Help us find and improve next week's Connection Finder profiles: 2023 Memorial [closed]

Question

Most of those who are regular participants in the weekly Connection Finder features know that we often feature notables who have recently passed away. For many reasons, we aren't able to feature all of those notables, but they are certainly not ignored. We know many of you put a lot of time into finding and improving those profiles when the message goes out that someone has died. We're looking for profiles of some of those notables that we've lost this last year and were not able to get into the Connection Finder, like US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who passed away a few weeks ago.

• André Braugher, known for his roles in The Wire and Brooklyn Nine-Nine (not connected)
• Henry Kissinger, US Secretary of State and Nobel Peace Prize recipient
• Anna Shay, Japanese-American socialite and TV personality

Who else should we feature? We have room for 12 notables. We can't feature everyone who is nominated, but if we don't feature a profile you work on, we may use it sometime in the future. And, of course, all contributions help improve our shared tree.

Our choice of features will depend partly on the notable person's CC7, i.e. their connection count within seven degrees. The more connections they have, the more likely it is for all WikiTree members to find a close and interesting connection to them. So, if you nominate someone, please help grow their CC7.

Suggestions are more likely to be considered if you provide a link to the person on WikiTree, some information about who they were or why you're nominating them, and if their profile is in good condition with a connection, image, and well-written and well-sourced biography.

We'll make a final decision on which ones to feature early next week.

Please reply here with what you're working on so that we don't duplicate our efforts. Thank you!

Take note that this is not the place to discuss why you think we shouldn't feature someone if those reasons are due to politics, actions, or opinions of those being suggested. Mentioning things like their not being connected, their biography still needing work, erroneous information, etc. are all suitable for discussion here and an opportunity to correct those situations.

Help us choose themes for 2024 Connection Finder themes here. 

Answer 1

I would like to nominate Wim de Bie ( https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/De_Bie-191 ), who was a very well known comedian in the Netherlands.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wim_de_Bie

Comments

Thanks, Joke.

Answer 2

Composer Burt Bacharach. (Composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist who is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of 20th-century popular music.)

Astronaut Frank Borman. (He was the commander of Apollo 8, the first mission to fly around the Moon.)

Football player Dick Butkus. (He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most intimidating linebackers in professional football history.)

Baseball player Frank Howard. (He was nicknamed Hondo and he was a physically intimidating player because of his size and ability to hit home runs.)

Baseball player Brooks Robinson. (His nickname was "The Human Vacuum Cleaner." He made incredible plays as a third baseman and in doing so he is considered the greatest defensive third baseman in MLB history.)

Comments

Thanks, Russell.

Answer 3

Barry Humphries aka Dame Edna Everage.

Has bio, has profile pic, is Connected. Known ancestry thus far is English and Irish.  CC7 is 334.

Comments

Thank you, Melanie.

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Superstar housewife from Moonee Ponds

Answer 4

I'd like to nominate Charlie Munger (Munger-1254) - https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Munger-1254. He was the right hand man of Warren Buffet at Berkshire Hathaway.

I'd also like to nominate Bobby Knight (Knight-28154) - https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Knight-28145. He was a legendary college basketball coach.

Comments

Thanks, Mack.

Answer 5

I would like to nominate Shoichiro Toyoda. He served as the president and chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation in the 1980s and 1990s and helped develop the Lexus brand of luxury vehicles.

Comments

Thanks, Nicolas.

Answer 6

How about Ken Mattingly, Astronaut and Rear Admiral in the US Navy. He orbited the Moon on Apollo 16, but is best known for being scrubbed from Apollo 13 due to medical concerns. In addition to playing a key role in helping ensure its successful rescue effort, his service record and list of achievements are truly phenomenal. 

Just look at the categories listed on his profile page, one example of an accomplished and impactful person in my opinion.

Comments

Thanks, Brian.

Answer 7

I'd like to nominate the following notables whose deaths occurred on the indicated dates in 2023. All have one or more images and at least a short biography.

• 5 Jun Astrud Gilberto (1940–2023) Brazilian singer known for The Girl from Ipanema, CC7 22
• 6 Jun Marie Françoise Gilot (1921–2023) French painter and companion of Picasso, CC7 363
• 16 Jun Daniel Ellsberg (1931 – 2023), US whistleblower of Pentagon Papers fame, CC7 72
• 29 Jun Christine King Farris (1927 – 2023) US civil rights activist, sister of Martin Luther King, CC7 1236
• 16 Jul Jane Birkin (1946–2023) English/French singer and actor, CC7 1039
• 16 Nov Antonia Susan Drabble (1936–2023) the English novelist A. S. Byatt, winner of the Booker Prize with Possession, CC7 118.

Comments

Thanks, Jim.

