(Alder family) Douglas Alder, a Latter-day Saint historian and former president of what is now Utah Tech University, in an undated photograph.
They were leaders in faith and arbiters of justice. They brought us the news and made news themselves. They created art and sold furniture. They wrote about their lives or acted out stories of others. They raced cars and skied mountains. They inspired us by the way they lived and by the way they faced death.
The Salt Lake Tribune has compiled this list of notable Utahns who died during 2023 — more than 70 people, and a handful of animals, who did something during their lives that made the rest of us pay attention. The list is a way to take note of whom they were and what parts of Utah life will be missing now that they’re gone.
Douglas D. Alder • A historian and longtime Utah State University professor who was involved in the “New Mormon History” movement, Alder served as president of Dixie State College (now Utah Tech University) from 1986 to 1993 — helping build the tiny St. George school into a regional powerhouse. Alder died Nov. 25, at age 91, in Lehi.
Connie Anast-Jackson • A longtime advocate for Utah’s LGBTQ+ community and an ordained minister who worked with charities to help veterans and the homeless, Anant-Jackson was the executive director of Transgender Education Advocates of Utah from 2011 to 2015. Anant-Jackson died Aug. 6, at age 50, after a long illness.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Lavina Fielding Anderson at her Salt Lake City home on Wednesday Sept. 4, 2019.
Lavina Fielding Anderson • A prolific writer and editor of books and essays about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Anderson was praised as a “titan of modern Mormonism” but was excommunicated in 1993 as one of the “September Six,” accused of “apostasy” for her critiques of ecclesiastical abuse in the church. She remained a devout believer, though her request to be rebaptized in 2019 was rejected. Anderson died Oct. 29, at age 79, in Salt Lake City, of respiratory failure secondary to pulmonary hypertension.
Richard Anderson • A renowned plastic surgeon whose specialty was eyelids, Anderson was known to generations of Utah Jazz watchers as one of the team’s most crazed and performative fans, swinging rubber chickens and other props from his front-row seat at the end of the court. Anderson died March 26, at age 78, from cancer.
M. Russell Ballard • As acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Ballard was second in the line of succession to lead The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The former car dealer was first called as a mission president in Toronto in 1974 and was chosen to be an apostle in 1985. Ballard died Nov. 12, at age 95, at home.
Gail Blattenberger • A longtime University of Utah economics professor, Blattenberger spearheaded the fiscal argument against the feasibility of the Lake Powell pipeline. She also fought for social justice as a volunteer, activist and frequent protester for civil rights, nuclear disarmament and the environment. Blattenberger died Dec. 4, at age 76, after battling multiple sclerosis for years.
(Christian Palma | AP) Ken Block signs autographs at the end of the Mexico Rally in Leon, Mexico, Sunday, March 10, 2013.
Ken Block • A Park City resident, Block was a professional rally driver, a member of the Hoonigan Racing Division (sponsored by the apparel company, Hoonigan, that he founded). Block also was one of the founders of the DC Shoe brand. Block died Jan. 2, at age 55, in a snowmobile accident in Wasatch County’s Mill Hollow area.
Bill Bosgraaf • Dubbed “Mr. Utah Soccer,” the Dutch-born Bosgraaf volunteered in the state’s soccer community for 50 years, serving as the Utah Soccer Association’s president starting in 1986. Among the group’s accomplishments: paving the way for soccer to become a sanctioned sport in Utah high schools and luring the first U.S. men’s national team friendly to be played at Rice-Eccles Stadium in 2005. Bosgraaf died Dec. 1, at age 74, from prostate cancer.
Ken Brecher • From 1996 to 2009, Brecher was executive director of Robert Redford’s nonprofit Sundance Institute, where he’s credited with launching the Documentary Film Program and Documentary Fund, and supporting the creation of the New Frontier program. More recently, Brecher, an anthropologist and Rhodes scholar, was president of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, the nonprofit arm of that city’s public library. Brecher died Dec. 11, at age 78, of complications from cancer, in Los Angeles.
Craig Breedlove • On Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats from 1963 to 1965, Breedlove became the first human to set land-speed records at 400, 500 and 600 mph — in a jet-propelled car he called the Spirit of America. Breedlove died April 11, at age 86, at his home in Rio Vista, Calif.
