princess Diana, and as much as Mother Teresa had done, and as much as she gave to others, Princess Diana's life and charity was what was celebrated, and I thought that was crap.

Same here. Oddly, after Diana died and there was all the "saint" stuff being bandied around, my friend said "I bet if Mother Teresa died there wouldn't be this sort of a big deal". A few days later and she did, and there wasn't.

I thought John Peel dying was really sad, as he's always seemed like a top bloke, and same with Mo Mowlam - she seemed like a great person and had done a lot of good stuff in politics.

 

[Les Kern]

This is going back a few years, but in the early 70's I was looking at playing guitar. My hero then was Terry Kath. I was young then, and saw what mortality REALLY was maybe for the first time.
And since that time "untimely" deaths just don't shock me. Freddy Mercury came close. Brilliant voice. Jack Lemmon came close as well... not exactly untimely though. I wasn't there, but I guess Jesus dying would have been rough.

 

[russed]

i would prob have to say jon lee from feeder as one as i was really into their music at the time.

and i will also have to say richard burns.

 

[4God]

Luther Vandross.

 

[zap2]

John Lennon, because he was young, and still could have help the world.

When Harrison died it hurt as well(i'm listen to some of his new stuff right now and it very good)

 

[FocusAndEarnIt]

John Candy.

 

[Simon Liquid]

Douglas Adams, easily. He's among my favorite authors and died suddenly, far too young. In fact, he's probably the only person who I didn't personally know where hearing that he'd died gave me that kick. I'm was too young to be aware of it when John Lennon died but I imagine I'd have felt similarly.

 

[FocusAndEarnIt]

And I find endless amusement in the fact that kurt cobain was spelled wrong

I find endless amusement you have the guts to dis a moderator.

 

[rickvanr]

Pierre Elliot Trudeau

 

[erickkoch]

John Ritter

 

[iDM]

Princess Diana - John Candy

 

[eRondeau]

Phil Hartman. His career was peaking, and everything he did was hilarious. And while we're on the SNL spin -- Andy Kaufman, John Belushi, and of course Chris Farley.

Musically -- Bo Jocque, the Zydeco legend.

Also -- from the Mac world -- Jef Raskin. I was just discovering his amazing contributions and his revolutionary way of thinking when I heard he passed away. A very rare innovator in an industry of copycats.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Freddie Mercury. I had a friend who'd gone from having HIV to full-blown AIDS around the same time, and Freddie's death just compounded the whole sadness of it.

My friend also died a few months later.

I thought of him first also. Such a wonderful voice, both with Queen and then as a solo artist.

 

[Lyle]

Several previous posters have mentioned some of the names that I would have mentioned; here are a few more.

It wasn't exactly unexpected, but Johnny Carson's recent death saddened me. I guess I'd always hoped that his health would somehow recover and he'd come back out of retirement and remind people of how cool a talk show host can be.

My wife and I like to watch figure skating, and so I still remember the shock of Sergei Grinkov's death from a heart attack in 1995. He was only 28 years old.

 

[killuminati]

Tupac Shakur.

Christopher Wallace.

 

[Queso]

I thought of him first also. Such a wonderful voice, both with Queen and then as a solo artist.

Not just the voice. That man could hold 100,000 people totally enthralled for hours. Completely unique.

 

[Deepdale]

Actress Natalie Wood ... my avatar was going to be a pic of her. I would also include John Lennon.

 

[jaydub]

Bradley Nowell of Sublime.

While it's hard for me to sympathize because it was his addiction which caused his life to end, I also wish we had been able to experience what Sublime could've released had he been alive. What a shame that he didn't live long enough to see the success that their self-titled album brought. :\

 

[ecche]

Warren Zevon.
Miss him a lot.

 

[leekohler]

Jeff Buckley- we were actually visited by an angel and we will sadly never hear that voice again.

 

[miniConvert]

Princess Diana. While I'm not sure why, I think it was the deep sense of public mourning that made this loss so significant. I'm still not convinced that she wasn't bumped off...

I'm also going to mention Richard Whiteley - Countdown will never be the same.

 

[obeygiant]

stanley kubrick

 

[Jaffa Cake]

I thought John Peel dying was really sad, as he's always seemed like a top bloke...

John's death was another one that I was really sad to hear (well, you're never really pleased to hear about someone dying, but you know what I mean). Completely irreplaceable and truly passionate about what he did – and as you say, he never gave the impression of being anything other than a genuinely likeable bloke.