The Memorial Wall

Surajit Sengupta played two Asian Games and for all top Kolkata clubs with his best coming at East Bengal from 1974-79

Former India forward and East Bengal star Surajit Sengupta died here on Thursday following complications after a severe Covid-19 infection. He was 70 and is survived by wife Shyamali, son Snighadeb and daughter-in-law Keka. Admitted to a city hospital on January 23 with respiratory distress, a history of ischemic heart illness and Parkinson’s disease, Sengupta was on ventilator support. His death comes 26 days after his club and country teammate Subhas Bhowmick’s passing.

Sengupta played in the 1974 and 1978 Asian Games. He scored two goals in the 1978 Games, one each against Bangladesh and Kuwait. His India debut came in the 1974 Merdeka Cup and that Sengupta played 14 internationals in a club career that spanned over 10 years was proof more of how irregular India games were in that time than his ability. Bhowmick, whose India career had 24 games, would often say Sengupta’s dribbling prowess and goalscoring ability exceeded his. 

Proof of how dangerous the two were came in the 1975 IFA Shield final when Bhowmick ran rings around Mohun Bagan and Sengupta scored the first of the five goals for East Bengal. It remains the biggest margin of victory in the Kolkata derby. Sengupta had joined coach PK Banerjee’s all-conquering East Bengal team of the early 1970s one year earlier. He captained East Bengal in 1978 when they won the Durand Cup, IFA Shield, Federation Cup and the Bordoloi Trophy beating Port Authority Bangkok 4-2; Sengupta scoring twice in the final. In five years as a red-and-gold player, Sengupta also won the Kolkata league and IFA Shield double thrice (1974, 75, 76), Rovers Cup (1975) and the Darjeeling Gold Cup (1976). East Bengal gave Sengupta their lifetime achievement award in 2018.

Sengupta’s career began at Kolkata’s Khidirpur Club and he joined Mohun Bagan in 1972 which was also the first time he and Bhowmick played together. Sengupta returned to Mohun Bagan in 1980 and stayed with them till retiring from football in 1983. With Mohun Bagan, he won the Calcutta league (1983), Federation Cup in 1981 and 1982, Sait Nagjee Gold Cup (1981) and the Darjeeling Gold Cup (1982). He also played a season for Mohammedan Sporting in 1980, winning the Sikkim Gold Cup, DCM Trophy and Rovers Cup (joint-winners with East Bengal). Sengupta scored 147 club goals, 92 for East Bengal and 54 for Mohun Bagan and one for Mohammedan Sporting. He also had 26 goals in four successive victorious Santosh Trophy campaigns (1975-78) for Bengal.

Ricardo Villanueva Puno Jr.  was a Filipino television public affairs host, media executive, newspaper columnist, and lawyer.

Former Press Secretary Ricardo “Dong” Puno Jr. died on Tuesday from complications of Parkinson’s disease, his brother, former Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, confirmed to the Inquirer. He was 76.

The lawyer, columnist and veteran broadcaster was in and out of the hospital as his sickness progressed.

Still, his brother said Puno’s demise was a surprise to the family since he just returned from confinement, seemed to be getting better and even received visitors on Sunday.

“The family is grieving, hindi namin expected talaga,” Ronaldo said over the phone.

Puno became a household name in the mid-1980s when his talk show “Viewpoint” aired on GMA.

Puno, a fluent English speaker, was fresh from his first stint as corporate secretary of Philippine Airlines, when his program launched in 1984 tackled controversial public affairs issues just as the country was reeling from the assassination of former Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.

Viewpoint ran for 10 years and won many awards before Puno transferred to ABS-CBN, this time hosting the prime time talk show “Dong Puno Live!” in Filipino.

While in ABS-CBN, Puno also worked as vice president for overhead news operations and senior vice president for news and current affairs from October 1994 to April 2000.

Many were shocked when he left ABS-CBN to join the Estrada Cabinet as press secretary a month later to replace veteran newsman Rodolfo Reyes.

President Joseph Estrada was ousted in January 2001 but Puno joined his senatorial line-up for the May election. Puno lost his Senate bid and eventually returned to ABS-CBN to host “Dong Puno Nightly.”

In 2003, he was appointed as senior vice president (SVP) for integrated news and current affairs but gave up the position the following year after the network enforced a policy prohibiting ABS-CBN executives from having on-camera programs at the same time.

Unsuccessful in politics Puno told Inquirer Entertainment then that he had asked ABS-CBN to relieve him of his corporate duties as SVP so he could “focus [his] energies on greater on-air and on-camera involvement in various platforms” of the network.