Kyle Brown • Brown was a fixture on X96′s “Radio from Hell” from the mid-1990s to 2015 writing and performing a series of comedy bits as “Our Son Kyle.” Brown was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2021, and returned to X96 in 2021 to talk — and, when his voice became unintelligible, write — candidly about the disease, his drive to compete in triathlons, and his musings about mortality. Brown died Aug. 15, at age 53, at home in Kaysville.
Wendel Burt • Burt and his brother, Ron, in 1991 founded Burt Brothers Tire & Service in Bountiful, and the company now owns 18 stores across Utah. The company’s success allowed Burt to contribute to the Boys & Girls Clubs and other charities. Burt died April 26, at age 68, in St. George.
Lester Bush • Bush was a little-known historian whose 1973 research paper — which found that Joseph Smith, the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, did not start the racist policy that prevented Black church members from priesthood ordinations and temple ordinances — is believed to have influenced church leaders’ decision five years later to reverse the ban. Bush died Nov. 23, at age 81, of complications related to Alzheimer’s.
Johnny Carpenter • A Park City legend, Carpenter — known as “JC” — was a longtime skier and ski racer, starting at the resort his father owned at Snow Park (now the lower part of Deer Valley). Carpenter died Nov. 1, at age 67, from a sudden illness.
Mary Cleave • The Utah State University alum was a pioneering scientist, engineer and astronaut — flying as a mission specialist on the space shuttle Atlantis in 1985 and 1989. On the second trip, she became the first woman to go to space after the 1986 Challenger disaster. Cleave died Nov. 27, at age 76, NASA announced.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Attendees at a memorial for longtime Highland High School teacher and counselor Dean Collett signed a small poster with a photo of him, Friday, June 23, 2023.
Dean Collett • Known as “Mr. Highland,” Collett worked at Highland High School — as a teacher, counselor and, in semi-retirement, as student advocate — from its opening in 1956 until his retirement in 2021. The school’s Collett Commons is named for him. Collett died June 14, at age 94, at home.
Andy N. Condor • An Andean condor, Andy was the star attraction at Tracy Aviary’s “King of the Andes” exhibit — living at the aviary for 63 of his 64 years, becoming an ambassador for the bird refuge and educating visitors on the ways vultures help maintain healthy ecosystems. Andy died Aug. 17, at age 64, of natural causes.
Steve Cramblitt • In a long career as a high school baseball coach, Cramblitt won seven state championships at Taylorsville High School between 1992 and 2002, and two more for Juan Diego Catholic High School in 2005 and 2009 — and taught hundreds of young athletes about the game and life. Cramblitt died June 30, at age 74, from pulmonary fibrosis.
(Kevin Powell) Maria Boone Cranor, a climbing pioneer who was integral to the success of Black Diamond Equipment and later got a degree in physics from the University of Utah, died on Jan. 15, 2023 at the age of 76.
Maria Boone Cranor • A legend in the climbing world, Cranor went from being a “dirtbagger” in the ‘70s to being the head of marketing for the gear company Black Diamond (which is how she got to Salt Lake City) to teaching physics and becoming a research fellow at the University of Utah. Cranor died Jan. 15, at age 76, at her Salt Lake City home, from cancer.
Todd Curtis • In a 36-year career at the Deseret News, Curtis was a copy editor, wire editor, assistant features editor and copy chief — and received a lifetime achievement award in 2022 from the Utah Headliners chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Curtis died March 18, at age 56, from cancer.
Stan Ellsworth • As host of BYUtv’s “American Ride,” which aired from 2011 to 2016, the burly Ellsworth told stories of American history, often from the seat of a Harley-Davidson. Ellsworth died March 30, at age 63, of complications from COVID-19, a stroke and heart failure.
Kathleen Johnson Eyring • For 61 years, Kathleen Eyring was married to Latter-day Saint apostle Henry B. Eyring. She started to show signs of memory loss in 2007, when her husband was called to the church’s governing First Presidency; at General Conference in 2018, Henry Eyring spoke movingly about how she was able to “speak only a few words a day.” Eyring died Oct. 15, at age 82, “peacefully,” a church news release said, surrounded by family in Bountiful.
