Edwin Erickson, American politician, Died at 80

Edwin B. "Ted" Erickson was born in 1938 and died on January 7, 2019.

He was an American politician.

Edwin Erickson was a Republican member of the Pennsylvania Senate, representing the 26th District from 2001 to 2015.

The district had most of Delaware County and parts of Chester County.

Edwin Erickson passed away at 80 years old.

Antal Bolvári, Hungarian water polo player, Died at 86

Antal Bolvári was born on May 6, 1932, in Kaposvár and died on January 8, 2019.

He was a Hungarian water polo player.

 In 1952, Antal Bolvári competed Summer Olympics and in the 1956 Summer Olympics.

He was a member of the Hungarian team that won the gold medal in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki.

Bolvári competed in six matches and scored one goal.

At the Melbourne Olympics four years after the fact, he was again an individual from the Hungarian group that won the gold decoration.

Bolvári played in four matches and scored two objectives, incorporating one in the notorious Blood in the Water coordinate against the USSR in the title round, held fourteen days after the Soviets had squashed the 1956 Hungarian uprising.

Bolvári was one of a few Hungarian competitors who abandoned toward the West in the repercussions of the Melbourne amusements.

Bolvári later came back to Hungary, where he kept on playing and, later, mentor at the club and national dimensions. He kicked the bucket in Budapest, because of what his family depicted as "a since quite a while ago, undisclosed disease.

Antal Bolvári passed away at 86 years old.

Sergei Khodakov, Russian paralympic athlete, Died at 52

Sergei Khodakov was born on March 11, 1966 and died on January 8, 2019.

He was a paralympic athlete from Russia entering mainly in category F12 throwing events.

Sergei Khodakov was part of the Unified team that travelled to Barcelona for the 1992 Summer Paralympics after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

There Sergei Khodakov was the winner of the silver medals in both the javelin and shot as well as winning the B2 discus gold medal.

After four years Sergei travelled with the Russian team to the United States for the 1996 Summer Paralympics where he defended his discus title but could only manage a bronze in the shot and fifth in the javelin.

Khodakov took part in a third and final games in Sydney in 2000 where he competed in the shot and discus once again but could not add any further medals.

Sergei Khodakov passed away at 52 years old.

Giorgio Zur, German Roman Catholic prelate, Died at 88

Giorgio Zur was born on February 15, 1930 and died on January 8, 2019.

He was a Catholic archbishop and diplomat of the Holy See.

He was the son of a master tailor.

Giorgio Zur was a student in Rome at the Gregorian University, where he obtained a licentiate in philosophy and theology and a doctorate in canon law.

He was ordained to the priesthood, on October 10, 1955.

When he completed his pastoral work as a chaplain in the Archdiocese of Bamberg, he attended in 1961-62 the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, later becoming its director from 1999 to 2000.

Over the next few years, zur was in the diplomatic service of the Holy See at the Apostolic Nunciature to India, Mexico, Burundi and Uganda.

Giorgio Zur passed away at 88 years old.

Sun Ganqing, Chinese major general, Died at 99

Sun Ganqing was born on January 19, 1919, in Linzi, Shandong and died on January 5, 2019.

Ganqing served as a major general of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

Ganqing served as chief of staff of the Guangzhou Military Region and the Kunming Military Region, and commander of the Hainan Military District.

Ganqing served as a veteran in the Second Sino-Japanese War, Chinese Civil War, and Sino-Vietnamese War.

Sun Ganqing passed away at 99 years old.

Emil Brumaru, Romanian writer and poet, Died at 80

Emil Brumaru was born on December 25, 1938, in Bahmutea, Bessarabia and died on January 5, 2019.

He was a Romanian writer and poet.

During 1975, Brumaru studied medicine at the Faculty of Medicine in Iași before turning to poetry.

Emil Brumaru passed away at 80 years old.

Johan Claassen, South African rugby player and coach, Died at 89

Johan Claassen was born on September 23, 1929, and died on January 6, 2019.

He was a South African rugby player.

He played at the second-row forward position.

He became captain of the South African National Team before a match against the French in 1958.

Claassen was the leader of the South African team to a winning streak, including a major victory over the British and Irish Lions.

During the 1970s, Claassen became head coach of the South African team, known as the Springboks.

During his club rugby years, he was most notably a star for Western Transvaal.

Johan Claassen passed away at 89 years old.