People are born and people die. Some of the people are mostly good, by which I mean they mostly leave the wider world better than they found it. Whatever their flaws — which are often unknown to those outside their inner circle — good people seem to generally make or do things in a manner that improves life for many.
Having established our definition of “good” for the purpose of this piece, let’s move on to honor some good folks.
Because we are not omnipotent and do not currently keep an updated Excel spreadsheet of every single person who died in 2023, this will not be a comprehensive list. That’s why you are invited to add your favorite currently dead (as of 2023) people in the comments, whether or not they are famously dead, in order to honor their memory. Say something nice.
Everyone who comments with some version of “I don’t know HOW you could write a year-end list without including TKTKTKTK HUMAN” and/or “an obituary is not a eulogy is not a remembrance” wins the prize of other commenters replying with a line of their choice from any e.e. cummings poem (this actually IS a prize).
Here are just a few good people who died in 2023 after improving life for some other folks.
Norman Lear (1922 – 2023): His New York Times obituary is here.
Harry Belafonte (1927 – 2023): Rolling Stone honors him here.
Rosalynn Carter (1927 – 2023): Our tribute is here.
Alan Arkin (1934 – 2023): The New York Times obit is here.
Tina Turner (1939 – 2023): Her NPR obituary is here.
Richard Roundtree (1942 – 2023): The Washington Post has a good profile here.
Shane MacGowan (1957 – 2023): Entertainment Weekly celebrates him here.
Andre Braugher (1962 – 2023): A bona fide friend and supporter of Wonkette. The Guardian remembers him here.
Jerry Schoenkopf (1938 – 2023): He was kind of famous! He was certainly interesting. Rebecca, your Editrix, and not coincidentally his daughter, eulogized him here.
Lance Reddick (1962 – 2023): A lovely piece for a lovely man in The Guardian here.
Sinead O’Connor (1966 – 2023): The Irish Times honors her here.
To honor our shared friends, family, and/or colleagues in their grief, I will add comedian Neel Nanda (1991 – 2023), comedian Kenny DeForest (1986 – 2023) and Chicago comedy producer Elizabeth McQuern (1972 – 2023), as well as all your loved ones and pets who died (pets are people, for the purpose of this post).
If you work in entertainment in any capacity and are in need of mental, physical, or financial assistance, I encourage you to check out the Entertainment Community Fund. It’s also a place where you can support entertainment workers at the end of a rough year. Speaking as a former comic and current member of the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA, I am deeply grateful for their work, particularly what they do for comedians who have little to no health coverage or housing money. (They’ll help you if you’re in a union, and they’ll help you if you’re not.)
I’ll leave you with Kenny. He was the best of us. It’s real stupid he had to go so early, but he deserves all the praise lavished on him over the past few weeks.
Go celebrate your people, and take good care.
