2012 deaths

Richard William McBride (May 8, 1928 – August 28, 2012) was an American beat poet, playwright and novelist. He worked at City Lights Booksellers & Publishers from 1954 to 1969.

Nicholas S. Hashu (February 1, 1917 – April 28, 2012) was an American professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball League for the Hammond Ciesar All-Americans and Chicago American Gears. He averaged 2.2 points per game.

Kenje Ogata (Japanese: 緒方 健二, June 1, 1919 – January 18, 2012) was an American soldier and one of five documented people of Japanese descent to serve in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II.

Larry Mitchell (1939 – December 26, 2012) was an American author and publisher. He was the founder of Calamus Books - an early small press devoted to gay male literature - and the author of fiction dealing with the gay male experience in New York City during the 1970s and 1980s.With Terry Helbing and Felice Picano, he cofounded Gay Presses of New York in 1981. His book of short stories My Life As a Mole won the 1989 Small Press Lambda Literary Award. Mitchell's novel The Terminal Bar, published in 1982, is considered to be the first book of fiction to address HIV/AIDS. In addition to his own work, he was friends with and collaborated with many prominent gay artists working in New York City in the 1970s and 1980s including William "Bill" Rice, David Wojnarowicz, Peter Hujar and Gary Indiana. The feature film Acid Snow (1998) directed by Joel Itman is based on Mitchell's novel of the same name.Mitchell received a PhD in Sociology from Columbia University. At that time, he co-edited the book "Willard Waller on The Family, Education and War" with William J. Goode and Frank Furstenberg published in 1970. He was born in Muncie, Indiana, in 1939 and died on December 26, 2012, in Ithaca, New York, after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Harry Max Darmstandler (August 9, 1922 – February 21, 2012) was an American Air Force major general who was special assistant to the chief of staff for B-1 Matters, Headquarters, United States Air Force, Washington, D.C. In this capacity, he coordinated Air Force activities related to the B-1 bomber.
Darmstandler was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1922, where he graduated from Arsenal Technical High School in 1940. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in military science from the University of Omaha, in 1964, and a Master of Science degree in international relations from The George Washington University, in 1965.
He entered the aviation cadet program in Santa Ana, California, in May 1942 and graduated at Luke Air Field, Arizona, as a pilot and second lieutenant in February 1943.
During World War II, Darmstandler served as an instructor pilot in the Air Training Command, and later as aircraft commander of a B-24 crew assigned to the 456th Bombardment Group in Italy. He flew 21 combat missions and remained in Italy after V-E Day through July 1945, flying gasoline and oil into Trieste. In September 1945 he separated from active duty, retaining a commission in the Army Air Corps Reserve.
In November 1948 Darmstandler returned to active duty to participate in the Berlin airlift. Assigned to the 29th Troop Carrier Squadron, he completed nearly 200 missions before returning to the United States in July 1949 to join the Air Proving Ground Command at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. He then became a B-17 "director pilot" for Operation GREENHOUSE nuclear tests conducted at Eniwetok Atoll in early 1951. Following the test series, he joined the 61st Troop Carrier Group in Japan where he flew combat cargo missions in support of military operations in Korea. In November 1952 the 61st Group returned to the United States and transitioned into C-124 Globemaster aircraft with Darmstandler as the group chief pilot.
In February 1954 Darmstandler moved to Donaldson Air Force Base, South Carolina, where he served as operations and training inspector under the inspector general, Eighteenth Air Force. During the winter of 1955–1956, he staged at Frobisher Bay, flying into ice air strips on frozen lakes in Northern Canada in support of the installation of the Defense Early Warning (DEW) Line. In the academic year of 1955–1956, he attended Command and Staff School at the Naval War College, Newport, R.I. He then returned to the 61st Troop Carrier Group to command a rotational detachment of C-124 aircraft at Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany. During this tour of duty, he led the air evacuation of American nationals from Tel Aviv at the outbreak of the Arab-Israeli conflict of 1956, and participated in the airlift of the United Nations security forces from the Scandinavian countries to the Suez.
In July 1957 Darmstandler was assigned as aide and flag pilot to the commandant, Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Virginia. In September 1960 he joined the staff of the commander in chief, Pacific, for a three-year tour. He next attended the University of Omaha under Operation BOOTSTRAP, and in August 1964 entered the National War College, during which time he also obtained a master's degree at The George Washington University.
In July 1965 Darmstandler was assigned to the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, serving initially in the North American Division and later in the Current Operations Branch of the Pacific Division. During this period, he served on temporary duty in the Republic of Vietnam, visiting all of the major Air Force, Army, and Marine Corps units in-country while analyzing the system for close air support.
In August 1968 Darmstandler was chosen to be a research fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles. In July 1969 he was assigned to Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe as special assistant to the chief of staff and in June 1970 became executive to the chief of staff. In February 1972 he was assigned as commander, 12th Strategic Air Division, SAC, at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona.
Darmstandler was reassigned as the assistant deputy chief of staff for plans, Strategic Air Command at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, in March 1973, and became the deputy chief of staff for plans in September 1973. In this position, he directed the formulation and development of plans, policies, programs and requirements for SAC. He also served as the commander in chief, SAC, representative to the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Darmstandler assumed the position as special assistant to the chief of staff for B-1 Matters, U.S. Air Force, in July 1974.
His military decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Army Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Ribbon, and the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon. He wears the Missileman Badge and is a command pilot with more than 7,000 flying hours.
He was promoted to the grade of major general effective September 1, 1973, with date of rank February 1, 1971. He retired September 1, 1975.
Darmstandler died in 2012. He was 89.

