Ruth Lilly, a prolific philanthropist who was the last surviving great-grandchild of pharmaceutical magnate Eli Lilly, has died at age 94.

A family spokesman said Lilly died Wednesday in Indianapolis.

Over the course of her life, the Indianapolis native gave away much of her inheritance from the Eli Lilly & Co. fortune. Court documents showed in 2002 that Lilly had bequeathed nearly $500 million to charitable and arts-related groups.

Rest In Peace, Ruth.

In 1988, the film “Rain Man,” about an autistic savant played by Dustin Hoffman, shed a humane light on the travails of autism while revealing the extraordinary powers of memory that a small number of otherwise mentally disabled people possess, ostensibly as a side effect of their disability.

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Mr. Peek was not autistic — not all savants are autistic and not all autistics are savants — but he was born with severe brain abnormalities that impaired his physical coordination and made ordinary reasoning difficult. He could not dress himself or brush his teeth without help. He found metaphoric language incomprehensible and conceptualization baffling.

But with an astonishing skill that allowed him to read facing pages of a book at once — one with each eye — he read as many as 12,000 volumes. Even more remarkable, he could remember what he had read.

Indeed, Mr. Peek, who died Dec. 19 at home in Salt Lake City, had perhaps the world’s most capacious memory for facts. He was 58. The cause was a heart attack, said his father, Fran Peek.

Rest In Peace, Kim.

Posted from slobokan’s posterous

Isaac Schwartz, the composer whose music adorned some of the most popular movies of the Soviet era, has died. He was 86.

Schwartz died at his home just outside St. Petersburg, Russia, on Sunday, the St. Petersburg Composers Union said. The group didn’t specify the cause of death.

Rest In Peace, Isaac.

As many of you know, it’s been almost one full year since I was laid off by The Big Fat Liar®. I spent the first three months looking for work, at which time I started my own business to bring in what money I could.

I am hoping to get things rolling full steam in the first quarter of 2010, but I will be continuing my job search at the same time, because any full-time work would be better than the unknown. Right?

Percy Sutton, the pioneering civil rights attorney who represented Malcolm X before launching successful careers as a political power broker and media mogul, has died. He was 89.

Marissa Shorenstein, a spokeswoman for Gov. David Paterson, confirmed that Sutton died Saturday. She did not know the cause. His daughter, Cheryl Sutton, declined to comment Saturday when reached by phone at her New York City home.

Rest In Peace, Percy.

Vic Chesnutt, the folk-rocker whose sometimes dark reflections on life were influenced in part by a car wreck that left him paralyzed, has died. He was 45.

Family friend Christina Stuckey, who answered the phone at Chesnutt’s home, confirmed the death to The Associated Press. Chesnutt’s record label, Constellation Records, said in a statement on its Web site that Chesnutt died on Christmas Day, Friday.

The brief statement says “Vic transformed our sense of what true character, grace and determination are all about.”

Rest In Peace, Vic.

George Michael, 70, a high-rated and hyperanimated Washington sportscaster whose extensive use of game highlights from across the country on his nationally syndicated show has now become the norm in the industry, died Thursday at Sibley Memorial Hospital. He had chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

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He was a rock-and-roll disc jockey in Philadelphia before being offered a job in 1974 as a radio personality on WABC in New York. He was making great money, about $65,000 annually, but his personal life unraveled. His first wife, Patricia, left him and their children, he said, telling The Post, “She ran away to Mexico with an 18-year-old.” Alimony payments left him constantly on the “verge of bankruptcy,” he said.

He later married Pat Lackman, a writer who became a key partner in her husband’s on-air career. She survives, along with two children from his first marriage, Brad and Michelle. A full list of survivors could not be confirmed.

Rest In Peace, George.

James Gurley, the innovative guitarist who helped shape psychedelic rock’s multilayered, sometimes thundering sounds as a member of Big Brother and the Holding Company, the band that propelled Janis Joplin to fame, has died of a heart attack. He was 69.

Gurley was pronounced dead Sunday at a Palm Springs hospital, two days before his 70th birthday, the band announced on its Web site.

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He is survived by his wife, Margaret, and sons Hongo and Django.
Band members plan to hold a memorial sometime next month in San Francisco.

Rest In Peace, James.

Yitzhak “Ike” Ahronovitch, the captain of the Exodus ship whose attempt to take Holocaust survivors to Palestine built support for Israel’s founding, has died. He was 86.

He died Wednesday in northern Israel after a long illness, his daughter Ella said.

The Exodus 1947 ship left France in July 1947 carrying more than 4,500 people — most of them Holocaust survivors and other displaced Jews — in a secret effort to reach Palestine. At the time, Britain controlled Palestine and was limiting the immigration of Jews.

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Ahronovitch is survived by two daughters, seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren. His funeral is scheduled for Friday in northern Israel.

Rest In Peace, Ike.