2009 deaths

Edwin A. "Bud" Shrake, Jr. (September 6, 1931 – May 8, 2009) was an American journalist, sportswriter, novelist, biographer and screenwriter. He co-wrote a series of golfing advice books with golf coach Harvey Penick, including Harvey Penick's Little Red Book, a golf guide that became the best-selling sports book in publishing history. Called a “lion of Texas letters” by the Austin American-Statesman, Shrake was a member of the Texas Film Hall of Fame, and received the Lon Tinkle lifetime achievement award from the Texas Institute of Letters and the Texas Book Festival Bookend Award.

Martin Perry Knowlton (July 30, 1920 – March 12, 2009) was the American co-founder of Elderhostel, a non-profit organization established in 1975 that allows senior citizens to travel and take educational programs in the United States and around the world.

Valentina Giovagnini (6 April 1980 – 2 January 2009) was an Italian pop singer, active between 2001 and 2009. She was born in Arezzo, Italy.
She made her first appearance at the Sanremo Music Festival (Youth Section) in 2002, coming second with the song "Il passo silenzioso della neve" (The Quiet Step of the Snow).
Her first solo album, "Creatura nuda" (Nude Creature), uses unusual typical Celtic instruments: whistle, musette de cour, uilleann pipes and others. It was released in March 2002.
She died at the age of 28 in Siena, Italy, of injuries sustained in a car accident.A second posthumous record entitled "L'amore non ha fine" (Love Has No End), containing songs recorded from 2003 to 2008, and never before released, including the title-track of this record L'amore non ha fine, was released in May 2009.

Marius Eriksen (8 December 1922 – 6 July 2009) was a Norwegian skier, fighter pilot, model and actor.
Eriksen was born on 8 September 1922 in Kristiania (now Oslo) in Norway. His father, also called Marius Eriksen, was a gymnast who competed for Norway at the 1912 Summer Olympics. His mother was Birgit Eriksen. During his early years, Eriksen (junior) gained some success at slalom skiing and ski jumping. Eriksen's younger brother, Stein Eriksen, went on to win an Olympic gold medal in skiing.
Following the outbreak of World War II, Eriksen fled Norway, leaving on 5 November 1940 via Ålesund. After arriving in Scotland, he made his way to Canada, where he underwent flying training at Little Norway, the Norwegian Army Air Service flight training school.
On his return to the United Kingdom, Eriksen served with No. 331 (Norwegian) Squadron RAF and then No. 332 (Norwegian) Squadron RAF as a fighter pilot flying Spitfires. He achieved nine kills, making him one of Norway's aces, before he was shot down off the coast of the Netherlands attempting a head-on attack against a Focke-Wulf Fw 190. Eriksen survived and after being captured on 2 May 1943, he was held as a prisoner of war at Stalag Luft III in Poland until 1945. He began his service with the RAF as a Sergeant, but was later commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. In recognition of his wartime service, Eriksen was awarded the War Cross with Sword, St. Olav's Medal With Oak Branch, Haakon VIIs 70th Anniversary Medal, the Norwegian War Medal, the Norwegian Defence Medal, the British Distinguished Flying Medal, and the American Silver Star.
After the war, Eriksen became the Norwegian champion in alpine skiing in both 1947 and 1948. He also competed in two events at the 1948 Winter Olympics.In 1953, his mother, who was a keen knitter, designed a variation of the Setesdal traditions in Norway. sweater. Another variation of Setesdals patterns, designed by Unn Søiland, later became Norway's most popular knitting pattern, known as The Marius pattern, the pattern that Marius Eriksen is wearing in the film Troll i ord. The picture of Marius Eriksen from the film was later used as the front cover of the knitting pattern that later became the most popular knitting pattern in Norway.After the war, Eriksen pursued a film career in the 1950s. He appeared in two films in 1954, debuting in Troll i ord (Watch What You Say) before going on to Kasserer Jensen (a comedy in which he was a journalist with the Norwegian daily Dagbladet). In 1957 he starred as Lieutenant Colonel Eriksen in Slalåm under himmelen (Slalom beneath the Sky), a war film.
Eriksen's autobiography Marius: skiløper - jageress - krigsfange (Marius: skier - fighter ace - prisoner of war) was published in Norway in 2002.
He had five children with Bente Ording Eriksen, including Beate Eriksen (born 1960), who became an actress and film director.

Elizabeth "Betsy" Colquitt (1926 – 7 April 2009) was an American professor of English and a poet known for themes and poetic structures which reflect a modernist sensibility. She was born in Fort Worth, Texas, United States in 1926 and died on 7 April 2009.

Francesco Puccioni (26 April 1961 – 30 January 2009), better known under his stage name Mike Francis, was an Italian singer and composer, born in Florence, Italy. Internationally, he was best known for his 1984 hit, "Survivor", and his collaborations with American singer Amii Stewart.

Pierre Doris (1919–2009) was a French actor and humorist.

Ivan Della Mea (born Luigi Della Mea, 16 October 1940 – 14 June 2009) was an Italian novelist, journalist, singer-songwriter and political activist. His family name was "Della Mea"

Helge Reiss (27 February 1928 – 11 November 2009) was a Norwegian actor. He was the son of the actor Thorleif Reiss.

María Cristina Vilanova Castro de Árbenz (17 April 1915 – 5 January 2009) was the First Lady of Guatemala from 1951-1954, as wife of the Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán.