Oklahoma journalist George Tomek (January 1, 2026) served in Vietnam before landing in OKC, serving for years as anchor and news director at KFOR.
Actor Sidney Kibrick (January 2, 2026) was most famous for appearing as “Woim” in over two dozen Our Gang shorts, 1933-39.
Facing the end of government funding, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was dissolved by its board of directors on January 5, 2026.
Actor TK Carter (January 9, 2026) was known for appearances in The Thing (1982), Space Jam, and TV’s Punky Brewster. He also voiced a character on Jem.
Composer Ted Nichols (January 9, 2026) stirred the imaginations (and funny bones) of millions of TV viewers with his music for Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, Josie and the Pussycats, Shazzan, Space Ghost, Jonny Quest, and many others.
Humbug artist, plagiarist, and charlatan Erich von Däniken (January 10, 2026) treated facts like toilet paper, but his writings on the “possibilities” of ancient alien contact or technology stimulated the hopes and imaginations of millions to use real science to investigate mysteries of the past and present.
Musician Bob Weir (January 10, 2026) was a co-founder of the Grateful Dead, shaping pop (and acid) music history for generations of Deadheads and other fans.
Satirist Scott Adams (January 13, 2026) earned worldwide fame for his strip Dilbert. He also wrote on other topics and won a lot of flack for his outspoken views on politics and current events.
Claudette Colvin (January 13, 2026) struck a blow for freedom when she was arrested, at age 15, for not yielding her bus seat to a white, in Montgomery, AL.
Playwright-animator Roger Allers (January 17, 2026) worked on such Disney successes as Beauty and the Beast and The Litle Mermaid, and was most known as co-director of The Lion King.
Mathematician Gladys West (January 17, 2026) began working for the Navy in the 1950s as a computer programmer and analyst of satellite data. He research reached to Pluto’s orbit and was foundational to the development of GPS.
Country-music singer and platter spinner Billy Parker (January 19, 2026) charted 20 singles with Billboard and was named Disc Jockey of the Year several times in the late 1970s. On Tulsa’s KVOO, his overnight show reached from Canada to Mexico.
American writer Jean Rabe (January 19, 2026) collaborated with Martin H Greenberg and Andre Norton and wrote a mystery series starring Piper Blackwell. Her biggest genre splash, however, must be from her work creating accessories and novels in the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons.
Fashion designer Valentino (January 19, 2026) was a big influence beginning in the 1960s, known for pushing retro designs into haute couture.
Comics artist Sal Buscema (January 24, 2026) worked primarily for Marvel, including ten years on the Hulk and eight for Spider-Man.
Dr William Foege (January 24, 2026) was the tenth director of the CDC. As a result of his international research and advocation for vaccination, smallpox was declared officially eradicated from the Earth in 1979.
Lowell Fillmore “Sly” Dunbar (January 26, 2026) was a Jamaican drummer and two-time Grammy winner, best known as part of the duo Sly and Robbie.
Shirley Raines (January 27, 2026) helped change the lives of many by founding the non-profit Beauty 2 the Streetz, which provides hygiene, beauty products, and other items to folks living on LA streets.
Actress-comedienne Catherine O’Hara (January 30, 2026) stomped into our hearts beginning with Canada’s SCTV, and charmed and/or astounded us in films including Beetlejuice, Home Alone, Dick Tracy, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Frankenweenie, and a TV show called Schitt’s Creek.
Singer-songwriter Chuck Negron II (February 2, 2026) was lead vocalist and a founding member of Three Dog Night. After overcoming a long heroin addiction, he launched a solo career with at least six albums and an autobiography, Three Dog Nightmare.
First a Navy aerial photographer and then a pitcher for the
LA Dodgers, LaMonte McLemore (February 3, 2026) made his biggest pop-culture
impact as a founding member of the Fifth Dimension singing group.
Tulsa-area guitarist Tommy Crook (February 4, 2026) played with folks like Merle Haggard and Leon Russell. He was known for replacing his two lowest guitar strings with bass strings, to get a combo sound from one instrument.
The discontinuation of all Minute Maid frozen juices was announced February 5, 2026.
Longtime Soonercon friend THE James K Burk (February 7, 2026) was a programming participant in 11 Soonercons though 2018 and a writer of fantasy, as well as a gunslinger at Wichita’s Joyland Amusement Park. We’ll always miss him and his fancy duds.
Nicknamed “Grandfather of the Internet,” Dave Farber (February 7, 2026) worked for Bell and several universities. He helped develop the ESS-1 switching system and SNOBOL programming languages. His concept of DCS (distributed computer system) was the basis for networking, modularization, and multitasking across computers. His students developed SMTP and IANA.
Meredith Kimani (February 8, 2026) was active in the Oklahoma film scene as a set medic and locations manager, as well as an advocate for those with disabilities and special needs.
Actor Bud Cort (February 11, 2026) was known for roles in Harold and Maude, Brewster McCloud, and M*A*S*H. he also voiced Toyman across the DC Animated Universe.