Answer 8

Canada Project nominates hockey great Bobby Hull (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hull-9204) and actor, director and writer Gordon Pinsent (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pinsent-135)

Comments

Another Canadian hockey player, that doesn't seem to have a profile is Bob Chrystal.

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I’m a bit surprised that Brett does not have a profile when Bobby has a profile as father and son both had amazing hockey careers.

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Thanks, Dave.

Answer 9

Here is a YouTube channel to help!

They release a new video every week:

https://youtube.com/@legacycom?si=PvYUGbkD871tEqvO

Answer 10

I’d like to nominate 2 for the Appalachia Project. I’m working on getting them connected.

[[Osborne-12377|Bobby Van Osborne (1931-2023)]]

[[McReynolds-1082|Jesse Lester McReynolds (1929-2023)]]

Comments

Thanks, Donna.

Answer 11

Bachman brothers from BTO Robbie and Tim (Bachman-1643) I don't think Robbie has a profile.

Karol J. "Bob" Bobko Astronaut (Bobko-20 profile not open)

Len Goodman-dance instructor, Dancing with the Stars judge from England (Goodman-8012) not connected

John Jakes-author of North and South which was made into a mini-series. (no profile)

Comments

Thanks, Deena.

Answer 12

I'd like to nominate  Christine King Farris, eldest sibling of Martin Luther King, Jr and Notable in her own right.  She wrote several books and as a professor at Spelman College for 56 years.  She was 95 when she passed away.  She has a CC7 of 1235.   I was also going to nominate US Black Heritage Notables Tina Turner, Lance Reddick or Harry Belafonte but they were already featured this year - thanks Abby!

Comments

Thanks, Katie.

Answer 13

The France project is suggesting:

- Soccer star Justo Fontaine, who scored a record 13 goals during the 1952 FIFA World Cup (still holding) and has a very nice CC7 of 1649 (and counting, this is our pet project)

- Or, Hélène Carrère d'Encausse, political historian, third  woman ever elected to the Académie Française where she served as Perpetual Secretary for 24 years. She has Georgian, Russian and German ancestry and was the first  cousin of Salome Zourabichvili, incumbent President of Georgia. 

We are aware that neither of these people is extremely famous abroad, but at least this is a selection worthy of the TV game of the past, "la tête et les jambes".

Comments

Thank you, Isabelle!

Answer 14

Question: When you say CC7, you are meaning in our own CC7, correct?

Comments

It's the number of profiles in the first 7 circles of the notable's own profile. It is visible just uner the "Notable Connection" link under the big profile name heading.

It is only available on profiles with the Notables sticker or project box.

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Isabelle thank you so much for clarifying. I will check it out. Still learning. Merry Christmas

Answer 15

The great American Civil Rights songwriter Len Chandler passed away this past August. He was known for popularizing the phrase "keep on keepin' on," which was quoted by MLK, & for coining a Black Panther slogan in his song "Move On Over Or We'll Move On Over You" (set to the tune of John Brown's Body/Battle Hymn of the Republic):

"Your dove of peace with bloody beak sinks talons in a child,

You bend the olive branch to make a bow, then with a smile

You string it with the lynch rope you've been hiding all the while,

But the movement's moving on."

Comments

Thanks, Thomas.

Answer 16

I would like to nominate the following Burt Bacharach. 1928-2023. American song writer and pianist who wrote plays such as "Promises Promises and songs in the late 1950

Walter Mirisch,1921-2023 America film director and producer of such hits as "West Side Story" and Some Like it Hot.

Norman Lear 1922-2023, American screenwriter and producer of such hits as "All in the Family", The Jefferson".

Sir Michael Gambon, 1940-2023, Irish-British actor who was famous of his role as Dumbledore in the third "Harry Potter" movies.

Harry Belafonte, 1927-2023. American singer, actor and most  a civill rights activist who march with Dr Marin Luther King on Washington. in the 1950's and 1960's. His famous song was "Day-O" (the banana boat song)

David McCallan 1933-2023. Scottish-born actor.For me it was the TV show "THE MAN FROM U N C L E" and later "NCIS. Plus he was born in my birthday.

Some many to choose from this year.

Comments

Hi Anna,

If you can find links to any of those on WikiTree, it helps to add them to your post. A few we've already featured, so we probably won't use them again in order to have an opportunity for others who haven't been in the finder yet. Thanks!

Answer 17

Wrestler Windham "Bray Wyatt" Rotunda. (Third-generation pro wrestler, widely considered one of the most creative minds in the industry. Passed away at age 36 from a heart condition exacerbated by COVID-19.)

Comments

Thanks, Joel.

Answer 18

I would like to nominate Shane MacGowan, who died November this year.

Answer 19

I would like to nominate Sinéad O'Connor, who died in July of this year.

(As of yet unconnected, but working on it!)