Former White House press secretary Tony Snow died today at the age of 53 after a second fight with cancer:

Snow, who had been undergoing chemotherapy treatments for a recurrence of the disease, left his White House job September 14, 2007, and joined CNN in April as a conservative commentator. […]

In 2007, Chief of Staff Josh Bolten had told senior White House staffers that unless they could commit to staying until Bush leaves office in January 2009, they should leave by Labor Day 2007, so Snow resigned.

In parting comments to reporters at his final White House news conference, Snow said, “I feel great.”

He also called the job “the most fun I’ve ever had.”

Snow said he was leaving the White House position to make more money for his family. His White House salary was $168,000, and he said he had taken out a loan so he could take the job. Snow said he was leaving because the loan money ran out.

As conservative a guy as anyone I’ve ever seen, Snow had a genuineness to him that shown through, even as he repeated the Bush Administration version of the world at press conferences and even as he reported for Fox News Channel.

Its a quality rare in the political world.

Snow always seemed to bring a sense of humor to even the most serious things and he seemed to be liked by most people, regardless of their political persuasion.

I remember watching his press conferences and being entertained by his oratory prowess. While I knew not to believe what he was parroting from the White House, I couldn’t help but appreciate the give-and-take process with the press corp and I couldn’t help but notice his commitment to doing his job to the best of his ability.

Plus, he generally came across as a happy and likeable guy.

Tony Snow was really a lesson in loving what you do. And doing it with a smile. And if you suddenly don’t love it, doing something else that you will love doing.

He was a breath of fresh air in the ordinarily bland and musty political landscape and he will be missed.

Legendary tenor Luciano Pavarotti died early Thursday morning at the age of 71:

Luciano Pavarotti, the bearded opera legend, died early Thursday after a yearlong battle with pancreatic cancer. With his noted girth and cheeky duets with pop singers, the 71-year-old tenor was that rare maestro of classical music who was as instantly recognizable around the world as superstars from MTV and the movies.

Pavarotti was the global “people’s opera singer” who made the operatic genre of music available to everyone. His duets with pop singers like Bono, Sheryl Crow, James Brown, and Barry White (among others), brought opera to the world’s view, transcending geography and language to do so.

The best part of Pavarotti’s performances was the warmth he brought to every song he sang. He made you feel something by relating the passion and conviction he had.

Thank you, Luciano, for sharing your tremendous talents with the whole world. Your music and your melody will live on in our hearts…

Yankees Hall-of-Famer Phil Rizzuto died Tuesday at the age of 89, after years of declining health:

Phil Rizzuto, the Hall of Fame shortstop during the Yankees’ dynasty years and beloved by a generation of fans who delighted in hearing him exclaim “Holy cow!” as a broadcaster, died Tuesday. He was 89. […]

Rizzuto, known as “The Scooter,” was the oldest living Hall of Famer. He played for the Yankees throughout the 1940s and ’50s, won seven World Series titles, was an AL MVP and played in five All-Star games.

Rizzuto later announced Yankees games for four decades and his No. 10 was retired by baseball’s most storied team.

Phil Rizzuto was deservedly a Hall-of-Famer and even this Mets fan can understand and appreciate his contributions to our national pastime. HOLY COW, Phil! You’ll be missed.

Merv Griffin, the legendary entertainer and game show creator, died today at the age of 82:

Griffin died of prostate cancer, according to a statement from his family that was released by Marcia Newberger, spokeswoman for The Griffin Group/Merv Griffin Entertainment.

From his beginning as a $100-a-week San Francisco, California, radio singer, Griffin moved on as vocalist for Freddy Martin’s band, sometime film actor and TV game and talk show host. His “The Merv Griffin Show” lasted more than 20 years, and Griffin said his capacity to listen contributed to his success.

“If the host is sitting there thinking about his next joke, he isn’t listening,” Griffin reasoned in a recent interview.[…]

But his biggest break financially came from inventing and producing “Jeopardy” in the 1960s and “Wheel of Fortune” in the 1970s.

Merv Griffin may have made millions by creating hit game shows and made millions laugh while watching his talk show, but I think the funniest thing about his life is that he was the first person to have a celebrity feud with Donald Trump (way before Rosie O’Donnell):

Griffin bought the slightly passe hotel [the Beverly Hilton] for $100.2 million and completely refurbished it for $25 million. Then he made a move for control of Resorts International, which operated hotels and casinos from Atlantic City to the Caribbean.

