J. D. Gibbs, American race car driver, Died at 49

Jason Dean "J. D." Gibbs was born on February 21, 1969 and died on January 11, 2019.

He was a stock car racing driver and co-owner of Joe Gibbs Racing.

After being born near Los Angeles, California, his family moved several times.

Upon completing high school, Gibbs began his to play football at The College of William & Mary.

He was married and had four children.

Gibbs resided in Davidson, North Carolina.

Gibbs was married to his wife Melissa (née Miller), and had four sons: Joe Jackson, William Miller, Jason Dean II, and Zachary Taylor.

Apparantly Gibbs  battled his neurological brain disease

J. D. Gibbs passed away at 49 old.

Steffan Lewis, Welsh politician, Died at 34

Steffan Lewis was born on May 30, 1984 and died on January 11, 2019, in Ystrad Mynach.

He was a Welsh politician.

He was elected to the National Assembly for Wales in the 2016 election.

Steffan Lewis  represented the electoral region of South Wales East as a member of Plaid Cymru.

During December 2017, he was diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer.

Steffan Lewis paased away 34 years old.

Fernando Luján, Mexican actor, Died at 79

Fernando Luján was born Fernando Ciangherotti Díaz on August 23, 1938 and died on January 11, 2019. 

He was a Mexican actor.

Luján's father; Alejandro Ciangherotti, brother Alejandro Ciangherotti Jr., wife Martha Mariana Castro, sons Fernando Ciangherotti, Fernando Canek and daughters Cassandra Ciangherotti and Vanessa Ciangherotti are also actors.

Luján was not related to actress Daniela Luján.

During 2009, Luján wife and daughter, Martha Mariana and Vanessa, produced a trilogy of the family in celebrating the ninth anniversary of Lo que callamos las mujeres, starring his children, nephews and granddaughter, where Vanessa and Fernando Ciangherotti serve as the director.

Fernando Luján passed away at 79 years old.

Jumping Johnny Wilson, American basketball player, Died at 91

John E. Wilson was born in 1927 and died on January 11, 2019.

 

Nicknamed Jumpin' Johnny Wilson.

 

He was an American basketball and baseball player.

 

Wilson earned his nickname for being the only player on his high school team able to dunk the basketball.

In 1946, during the high school championship game , Willson scored 30 of his team's 67 points in its victory over Fort Wayne Central High School, a record.

He served for eight years at head basketball coach at Wood High School in Indianapolis, then sixteen years as head coach and athletic director at Malcolm X College, compiling a 378-135 (.737) record.

 

Then, he worked as an assistant coach for Anderson College and Anderson High School.

He was the assistant basketball coach at Lock Haven University at the time of his death on January 11, 2019.

Jumping Johnny Wilson was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame and the Anderson University Athletic Hall of Fame.

Johnny Wilson passed away at 91 years old.

Meera Sanyal, Indian banker, Died at 57

Meera Sanyal (née Hiranandani) was born on October on 1961 and died on January 11, 2019.

She was a CEO and chairperson of the Royal Bank of Scotland in India. 

Meera was the daughter of a highly decorated Naval officer, Vice Admiral Gulab Mohanlal Hiranandani.

Meera Sanyal was involved in banking for over 3 decades before stepping down from RBS to stand as the Aam Aadmi Party candidate in South Mumbai in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, which she lost.

Earlier,  Sanyal contested as an independent candidate in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections from the Mumbai South constituency.

Sanyal was appointed as a non-executive Director on the board of Pradan, an Indian NGO that works to empower women through entrepreneurship and on the international board of Right to Play, a global organisation that has helped over 1 million children through the transformative power of play.

Sanyal  was also on the boards of Jaihind College and the Indian Liberal Group.

Sanyal was a member of various national committees at the CII and FICCI.

Sanyal was the former Chairperson of the Indian Advisory Board of AIESEC, the world's largest student organisation. 

Meera Sanyal passed away at 57 years old due to cancer.

George Brady, Czech-Canadian Holocaust survivor and businessman, Died at 90

George Brady was born as Jiří Brady was on February 9, 1928, and died on January 12, 2019.

He was a Holocaust survivor of both Theresienstadt (Terezin) and Auschwitz (Oswiecim, Poland).

He was a Canadian businessman and was awarded the Order of Ontario, in 2008, and the Cxech State Medal in 2016.

He was the son of Markéta and Karel Brady, and brother of Hana Brady.

During 1942, his mother and father had been separated from their children and sent to prisons and Nazi concentration camps.

George was sent to Theresienstadt a ghetto-camp not far from Prague with one sibling, he was lucky to escape, after sharing a small space with over 40 other young boys including Petr Ginz, Yehuda Bacon and Kurt Kotouc. 

His sister Hana Brady was given a gas chamber execution.

He escaped during a death march to Germany during January 1945, the same month Auschwitz was liberated.

George Brady passed away in Toronto, Canada, at 90 years old.

Jo Andres, American filmmaker, Died at 65

Jo Andres was born on May 21, 1954 and died on January 7, 2019.

She was an American filmmaker, choreographer and artist.

 

She first became known on the kinetic downtown New York performance scene of the 1980s for her film/dance/light performances, shown at the Performing Garage, La Mama E.T.C., P.S. 122, St. Marks Danspace, and the Collective for Living Cinema.

During her filmmaker, she drew acclaim and awards for the 1996 film, Black Kites which aired on PBS and played several film festivals, including Sundance, Berlin, Toronto, London and Human Rights Watch Film Festivals. 

She directed music and art videos, as well as her own film performance works. 

She was a dance consultant to the acclaimed Wooster Group.

Andres was an artist in residence at leading universities, museums and art colonies, including Yaddo, and The Rockefeller Study Center in Bellagio, Italy. 

She was the creater of a series of cyanotype photographs which can be seen on her website.

Andres  and her husband, actor Steve Buscemi, have one son, Lucian, born in 1990.

Jo Andres passed away 65 years old.