Here is our periodic list of noteworthy but not-so-famous souls who have recently left us.
• CALLAN PINCKNEY (born as Barbara Biffinger Pfeiffer Pinckney) (Sept. 26, 1939 – March 1, 2012) was an American fitness professional who achieved recordbreaking success with her Callanetics exercises. Her nine books all became international bestsellers, and the video series that followed went on to sell more than six million copies.
• VAN THOMAS BARFOOT (born Van Thurman Barfoot) ( June 15, 1919 – March 2, 2012) was a United States Army officer and a recipient of the United States military’s highest decoration — the Medal of Honor — for his actions in World War II.
• STEVEN LEE RUBENSTEIN ( June 10, 1962 – March 8, 2012) was an American anthropologist. Beginning in the 1980s, Rubenstein worked with the Shuar people of Ecuador, documenting their healing practices, use of shrunken heads and the impact of colonization and increasing incorporation of the Shuar into Ecuadorian society.
• ALBERT LESLIE COCHRAN ( June 24, 1951 – March 8, 2012) was an American peace activist, cross-dress er, urban outdoorsman and outspoken critic of police treatment of the homeless. Cochran was known in Austin as Leslie. He was considered the man who personified “Keep Austin Weird.”
• STEVE ROMEO ( June 1, 1971 – March 8, 2012) was an American ski mountaineer from Jackson, Wyo. Together with Cary Smith, Pete Swenson and Chris Kroger, he finished ninth in the relay event of the 2006 World Championship of Skimountaineering. Romeo ran the backcountry skiing blog TetonAT.com. Romeo was killed by an avalanche in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park.
• SELMA RUBIN (March 28, 1915 – March 9, 2012) was an American environmentalist and environmental activist. She was called a cofounder of Earth Day.
• LONNIE WRIGHT ( Jan. 23, 1945 – March 23, 2012) was an American professional basketball and football player who played in the same season for the Denver Rockets of the American Basketball Association and the Denver Broncos of the American Football League before switching to basketball on a full-time basis.
• JOANNES “JAN” ALOÏSIUS GOOSSENAERTS (Oct. 30, 1900 – March 21, 2012) was a Belgian supercentenarian. He was the oldest verified living man in Europe at 112.
• PRISCILLA LANGFORD BUCKLEY (Oct. 17, 1921 – March 25, 2012) was an American author who is known for having been the managing editor of National Review magazine and is a sister of its founder, William F. Buckley, Jr. She worked as an editor of National Review for 43 years.
• ADRIENNE CECILE RICH (May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was credited with bringing “the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse.” In 1997, Rich declined the National Medal of Arts in protest against the House of Representatives’ vote to end the National Endowment for the Arts.
These obits were compiled and edited from information found at en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Deaths_in_2012.
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