2014 deaths

Francois_Deguelt

François Deguelt (French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃swa dəgɛl], born Louis Deghelt; 4 December 1932 – 22 January 2014) was a French singer, best known for his participation on behalf of Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contests of 1960 and 1962.

Michael_Brown_(writer)

Michael Brown (December 14, 1920 – June 11, 2014) was an American composer, lyricist, writer, director, producer, and performer. He was born in Mexia, Texas. His musical career began in New York cabaret, performing first at Le Ruban Bleu. In the 1960s, he was a producer of industrial musicals for major American corporations such as J.C. Penney and DuPont. For the DuPont pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair, Brown wrote and produced a musical revue, The Wonderful World of Chemistry staged 48 times a day by two simultaneous casts in adjacent theaters. For years, he maintained a reunion directory of the cast and crew, which included Robert Downey, Sr. as a stage manager. 2005 mailing: “After all, it was a remarkable time in all of our lives. We can be fairly certain nothing like it will be seen again. Love all round, Mike.” Several of his songs have entered the American repertoire, including "Lizzie Borden" and "The John Birch Society," which were popularized by the Chad Mitchell Trio.
Children know him best as the author of three Christmas books about Santa's helper, Santa Mouse.

Claude_Ollier

Claude Ollier (French: [klod ɔlje]; 17 December 1922 – 18 October 2014) was a French writer closely associated with the nouveau roman literary movement. Born in Paris, he was the first winner of the Prix Médicis which he received for his novel La Mise en scène.Ollier died on 18 October 2014, according to his publisher. He was 91.

Jim_Galloway

James Braidie Galloway (28 July 1936 – 30 December 2014) was a jazz clarinet and saxophone player. He based his career in Canada after emigrating from Scotland in the mid-1960s.

Paul_Buissonneau

Paul Georges Buissonneau, (born 24 December 1926 – 30 November 2014) was a leading francophone theatre director in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Born in Paris, France, Buissonneau started his career as a singer with the French chorus Les Compagnons de la chanson, alongside Édith Piaf who was also singing with the group at the time. He parted company with the chorus during a tour of North America, and settled in Quebec.In 1952, the City of Montreal appointed Buissonneau as artistic director of La Roulotte, a parks-based outdoor theatre, which gave an early opportunity to famous Quebec artists Yvon Deschamps, Jean-Louis Millette, Claude Jasmin, Claude Léveillé, Marcel Sabourin and Robert Charlebois.In 1956, he founded his own company, the Théâtre de Quat'Sous (Four-penny Theatre) and served as its artistic director until 1989. Many famous Quebec playwrights began their career in this theatre, notably Robert Lepage, François Barbeau, André Brassard, René-Daniel Dubois, and Lothaire Bluteau.During his 35-year career as director of the Quat'Sous theatre, he played and wrote numerous plays and TV shows. He is remembered for creating and bringing to life the character of Picolo in the children's television series entitled La Boîte à surprises (The surprise box). The series started in 1954 and lasted until the early 1970s.He received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award in 1998 and the Prix Denise-Pelletier in 2001. In 2009, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "for his contributions to the evolution of the performing arts, especially theatre, as director of the La Roulotte and Quat’Sous theatres."

Dick_Dale_(singer)

Richard L. Dale (September 14, 1926 – December 26, 2014) was an American singer and musician, best known as a featured singer and saxophone player on the television variety show The Lawrence Welk Show.
A native of Algona, Iowa, he served in the United States Navy during World War II after graduation from Algona High School. His entertainment career began when he worked for several bands such as Harold Loeffelmacher and his Six Fat Dutchmen polka band. He was hired by Lawrence Welk in 1951.During his tenure on The Lawrence Welk Show, in addition to playing the saxophone, Dale sang not just solos but also in duets, performed in comedy sketches, dances, and also played Santa Claus for many years on the Christmas shows. Even after the show ended when its host went into retirement in 1982, he continued to perform with his fellow Welk alumni. From 1990 to 1996, he co-owned and operated the Rainbow Music Theater in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, with fellow Welk star Ava Barber.He married his wife, Marguerite, in 1949, and they had four children. They lived in Los Angeles during the Lawrence Welk years. After making their home in Sparks, Nevada, for several years, the Dales moved back to his hometown of Algona, Iowa, in 2006. He died there on December 26, 2014.

Dave_Bakenhaster

David Lee Bakenhaster (March 5, 1945 – July 30, 2014) was an American professional baseball pitcher who appeared in two games in Major League Baseball as a member of the 1964 St. Louis Cardinals. Born in Columbus, Ohio, and raised in nearby Dublin, he threw and batted right-handed and was listed as 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall and 168 pounds (76 kg).
Bakenhaster signed with the Cardinals for a $40,000 bonus in 1963 after he graduated from Dublin Coffman High School. The Cardinals protected him from the first-year player draft by putting him on their 25-man MLB roster for 1964. But he would appear in only two games and hurl only three full innings as a Redbird.
He made his major-league debut at the age of 19 on June 20, 1964, at Busch Stadium. He entered a contest against the San Francisco Giants in a low-leverage situation, with St. Louis trailing 10–1 in the eighth inning. Bakenhaster allowed six hits and four unearned runs in two full innings as the Giants rolled, 14–3. One month and two days later, on July 22, he appeared in his second and last MLB game, another one-sided home game, this time against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Bakenhaster again worked the ninth inning, allowing a two-run home run to Bill Mazeroski and surrendering the final two runs in an eventual 13–2 Pittsburgh romp.The Cardinals then sent Bakenhaster to the minor leagues for the remainder of 1964; he escaped the first-year player draft but never returned to the majors. He missed the 1968 season while serving in the military, and retired from the game after the 1970 season. In his brief MLB career, he posted a 0–0 won–lost record and a 6.00 earned run average, with nine hits and one base on balls in three full innings pitched. He did not record a strikeout.
After leaving baseball, Bakenhaster worked for 34 years in a warehouse operated by Exel Logistics, serving the Nabisco Brands Food Company in Columbus, Ohio. In 1975, he married the former Carolyn Harr. In 2002, he was elected to the inaugural class for the Dublin Coffman High School Athletic Hall of Fame.