2012 deaths

Walter Wink (May 21, 1935 – May 10, 2012) was an American Biblical scholar, theologian, and activist who was an important figure in Progressive Christianity. Wink spent much of his career teaching at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City. He was well known for his advocacy of and work related to nonviolent resistance and his seminal works on "The Powers", Naming the Powers (1984), Unmasking the Powers (1986), Engaging the Powers (1992), When the Powers Fall (1998), and The Powers that Be (1999), all of them commentaries on the Apostle Paul's ethic of spiritual warfare described here: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Breaking with Christian hermeneutic tradition of Christian demonology, he interprets Paul's hierarchy of "rulers" to refer to imperial powers, with corresponding and political theologies and ideologies of state violence. Giving examples from ancient Babylon through the popular media of today, these are supported by, in a phrase he coined "the myth of redemptive violence".

Anne Margaret Triola (September 25, 1920 – July 27, 2012) was an American singer, musician, and actress of stage, film, and television. As a comedian and supporting actress, she got her start singing in Hollywood night clubs. Triola made her mark in the well known musical film Lullaby Of Broadway (1951) and received much praise for her effort in the motion picture Without Reservations (1946), which starred Claudette Colbert and John Wayne. She participated in five Hollywood films, assisted with USO tours in the Pacific Theater during World War II, and caused audiences to lose themselves in laughter, but Triola may best be remembered for work as a singer and comedian with the musical theatre that included performances in night clubs all over the country such as the Blue Angel in New York City.
Triola was listed as being one of the most popular performers in the history of Music Circus that included her work with the Sacramento Music Circus in the 1950s. She was described as a petite, dark haired, dark-eyed song stylist with the Betty Hutton type of delivery.

Richard Norton Tufeld (December 11, 1926 – January 22, 2012) was an American actor, announcer, narrator and voice actor from the late 1940s until the early 21st century. He worked constantly and continuously throughout this lengthy career and was one of the busiest announcers in television history. He was a well-known and well respected presence on television as an announcer on countless television shows, award shows, network promos, radio and movie promos but his most famous and beloved roles was as the voice of the Robot in the television series Lost in Space and in the Lost in Space movies.

Louise LaPlanche (September 6, 1919 – September 7, 2012) was an American actress most active during the Golden Age of Hollywood from the 1920s to 1940s. LaPlanche made her film debut as in the 1923 silent film, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. LaPlanche was the sister of Rosemary LaPlanche, who was crowned Miss America in 1941.LaPlanche was born September 6, 1919. She moved from Kansas to California with her mother and sister, Rosemary. LaPlanche made her film debut at the age of three years, portraying a gypsy girl in The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1923. Both LaPlanche began competing in California beauty pageants. In 1939, Louise LaPlanche was crowned Miss Catalina. Her Miss Catalina win led to a film contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). She appeared in the 1940 MGM musical film, Strike Up the Band, which starred Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney.LaPlanche later left MGM and signed on to Paramount Studios. She was cast in several Paramount films, including 1942's Holiday Inn, which starred Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby, and Road to Morocco, in which she appeared as a harem girl who painted the toenails of the film's star, Bob Hope.She modeled for her husband, Lester Freedman, a clothing manufacturer. The couple had two children, Phil Freedman and Pat Freedman Johnston. Her husband died in 1984, when LaPlanche was sixty-five years old. LaPlanche returned to acting following her husband's death, appearing in soap operas and other television series, such as The Golden Girls.LaPlanche moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the late 1990s, and resided there for the last fifteen years of her life. She died on September 7, 2012, just one day after her ninety-third birthday. According to her daughter, LaPlanche had survived several serious illnesses, including a breast cancer diagnosis at the age of 30, a non-smokers lung cancer diagnosis at the age of 60, and colon cancer when she was 90 years old.

Lynn Davis Compton (December 31, 1921 – February 25, 2012), known as Buck Compton, was an American jurist, police officer, and soldier. In his legal career, he served as a prosecutor and California Court of Appeal judge, and is most notable as having been the lead prosecutor in Sirhan Sirhan's trial for the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Previously, he served with the Los Angeles Police Department. During World War II, he was a commissioned officer with E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army. Compton was portrayed in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers by Neal McDonough.