Dirk Facer • In a career that included 26 years at the Deseret News, Facer covered the Utah Jazz’s two runs in the NBA Finals, the Salt Lake Trappers’ record winning streak, a quarter century of Utah-BYU football games, and multiple seasons of Utah Utes football and basketball. He was named Utah Sportswriter of the Year five times. Facer died March 15, at age 59, from a fall and complications from kidney disease.
Irene Fisher • A tireless champion for the community, Fisher led the Salt Lake League of Women Voters and the Equal Rights Coalition in the 1970s, directed the nonprofit Utah Issues, founded what’s now known as Voices for Utah Children and the University of Utah’s Lowell Bennion Community Service Center. Fisher died Feb. 4, at age 84, in Salt Lake City, of causes related to Parkinson’s disease.
Bob Gaddie • In 1970, Gaddie opened Stone Balloon Waterbeds, which helped establish Salt Lake City’s 9th and 9th neighborhood as a center for Utah’s counterculture movement. The store — where Gaddie sometimes took goods in exchange for a waterbed — was a 9th and 9th fixture until it closed in 1998. Gaddie died Dec. 6, at age 79, of complications from pancreatic cancer, in Salt Lake City.
Kyle Gallagher • Gallagher was a linebacker for Utah State University’s football team who played in 49 games from 2007 to 2011, helping the Aggies break a 14-year bowl drought with a 2011 appearance in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. Gallagher died April 22, at age 33, after a car crash.
Regnal W. Garff Jr. • A respected jurist for 34 years, Garff was appointed Utah’s first juvenile court judge in 1959 and a founding member of the Utah Court of Appeals in 1987. Garff died Feb. 25, at age 95, in Salt Lake City.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) John Genna, the vice president of communications and public relations at Real Salt Lake is recognized at halftime on the field during the Real Salt Lake game on May 31, 2023.
John Genna • The vice president of communications for Real Salt Lake, Genna was diagnosed with ALS in 2022 — and his battle against the debilitating disease became a rallying point for RSL fans, players and staffers, with coach Pablo Mastroeni wearing a “Genna Strong” T-shirt on the sidelines during matches. After his death, players wore emblems dedicated to Genna on their uniforms for the rest of the season. Genna died Aug. 5, at age 56, from complications of ALS.
Mary Crandall Hales • Hales was married to Robert D. Hales, an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for 64 years, until his death in 2017 — and, according to their family, cared for Robert “in every conceivable facet” so he could “remain focused on his role as special witness of the living Savior to all he came in contact with.” Hales died Jan. 15, at age 90, in her North Salt Lake home.
Heather Brooke Hamilton • Called “the queen of the mommy bloggers,” Hamilton — using her married name, Heather B. Armstrong — wrote candid posts about her sex life, rearing two daughters, leaving The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and her struggles with depression and addiction for an audience of 8.5 million monthly visitors at her website, dooce.com. Hamilton died May 9, at age 47, by suicide, in Salt Lake City.
(Jim Urquhart | The Salt Lake Tribune) Stacy Hanson gets a kiss from dog Popeye at his home in Salt Lake City in 2010.
Stacy Hanson • Hanson, an ad copywriter, was buying a Valentine for his wife at Trolley Square on Feb. 12, 2007, when he was confronted by — and tried to talk down — an armed man on a shooting rampage that left five people dead. Hanson was shot three times but survived, left paralyzed and dealing with pain for the rest of his life. Hanson died Nov. 5, at age 70, his family said.
Leslie Harlow • An acclaimed violist who played with the Utah Symphony, Harlow in 1984 founded what is now the Park City Beethoven Festival, Utah’s oldest chamber music festival. Harlow died Feb. 25, at age 70, at her home in Park City, from lung cancer.
Christian Helger • A devoted ice climber and backcountry skier, Helger came west to make a life in the mountains, finding a job as a member of the ski patrol at Park City Mountain Resort. Helger died Jan. 2, at age 29, when a snow-weighted spruce tree hit the chairlift on which he was riding while on duty at the resort.
