2016 deaths

Francis Marion ("Frank") Gibbons (April 10, 1921 – July 16, 2016) was the secretary to the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1970 to 1986 and a church general authority from 1986 until 1991.A native of St. Johns, Arizona, Gibbons received degrees from Stanford University and the University of Utah and practiced law in Utah for eighteen years. In 1970, Gibbons was hired as the secretary to the First Presidency to replace Joseph Anderson, who had been the secretary since 1922 but who had become an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.Gibbons served as secretary to the First Presidency until March 1986, when he retired and was succeeded by F. Michael Watson. One week later, at the church's April general conference, Gibbons was called as a general authority and member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. In April 1989, he was transferred to the newly created Second Quorum of the Seventy.In October 1991, Gibbons was honorably released from service in the Second Quorum of the Seventy and as a general authority of the church.Gibbons also served in the church as a bishop, stake president and patriarch. He is the author of 20 books, including a biography of Jack Anderson and the hagiographical Prophets of God series about the presidents of the LDS Church.Gibbons was married to Helen Bay and they are the parents of four children.

Sergio Ricossa (6 June 1927 – 2 March 2016) was an Italian economist.
Born in Turin, in 1949 Ricossa graduated in Economics at the Turin University. In 1961 he was nominated associate professor of economic policy and financial discipline in the same university, becoming ordinary professor in 1963.A proponent of an economic liberalism without compromises, Ricossa's studies mainly focused on the theory of value. He collaborated with several magazines and with the newspapers Il Giornale and La Stampa, where his provocative articles often raised criticism and polemics.Ricossa was a Vice President of the Mont Pelerin Society, a member of the Accademia dei Lincei, and the honorary president of the Bruno Leoni Institute.

Leopold Victor "Leo" Rucka (August 18, 1931 – January 4, 2016) was an American professional football player who played Linebacker/Center for the San Francisco 49ers during the 1956 NFL season. He was drafted in the 2nd round of the 1954 NFL Draft.
He was picked 23rd overall out of 360 draft picks in the 1954 draft. Leo was born in Wooster, an area of Baytown, TX, on August 18, 1931, and graduated from Crosby High School (Texas) in 1950, where he excelled in football, basketball, and all other major sports. He was a resident of Crosby, TX. He was Married to his wife of over 60 years, Lillian Rucka. They had 5 children, 11 grandchildren, and several great grandchildren. He attended College at Rice University and was inducted into the Rice Football Hall of Fame in 1996.During his senior year at Rice, Leo helped the Rice Owls defeat the University of Texas in the final seconds for the Southwest Conference title. He described it as his "biggest college thrill". He also co-captained the team the season they won the Cotton Bowl Championship in 1954 against Alabama. He played in 5 NFL games, He had 1 documented fumble recovery, tackle data is not available from that year. Leo left the NFL to fulfill Army obligations as an aviation engineer. He served in Far East during the Korean War for 20 months. He was named to the All-Service Team. During his time in the NFL he was 6'3", 212 lbs. His teammates nicknamed him "The Quiet Man". Rucka died on January 4, 2016.

Jack Ward Thomas (September 7, 1934 – May 26, 2016) was the thirteenth chief of the U.S. Forest Service, serving during the Clinton administration years of 1993–1996.
He was born in Fort Worth, Texas. His undergraduate education and degree (a BS in wildlife management in 1957) was from Texas A&M University. He worked for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for ten years. Then while working as a USFS research biologist at Morgantown, West Virginia, he received an MS in wildlife ecology from West Virginia University. He headed a Forest Service research unit at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. He received his PhD in forestry there in 1972. In 1974, he moved to La Grande, Oregon, working as the chief research wildlife biologist and program leader at the USFS Forestry and Range Sciences Laboratory.
On December 1, 1993, he was appointed Chief of the U.S. Forest Service. During his time as head of the USFS, the Northwest Forest Plan was adopted. Jack became a member of the Boone and Crockett Club in 1994. After retiring from the Forest Service, he accepted a position as the Boone and Crockett Professor of Wildlife Conservation at the School of Forestry of the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana—a position he held until 2006 when he officially retired.
He died on May 26, 2016, after a battle with cancer, at his home in Florence, Montana.

