These are a few of the prominent African-Americans we lost this year:
Elias Blake, 77, president of Clark College
Jane Bolin, 98, first black female judge in U.S. (New York City) and first African-American woman to graduate from Yale Law School
Robert “Buck” Brown, 71, cartoonist
Roscoe Lee Browne, 81, actor
Julia Carson, 69, congresswoman, first African-American and first woman to represent Indianapolis
William “Bill” Cherry, 71, promotion executive
Alice Coltrane, 69, jazz performer/composer and former wife of John Coltrane
Art Davis, 73, bass player
Rep. Augustus Hawkins, 100, first African-American from California in Congress
Billy Henderson, 67, member of the Spinners R&B group
Oliver Hill, 100, civil rights lawyer
Asa G. Hilliard, 73, historian and scholar
Luther Ingram, 69, singer (“If loving you is wrong, I don’t want to be right”)
Dennis Johnson, 52, ex-basketball player with Boston Celtics
Yolanda King, 51, actress and daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Henry LeTang, 91, tap dancer
Calvin Lockhart, 72, actor (“Cotton Comes to Harlem”)
Rep. Juanita Millender McDonald, 68, California congresswoman
Barbara McNair, 72, singer/actress
Rep. Parren Mitchell, 85, Maryland congressman
Frances Murphy II, 85, publisher, Washington Afro-American Newspaper
Madeline Wheeler Murphy, 84, civil rights activist and columnist, Baltimore Afro American Newspaper
Bishop G.E. Patterson, 67, bishop of the Church of God in Christ in Memphis
Oscar Peterson, 82, jazz pianist
Basil O. Phillips, 77, Johnson Publishing Company photo librarian
Julius Richardson, 86, golf instructor
Max Roach, 83, jazz drummer
Eddie Robinson, 88, Grambling State University football coach, won nine national black college titles and 408 games
Percy Rodrigues, 89, actor
John Scott, 67, sculptor and art professor
Darryl Stingley, 55, former football receiver for New England Patriots
Sean Taylor, 24, safety for the Washington Redskins
Charles Tisdale, 80, publisher, Jackson Advocate Newspaper
Walter Turnbull, 62, founder of Harlem Boys Choir
Ike Turner, 76, musician, band leader, known for working with former wife Tina Turner
Dr. Donda West, 58, education professor and mother of Kanye West
Willye White, 67, Olympic track champion, longtime Chicago resident
Leroy Winbush, 91, graphic designer, helped with creation of Ebony Magazine
Ernest Withers, 85, civil rights photographer
Source: Jet Magazine
