Silicon Investor - Who Won't Be Down For Breakfast?

[X Y Zebra] people.com

X Y Zebra — 7/15/2026 1:20:27 AM

[EL KABONG!!!] New Zealand actor Sam Neill, age 78, cause of death not disclosed, but just this...

EL KABONG!!! — 7/13/2026 6:22:17 AM

New Zealand actor Sam Neill, age 78, cause of death not disclosed, but just this past week he had declared himself cancer free from a rare form of blood cancer... Best remembered in North America for the role of Dr. Alan Grant in a trio of Jurassic Park movies... RIP, sir...

Sam Neill death: Jurassic Park star dies aged 78

EK!!!

[Bill] Like him or not, he was one of the giants of the senate.

Bill — 7/12/2026 10:29:25 PM

[Augustus Gloop] Lindsey Graham 1955 - 2026 en.wikipedia.org yahoo.com [graphic]

Augustus Gloop — 7/12/2026 12:25:30 PM

Lindsey Graham 1955 - 2026

en.wikipedia.org

yahoo.com

[GROUND ZERO™] Lindsey Graham at age 71... foxnews.com GZ

GROUND ZERO™ — 7/12/2026 4:05:19 AM

[EL KABONG!!!] Randolph Mantooth, age 80, cause of death pneumonia following a long term battle...

EL KABONG!!! — 7/11/2026 5:22:44 AM

Randolph Mantooth, age 80, cause of death pneumonia following a long term battle (2015) with cancer, specifically throat cancer... Best remembered for his "John Gage" paramedic character on TV's "Emergency!"... Rest in Peace sir...

msn.com

EK!!!

[Chartgod] re: Mannix On MeTV 2am EST ;-)

Chartgod — 7/9/2026 6:03:10 PM

[Sultan] Joanna Pettet (1942-2026) The lovely actress has died at the age of 83. I fondl...

Sultan — 7/9/2026 2:42:21 PM

Joanna Pettet (1942-2026) The lovely actress has died at the age of 83. I fondly remember her from so many of those shows I loved in the 1960s and 1970s: Mannix, McCloud, Banacek. RIP.

[Augustus Gloop] He's right.....I think Bill said it was his favorite song

Augustus Gloop — 7/9/2026 2:03:29 PM

[Alan Smithee] RIP Bonnie Tyler. My favorite movie scene based on Total Eclipse of the Heart ...

Alan Smithee — 7/9/2026 12:22:50 PM

RIP Bonnie Tyler.

My favorite movie scene based on Total Eclipse of the Heart -

[Augustus Gloop] Bonnie Tyler 1951 - 2026 en.wikipedia.org yahoo.com [graphic] [youtube video...

Augustus Gloop — 7/9/2026 10:41:26 AM

Bonnie Tyler 1951 - 2026

en.wikipedia.org

yahoo.com

[Tom Clarke] Louise Lasser, Star of ‘Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,’ Dies at 87 variety.com

Tom Clarke — 7/7/2026 8:39:34 PM

[Bob] If Senator Mitch McConnell were to pass away, his seat would be filled through a...

Bob — 7/7/2026 4:57:33 PM

If Senator Mitch McConnell were to pass away, his seat would be filled through a special election dictated by Kentucky's revised succession laws, rather than an immediate appointment by the governor. Because McConnell announced he would not seek reelection, voters are already set to choose his permanent successor in the November 2026 general election. However, the timing of a potential vacancy heavily dictates how the remainder of his current term (which runs through January 2027) is handled. [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
The exact outcome depends on a critical legal timeline:

If a Vacancy Occurs Before August 3, 2026

Special Election Triggered: Under Kentucky's House Bill 622 (passed in April 2024), the state's Democratic Governor, Andy Beshear, is entirely stripped of the power to appoint a temporary replacement. [ 1, 2]
The Governor's Role: The governor's only legal authority is to sign a proclamation calling for a special election. [ 1]
The Timeline: A special election would be organized to run concurrently with the November 2026 general election. The winner would immediately take office to serve out the remaining months of McConnell's term until January 2027. [ 1, 2, 3]
Senate Impact: The seat would remain completely vacant until November, narrowing the Republican voting margin in the upper house during the interim. [ 1, 2, 3]

If a Vacancy Occurs On or After August 3, 2026

No Special Election: If the seat is vacated after this statutory August deadline, it becomes too late to organize a distinct special election for the unexpired term. [ 1]
Seat Remains Empty: The seat would remain vacant for the rest of the year. [ 1]
November General Election: The vacancy would simply be absorbed by the normal November 2026 general election cycle. The winner of that scheduled election would take the seat natively when the new Congress convenes in January 2027. [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Political Context and Current Health Status
This succession process has drawn intense scrutiny due to McConnell's current hospitalization following a June 14, 2026 medical emergency. While his office maintains that he is stable and working with staff remotely, political analysts have noted that the strict August 3rd deadline creates immense pressure regarding the transparency and timing of updates to his condition. The 2024 law was specifically engineered by the state's Republican-led General Assembly to guarantee that a Democratic governor could not flip the seat, ensuring the succession process relies strictly on the voters. [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

[Bill] Think they are going full Weekend at Bernie's with him? They need to hold the se...

Bill — 7/7/2026 4:20:33 PM

Think they are going full Weekend at Bernie's with him? They need to hold the senate seat.

[Bob] Jennings getting roasted in the comments!! [X] I spoke to my old friend Mitch ...

Bob — 7/7/2026 1:58:13 PM

Jennings getting roasted in the comments!!

[X]

I spoke to my old friend Mitch McConnell this morning, the senior Senator from Kentucky. He’s still recovering in the hospital. We talked for just shy of 20 minutes … about IRAN, UKRAINE, the unfolding situation in MAINE, my visit to the TR Presidential Library, and even a…
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) July 7, 2026

[/X]

[Bob] WTF about the "secrecy" of his "health"?? How many "health" events has he had o...

Bob — 7/7/2026 11:41:56 AM

WTF about the "secrecy" of his "health"??

How many "health" events has he had over the last 5 years?

Senator Mitch McConnell has experienced at least seven significant medical incidents over the last five years. These health events include: [ 1, 2]

2019: A serious fall at his Kentucky home requiring surgery for a fractured shoulder.
March 2023: A fall at a Washington, D.C. hotel resulting in a concussion and a broken rib.
Summer 2023: Two highly publicized episodes where he froze and stared vacantly while speaking to reporters.
October 2024: Another fall resulting in a sprained wrist.
February 2026: Hospitalization for an undisclosed flu-like illness.
June 2026: A lengthy hospitalization beginning in mid-June following an advanced life support medical response to a reported episode of unconsciousness at his D.C. residence. [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]

[Bill] Mitch McConnell is still alive, as of 10:00 AM today. There are reports he has ...

Bill — 7/7/2026 10:50:07 AM

Mitch McConnell
is still alive, as of 10:00 AM today. There are reports he has died, but not confirmed.

What We Know About Mitch McConnell’s Health as Speculation Mounts - Newsweek

[Augustus Gloop] [graphic]

Augustus Gloop — 7/1/2026 4:05:53 PM

[miraje] Victor Willis, Village People lead singer, dies at 74 Willis, who co-wrote hit...

miraje — 7/1/2026 3:44:17 PM

Victor Willis, Village People lead singer, dies at 74

Willis, who co-wrote hit single “Y.M.C.A.”, died of a “short but aggressive illness,” his band said. President Trump paid tribute to him, calling Willis “a great and happy guy.”

nbcnews.com

[Bonefish] Steve Zabel. football legacy.com

Bonefish — 6/29/2026 6:05:45 AM

[Investor2] RIP [youtube video]

Investor2 — 6/27/2026 11:16:59 PM

[onekema] David Clayton-Thomas variety.com

onekema — 6/27/2026 9:42:54 PM

[Augustus Gloop] Sorry. I allowed my inner Walter White to surface. "I'm not in danger - I am t...

Augustus Gloop — 6/22/2026 5:31:06 PM

Sorry.

I allowed my inner Walter White to surface.

"I'm not in danger - I am the danger"

[Bill] Political disagreements are allowed here, as many of the dearly departed were po...

Bill — 6/22/2026 5:19:19 PM

Political disagreements are allowed here, as many of the dearly departed were political figures.

But here are the simple thread rules from the header in case some have forgotten...

This thread is dedicated to the recent or impending deaths of well known people, people killed in service to this country, and others of importance to the country or SI community.

Three simple rules:
1. Debating is acceptable as long as it doesn't result in personal attacks.
2. Carryover flame wars from other threads are not allowed.
3. Don't post here if you have the moderator on ignore. It will result in a ban.

[Sam] lol, I did it already. Can we finally end this discussion as you said you would...

Sam — 6/22/2026 5:01:48 PM

lol, I did it already.

Can we finally end this discussion as you said you would do a number of posts ago?

[Augustus Gloop] Then do it and move along

Augustus Gloop — 6/22/2026 4:59:21 PM

[Sam] I think that when people acknowledge an error on their part--especially when it ...

Sam — 6/22/2026 4:58:10 PM

I think that when people acknowledge an error on their part--especially when it is a consequential error--they are acting honorably. Anyone can toot their own horn, it takes a strong honorable person to acknowledge that they were wrong about something. And it honors them to acknowledge that they could do that.

Your mileage may differ.