Craven C. Rogers Jr. (September 16, 1934 – August 4, 2016) was a lieutenant general in the United States Air Force who served as deputy commander in chief of the U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. The command was tasked with achieving United States national objectives in Southwest Asia, the Persian Gulf, and the Horn of Africa. Rogers was born in 1934, in Galveston, Texas. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from the U.S. Military Academy in 1957 and a master's degree in business administration from The George Washington University. He completed Squadron Officer School in 1962 and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in 1973. Upon graduation from the academy he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force. After completing pilot training in September 1958 he was assigned to Tactical Air Command at Williams Air Force Base, Ariz., for gunnery training in the F-86F. With the phaseout of the F-86F, Rogers transferred in June 1959 as an instructor pilot to Air Training Command, Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma. He completed F-101A transition training in September 1964 and then was assigned as a tactical fighter pilot with the 91st Tactical Fighter Squadron, Royal Air Force Station Bentwaters, England. In 1965 his squadron became the first unit in the United States Air Forces in Europe to transition to the F-4. Rogers assumed duties in the Standardization and Evaluation Section of the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing at Bentwaters in November 1966. In September 1967 he transferred to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, where he completed the F-4 Fighter Weapons School. In January 1968 he was assigned to the 557th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 12th Tactical Fighter Wing, Cam Ranh Bay Air Base, South Vietnam, as a flight commander and squadron weapons officer. He subsequently served as the wing weapons officer and assistant chief of weapons and tactics for 12th Tactical Fighter Wing. He flew 255 combat missions and 435 combat flying hours in the F-4C. He returned from Southeast Asia in February 1969 and was assigned to the Fighter and Reconnaissance Manning Section, Air Force Military Personnel Center, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. He became chief of the section in 1971. Upon graduation from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in August 1973, Rogers became deputy commander for operations, 1st Tactical Fighter Wing, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. In June 1975 he transferred to Headquarters United States Air Force, Washington, D.C., as chief, Tactical Division, Directorate of Operational Requirements, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Research and Development. In July 1977 Rogers was assigned as vice commander of the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. In June 1978 he became commander of the wing. He returned to Air Force headquarters in July 1980 and served as military assistant to the secretary of the Air Force. From June 1983 to July 1985 he was commander of United States Air Forces Korea; commander, United Nations Command Air Component; and commander, 314th Air Division, with headquarters at Osan Air Base, South Korea. He also was commander of the Korean Air Defense Sector, director of readiness and combat operations, and chief of staff of the Air Component Command/Combined Forces Command. Rogers then transferred to Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, as vice commander in chief, Pacific Air Forces. In December 1986 Rogers returned to Osan Air Base as commander, 7th Air Force; deputy commanding general, U.S. Forces Korea (Seoul); and deputy commander in chief, United Nations Command (Seoul). He is a command pilot with 5,200 flying hours. His military awards and decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Air Medal with 13 oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal, Korean Order of National Security Merit (Chunsu) and Korean Order of National Security Merit (Kuksun). He was promoted to lieutenant general January 1, 1987, with same date of rank. He retired on April 1, 1991, and died on August 4, 2016.

Virgilio P. Elizondo (August 28, 1935 – March 14, 2016) was a Mexican-American Catholic priest and community activist, who was also a leading scholar of liberation theology and Hispanic theology. He was widely regarded as "the father of U.S. Latino religious thought."Elizondo was the founder of the Pastoral Institute at the University of the Incarnate Word. He was also a co-founder of the Mexican-American Cultural Center, a think tank for scholars and religious leaders to develop pastoral ministry and theology from a Hispanic perspective. (It has since become the Mexican American Catholic College.) Elizondo was also well known for his book, Galilean Journey: The Mexican-American Promise, which examined the similarities between Jesus' Galilean background and the mestizo experience.

Jerry Bridges (December 4, 1929 – March 6, 2016) was an evangelical Christian author, speaker and staff member of The Navigators, a Christian organization. Born in Tyler, Texas, United States, he was the author of more than a large number of books, including The Pursuit of Holiness, which has sold more than one million copies. His devotional Holiness Day by Day garnered the 2009 ECPA Christian Book Award for the inspiration and gift category, and The Discipline of Grace received a similar award in 1995 for the Christian living category.Bridges earned his undergraduate degree in engineering at the University of Oklahoma, before serving as an officer in the United States Navy during the Korean War. He joined Christian discipleship organization The Navigators in 1955, where he served as administrative assistant to the Europe Director, office manager for the headquarters office, Secretary-Treasurer of the organization, and as Vice President for Corporate Affairs before moving to a staff development position with the Collegiate Mission.At the time of his death, he was a widower, and had married Jane Mallot a year after his first wife's death. Bridges died on March 6, 2016, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the age of 86.

Ian McCaskill (born John Robertson McCaskill; 28 July 1938 – 10 December 2016) was a Scottish weather forecaster who frequently appeared on the BBC.

Joe Cecil "Red" Simpson (March 6, 1934 – January 8, 2016) was an American country music singer and songwriter best known for his trucker-themed country songs.

Jack Thomas Chick (April 13, 1924 – October 23, 2016) was an American cartoonist and publisher, best known for his fundamentalist Christian "Chick tracts". He expressed his perspective on a variety of issues through sequential-art morality plays.
Many of his tracts accused Roman Catholics, Freemasons, Muslims, and many other groups of murder and conspiracies. His comics have been described by Robert Ito, in Los Angeles magazine, as "equal parts hate literature and fire-and-brimstone sermonizing".Chick's views have been spread mostly through the tracts and, more recently, online. His company, Chick Publications, says it has sold over 750 million tracts, comic books, videos, books, and posters designed to promote Evangelical Protestantism from a Christian fundamentalist perspective. They have been translated into more than 100 languages.Chick was an Independent Baptist who followed a dispensationalist view of the End Times. He was a believer in the King James Only movement, which posits that every English translation of the Bible more recent than 1611 promotes heresy or immorality.