That touched off a feud with real estate tycoon Donald Trump. Griffin eventually acquired Resorts for $240 million, netting a reported paper profit of $100 million.

Merv, so happy to know you, glad you came along…

Former Late Late Show host Tom Snyder died Sunday at the age of 71 from leukemia.

His work on the Late Late Show, which followed David Letterman’s Late Show on CBS for three years and featured just him and a guest, and his prior work on NBC’s Tomorrow Show, following the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson was notable for its hard hitting, hold-nothing-back celebrity interviews cutting through celebrities’ crap.

Just check out this clip where Tom interviews Elton John, Stephen Spielberg, Johnny Rotten, Bono and “The Edge” from U2, Cheech and Chong, Alfred Hitchcock, Charles Manson, and Muhammad Ali:

That’s some crazy stuff that you never see on late night talk shows these days. This Late Late Show interview with David Letterman sums up perfectly the change television was going through at the time and gives some insight into the relationship between the two hosts:

And now some interesting trivia about Tom Snyder’s career:

• Snyder’s Tommorrow Show was replace on NBC with Letterman’s Late Show and his CBS Late Late Show was produced by Letterman
• The Late Late Show actually started as a running joke on the Late Show and actually caught on.
• Tom Snyder filmed the Tomorrow Show in NBC’s studio 6A at Rockefeller Center: the same studio where Late Night with Conan O’Brien is filmed today.
• Snyder co-anchored WABC’s evening newscast with now-CW11 anchor Kaity Tong between 1983-84.

Thanks Tom for the irreverent interviews, the celebration of the novelty of color TV, and exposing and cutting through the fakeness and nonsense coming out of people’s mouths that nowadays most people on television fail to address. I dedicate this colortini to you…

Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin died yesterday at the age of 76:

Yeltsin, who had suffered health problems since resigning from office on December 31, 1999, suffered sudden heart failure, medical sources told Russia’s Interfax news agency. […]

Yeltsin became the first democratically elected president of Russia in 1991 and two months later put down a coup attempt against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. […]

Dougherty said everything about Yeltsin was larger than life.

“He was oversized, he was huge, everything about him — he was physically a giant, a big-barrel chest of complete charisma,” she said. “When you met him or were around him he was absolutely charismatic.”

While Yeltsin may have been a failed statesman, Dougherty said he had a unique ability to connect with people.

And that is exactly what I’ll remember most about Yeltsin — his charismatic nature as a world leader that drew you in and made you stop to listen, similar to the effect Bill Clinton has on people. Well, that… and the wacky dancing…

Quirky comedian Calvert DeForest, better known to television viewers as Larry “Bud” Melman on David Letterman’s shows, died in a Long Island hospital at the age of 85:

The balding, bespectacled nebbish who gained cult status as the oddball Larry “Bud” Melman on David Letterman’s late-night television shows has died after a long illness. […]

He made dozens of appearances on Letterman’s shows from 1982 through 2002, handling a variety of twisted duties: singing a duet with Sonny Bono on “I Got You, Babe”; doing a Mary Tyler Moore impression during a visit to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where her 1970s show was set; handing out hot towels to arrivals at New York’s Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Cue cards were often DeForest’s television kryptonite, and his character invariably appeared in an ill-fitting black suit behind thick, black-rimmed glasses.

“Everyone always wondered if Calvert was an actor playing a character, but in reality he was just himself — a genuine, modest and nice man,” Letterman said in a statement. “To our staff and to our viewers, he was a beloved and valued part of our show, and we will miss him.”

DeForest’s gnomish face was the first to greet viewers when Letterman’s NBC show debuted on Feb. 1, 1982, offering a parody of the prologue to the Boris Karloff film “Frankenstein.”

“It was the greatest thing that had happened in my life,” he once said of his first Letterman appearance.

For those of you who don’t remember Bud’s appearances on the Late Show, he essentially did what longtime character actor Abe Vigoda does for Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Namely, act like a fool by doing whatever the host asks him to do.

Bud was a great addition to Letterman’s late night comedy and his impish stature and unique-sounding voice made his antics that much funnier.

Calvert DeForest was a funny part of vintage late night comedy and we’ll miss you, Bud. You might not have left any survivors, but you left a mark on many viewers’ lives.

WNBC news anchor Ralph Penza died last night at the age of 74:

Award-winning broadcaster Ralph Penza has passed away after a long illness. He was 74. His family says he passed during the night. Penza was a senior correspondent and back-up anchor for NewsChannel 4.”