Al Hendricks • In an 42-year career with the National Park Service, Hendricks worked at 10 national parks and monuments, including two stints in Utah — at Canyonlands National Park, where he was the first backcountry ranger in the Maze district, and at Capitol Reef National Park, where he was park supervisor from 1998 to 2012. Hendricks died July 16, at age 73, from cancer, in Ennis, Mont., where he bought a ranch when he retired in 2012.
Patricia Terry Holland • Holland, an author and faith leader, followed her husband of 60 years, Jeffrey R. Holland, through assignments as president of Brigham Young University in 1980 and an apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints beginning in 1994. She served four times as a Relief Society president, and, in 1984, as a counselor to Ardeth Kapp in the Young Women General Presidency. Patricia Holland died July 20, at age 81, after a brief hospitalization.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Former state senator and U.S. District Judge Bruce S. Jenkins, on Sunday, Aug. 19, 2018.
Bruce Jenkins • In more than 50 years as a federal judge, Jenkins handled a variety of complex cases — the cancer claims of downwinders, the polygamous Singer-Swapp clan who killed a Utah corrections officer in 1988, a white supremacist who killed two Black men jogging in Liberty Park in 1980 — with justice and humanity. Jenkins died Nov. 7, at age 96, in Salt Lake City.
Roy Johnson • In 1988, Johnson and his wife, Lois, founded Salt Lake City-based United Security Financial, what was then the only Black-owned direct lender in the country — helping thousands of customers buy homes. Johnson died June 19, at age 80, in Boca Raton, Fla., where he and Lois moved after retirement.
Anne McLaughlin Korologos • Korologos served in the Reagan administration for its entire eight-year run, ending with 14 months as secretary of labor. She later relocated to Salt Lake City with her second husband, former ambassador Tom Korologos. Anne Korologos died Jan. 30, at age 81, from complications of meningitis, in a Salt Lake City hospital.
Bruce C. Lee • For more than 30 years, Lee oversaw marketing and communications for the Utah Shakespeare Festival, retiring in 2022 as publications manager. From 1986 to 1993, he was mayor of Enoch — taking the job at age 29, the youngest mayor in the town’s history. Lee died Dec. 3, at age 68.
Kent Maxwell • An artist and filmmaker, Maxwell ran the Utah Film & Video Center — screening avant-garde movies and local works, and renting out equipment to fledgling filmmakers — from the 1990s to the center’s closure in 2005. Maxwell died Feb. 3, at age 70 (approximately), in Salt Lake City.
(Jeremy Harmon | The Salt Lake Tribune) Peg McEntee.
Peg McEntee • In a rambunctious 35-year career in journalism, McEntee worked 12 years as a reporter in Salt Lake City’s Associated Press bureau, then moved to The Salt Lake Tribune — where she was a reporter, metro columnist, editor and a mentor to younger reporters. McEntee died April 27, at age 70, at Intermountain Medical Center, of complications from Alzheimer’s.
Steve Mikita • Diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy as a toddler and not expected to live past age 2, Mikita grew up to become an attorney — working 39 years as an assistant Utah attorney general, advocating for people with disabilities. Mikita died March 1, at age 67, in Salt Lake City.
Richard Moll • The actor, who graduated from East High School and played basketball for the Leopards (he was 6 feet, 8 inches tall), was most famous for playing the dimwitted bailiff “Bull” Shannon on the sitcom “Night Court” for its entire nine-season run from 1984 to 1992. Moll, who also played Mormon prophet Joseph Smith in a 1977 movie, died Oct. 26, at age 80, at his home in Big Bear Lake, Calif.
Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Monsignor Terence Moore, pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish in Draper, in 2013, as he retired after serving 46 years in the Diocese of Salt Lake City.
Terence Moore • For nearly half a century, the Irish-born Moore served the Diocese of Salt Lake City, serving as associate pastor at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, to his retirement as a monsignor in 2013. In between, he served as director of the University of Utah’s Newman Center, oversaw refugee resettlement for Catholic Charities of Utah and the Utah Department of Social Services, and was pastor at St. Thomas More Parish in Cottonwood Heights for 14 years and St. John the Baptist Parish in Draper for another 14 years. Moore died Dec. 19 at age 80.
John A. Moran • Moran took the fortune he made in finance and, inspired by the Bible stories his mother taught him about Jesus giving eyesight to the blind, made donations to the University of Utah to establish what became the Moran Eye Center. Moran died Sept. 23, at age 91.
Paula Murphy • Once known as “the fastest woman on wheels,” Murphy set speed records through the ‘60s and ‘70s on the Bonneville Salt Flats and other racing tracks across the country. In 1964, she became the first woman to drive a jet-engine car at Bonneville. Murphy died Dec. 21, at age 95, in Prescott, Ariz., her son confirmed.
Linda King Newell • A noted historian, writer and editor, Newell’s most important work was the biography “Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith,” digging into the life of Joseph Smith’s first wife. She also was instrumental in creating Zion Canyon Mesa, an artists’ and writers’ retreat near Zion National Park. Newell died Feb. 12, at age 82.
John Nikols • Born Ioanis Nikiforos Nikolakakis in Crete in 1935, Nikols immigrated to Utah when he was 19, and co-founded Coachman’s Dinner and Pancake House, a popular diner for nearly 60 years, most of it at 1301 S. State St. in Salt Lake City. Nikols died Aug. 22, at age 88, at his Salt Lake City home.
Jeremy Nobis • Nicknamed “The Icon” and “PsychoNobi,” Nobis was an Olympic and pro skier known for his fearlessness on the slopes — famous for a run down the 52-degree slope of Harvest at Alaska’s Pyramid Peak. His life seemed to go downhill even faster, after car chases with police and several DUI arrests. Nobis was found dead April 19, at age 52, in his cell in the Iron County jail in Cedar City, where he had been held since Feb. 11, awaiting sentencing in a DUI case.
(Al Hartmann | Salt Lake Tribune) KSL anchor Dick Nourse in 2007.
Dick Nourse • Anchoring KSL’s newscasts from 1964 to 2007, the baritone-voiced Nourse delivered the news — Ted Bundy’s trial, the Hi-Fi murders, the Mark Hofmann bombings, the 2002 Olympics, the return of Elizabeth Smart and more — to generations of Utahns. Nourse, a three-time cancer survivor, died May 18, at age 83.
Steve Ogden • Starting with Ogden’s Carpet Outlet in Sugar House — appearing in TV ads that featured his children and a jingle that was familiar statewide — Ogden built a successful chain of stores, with 12 Ogden’s Flooring & Design locations currently operating across Utah. Ogden died Nov. 7, at age 81, from heart and kidney complications.
Meg O’Neill • O’Neill, a veteran climber and teacher, was assistant director of Embark Outdoors, a nonprofit that gives refugee young women chances to be empowered through outdoor education and sports. O’Neill died April 2, at age 43, when she pushed another climber out of the way as a massive piece of the frozen Raven Falls broke and collapsed near Indian Canyon in Duchesne County.
Stephen Pace • Pace was the most vocal critic of Salt Lake City’s efforts to host the 2002 Winter Olympics — wearing a T-shirt with the phrase “Slalom and Gomorrah” as he decried the expense of mounting the games and raised concerns that terrorists would hit the event. His curmudgeonly community activism continued to his death; in his obituary, family members urged donations to a group fighting a proposed gondola in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Pace died Sept. 21, at age 76.
James L. Parkin • Parkin joined the faculty of the University of Utah School of Medicine in 1972 and retired in 1996 as chairman of the school’s surgery department. He also was on the team that developed one of the early multichannel cochlear implants for the deaf. The U. gives out an annual award named for him, the James L. Parkin Award for Outstanding Clinical Teaching. Parkin died June 18, at age 84, in Salt Lake City.
Fitzgerald J. Petersen • A longtime Utah firefighter, Petersen — known as “Fitz” — was the chief of the Price City Fire Department and hailed by colleagues as a “fire service legend.” Petersen died Dec. 1, at age 58, after battling cancer.
(Lance Cpl. Robert Sweet | U.S. Marine Corps) Former U.S. Navy coxswain Howard "Ken" Potts at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Dec. 6, 2016.
Ken Potts • One of the last two remaining survivors of the USS Arizona, Potts was working as a crane operator shuttling supplies to the battleship when it was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor. Potts died April 21, at age 102, at his home in Provo.
Priya • A female red panda who came to Utah’s Hogle Zoo in 2022 as part of a breeding program, Priya gave birth to the zoo’s first red panda cub, Dorji, on June 23 — helping preserve the endangered species. Priya died Nov. 28, at age 5; a cause of death was not immediately known.
LeeAnn Redmond • In 2008, Redmond, from Holladay, was registered by the Guinness Book of World Records for having the longest fingernails on both hands — at 28 feet, 4.5 inches. She started growing them in 1979, and they broke when she got in a car accident in 2009. Only in 2022 did someone break her record. Redmond died Dec. 14, at age 82, her family said.
Deborah Reed-Holman • Reed-Holman’s career included 20 years as a model and actress, four years as an executive assistant to then-Congressman Merrill Cook, and work as a media host and producer — but to fans of the made-in-Utah 1990 cult horror movie “Troll 2,” she was the main villain, the “goblin queen” Creedence Leonore Gielgud. Reed-Holman died Nov. 18, at age 73, at her home in Bountiful.
Ronald Rencher • The soft-spoken Rencher represented Ogden in the Utah House from 1971 to 1976 and was the last Democrat to serve as Utah’s House speaker. He went on to be the U.S. attorney for Utah, appointed by President Jimmy Carter. Rencher died Sept. 11, at age 82, according to his law firm.
Leonard Russon • A longtime lawyer and jurist, Russon was appointed to the Utah Court of Appeals in 1990 and the Utah Supreme Court in 1994, where he served until his retirement in 2003. Russon died July 29, at age 90, at his home in Salt Lake City.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Black-footed cat Amari, gets a quick cleaning by his mother Sanura, the oldest black-footed cat to give birth, surpassing her own record set last year in their enclosure at Hogle Zoo, Thursday, August 9, 2018.
Sanura • The oldest black-footed cat (a species native to South Africa) ever in an Association of Zoos & Aquariums-accredited zoo, Sanura was a sassy, “grumpy cat” in Hogle Zoo’s Small Animal Building. At 14, she was also the oldest black-footed cat ever to deliver a litter of kittens in an accredited zoo. Sanura died Sept. 1, at age 18½, at the zoo, after suffering from multiple age-related symptoms.
Aaron Schubach • Since 2017, Schubach had served as CEO of Standard Optical — the fourth generation of Schubachs to hold the job at the Utah eye care company his great-grandfather founded in 1911. Among his accomplishments were building up the company’s Opticare Vision Services insurance division and developing its private-label eyewear line, Schubach Originals. Schubach died Nov. 16, at age 47, in Salt Lake City.
Tony Smith • Smith was a nationally acclaimed painter, known for his irreverent illusionist works in the trompe l’oeil style, who also taught art at the University of Utah for 40 years. He chucked the brushes when he retired from the U. in 2001, and took up drawing, creating intricate and massive works. Smith died Nov. 23, at age 84, in Salt Lake City, from cancer.
Tracy Smith • A photojournalist who had worked at KTVX-Channel 4 since 2011 — and at KUTV from 1986 to 2003 — Smith was lauded by his colleagues as “an extremely positive influence” and “a sweet spirit and infectious personality.” Smith died April 17, at age 61, from injuries suffered 11 days earlier, when he was hit by a pickup truck while on assignment in Little Cottonwood Canyon.
Travis Snyder • The Utah native and BYU alum is credited with creating The Color Run, a 5K fun run launched in 2011 and now held worldwide, inspired by the Indian festival of Holi, where runners are doused with multicolored powders along the route. After being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in 2015, Snyder teamed with actor Jason Momoa to encourage people to sign up for a bone marrow donor registry called Be the Match. Snyder died Dec. 3, at age 45, from leukemia.
Walter Stark • The longest-serving worker in the prop department at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, Stark helped create such items as the calliope in “Scapin” and the Model T in “Ragtime.” Stark died Jan. 6, at age 82, in Santa Fe, N.M., after a long battle with cancer.
Rupert Steele • The chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Indian Reservation, Steele advocated for tribes on water and land rights, protecting natural resources, and preserving tribal language, heritage and Indigenous children’s rights. Steele died Jan. 26, at age 69, his family said.
Kathryn Cottam Stephenson • A longtime Utah-based artist who painted under the professional name Kat Martin, Stephenson was known for adding pop-culture figures to garage-sale landscape art — and selling her work at such events as the Downtown Farmers Market and the FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention. Stephenson died July 7, at age 39, in San Diego, where she had lived since 2019.
Rebecca Stover • Coming from a family of movie theater owners, Stover was the Sundance Institute’s longest-serving volunteer — working at the Sundance Film Festival, labs and year-round programming for nearly 40 years, and receiving the Gayle Stevens Volunteer of the Year Award in 2021. Stover died April 29, at age 65, in Salt Lake City.
Janet Swenson • In a long career as a costume designer and makeup artist, Swenson taught at Brigham Young University’s theater department for 39 years, was a costume designer at the Utah Shakespeare Festival for 19 seasons, and resident designer at Sundance Theatre for 15 years. Swenson died July 20, at age 75, in Provo, after an illness.
Tater Tot • Born with deformed legs and a cleft palate, the grumpy-looking Utah kitten became a viral sensation when videos showing him walking with splints on his front legs were posted online in late June. Tater Tot died Aug. 1, just a few weeks old, possibly from a heart condition, his caretaker said.
Tom Van Sant • The California artist in 1964 created “The Gulls of Salt Lake City,” a sculpture of 100 bronze-on-nickel sea gulls on stainless steel rods, rising 120 feet outside the Prudential Federal Building on Main Street. The sculpture was cut off by a sidewalk rebuild in 2001 (with 35 of the gulls going missing), and dismantled in 2014, before the building was demolished to make way for the Eccles Theater; the 65 remaining gulls remain in storage. Van Sant died March 6, at age 92, in Guadalajara, Mexico.
John Warnock • The Salt Lake City native and University of Utah alumnus co-founded Adobe Inc. with Charles Geschke in 1982, developing such software products as PostScript, Acrobat, Photoshop and the PDF file format. Warnock retired as CEO in 2000 and remained co-chairman of the board (with Geschke) until 2017. Warnock and his wife, Marva, operated the Blue Boar Inn in Midway, and an engineering building on the U. of U. campus is named for them. Warnock died Aug. 19, at age 82.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Treat Williams, center, during filming of the TV show "Everwood" in Salt Lake City in 2002.
Treat Williams • The actor — known for roles in “Hair,” “Prince of the City” and other films — called Park City home from 2002 to 2006, when he starred for four seasons as the patriarch in the family drama “Everwood,” which filmed in Park City, Ogden and the Salt Lake City area. Williams died June 12, at age 71, in a motorcycle accident near his home in Vermont.
Sam Wilson • The painter and longtime University of Utah art professor was known for his pop art style, often crowding together faces from popular culture and art history — including a whimsical self-portrait he called the “Groucho Marxist.” His career included working on the sets for the 1975 science-fiction film “Silent Running” and spending 16 months in 1992 and 1993 painting the 14 Stations of the Cross at the Cathedral of the Madeleine. Wilson died Nov. 27, at age 80, from cancer.
Joan Woodbury • As co-founder of Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company in 1964, with her friend and artistic partner Shirley Ririe, Woodbury was part of a wave that brought professional dance to Utah in the 1950s and ‘60s. Woodbury died Nov. 1, at age 96, at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City.
Ben Woolsey • A retired postmaster, Woolsey was known as the “King of Timpanogos,” having hiked to the 11,749-foot peak of Mount Timpanogos 1,150 times over his life — the first time when he was 24, the last when he was 79 in 2021. Woolsey died Oct. 27, at age 81.
Thomas Young Jr. • Young started working at his father’s Utah-based company, Young Electric Sign Co., in 1942, at 14 — and was named president of the company in 1969. He became board chairman in 1988, a job he held until his death. Young died June 30, at age 95, the company announced.
