New deaths

Barry Hannah has died, a sad loss to Oxford and to belles lettres. You can read his AP obit at the NYT obit page (the AP appears not to know just where Hannah was born), but I would also recommend pulling back to see some of the other new deaths:

- Arthur Hayes Jr., head of the FDA during the Tylenol killings;

- Robert J. Myers, the 20th century's most influential actuary, who set Social Security's 65-years-old qualification for benefits;

- W.E. Gordon, the man who "conceived, designed, built, and operated" the Arecibo radio telescope, maybe the most important astronomical tool ever.

... And in the fine print at the bottom I see I missed that bastard Haig dying. Less cheerfully, the last Canadian veteran of the Great War.