“I really want to focus on actual, on-cam programs,” Puno told the Inquirer on the phone that time.

Puno found himself in front of the camera again in 2005 to anchor the short-lived “Insider” before trying his hand anew in politics.

He ran for representative of the lone district of Muntinlupa in 2007 and 2010. He lost both times.

Puno returned to media in 2011, hosting a television talk show with a political format in “Aksyon TV” and later, the public affairs radio program “Karambola” with other block-timers on AM radio.

Puno was the eldest child of former Minister of Justice and Court of Appeals Associate Justice Ricardo Puno Sr. and the former Priscilla Villanueva. He obtained his law education from Ateneo de Manila University and Harvard Law School.

He is survived by his wife, Christy; sons Ricky and Donnie, and 11 siblings, including former Interior Secretary and House Deputy Speaker Roberto “Robbie” Puno.

Robert Staples Howard, Howard Publications newspaper founder dies at 97. Robert (Bob) Howard died February 11, at home in Palm Desert after a long battle with Parkinson's. Bob had an illustrious career buying, selling and publishing daily and weekly newspapers. He amassed 18 dailies under the Howard Publications banner with some 2,000 employees and nearly a half million circulation.

The son of (Capt) Earl Eaton Howard and Helen (Staples) Howard, the publishers of a small weekly in Wheaton, MN, Bob was born October 23, 1924, the third of three children. The family had an Army Heritage with Earl serving in WWI and Bob and his brother Col. Thomas Howard in WWII. Thomas was a staff officer for General Patton through Africa, Italy and Germany. Bob, left the University of Minnesota becoming a Second Lieutenant in the Army Air Corp flying bombers as a navigator and nose gunner in the South Pacific. He earned a Purple Heart after being shot down in the Battle of Layte.

After the war Bob returned to University where he met and married Lillian Irene Crabtree. They moved home soon after to relieve his widowed mother of publishing the Wheaton Gazette. Thus began his long career of buying and selling papers making eight moves in different states across the U.S. His management acumen was noticed by the owners of the Scripps League of Seattle who hired Bob to manage their group of dailies. He later sold Scripps his papers in Kalispell, Montana and Pocatello, Idaho going back out on his own by purchasing a paper in Chester, Pennsylvania where he founded Howard Publications, collecting dailies, cable companies and television stations.

During their many moves Lil and Bob had four children: Thomas, Andrea, William and David. Tom and Bill published newspapers in Wyoming and Idaho in their early years. Later Tom and David founded Howard Energy diversifying the family holdings into oil and gas exploration and further into pharmaceuticals. Bill and Andrea's husband, Jack Palmer remained running the newspapers until they were sold to Lee Enterprises in 2002 ending the families three generations of publishing but beginning an era of philanthropy. Much of his fortune was returned, mostly anonymously, through his foundation to the various communities where he lived and published. The list of his gifts is extensive; nothing grandiose or flashy but targeted and needs fulfilling at the community level, all given quietly and modestly.

Both Lillian and Tom died in Montana, Lillian of a brain hemorrhage in 2008 at 86 and Tom of esophageal cancer in 2019. Bob spent his final 12 years with a new love, Peggy Jacobs, in Palm Springs, CA and his Lakeside, Montana summer home.

He is survived by Peggy Jacobs, his three remaining children and spouses, 17 Grandchildren, and 25 great grandchildren .

Ned Phillippe was born in 1946, and died peacefully in his home of Parkinson's disease on Fed 10, 2022. He was the oldest son of Don and Ruth Phillippe of Indiana and is survived by two brothers, John and Tom. Ned earned a MS degree in education from Indiana University. He worked as a teacher, and in transportation with Northwest Airlines and Amtrak.