Albert George Wilson (July 28, 1918 – August 27, 2012) was an American astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets.He was born in Houston, Texas. He received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Caltech in 1947; his thesis title was Axially Symmetric Thermal Stresses in a Semi-Infinite Solid advised by Harry Bateman.
In 1949 he accepted a job at Palomar Observatory, and led the Palomar Sky Survey. In 1953 he became assistant director of Lowell Observatory, and served as director from 1954 to 1957. He later worked at Rand Corporation and other private sector positions. In 1962 he became founding editor of the astronomical magazine Icarus. In 1966, he accepted the position of associate director of McDonnell-Douglas Corporation Advanced Research Laboratories (DARL), which he held from 1966 until 1972. Wilson then became an adjunct professor at USC, teaching courses in philosophy and science until his retirement. After retiring Wilson was associated with the Institute on Man and Science and the Institute of the Future, lecturing and consulting for both groups.He discovered a number of asteroids, and also co-discovered the periodic comet 107P/Wilson–Harrington with Robert George Harrington. The object is also known as the minor planet 4015 Wilson–Harrington.

Emilia Ortiz Pérez (Tepic, 1917 – Tepic, November 24, 2012) was a Nayarit Mexican painter, cartoonist, caricaturist, and poet, best known for her watercolors she made of the indigenous groups in her area, and the caricatures she created from an early age of political figures and those she knew. Emilia would go on to create over 4,000 works that varied in subject matter. Her father, Abraham D. Ortiz, had arrived at Tepic originally from Oaxaca where he married Elvira Perez and engaged in haberdashery and the hardware trade. Emilia studied painting at the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico City. Her drawings and paintings were exhibited in 1940. An author as well, her prizewinning book, De mis soledades vengo, was published in 1986. The Museo Emilia Ortiz in Lerdo houses Ortiz's photography and art, as well as local art. She is survived by her daughter Gabriela, who is the current curator of the Contemporary Art Center Emilia Ortiz.

Michael Bowyer (April 24, 1943 – December 6, 2012), also known by the ring name Mike "The California Hippie" Boyette, was an American professional wrestler, who made his debut in 1966.

Lorenzo Hoopes (November 5, 1913 – September 21, 2012) spent much of his career as an executive for Safeway. When he retired in 1979 he was the senior vice president at Safeway. He took a leave of absence from Safeway in 1953, during the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, to serve as executive assistant to United States Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson. Hoopes returned to Safeway in 1955.
Hoopes grew up in Brigham City, Utah and graduated from Box Elder High School. He received a bachelor's degree from Weber State University and also studied at the University of Utah. He earned an MBA from Pepperdine University and did advanced management training at the Harvard Business School.
Hoopes was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Hoopes was serving as bishop of the Oakland California Ward, which included where the Oakland Temple now is, when the ground was broken for the church's first meetinghouse on that general site in about 1957. He later also served as president of the LDS Church's Oakland California Stake. He served as president of the church's England Bristol Mission from 1979 to 1982. He served as president of the Oakland Temple from 1985 to 1990.
As of January 2010, Hoopes was head of the Paramount Theatre Board in Oakland, California. The Paramount Theatre is a public institution with a board that appoints new members, with the consent of the city council and mayor, but in the past the decisions of the board have always been upheld. Hoopes was believed to be the person in Oakland who donated the largest amount of money to the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign, which caused some to seek to oust Hoopes from his unpaid volunteer position with the Paramount Theatre. He sat on the board of the theatre for nearly 30 years.
Hoopes served for 17 years as a member of the Oakland School board.
Hoopes served as chairman and member of the Board of the Foundation for American Agriculture; vice chairman and member of the Board of the Farm Foundation; president and member of California's Coordinating Council for Higher Education; chairman, director, and secretary of the National Dairy Council; and chairman and member of the National Advisory Council.His wife, Stella Bobbies Sorenson Hoopes, died on January 14, 1996. David C. Hoopes is one of their children.

Marie Gertrude Hammontree (June 19, 1913 - December 7, 2012) was an American children's author known for her biographies of famous people. Her works include Albert Einstein, Young Thinker and Walt Disney, Young Movie Maker.