[Augustus Gloop] You decided to chime in with your political bs on a thread that's intended to ho...

Augustus Gloop — 6/22/2026 4:50:15 PM

You decided to chime in with your political bs on a thread that's intended to honor the dead.

I have no idea what made you think that was a good idea

[Sam] I was just pointing to what Greenspan himself said. The crisis was caused by a ...

Sam — 6/22/2026 4:41:00 PM

I was just pointing to what Greenspan himself said. The crisis was caused by a number of factors, not just one--I don't doubt that the repeal of GS was one of those factors.

But I am happy to leave it at that.

[Sam] deleted

Sam — 6/22/2026 4:40:06 PM

[Augustus Gloop] You're wrong

Augustus Gloop — 6/22/2026 4:32:12 PM

[Sam] So you're disagreeing with Greenspan himself. You don't have to take my word for...

Sam — 6/22/2026 4:25:37 PM

So you're disagreeing with Greenspan himself. You don't have to take my word for it--listen to him.

But of course you will only hear what you want to hear.

I agree with you about Bernanke though, FWIW. And about the elimination of Glass Steagall. But that isn't what caused the crisis even if it was a factor.

"End of discussion"

Yeah, that isn't surprising.

[Augustus Gloop] Gemini is FOS and I'm not going to debate the issue with you or anyone else - th...

Augustus Gloop — 6/22/2026 3:51:00 PM

Gemini is FOS and I'm not going to debate the issue with you or anyone else - these are the facts.

Greenspan helped light the fire that took the market through the 90's.

The "misplaced trust" was the elimination of Glass Steagall in 1999 which Bill Clinton signed. All good underwriting by the banks went out the window and damn near BK'ed the country. All the hippy, self aggrandizing, sanctimonious libs from the 60's (which were the power brokers of the financial industry) were exposed as one of the most corrupt generations in US history.

At any other point in history we would have experienced a global depression but the fed (Bernanke) did financial engineering unlike anything we've seen. It was so outside the box that Bernanke and Hank Paulson required prosecutorial immunity before they were willing to start the undertaking.

Nobody went to prison, it was the start of the destruction of the middle class and it still reverberates through our economy today.

Bush DID NOT cause 2007-2009 - Clinton started the decline and he's admitted it.

So, save your Gemini and stick your politics up your ass because you don't know dick. I was in the industry and I remember the day the elimination of Glass Steagall was announced. My response that day was "banks should be banks, brokerage firms should be brokerage firms, insurance companies should be insurance companies and lawyers should be lawyers because when you mix them together things get F**ked up!"

End of discussion

[Sam] Greenspan didn't "save our bacon". He even admitted that the ideology he used as...

Sam — 6/22/2026 3:18:40 PM

Greenspan didn't "save our bacon". He even admitted that the ideology he used as Fed chair was a factor in leading to to the 2008 financial crisis. Here is Gemini on that:

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan famously acknowledged his oversight failures following the 2008 global financial crisis. [ 1, 2]
Testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in October 2008, Greenspan detailed his change of perspective: [ 1, 2]

The Misplaced Trust: He admitted to making "a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such as that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity". [ 1]
The "Flaw in the Model": He conceded that his long-held free-market ideology had a foundational error. He stated that he had found a "flaw in the model ... that defines how the world works," acknowledging that relying on financial firms to voluntarily police their own risks was wrong. [ 1]
Derivatives: Greenspan previously opposed the regulation of financial derivatives (such as credit default swaps). In his 2008 testimony, he admitted he was partially wrong for not pushing to regulate credit default swaps. [ 1, 2]

You can read more about his concession in the original coverage of the hearing provided by NPR's 2008 Report.

[Ron] Clive Davis, a former corporate lawyer who became one of the most influential fi...

Ron — 6/22/2026 2:14:38 PM

Clive Davis, a former corporate lawyer who became one of the most influential figures in American rock and pop music as he fostered the careers of Bob Dylan, Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen and other stars, died on Monday at the age of 94, the New York Times reported, citing his family.

reuters.com

[Augustus Gloop] Greenspan was great Volker, Greenspan and Bernanke all saved our bacon in diffe...

Augustus Gloop — 6/22/2026 11:54:04 AM

Greenspan was great

Volker, Greenspan and Bernanke all saved our bacon in different ways

[EL KABONG!!!] Good Lord! I was thinking about the man just yesterday, First time in ages I eve...

EL KABONG!!! — 6/22/2026 9:29:45 AM

Good Lord! I was thinking about the man just yesterday, First time in ages I ever thought of him. I was watching the current Fed "brain trust" on TV and thinking that the current Fed Board couldn't really hold a candle to the Fed Boards chaired by Alan Greenspan oh so many years ago... RIP, Mr. Greenspan. You've earned it...

EK!!!

[Ron] Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Fed, dies at age 100 cnbc.com

Ron — 6/22/2026 8:19:14 AM

[Ron] Co-Founder of Ubisoft, Claude Guillemot, one of two dead in plane crash reuters...

Ron — 6/21/2026 1:52:03 PM

Co-Founder of Ubisoft, Claude Guillemot, one of two dead in plane crash
reuters.com

[Sam] Another amazing guy that few people know about. Peter Klopfer, Civil Rights Act...

Sam — 6/20/2026 1:35:45 PM

Another amazing guy that few people know about.

Peter Klopfer, Civil Rights Activist and Co-Founder of the Duke Lemur Center, Died
June 11, 2026
Marie Claire Chelini and Owen Covington, Trinity Communications, with additional reporting by Robin Smith

Peter Klopfer, professor emeritus of Biology, civil rights activist and co-founder of the Duke Lemur Center, died on June 5 at the age of 95. He is survived by his wife, Martha, and their three daughters.

Klopfer helped develop the field of behavioral ecology — the study of animal behavior and its evolution — and made seminal contributions to our understanding of mother-offspring bonding. His research helped elucidate the now well-known role played by the hormone oxytocin in mediating affective bonds.

He later developed a passion for dwarf lemurs’ ability to hibernate, and led a multidisciplinary team including sleep specialists, geneticists, field ecologists and physiologists, all focused on the causes and consequences of lemur hibernation.

Anne Yoder, Braxton Craven Distinguished Professor of Evolutionary Biology and former director of the Duke Lemur Center, describes Klopfer as a visionary. "The brilliance of Peter's mind was exceeded only by the warmth and generosity of his heart."

His impact extended well beyond research. Shocked by the segregationist policies still in place when they arrived in North Carolina in the late 1950s, the Klopfers co-founded one of the first integrated schools of the South, the Carolina Friends School.

His civil rights activism also led to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial applies to state courts as well as federal courts, a victory that impacted thousands of cases around the country. In 2009, Klopfer was awarded Duke’s Samuel DuBois Cook Award in honor of his civil activism.

“What I respected most about Peter was that he lived his values,” said Gregory Dye, executive director of the Duke Lemur Center. “He stood up for what he believed was right, even when the consequences were potentially severe. He looked out for others, mentored students and junior colleagues, and provided guidance when I was first appointed the Lemur Center's executive director.”

Though much of Klopfer’s research took place at the Duke Lemur Center, his nearly 70-year career took him around the world, studying species as disparate as fish in Belize, giant tortoises in Aldabra, songbirds in England and antelopes in Israel.

Klopfer’s earlier studies focused on ducks and waterfowl. (Photo courtesy of Klopfer)

His studies on early mother-infant bonding began during his Ph.D. at Yale, focusing on ducks and waterfowl. A nudge from a professor led him toward goats, a species Klopfer loved since childhood. “They're personable. They're very social. They're like dogs in many ways,” he said in a 2022 interview.

Goats offered an additional financial advantage. “Yale was already supporting my waterfowl research. They weren't about to pay for an even more expensive animal, like a goat. But Martha and I figured that the goats would pay for themselves, as they did. From the first year we were married, we had goats, who provided us with milk, and cheese and butter, and so forth, so it was a practical choice, as well as a scientifically appropriate one,” he said.

Whereas waterfowl chicks were known to attach themselves to the first moving creature they saw upon hatching (not necessarily their mother) in a process known as “imprinting,” goats exhibited “bonding,” a process driven by the mother. Klopfer discovered that if mothers were separated from or even just prevented from smelling their newborns for a mere 15 minutes, they would later show no interest in them, effectively abandoning their offspring. In these vital first minutes, the release of oxytocin facilitated mother-offspring attachment, a process crucial for survival in many species.

After a year of postdoctoral studies in Cambridge, Klopfer joined Duke in 1958. “I was able to get a tract of forest set aside for what became the Duke Field Station for Animal Behavior Studies — which then 40 years later mutated into the Duke Lemur Center — so I was able to have a herd of 40 goats.”

Klopfer arrived in Durham as a new Duke professor with accomplished credentials as an activist, driven largely by his Quaker faith and pacifist beliefs.

He was expelled from UCLA after his freshman year because of his participation in a campaign to end mandatory military training for students through ROTC. He would return to continue his degree, and as an undergraduate was sentenced to three years in prison for refusing to participate in the draft for the Korean War, though he received probation after a short time of incarceration.

Klopfer later said the attention his activities drew from the Joseph McCarthy-led House Un-American Activities Committee drove him to pursue postdoctoral work abroad in Cambridge.

When he was courted by Duke to return to the U.S., the proximity between campus and his promised field station was a big draw. He was offered a three-year contract, and when he and Martha left “cosmopolitan Cambridge” and came to “provincial Durham,” they had no expectation to remain here long.

His first exposure to the American South was a shock. From the moment they arrived at the airport, “passing through the building and suddenly seeing double sets of drinking fountains — 'Colored Only,' 'White Only' — and double sets of bathrooms. We’d never in our lives experienced anything like this,” he said in a 2003 interview with the Durham Civil Rights Heritage Project.

This was four years after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruling in 1954, which upended the “separate but equal” doctrine used to justify segregated schools. He arrived in Durham to find a state that was legally bound by the Brown decision but, like others in the South, was only slowly creeping toward integrating schools and public accommodations.

“Were Peter Klopfer not so friendly, he would be an imposing figure,” states a 1974 The Duke Chronicle article about Klopfer’s visionary grading methods. (Photo courtesy of Duke Libraries)

Not content to wait for the integration of local public schools nor willing to subject his children to segregation, in 1962 the Klopfers joined with fellow Quakers — or Friends, as members of the Society of Friends are known — from the Quaker Meeting Houses in Durham and Chapel Hill to launch the Carolina Friends School, one of the first racially integrated schools in the South and the first in the state.

“The only alternative seemed to be founding a community here which would not perpetuate racial myths and segregation,” Klopfer is quoted as saying on the school’s website. “The formation of a school open to children of all races and founded on Friends’ principles, it was quickly agreed [by a group of Chapel Hill and Durham Friends], would be the most useful step we could take. We took it, and it was.”

Not just co-founders, the Klopfers also donated the land that would become the school’s main campus. The school would be bolstered by other state and higher education leaders including former Gov. Terry Sanford, who would serve as president of Duke from 1970 until 1985, and Bill Friday, who was president of the UNC system from 1956 until 1986.

Klopfer’s dedication to civil rights would later earn him a place in the annals of Supreme Court history as the plaintiff and victor in a case that would ensure defendants in state court proceedings have a right to a speedy trial. On January 3, 1964, Klopfer was joined by a small number of Duke and UNC faculty and students for a visit at the Watts Restaurant and Grill in Chapel Hill, to protest the establishment’s segregationist stance. The group was arrested, then indicted by a grand jury for criminal trespassing.

“But we never got inside, because they apparently had been tipped off about our coming. We were jumped on in the parking lot and beaten bloody,” he said in the 2003 interview.

The circumstances of his arrest were typical of the sit-in movement, but while the other trials quickly ended in convictions, Klopfer kept getting a hung jury. Prosecutors continued to pursue the charges but did not call the case, leaving Klopfer in legal limbo, having to appear in court daily with no sense of when his case might be retried.

Klopfer’s appeal would make it to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in 1967 ruled that the right to a speedy trial extended to state courts as well as federal courts. “That turned out to have an enormous impact on cases, thousands of cases around the country where the defendants were being held for long periods of time, and the prosecutors weren’t sure enough with their evidence to be able to convict them, but by holding them indefinitely, could get them to plead to lesser charges,” Klopfer said in 2003.

Klopfer’s mounting legal fees ended up being the unlikely catalyst for a new research collaboration. “My friends and colleagues set up a defense fund, and they contacted my former teachers and friends at Yale for contributions,” he said in a 2020 interview (link opens in a new window/tab).

Among the contributors was then Yale professor John Buettner-Janusch, with whom Klopfer later met. “I was studying the neuroendocrine aspects of mother-infant relations in goats, when John Buettner-Janusch persuaded me that lemurs would serve better. In exchange for space at the Zoology Department's Behavior Station, which I directed, he offered to move his lemur colony from Yale and share it with me.”

In 1965, Buettner-Janusch joined Duke, bringing with him approximately 200 primates. In 1966, the Duke Primate Center was born, and would later become the Duke Lemur Center, the world’s largest and most diverse collection of lemurs outside of Madagascar.

Klopfer and Yoder at an event celebrating the 50 years of the Duke Lemur Center. (Photo courtesy of Dye)

In later years, Klopfer’s research expanded into the molecular, physiological and neurological underpinnings of sleep and hibernation, which were the focus of his last research paper, in 2025. The topic generated great interest due to its parallels to human aging — and our desire to postpone it.

"In 2006, when I first assumed the Lemur Center’s directorship, Peter invited me to his office for a seemingly impromptu meeting. It immediately became clear to me that the real agenda was to test the waters regarding any interest I might have in primate hibernation and what support I might lend that research at the Center. I was absolutely all in, and so began what has now been a 20-year collaboration and deep friendship," Yoder said.

Klopfer’s approach to teaching was at times visionary. In 1974, he had a disagreement with the Duke Undergraduate Faculty Council over his grading practices in an Introduction to Biology course. In it, Klopfer offered students four different methods through which they could demonstrate proficiency in the course. If students couldn't achieve a grade "A" in their chosen method, rather than failing them Klopfer simply didn't record their grade, and allowed them to try one of the other options.

His pedagogy left a mark on the field of animal behavior. Professor Emeritus of Biology Steve Nowicki remembers using Klopfer’s book “An Introduction to Animal Behavior: Ethology’s First Century” as an undergraduate in the 1970s. “Many years later, I came to realize that Peter’s book deeply influenced my own approach to teaching science, emphasizing how we know something, not just what we know. It also played a big role in my decision to go on to do graduate work in organismal biology,” Nowicki recalled.

He mentored 44 Ph.D. students over his career, but his impact extended beyond those he officially advised. “In the 1990s, Peter would often host grad students and faculty interested in animal behavior and behavioral ecology from across the Triangle for joint journal club meetings at his farm,” remembers Nowicki. “Those were good times, made even better by the fact that Peter would always provide a few bottles of some interesting wine and offer a short wine tutorial as part of the meeting.”

Klopfer was known for his hospitality, and often welcomed graduate students and faculty from across the Triangle for joint journal club meetings at his farm. (Photo courtesy of Yoder)

His mentorship extended to colleagues as well. “When one of my daughters wanted to learn more about his court case from the 1960s, Peter met with her several times to share his story and help connect her with historians and scholars who aided her in her documentary. He was patient, supportive and responsive to her many requests for additional details and clarification,” said Dye. “His generosity with his time was extended to others at the Lemur Center over the years I knew him. And I always knew that if I ever needed his help, all I had to do was ask.”

Despite retiring in 2006, Klopfer continued teaching until the COVID pandemic, in 2020. “I decided I wasn’t psychologically equipped to teach on Zoom,” he said in 2022.

"Peter was a fixture of our department for more than six decades. He had wonderful stories to tell about his science and cared deeply about both education and conservation. I valued his advice and mentorship as a new chair at a time of considerable social upheaval in 2020-2021. He will be missed and remembered fondly," said Emily Bernhardt, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Biology and department chair.

“I am so grateful for the way Peter shaped the department that I joined 28 years ago, and how that influence has persisted over the years in positive ways,” said Susan Alberts, Robert F. Durden Distinguished Professor of Biology. “I'm also grateful for who Peter was in the world, as an actor who promoted justice and fairness.”

The Klopfers were avid runners, and competed in Master’s marathons well past their 80th birthdays. (Photo courtesy of Klopfer)

Klopfer was also an incredible athlete and an avid runner. He once credited his desire to become a better runner to nearly being trampled to death by a charging 3,000-pound bull elephant seal.

Duke’s legendary head track coach Al Buehler (who later became coach for the U.S. track team in the 1972 Olympics) introduced Klopfer to cross-country running, and from then he was hooked. Klopfer coached Duke’s women’s track club in the 70s, prior to it becoming a team, and was still running marathons until his mid-eighties.

"I got to know Peter as a running buddy and coach in my first few years as a junior faculty member,” said Professor of Biology Amy Schmid. “He was many decades my senior but challenged me to run my best. His energy, enthusiasm, and encouragement were amazing. I will miss Peter but know that his legacy of inclusion and fighting for equity will live well into the future."

Not a fan of driving, for years Klopfer covered the roughly 6-mile commute between home and work by running or cycling. At nearly 90, when his diminishing balance restricted his ability to ride a bicycle, he still cycled 20-25 miles on weekends with friends on a semi-recumbent e-tricycle.

His advancing age also failed to stop his civil activism. In 2013, at 82 years old, Klopfer was briefly jailed in a Moral Monday peaceful protest against legislation recently passed by the N.C. General Assembly.

In his 2003 interview, Klopfer said that during times when he was frightened about the state of American democracy or concerned about governmental overreach, he would return to his 1966 experience taking in the arguments in his case before the Supreme Court justices.

“I think back on that, and I think, well, there’s still hope,” he said.

trinity.duke.edu

[maz99] Happened to read his autobiography just a few weeks ago …. good read for fans of...

maz99 — 6/19/2026 6:20:03 PM

Happened to read his autobiography just a few weeks ago …. good read for fans of the era.

Directed by James Burrows: Five Decades of Stories from the Legendary Director of Taxi, Cheers, Frasier, Friends, Will & Grace, and More

[Sam] RIP--certainly a master of character development, comedy and story telling. Jam...

Sam — 6/19/2026 4:54:49 PM

RIP--certainly a master of character development, comedy and story telling.

James Burrows, Master of the TV Sitcom, Dies at 85
Beloved by actors, he helped create “Cheers” and directed more than 1,000 episodes of hit shows like “Taxi,” “Friends” and “The Big Bang Theory.”

By Glenn Rifkin
June 19, 2026Updated 4:16 p.m. ET

James Burrows, the genre-shaping master of the television situation comedy who was a creator of “Cheers” and directed more than 1,000 episodes of that show and other TV classics like “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Bob Newhart Show,” “Taxi,” “Frasier,” “Friends” and “The Big Bang Theory,” died on Friday. He was 85.

His agent, Rick Rosen, confirmed the death, but did not say where he died or specify a cause.

Mr. Burrows earned a reputation as the “Steven Spielberg of sitcoms,” winning 11 Emmy Awards and receiving 47 nominations in a career that spanned five decades. In 1995, Bill Carter, writing in The New York Times, described him as “the man whose visual style and comedic instincts have helped create more comedy hits than anyone else in television.”

With a unique flair for the multicamera sitcom, Mr. Burrows won audiences by focusing on the laughs.

Image
Mr. Burrows working on an episode of “Cheers,” which he created with Glen and Les Charles, in 1993. “I guess I have a gift for creating families,” he said of his work with ensemble casts. Credit...NBCUniversal, via Getty Images

“When I direct a television show, I try to reach that sweet spot where the best script meets the best performance and the best chemistry between performers,” Mr. Burrows wrote in his 2022 autobiography, “Directed by James Burrows,” written with Eddy Friedfeld. “Hitting that exact moment, where these factors land in combination, results in the sweetest and most enduring laugh.”

Whatever the setting, whether a New York taxi garage or a neighborhood bar in Boston, he sought to nurture his actors into ensembles. “I guess I have a gift for creating families,” he told The Times in 2023.

Distinctly different from film directors, who control every aspect of a movie’s creative development, television directors often act as traffic cops on a set and toil in relative anonymity. They are part of a creative team led by a writer and executive producer, who also acts as the showrunner.

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Mr. Burrows, right, was beloved by the stars he worked with, like Ted Danson and Shelley Long of “Cheers.”Credit...NBCU Photo Bank

Television directors don’t usually exert control ahead of the writers. But Mr. Burrows defied that tradition. He was so skilled that he became the most sought-after and highly paid sitcom director during the golden age of network comedies in the 1980s, ‘90s and early aughts.

“I’m concerned about believability and the economy of the comedy, the shortest distance between the character and the laughter,” Mr. Burrows wrote in his autobiography. “When I direct an episode, I have lots of notes. I am apt to tell writers: ‘50 percent of what I say is gold and 50 percent is garbage. It’s your job to figure out which is which.’”

He grew up immersed in the world of Manhattan theater as the son of the Broadway playwright and director Abe Burrows, who helped create such hits as “Guys and Dolls” and “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”

He even started his career approaching television episodes as if he was directing a stage play, and the ensemble casts, including such stars as Ms. Moore, Mr. Newhart, Judd Hirsch, Ted Danson, Jennifer Aniston, Sean Hayes and Kelsey Grammer, loved working with him.

“He is without a doubt the person any actor wants calling the shots when the cameras are rolling,” Mr. Grammer, who played the psychiatrist Frasier Crane on “Cheers” and “Frasier,” said in a 2019 episode of “Inside the Actors Studio.”

Because of his intuitive understanding of the timing and structure of a successful sitcom episode, Mr. Burrows was in constant demand, often working on more than one series at a time. He directed a staggering 75 pilot episodes that became series.

Mr. Burrows, left, with the cast of “Frasier” at the Emmy Awards in 1998, when it won the award for best comedy series for the fifth consecutive year.Credit...Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images

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“I try to break down those barriers between writer and actor and director, and make everybody feel like they’re all a part of the process, without incurring the wrath of a writer,” Mr. Burrows said in a 2023 interview on the public radio station KCRW.

In 1994, for example, Mr. Burrows not only directed but also helped cast “Friends.” Before shooting the pilot, he gathered the group of mostly unknown young actors — Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, Matthew Perry and Ms. Aniston — and flew them on a private plane to Las Vegas for a dinner at Spago at Caesars Palace.

He wanted to ensure that the cast members bonded. At dinner, he told them: “This is your last shot at anonymity. Once the show comes on the air, you guys will never be able to go anywhere without being hounded.”

James Edward Burrows was born in Los Angeles on Dec. 30, 1940, to Abe and Ruth (Levinson) Burrows. When he was 5, the family moved to New York City, where he grew up. His mother was a homemaker and social activist who instilled a lifelong sense of social justice in James and her daughter, Laurie.

His parents divorced when Mr. Burrows was 8, a trauma he said he carried into adulthood. His father’s success exposed him to theater luminaries. Having a famous father, however, was a mixed blessing.

