Saturday, November 30, 2013

Peter Kaplan, 59, 'chronicled every move and shake' in Manhattan

Though he went on to help carry The Observer across the digital threshold, overseeing the creation of its website, Mr. Kaplan was regarded by those who knew him as a throwback to an earlier age — to the New York of the Stork Club, the Automat and the Algonquin. He revered the stuff of that era, from classic black-and-white films that portrayed the city at its noirish finest (he knew the credits of nearly all of them by heart) to newspapers as they were originally conceived: damp, sweet-smelling and black and white, or, in his case, black and pink.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Pomp Lentini, 97; not the best obit but ... my dad

He was a man of many interests, alternately rehabilitating the family’s 1846 original Moss family home (a point of pride), raising farm animals, mastering the art of photography, acting in local theater, becoming an award-winning winemaker with his own Chateau Lentini label, riding motorcycles, learning to embroider and working with computers. Many articles about him have been written in the Waterbury, New Haven and Meriden newspapers. His photographs have been displayed at the Cheshire Public Library. And check out my FB page, https://www.facebook.com/ninalentini, where Peter Elikann has written a wonderful eulogy about my dad. Thanks.

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Elizabeth Ghaffari, busted at the seams of her small-town Western life

As Betty Lindholm, she grew up in Logan, Utah with her older sister, Ellen. From a young age, Betty had an individualistic spirit, refined taste, and a thirst for travel and experience that busted at the seams of her small-town Western life. She began subscribing to the New Yorker magazine as a teenager and delighted in listening to New York Philharmonic broadcasts on the family radio. She had a low tolerance for prejudice of any kind, and was often able to defuse such situations through logic, persuasion, or humor.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Bad days to die? So many bad days to die ...

To the extent one cares about one’s death making a news splash, it’s best as a rule not to expire on the same day, or nearly the same day, as a Kennedy. Such was the case with the author Dominick Dunne, who died in 2009 the day after Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Dunne’s family initially refused to confirm his death, concerned that the tsunami of coverage on Kennedy’s would swamp Dunne’s obituary.