Gabriel García Márquez, the author of famed, beautiful books such as One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, has died. Márquez, who was recently hospitalized for pneumonia and other health issues, was 87. » 4/17/14 4:30pm Yesterday 4:30pm

Not only was Walter George Bruhl Jr. likely a lovely person, he was the kind of person that surrounded himself with people who have great senses of humor – plus he knew how to write a good obit. » 3/12/14 12:20pm 3/12/14 12:20pm

Still upset about that lack of gender equality in book reviews? Consider this more frightening and fundamental imbalance: so far in the month of August, the NYT has published 78 obituaries. And only six of them were for women. » 8/30/10 6:06pm 8/30/10 6:06pm

Very sad: Nelson Mandela's 13-year-old great-granddaughter was killed in a car accident on Friday. According to reports, the driver of the car was drunk and lost control of the car after departing from a World Cup concert. [CBS, NYT] » 6/11/10 9:20am 6/11/10 9:20am

As previously mentioned, Louise Bourgeois died last week. She was one of the most influential sculptors on the art scene, and, for reasons I will explain, my favorite (once) living artist. » 6/01/10 6:20pm 6/01/10 6:20pm

French-born artist Louise Bourgeois died on Monday at the age of 98. Bourgeois was best known for her anatomically-themed sculptures, which depicted dismembered parts of the human body in nightmarishly gorgeous distortions. The cause of death was heart failure. [NYT] » 6/01/10 1:40pm 6/01/10 1:40pm

Kama Chinen, the world's oldest living person, has reportedly died a week before her her 115th birthday. Want to be the next Chinen? Keeping up on pop culture is vital, according to centenarians, as are iPods and YouTube. [CBS, Reuters] » 5/04/10 11:20am 5/04/10 11:20am

• Carolyn Rodgers, a poet and leading member of the Black Arts Movement, died on April 2. "What made her important was her unique use of language and her descriptions of our community," said Haki Madhubuti. He continues: » 4/19/10 6:00pm 4/19/10 6:00pm

The producer of films such as Jaws, Driving Miss Daisy, and Cocoon, and the author of five books. he and Gurley were married over 50 years. He suggested she write Sex And The Single Girl and wrote Cosmo coverlines. [Variety] » 2/02/10 11:20am 2/02/10 11:20am

Gospel legend Marie Knight passed away Sunday at the age of 84. Knight first came to fame in the 1940s, while touring with Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The interview (left) is from the release of Knight's last album in 2007. [WWLTV] » 9/01/09 11:40am 9/01/09 11:40am

American realist artist Honoré Sharrer has died at 88. Sharrer is best known for her 1940's depictions of the working class, but her more recent work often focused on women's roles. [NYT] » 5/13/09 10:20am 5/13/09 10:20am

Mary Printz, a Manhattan answering service operator whose adventures dealing with celebrity clients' crises became the basis of the 1956 musical Bells are Ringing (left), has died at 85. [NYT] » 3/03/09 11:40am 3/03/09 11:40am

Majel Roddenberry, the widow of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, died of leukemia on Thursday at the age of 76. But don't think Roddenberry was your typical Hollywood wife. » 12/19/08 9:30am 12/19/08 9:30am

Odetta, the singer whom Rosa Parks adored and Martin Luther King Jr. called the queen of American folk music, died yesterday at the age of 77. She was, by all accounts, a legend, with a powerful voice, and the prison songs and work songs of the Deep South shaped her life. Odetta sang at the march on Washington in… » 12/03/08 11:00am 12/03/08 11:00am

A scholar is now making the case that "the modern obsession with celebrity" started with an 18th century interest in obituaries » 11/06/08 4:30pm 11/06/08 4:30pm. If by "obsession" she means "morbid curiosity" and by "celebrity," "notoriety," than maybe. Either way, it's clear that we've always had a sick fascination with other people's antics — and their…

Just headed over to Obit Magazine, » 8/12/08 12:20pm 8/12/08 12:20pm to get the latest on Alexander Solzhenitsyn. He's dead, yes, but that's the point: this site, founded by architects Bob and Barbara Hillier, is where we get our daily updates on everyone who's, ahem, passed, plus anything else kick-related that you might fancy: cartoons, essays,…

• A new study says that women are more stressed than men. We really don't have time to be reading and writing about studies like this because we totally have a big Powerpoint presentation to get and we are, like, about to pull our hair okay? Gawd! [Feminist.org]
  
• Dressing like a hooker for Halloween isn't just for…

» 10/26/07 4:10pm 10/26/07 4:10pm

• Apparently, many men are still following that archaic, women-as-property tradition of asking their future-father-in-laws for "permission' to marry their girlfriends. Something tells us Amy Winehouse's partner-in-crack-addiction, Blake Fielder-Civil, did not. [Salon]
  
• Researchers have discovered that a low-fat diet…

» 10/10/07 4:00pm 10/10/07 4:00pm

• Older women, younger men, can it work? CNN investigates the truly tired topic of $500K-worth-of-plastic-surgery-cougars and the men who love them. [CNN]
  
• You know how when you have serious itching "down there" you assume it's a case of the crotch monkey's and start medicating yourself with Monistat? Apparently, most…

» 9/17/07 5:00pm 9/17/07 5:00pm