Obituary
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Comedic TV Writer Marc Wilmore, Brother of Larry Wilmore, Dies at 57
Marc Wilmore, the TV writer whose credits include In Living Color, The Simpsons, The PJs and F Is for Family, died last Saturday of COVID-19 and other health complications, his brother, TV writer and comedian, Larry Wilmore, announced Sunday on Twitter. “My sweet sweet brother, Marc Edward Wilmore, passed away last night while battling COVID…
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Cicely Tyson, Who Spent a Lifetime Portraying Positive Black Womanhood on Screen, Dies at 96
Through her graceful presence onstage, in film and on television, actress Cicely Tyson created portrayals of proud, even majestic women that helped break down America’s stereotypes regarding African-American women. The iconic star, who inspired a generation of Black actresses, died Thursday at the age of 96. Tyson was born on Dec. 19, 1924, in New…
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Celebrated NBA Analyst Sekou Smith Dies of COVID-19
This one hurts. Celebrated NBA analyst Sekou Smith, one of the most beloved figures within the NBA community, died Tuesday after a battle with COVID-19. He was 48. After graduating from Jackson State University in Mississippi, the Grand Rapids, Mich., native cut his teeth at the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson before becoming a beat writer for…
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Hammerin’ Hank Aaron, Once Baseball’s Home Run King, Dies at 86
Universally regarded as one of baseball’s greatest players, Hank Aaron became the all-time home run king, a title he would hold for more than 30 years. Aaron, who was also the last of the Negro League players to move to Major League Baseball, died Friday at age 86. His daughter confirmed his death with Atlanta…
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Police Academy Franchise and Broadway Star Marion Ramsey Dead at 73
Marion Ramsey, who co-starred in the 1980s Police Academy franchise, has died at the age of 73. As Variety reports, the actress died in her Los Angeles home on Thursday. Roger Paul of Roger Paul Inc. (the agency that managed Ramsey) confirmed the actress had recently fallen ill, but no official cause of death has…
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Beloved New York Times Best-Selling Author Eric Jerome Dickey Dies at 59
The Root is sad to report the death of celebrated African-American contemporary author Eric Jerome Dickey. The news was confirmed on Tuesday by a representative from Dickey’s longtime publisher, Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Random House, in the following statement issued to The Root: “It is with great sadness that we confirm that beloved New…
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Hip-Hop Legend MF DOOM Dies at 49
This past Halloween, hip-hop lost one of its greats. MF DOOM, aka Metal Face, aka King Geedorah, aka Viktor Vaughn, aka the Villain, was as eccentric as he was talented and through both traits, he built an underground following and a hip-hop legacy that is literally like nothing we’ve seen before. This is a man…
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In Memoriam 2020: A Year of Loss Like No Other
As celebrations around the world rang in the new year on Jan. 1, 2020, no one could have imagined—let alone predicted—the staggering loss and grief that would come to define the year. The shocking deaths of Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna in January would be the first of many emotional losses we would…
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Joe Louis Clark, Beloved High School Principal Portrayed by Morgan Freeman in Lean On Me, Dead at 82
Joe Louis Clark, the no-nonsense disciplinary high school principal who inspired the classic 1989 film Lean On Me, has died at the age of 89. According to an official press release, Clark succumbed after a long battle with an undisclosed illness on Tuesday at his Gainesville, Fla., home, surrounded by family. Clark was born in…
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Iconic Hip-Hop Artist John 'Ecstasy' Fletcher of Whodini Dies at 56
It is with great sadness that we report that John Fletcher, one third of the ’80s Brooklyn-based hip-hop trio Whodini, has died at the age of 56. Fletcher’s family shared the news of his passing on Wednesday in a statement sent to Billboard: The African and Native American ancestors have gathered around and chosen this…