Actor James Van Der Beek (February 11, 2026) was most famous for his role as Dawson Leery in TV’s Dawson’s Creek.
Paul Brainerd (February 15, 2026) was a businessman and programmer. He co-founded Aldus in 1984 and helped bring the revolutionary PageMaker to market. He invented the term “desktop publishing.”
Actor Robert Duvall (February 15, 2026) was known for roles in To Kill a Mockingbird, True Grit, THX-1138, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather, and scads more.
Animator Jane Baer (February 16, 2026) worked on several notable films including The Black Cauldron and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Jesse Jackson (February 17, 2026) was a fierce advocate for all rights for all people. He ran for president a couple of times and founded the organizations which became the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.
Actor Eric Dane (February 19, 2026) appeared in X-Men the Last Stand, Grey’s Anatomy, and Charmed, among others.
Willie Colón (February 21, 2026) was a trombonist, singer, and writer in the salsa scene. He was also active in NYC and other political realms.
Horror/sf writer Dan Simmons (February 21, 2026) was responsible for several notable series and standalones, winning the World Fantasy Award in 1985. Early work appeared in the 1970s Twilight Zone magazine; series include Hyperion Cantos; Ilium/Olympos; and Joe Kurtz.
Robert Carradine (February 23, 2026) appeared on TV in his brother Keith’s series Kung Fu and films like Coming Home and Wavelength, reaching a big audience in the Revenge of the Nerds series.
James “Bo” Gritz (February 27, 2026) was a US Army officer who got involved in politics in the ‘80s and ‘90s. His exploits contributed to the fictional characters Rambo, Kurtz in Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, and Hannibal Smith of The A-Team.
Singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka (February 27, 2026) produced 500+ songs for himself and other artist, including “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” “Laughter in the Rain,” and “Love will Keep Us Together.”
Actress Jennifer Runyon (March 6, 2026) was known for appearing on Charles in Charge and Ghostbusters.
“Country Joe” McDonald (March 7, 2026) co-founded the psych-folk-rock group which bore his name.
Psychiatrist Judith Rapoport (March 7, 2026) was a big advocate for those enduring childhood-related behavioral and mental disorders, including her 1989 book The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Washing.
USAF officer and later aide to President Nixon Alexander Butterfield (March 9, 2026) oversaw the installation of tape-recording equipment in the White House. He really affected history when, during the Watergate hearings, on July 13, 1973 he revealed the taping system’s existence to the public.
Tommy DeCarlo (March 9, 2026) was lead singer for Boston, 2007-2026.
Writer-editor Lee Martindale (March 10, 2026) produced several anthologies for Yard Dog Press, received the Kevin O’Donnell Jr. Service to SFWA Award in 2019, and appeared at five Soonercons 1995-2007.
Welsh musician Phil Campbell (March 13, 2026) was most known as guitarist for Motörhead, 1984-2015.
American writer and biologist Paul Ehrlich (March 13, 2026) had a big bee under his saddle concerning population growth, leading to a sensationalist 1968 book, The Population Bomb, which promised that “the battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now.” Feel hungry?
Len Deighton (March 15, 2026) wrote cookbooks and history works, but is most famous for a few dozen spy novels which were also adapted for TV and film, including books featuring Bernard Sampson and Harry Palmer.
Comics writer-artist Sam Kieth (March 15, 2026) was co-creator of the Sandman and creator of Zero Girl and the Maxx. He wrote several miniseries for DC featuring Lobo and Batman, and the graphic novel Arkham Asylum: Madness.
TV host and actress Kiki Shepard (March 16, 2026) was co-host of the syndicated Showtime at the Apollo from 1987 to 2002.
Chuck Norris (March 19, 2026) worked as a martial-arts instructor for Hollywood before launching his own action career, including films like Lone Wolf McQuade, Code of Silence, and Firewalker. In 1993 he began nine seasons of Walker, Texas Ranger. Rumor has it that Norris didn’t die ... he just roundhouse-kicked his way into another dimension.
Actor-artist Nicholas Brendon (March 20, 2026) is most known for roles as Xander Harris in Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and Kevin Lynch in Criminal Minds.
Actress Valerie Perrine (March 23, 2026) appeared in Lenny and Slaughterhouse-Five, but is most remembered as Luthor squeeze Miss Tessmacher in Superman: The Movie and Superman II.
Dash Crofts (March 25, 2026) achieved fame as half of the musical duo Seals & Crofts, with hits in the 1970s like “Summer Breeze” and “Diamond Girl.”
Actor James Tolkan (March 26, 2026) was a familiar face from appearances in several Back to the Future films, Dick Tracy, and Masters of the Universe.
Author Thomas Tessier (March 26, 2026) was known for poetry and novels of horror fiction like The Nightwalker and Finishing Touches.
Sugar the Surfing Dog (March 30, 2026) became the first canine inducted into the Surfer’s Hall of Fame. Dying at age 16, she was a five-time surfing world champion.
These people and
things impacted the pop-culture REALM, and thus the whole world. Thanks for reflecting on some of those who
went before.
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