Margie Stewart (December 14, 1919 – April 26, 2012) was the official United States Army poster girl during World War II. She appeared on twelve posters, of which a total of 94 million copies were distributed.She was born in Wabash, Indiana and attended Indiana University. She became a model and appeared in about 20 RKO movies, often in uncredited roles. Among her roles was that of Marjorie Forrester, Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve's niece, in Gildersleeve's Ghost.In addition to appearing in the posters, Stewart toured the U.S. as one of the four members of a group called the Bondbardiers, accompanied by various Hollywood stars, to sell war bonds. In 1945, she toured Europe and was one of the first civilians to enter Germany after the end of the war. Her appearance in London's Hyde Park "caused gridlock."

Nellie Jane Gray (1924 – August 13, 2012) was an American anti-abortion activist who founded the annual March for Life in 1974, in response to the Supreme Court ruling Roe v. Wade, which decriminalized abortion the previous year. The New York Times credits her with popularizing the term pro-life.

Theodore Lawrence Strickland (September 17, 1932 – March 14, 2012) was an American politician who served as the 39th Lieutenant Governor of Colorado from 1973 to 1975 under Governor John D. Vanderhoof. Strickland served in both houses of the Colorado General Assembly and was President of the Colorado Senate.

Vern McGrew (December 7, 1929 – January 9, 2012) was an American high jumper. He competed in the high jump event at the 1948 Summer Olympics at the age of eighteen. He used the western roll technique, which was common at the time, and in 1948 achieved a career best clearance of 2.04 meters (6 ft 8¼ in).Born in Big Spring, Texas, he went on to attend Lamar High School in Houston, graduating in 1946. That year he won the Texan state championship with a state record jump. He gained a place at Rice University and competed for the Rice Owls athletic team under their coach Emmett Brunson. McGrew became the second Rice alumnus to take part in an Olympic event, after Claude Bracey in 1928.The 1948 Olympics was his only major international appearance but he achieved some success at national level. While studying at Rice University he competed at the NCAA Championship, coming third in 1948 and finishing as runner-up in 1949. He completed this upward trend by winning the NCAA high jump title in 1950 with a jump of over two meters (6 ft 7 in). At the national-level AAU Championship meeting he was third in 1948 (where he gained Olympic selection), but managed only fifth place the year after.McGrew undertook post-graduate study at the University of Texas and later the University of Texas Law School. He signed up for military service from 1954 to 1956. He did not take part in athletics in his later life and instead used his studies to gain a placement at Humble Oil, at which he spent 30 years of his working life. He retired in the 1980s and lived until the age of 82. He died at Methodist Hospital in Houston.

Robert Lloyd Griffin (February 12, 1929 – February 25, 2012) was a professional American football player who played linebacker for six seasons for the Los Angeles Rams and St. Louis Cardinals. Griffin played college football at the University of Arkansas and was selected in the second round of the 1952 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams.