McCandlish Phillips, 85, extraordinary Times newspaperman

He stood out as a writer, for in his hands, even a routine news article, like this account of New York’s St. Patrick’s Day parade — an annual millstone for the city’s general-assignment reporters — seldom failed to delight: “The sun was high to their backs and the wind was fast in their faces and 100,000 sons and daughters of Ireland, and those who would hold with them, matched strides with their shadows for 52 blocks,” Mr. Phillips wrote in 1961. “It seemed they marched from Midtown to exhaustion.” ... Mr. Phillips joined The Times as a copy boy in November 1952, later working as a clerk on the city desk and in the Washington bureau. In 1955, he was made a cub reporter and consigned to the paper’s Brooklyn office, a dank, decrepit outfit in the borough’s nether regions. Mr. Phillips’s account of life there, written for Times Talk, the newspaper’s house organ (“It is impossible to tell a plainclothes detective from a mugger here. You just have to wait to see what they do”) was so magnificent that his sentence was commuted to service in the main newsroom.

Roger Ebert on existence: "It's not to be missed!"

CHICAGO—Calling the overall human experience “poignant,” “thought-provoking,” and a “complete tour de force,” film critic Roger Ebert praised existence Thursday as “an audacious and thrilling triumph.” Do consider the source ...

Allston Kinsley "Al" Thorndike Jr., 97, ate a carrot every day

He was an avid walker and regularly walked to work. He avoided processed foods and didn't smoke or drink. He ate a carrot every day. Among his favorite sayings: "You have to take it easy going down the old Zambezi."

Martin Joseph Lynch had a wonderful sense of humor

As a native New Yorker, he rooted all his life for the Yankees but forgave those of his descendants who persisted in following lesser teams. Persistence, he believed, was to be encouraged as a virtue, in all its forms.

Paul Shuman, designer of fishing nets and much more

He held a lifelong love of all things wild and natural. His childhood possessions were always unusual and included a cow's eyeball, a pheasant's claw (with working tendon), hamsters, fish, chameleons, baby birds, frogs, and much more. Until the day he died, he took care of the wild creatures that shared his property with him.

Those darn sports teams, they'll get you every time

She both loved and was frustrated by the Chicago Cubs and the Iowa Hawkeyes, but rooted for her teams loyally. She was known to enjoy the occasional (or daily) bourbon and water and holds the unofficial family record for most slot machine winnings by a member over the age of 85. (H/T to Sally Wisdom)

She both loved and was frustrated by the Chicago Cubs and the Iowa Hawkeyes, but rooted for her teams loyally. She was known to enjoy the occasional (or daily) bourbon and water and holds the unofficial family record for most slot machine winnings by a member over the age of 85.