Mr. Burrows knew he would always be considered “Abe’s kid,” so to avoid his father’s long shadow, he decided he had no interest in a theater career. Nonetheless, he attended New York’s High School of Music and Art and eventually found himself unable to resist show business. Countless visits to his father’s productions and rehearsals left an indelible impression about how to work with actors and crews.

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Mr. Burrows graduated from Oberlin College in 1962 and the Yale School of Drama in 1965. There, he realized he couldn’t sing, dance or write, but he became intrigued with the idea of directing.

After graduating, he became an assistant stage manager for “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” a short-lived 1966 musical that featured Mary Tyler Moore. After working as a stage director at dinner theaters for the next few years, Mr. Burrows realized that television situation comedies — which in essence are short stage plays in front of a camera — might be a perfect outlet for his skills.

In 1974, he wrote to Ms. Moore asking for a chance to work for her company, MTM, which produced her hit show. Her husband, Grant Tinker, invited Mr. Burrows to Los Angeles, where he was given his first shot at directing a sitcom. There, he met the veteran television director Jay Sandrich, who became a mentor.

After “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” he directed episodes of the spinoffs “Rhoda” and “Phyllis” and later “The Bob Newhart Show,” “Laverne & Shirley” and “Taxi.” In 1982, he teamed up with the writer-producer brothers Glen and Les Charles, whom he knew from “Taxi,” to create “Cheers,” which changed the trajectory of his career and eventually brought him vast wealth through syndication and residuals.

Of the 275 episodes of the series over 11 seasons, Mr. Burrows directed all but 35. Its finale, in 1993, drew the second-largest audience for a series finale in television history. (Only the finale of “M*A*S*H” in 1983 drew more viewers.)

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Mr. Burrows in 2023. “The laughter behind me is so rewarding for my soul, I would almost do it for free,” he said, reflecting on his career.Credit...Alex Welsh for The New York Times

In 1981, he married Linda Solomon, with whom he had three daughters, Kat, Ellie and Maggie. The couple divorced in 1993. Mr. Burrows married Debbie Easton in 1997; she survives him, along with his daughters; a stepdaughter, Paris; and seven grandchildren.

Working into his 80s, Mr. Burrows maintained unabated enthusiasm for his craft.

“The laughter behind me is so rewarding for my soul, I would almost do it for free,” he told The Times in 2023. “And it’s nice to be able to go back to what happened to me 50 years ago and still have this feeling of creativity. When pilot season comes this year, I hope there is a pilot that I like.”

nytimes.com

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Stacey King, the longtime Chicago Bulls broadcaster and former player, dies at 59

Chicago Bulls television color commentator Stacey King has a laugh while taking in warmups before a game against the Knicks at the United Center on Nov. 12, 2019. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

By Julia Poe | jpoe@chicagotribune.com | Chicago Tribune
PUBLISHED: June 7, 2026 at 12:34 PM CDT

Chicago Bulls broadcaster Stacey King died Sunday at the age of 59, the team announced in a statement.

A three-time NBA champion during the first half of the 1990’s Bulls dynasty, King was a beloved member of the Bulls organization who provided color commentary for the team’s local broadcast affiliate — moving from CSN Chicago to NBC Sports Chicago and finally CHSN — for the last two decades.

Known for catchphrases and nicknames that stuck to players for their entire careers, King approached broadcasting with the same animated, enthusiastic presence that defined him on the court.

“Stacey loved being a Bull,” CEO Michael Reinsdorf said in a statement. “You could feel it in everything he did – the way he played, the way he called games and the way he connected with our fans. He had a unique gift for bringing people together and making every game feel personal. He brought an energy and love for the game that came through in every broadcast, helping fans feel connected to our team.”

“Whether it was through a broadcast, a conversation or a photo with a fan, Stacey made people feel seen and valued. We were fortunate to know him not only as a player and broadcaster, but as a friend. Stacey genuinely cared about people, and he made our organization better. We will miss him dearly, and his impact, memory and legacy will remain a part of the Chicago Bulls forever.”

Selected by Chicago with the No. 6 pick in the 1989 draft, King spent five seasons with the Bulls that coalesced in the first three rings won during the dynasty era in the 90’s. After being traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in 1994, King played several more years in the NBA and abroad, then pivoted to a brief stint as a coach before finally landing on his next calling as a broadcaster in Chicago.

King quickly earned the affection of Bulls fans for his ability to transform a quick turn of phrase into a definitive piece of lore for a storied franchise. Over the last 20 years, his witticisms — from “Give me the hot sauce” to “I want to go higher!” — became woven into the tapestry of what it meant to be a Bulls fan in Chicago.

The news of his death was met with shock and sadness from fans, players and fellow broadcasters around the NBA.

King is survived by his sons Erick, Garrett, Brandon and Mason.

This is a developing story.

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