WNBC released a statement, saying, “Ralph was a consummate professional with that rare ability to touch the viewer. A longtime friend, he was a true gentleman who embodied integrity and whose company will be sorely missed. Our thoughts are with his family at this time.”"

I’m sad to hear that Ralph Penza died. He was a fixture on WNBC newscasts and one of the network’s better anchors. I was surprised to learn he was 74, though. I thought he was much younger.

Thanks for all the news, Ralph. We’ll miss you!

Saddam Hussein was hanged just after dawn, 56 days after his sentencing for mass murders during his rule in Iraq. The deposed former leader of Iraq had been convicted of murder, torture and forced deportation.

UPDATE: A cellphone video of the execution has been leaked: WARNING! Extremely graphic!

The execution took place during the year’s deadliest month for U.S. troops, with the toll reaching 108.

Hussein executed with ‘fear in his face’:

Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi dictator who spent his last years in captivity after his ruthless regime was toppled by the U.S.-led coalition in 2003, was hanged before dawn Saturday for crimes committed in a brutal crackdown during his reign. […]

“This dark page has been turned over,” [Iraq’s national security adviser, Mowaffak] Rubaie said. “Saddam is gone. Today Iraq is an Iraq for all the Iraqis, and all the Iraqis are looking forward. … The [Hussein] era has gone forever.” […]

“He was a broken man,” he said. “He was afraid. You could see fear in his face.” […]

On Al-Arabiya television, Rubaie said the execution took place at the 5th Division intelligence office in Qadhimiya. He said Hussein refused to wear a black hood over his head before execution and told him “don’t be afraid.”

White House deputy press secretary Scott Stanzel said President Bush was asleep when the execution took place and was not awakened. The president had been briefed by national security adviser Stephen Hadley before retiring and was aware the hanging was imminent, Stanzel said.

The White House issued a statement praising the Iraqi people for giving Hussein a fair trial. […]

The execution took place outside the heavily fortified Green Zone, Rubaie said, and no Americans were present.

Celebrations took place around Baghdad and Dearborn, Michigan, home to the largest concentration of Iraqis in the United States.

The execution was extensively filmed and photographed and those videos and photographs are expected to be released in the coming days, according to news reports. (How Much Should Be Shown of a Hanging? Network Executives Wonder and Wait.)

UPDATE: The Man Who Filmed Saddam’s Death: ‘I Saw Fear, He Was Afraid’

So will this lead to a national reconciliation and an end to sectarian violence in Iraq? Does this solve the quagmire 2,995 US troops have given their lives for thus far? And what comes next in Iraq?

RELATED HEADLINES: NYT: Dictator Who Ruled Iraq With Violence Is Hanged for Crimes Against Humanity, CNN: Hussein execution: World reaction

And then there’s this:

James Brown, R&B singer and lifelong entertainer and the self-described “hardest working man in show business,” died early Christmas morning from congestive heart failure. He was 73.

Brown died early Monday at Atlanta’s Emory Crawford Long Hospital of congestive heart failure

James Brown, the ‘Godfather of Soul,’ dies at 73:

James Brown, the legendary R&B belter, a singer and songwriter who created a foundation for funk and provided the roots of rap, a man of many nicknames but a talent that can only be described as one of a kind, is dead.

Brown died early Monday at Atlanta’s Emory Crawford Long Hospital of congestive heart failure, his agent said. He was 73. […]

Brown — known variously as “the Godfather of Soul,” “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business,” “Soul Brother Number One” and “Mr. Dynamite” (and often introduced as all of the above) — was known for his elastic dance moves, razor-sharp musicianship and all-stops-out performances.

James Brown was the quintessential performer. And he never stopped performing either. As he lay in a hospital bed, he reportedly expressed his disappointment in not being able to perform two shows on New Years’ Eve in NYC.

And there’s no doubting Brown’s influence on most of the music that followed — in a multitude of genres — from R&B to funk to disco and hip hop:

He knew what he’d accomplished.

“Disco is James Brown, hip-hop is James Brown, rap is James Brown; you know what I’m saying? You hear all the rappers, 90 percent of their music is me,” he told the AP in 2003.

In honor of James Brown’s contributions to music, and being that he passed away on Christmas, I present you with the refrain to his song “Santa Clause, Go Straight to the Ghetto,” from his album Funky Christmas:

Santa Clause, go straight to the ghetto.
Santa Clause, go straight to the ghetto.
Tell him James Brown sent you. Ha!
Go straight to the ghetto.