Tag archives: in passing
Clark graduated from Jefferson High School in Monroe, MI in 1964, and five decades later, with Jack Mabe, co-founded the Raymond L. Kessler Scholarship fund, honoring its Principal. As a true “Renaissance Man,” Clark’s career encompassed being a Maker of Steel, Writer and an Educator. In the Steel Industry, while employed at Georgetown Steel Corporation […]
We lost one of our favorite people at the end of September, as Canadian-born Lorraine Duffy Wilson passed away at the age of 87. She was a regular at Santa Barbara and Montecito fundraisers for decades, and as the News-Press society editor made lifelong friends of those she covered and those who covered them with […]
Santa Barbara International Film Festival has hired veteran Benjamin Goedert as its new development director. In his new role, Goedert will be responsible for generating funds to support the fest’s dynamic arts and educational programs through sponsorships, grants and donations. He moved to our tony town 11 years ago to attend City College where he […]
Santa Barbara’s Breast Cancer Resource Center hosted The Pink Lounge gala for 300 guests at the Rosewood Miramar, which raised more than $230,000 for programs, which are provided at no cost to recipients. The 21st annual bustling bash in the chandeliered ballroom, co-chaired by Douglas Mackenzie and Joanne Funari, had Hayley Wise, 32, a breast […]
John McCann, loving husband, father and grandfather, peacefully passed away on Monday, September 16 from a brief respiratory illness compounded by pulmonary fibrosis. John was born at Fort Meade, Maryland on June 28, 1942 to Peg and Jack McCann, two of the best parents for whom a boy could ask. He was the oldest of […]
John Dean Caldwell, respected defense analyst and noted national security scholar died unexpectedly following surgery to correct a previously undiagnosed ulcer in Torrance, California. He was born in Pittsburgh, PA on November 14, 1940 to Dr. David Caldwell, a thoracic surgeon and his wife Jean. In 1945 the family relocated to Santa Barbara where Dr. […]
To La Cocina, formerly Somerset, with my snapperazzi Priscilla, to check out the made-over East Anapamu Street eatery, which now features Mexican-Californian cuisine. The charming back courtyard, filled with lavender bushes and gnarled ancient fig trees brought in by flatbed trucks from Northern California and craned in over the rooftops when it first opened after […]
On a personal note, I remember Geoffrey Rutkowski, former principal cellist of the Santa Barbara Symphony, who has died aged 78. A charming, gentle and enormously talented individual, Geoffrey joined the music faculty at UCSB in 1968 until his retirement in 2013 as a Distinguished Professor Emeritus. He played all over the world, including two […]
Regular readers know how fondly we cared for the late Julian Nott, balloonist, pilot, inventor, and physicist extraordinaire. So, we thought we’d share this memory from his widow, Anne Luther: “In following the anniversary celebrations of the moon landing recently it was hard not to remember how much of a hero Neil Armstrong was to […]
On a personal note, I remember Broadway icon Hal Prince, who left us for more heavenly pastures aged 91. Prince was the driving force for many of the Great White Way’s most memorable productions, including Cabaret, West Side Story, Sweeney Todd, and Phantom of the Opera, the longest running stage show in Manhattan. In his […]
Having won polo’s 55-year-old America Cup three times in the last four years, it seems appropriate that former Santa Barbara Polo Club president and banker Dan Walker should now be sponsoring the three-week annual 16-goal tournament that runs through August 11. To mark the occasion, he hosted a bustling reception at his Farmers & Merchants […]
On a personal note, I remember Italian film director Franco Zeffirelli, who has died in Rome aged 96. I met the Oscar nominee a number of times with New York socialite Mary Mead Carter, a good friend of the helmsman of the 1968 film Romeo and Juliet, and the 1999 gem Tea with Mussolini, starring […]
On a personal note, I remember legendary reporter Steve Dunleavy, who died at his Long Island home aged 81. Sydney-born Dunleavy was a hard drinking, heavy smoking conservative columnist for Rupert Murdoch‘s New York Post, famed as a door-kicking reporter who introduced the U.S. to tabloid TV with the show, A Current Affair. He was […]
On a personal note, I remember Gloria Vanderbilt, the iconic New York socialite, whose first marriage was at the Santa Barbara Mission in 1941, who has died at her Big Apple home aged 95. I would often see the “poor little rich girl” heiress at the center of a scandalous custody battle in the 1930s […]
On a personal note, I remember actress Sylvia Miles, who has died in New York aged 94. The two-time Oscar-nominated camp icon’s notoriety grew when she joined Andy Warhol’s Manhattan social circle in the ‘70s becoming a legendary party girl and inspiring the famous jibe: “Sylvia Miles and Andy Warhol would attend the opening of […]
When Robinson Eikenberry passed away suddenly at age 47 on July 4, 2017, the Santa Barbara community lost one of its most influential musicians, although very few outside of his circle ever heard him perform. That’s because Eikenberry didn’t crave the spotlight, preferring instead to stay behind the scenes as a producer, engineer, songwriter and, […]
Social gridlock reigned at restaurateur Ali Ahlstrand‘s new State Street eatery, Alito’s, when John Thyne and Kevin Goodwin celebrated the 15th anniversary of their real estate company, Goodwin & Thyne Properties. More than 270 guests turned out for the boffo bash, with 1,138 properties sold in the last decade and a half. “It is amazing […]
John Robert (Bob) Hamilton, 77, died peacefully at Woodridge Rehabilitation and Nursing, in Berlin, Vermont on March 15, 2019 of complications from Parkinson’s disease. Bob was born on November 28, 1941 in Crawfordsville, Indiana. After high school he attended Wabash College from 1960 to 1964, also in Crawfordsville, where he achieved an outstanding record, including […]
Penny died at home on Saturday, April 20, 2019 of esophageal cancer. She was 74 years old. Penny was an inspirational big sister, loving and caring daughter, professional trailblazer, mentor, deeply caring friend, and passionate cat lover. Private in many aspects of her life, once you were allowed inside the protective layer, you came to […]
Goats were in abundance when the 12-year-old African Women Rising, a northern Uganda charity, held its third Goat Fest with more than 200 guests at a rustic Cold Spring Road estate, raising enough to purchase 300 of the animals. “It’s not so much a fund raiser as a friend raiser, to draw attention to the […]