John Q. John Q. Trojanowski, M.D., Ph.D., a physician, neuropathologist and scientist at University of Pennsylvania, a guy who identified major toxic proteins that drive many neurodegenerative diseases and developed animal models to match the discoveries, died on February 8th. He was 75. His findings over the decades would change what the field knew about conditions like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, offering evidence that the different toxic proteins share a common biological mechanism: they spread toxic proteins from cell to cell corrupting their normal counterpart to become toxic along the way, and in the end the brain may have many different toxic proteins, and not just the ones associated with a particular disease. Dr. Trojanowski was passionate about science and driven, and this gentle giant of a scientist -- he was 6'4 -- shared his scientific and personal life with his wife, Penn biochemist Virginia Lee. Their findings opened up new avenues of research in neurodegenerative diseases. The duo trained so many scientists over their 45 years together, and many credit their success to what they learned in the Trojanowski/ Lee lab. Dr. Trojanowski received his medical and doctoral degrees at Tufts University. He did graduate training in Rotterdam and came back to the states for his residency in neuropathology at Massachusetts General and Harvard Medical School. He met his life-long collaborator, Dr. Lee, in Massachusetts and the two of them moved to University of Pennsylvania in the early 1980s, and have been there since then. Dr. Trojanowski created so many firsts at UPenn, including a brain bank, the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, and a center to develop drugs to target these toxic proteins. He was founding director of the ADRC, director at the Institute on Aging at Penn; director of the Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Disease Research Center of Excellence. John Trojanowski was one of seven children raised on Army bases throughout the country and in Guam. Their father was a career Army officer, and then settled into a comfortable career in real estate in Connecticut. He was passionate about science and knew he wanted to go to medical school, and not into the family business. He never looked back. He is survived by his wife, Dr. Lee, and his brother David and four of his other siblings. Dr. Lee and his other colleagues are planning a memorial symposium on neurodegeneration in the Fall.

Former Shasta County District Attorney Stephen Carlton, who served twice as the county's top prosecutor, has died.

Carlton passed away Feb. 7 in Redding at the age of 79.

His wife of 50 years, Terri, said Carlton struggled the past two years with Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia, the same disease that comedian Robin Williams suffered from.

Carlton had been living in a memory-care center in Redding the past 10 months, Terri Carlton said.

Carlton was first elected as Shasta County's district attorney in 1981 and served until 1990. He successfully ran for the post again in 2011 and retired in December 2016.

"In his nearly 50-year law career, Carlton made a lasting impact on Shasta County and will be missed by many in the office," current District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett said on Facebook.

"Carlton was a well-regarded defense attorney, prosecutor and district attorney in Shasta County," Bridgett said. "I’ve known him both professionally and personally my entire career and have many fond memories of him. ... He had a lasting impact in his service as district attorney."

On his retirement, Carlton recommended that Bridgett take over the DA's post when she was the chief deputy district attorney.

In a 2016 Record Searchlight interview, Carlton said he tried about 350 cases before a jury during his 24 years as a prosecutor — 16 of them as the elected DA — and 25 years as a defense attorney.

Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett, left, appears with Stephen Carlton in March 2016. Carlton died Feb. 7 at the age of 79.

Terri Carlton described her husband as a great family man who loved his two children and three grandchildren. She said he also adored his parents, who grew up in Redding.

Carlton was raised in Redding but was born in San Francisco. "His mother went to San Francisco to have her babies," she said.

Terri Carlton said personally, her husband was a kind person who treated everyone fairly.

"He was a people person. He thought everyone was good," she said. "Professionally he felt everyone deserved a fair and just look at their particular case."

As district attorney, she said Carlton wanted to give defendants a chance at rehabilitation over automatic prison time, especially first-time offenders.

"He would always tell me, 'I have to look at myself in the mirror every morning and live with my decisions,'" she said. "His campaign platform was justice for all."

Marty Morgenstern, who spent a career dedicated to labor issues and was a close advisor to former Gov. Jerry Brown, died last week at his home in a suburb of Sacramento. He was 87.

Friends and family said that Morgenstern, who stepped down as secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency in 2013, died of complications related to Parkinson's disease.

Few advisors served Brown longer or with more loyalty than Morgenstern, a New York City native whose relationship with the Democratic governor spanned more than 50 years. In an interview, Brown said Morgenstern was one of the most intelligent and straightforward people he's ever known.

"He was one of the few whose advice you could always rely on," Brown said. "Because if he wasn’t sure, he would tell you.

When Brown returned to serve a third term as governor in 2011, one of his first appointments was Morgenstern as secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency.

Morgenstern's tenure lasted almost three years. When he left the administration, he told The Times that his theory of government could be explained in just three sentences: “We never have enough money. We’ve always got to be careful with the money we spend. And, always make sure you spend the minimum amount of money to get the job done.”

In his stint as labor secretary, Morgenstern helped Brown twist arms in the Legislature for a far-reaching overhaul of California's workers' compensation program in 2012. And he was a key negotiator in Brown's effort that year to revamp public employee pension rules, a trimming of future benefits that was a hard sell among many in organized labor. One key provision, requiring negotiations to set some of the new employee contribution rates, was in line with Morgenstern's own long belief in settling important labor issues through collective bargaining.

