Some well-known people who have died recently
Richie Benaud, 1930-2015
Celebrated cricket commentator who was also an outstanding Test player in his time
- Gary Brain, 1943-2015
New Zealand percussionist, timpanist and conductor who served 25 years with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
- Jonathan Crombie, 1966-2015
Canadian actor best known for playing Gilbert Blythe in Anne of Green Gables. Read Moata’s blog post Goodbye, Gilbert Blythe
Günter Grass, 1927-2015
Nobel Prize winning author whose novels, such as The Tin Drum, forced his fellow Germans to confront their Nazi past. Read Donna’s blog post Günter Grass ist tot
- Sheila Kitzinger, 1929-2015
Natural childbirth activist who encouraged women to see birth as an exhilarating experience
- Ruth Rendell, 1930-2015
Crime writer who refashioned the whodunit and whose Inspector Wexford mysteries became a television favourite. She also wrote under the pseudonym Barbara Vine
- Brian Sutton-Smith, 1924-2015
Developmental psychologist whose work — prolific, scholarly, and precedent-setting — was quite literally child’s play
- Richard West, 1930-2015
Gifted author and travelling reporter whose writing covered Africa, Vietnam, Latin America and Yugoslavia