Julie Su, who was recruited by Morgenstern to serve as California's labor commissioner in 2011, said perhaps even more lasting was his commitment to reshaping state labor law in an effort to crack down on wage theft. She said she had warned Morgenstern that the effort to help low-income workers would not be easy and would mean taking on some powerful business interests.

Tommy Dubuque, born March 3, 1949 in Austin, TX, passed away peacefully in New Braunfels, TX on February 3, 2022, surrounded by his loved ones. Tommy was a proud US Navy veteran and served two tours in Vietnam from 1967-1971. He was the humble recipient of the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, and the Vietnam Campaign Medal.

Tommy married his beautiful bride, Peggy Lewis, on March 4, 1980. Peggy was his inspiration for sobriety. He was proud of his sobriety of over 40 years.

Tommy was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2005, which prompted his tireless work building a vast and powerful community of support for people living with Parkinson’s and their families. He founded the Comal County Parkinson’s Support Group in 2007 and the non-profit organization Lone Star Parkinson Society in 2013. He was integral in bringing Rock Steady Boxing to the local Parkinson’s community, for the mobility and health of those living with the disease. His reach and mentorship crossed borders, and he is remembered by Parkinson’s friends internationally.

Tommy was an avid fisherman and enjoyed camping and spending time in nature with his family and friends. He was a born and raised loyal Texan. He had an unrivaled zest for life and believed strongly in taking life “one day at a time.” But more than anything, Tommy’s family was most important to him, and nothing compared to his unbridled love for his wife Peggy of 42 years.

Survived by the love of his life, Peggy, and his six children, Jennifer (Robert), Michael (Amanda), Tommi (Matt), Daniel (Kristen), Wil (Marilyn), and Carrie (Ricky), as well as his grandchildren, Charlie, Maxwell, Caitlyn, Danny, and Nevaeh. Also survived by his sisters Barbara and Dana, and his brother Johnny. Preceded in death by his son, Thomas Edward, and his parents, Elmer and Martha Kate.

His wishes were to be cremated. A Celebration of Life is planned for March 3rd, Tommy’s 73rd birthday. The Celebration of Life will be held at Oakwood Baptist Church at 3:00 pm. Please bring your stories and memories of Tommy’s life to share.

John P. Kerrigan age 67, was born on April 5, 1954, and passed away on January 31, 2022.

John was a good person with a kind heart.  John had an intellectual disability. He did not see the world as other people do. He was childlike all of his life.  John depended on mom to guide him through his daily life.

John was a big Philadelphia sports fan.  He loved to watch all the games, especially the Phillies and Eagles. John liked to draw pictures.  He loved to go fishing. That may have been his favorite thing to do.  He enjoyed playing games, especially card games.  He enjoyed going to the zoo and museums and baseball games.

When John was young he use to pack bags at the grocery store to make spending money. As he got older he went door to door washing windows for people.  Later on, he went to a daily program which he enjoyed and on the weekends he would go to the movie theatre.

The last few years have been hard on John. Mom passed away and Brother Frank passed also. John was diagnosed with lung cancer. He had covid and was hospitalized.  He was then diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.  John passed away quietly in the hospital.

John was predeceased by his parents, Margaret Kerrigan and Merle Spry, and brother Frank Kerrigan.  He is survived by brothers, Thomas Spry and Michael Kerrigan, and sisters, Patricia (Martin) and Theresa (Roach). Also by 10 nieces and nephews and 16 great nieces and nephews. He will truly be missed by all. 

E "Howard" Long passed away on Jan 25, 2022 from a battle with Parkinson's. 

He was a graduate of Purdue University and The University of Louisville. He spent over 30 years in teaching and administration in Arlington County, VA. He was later a Commissioner in the City of La Quinta, CA. He was honored with a proclamation and retired in 2019.

He was a member of La Chaine des Rotisseurs and had great love of wine. He traveled extensively throughout France and Italy and moved into wine sales after retirement.

He wanted a pet and had read about Sealyhams Terriers. At a show he went into a tent to meet a Sealyham. He was sold. He had one or two by his side for the rest of his life.

The GQ photo was just a request for a portrait. He went all out and brought Harry with him in his red tux tie. The photographer was thrilled that he did not want one of those "sitting" photos and thus gave him a chance to be creative.

He is survived by Carol and Maddie of La Quinta, CA.