People Who Died 2014 — Part 2

See Also: People Who Died — Part 1  |  People Who Died — Part 3

Chef

Fritz Blank

It seems unlikely that a Pennsauken-bred microbiologist of German heritage would be the right person to usher in a new era of dining in Philadelphia, but chef Fritz Blank did exactly that with Deux Cheminées, his iconic Locust Street restaurant. Blank brought Escoffier-inspired cuisine to Philadelphia’s Reagan-era gastronomes with plates of truffle-heavy Périgord sauce and crab soup with a hit of Johnnie Walker. He opened his original French restaurant in 1979 on South Camac Street, but it was destroyed in a fire in 1987. He reopened Deux Cheminées in two adjoining Locust Street townhouses designed by Frank Furness. In 2007, he ended a nearly 30-year run, pulling back the white tablecloths for a final time. Before retiring to Thailand (with his cat, Bobo), Blank donated his huge collection of cookbooks, menus and culinary ephemera to the University of Pennsylvania Library. The collection ranged from promotional pamphlets for Cheez Whiz and Crisco to 19th-century cooking manuscripts, along with runs of rare magazines, including The Boston Cooking School Magazine of Culinary Science and Domestic Economics, and more than 1,000 spiral-bound community cookbooks. Not content to simply sit back and stir the pots at Deux Cheminées, Blank was a member of many international culinary associations, including the Southern Foodways Alliance, the Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery and the forward-thinking international Workshop on Molecular and Physical Gastronomy. He died Sept. 9 in Thailand, and was said to be in his early-to-mid 70s.

—Caroline Russock

 

 

Band manager

Rich Nichols

More than two decades ago, The Roots held the center of a transformation in modern hip-hop and R&B (“neo-soul” proclamations be damned) that valued sonic innovation and integrity-minded musicianship in an attempt to reinvent the future of Black music. Now, they reign as the king of late-night television house bands, and continue to release sophisticated and challenging music. None of that would be possible without the influence of longtime manager Rich Nichols, who died on July 17 at age 55. In truth, “manager” is an insufficient term to describe his role. Open to any page in Roots drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s memoir, Mo’ Meta Blues, and you’re likely to find Nichols’ pontifications in extensive (and occasionally hilarious) footnotes that add depth and complexity to Questlove’s narrative; such an inclusion speaks volumes about Nichols’s influence on The Roots. Nichols’ mission “to use hip-hop to find the value in the modern-day Black experience without any boasts about bank or gangsterized tall tales,” as Questo described in a Vulture tribute, guided The Roots through nearly a quarter-century of creative evolution and enabled their sustainability in a genre where that’s far from common. Nichols’ mission is still felt throughout Philadelphia. Many who collaborated with him attest to his unique mix of business acumen and conceptual genius, neither of which overshadowed his warmth and strength of character. Philadelphia’s international creative reputation would be far less significant without his outsized footprint.

—Sameer Rao

 

Actor

Russell Johnson

Actor Russell Johnson, a Girard College graduate, was best known for the three years he spent playing Professor Roy Hinkley on the much-loved Gilligan’s Island TV series. He was only on the show from 1964 to 1967 as one of five passengers on the shipwrecked S.S. Minnow. He also appeared in episodes of the Twilight Zone, Lassie, Santa Barbara and, later in life, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie. Although Johnson’s career was long and far-reaching, he is most often credited with being a handsome castaway who was able to make a radio out of a coconut, but unable to fix a damned hole in a boat. He died Jan. 16 at age 89.

—Caroline Russock

 

Businessman

Lewis Katz

Just days after he and fellow Philadelphia media entrepreneur Gerry Lenfest won control of the Inquirer and Daily News in a private auction, Lewis Katz, 72, died along with six others in a fiery private plane crash in Massachusetts. Born in Camden and raised by a single mom, Katz became a lawyer and businessman who made his fortune investing in Kinney Parking and the Yankees Entertainment & Sports (YES) Network. He was a big donor to several charitable organizations, especially in the fields of education and medical research, and to his alma mater, Temple University. After his passing, Ed Rendell, Bill Clinton and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin praised Katz’s philanthropy and mourned the loss of their close friend. “That guy did a lot with his heart,” Clinton said upon hearing of Katz’s death. “I’ll never forget that as long as I live.”

—Patrick Rapa

 

Historian

Michael Katz

Michael Katz, a legendary University of Pennsylvania historian who remade the study of poverty, welfare, cities and education, died Aug. 23 at age 75. The longtime West Philly resident was one of the nation’s most influential urban historians, and a key figure in developing Penn’s renowned urban-studies program. Notably, Katz debunked the tarring of poor people as lazy, stupid and immoral and thus unworthy of assistance or sympathy. He argued that poverty was shaped by market and government forces — a structural rather than individual failing. Policymakers, he believed, had a responsibility to fight poverty, including through the establishment of a guaranteed minimum income. Katz was the author of (or parts of) 17 books and a dedicated and generous mentor to his graduate students and colleagues.

—Daniel Denvir

 

The Fudgy Wudgy Man

Andrew Markee

A sweet fixture of summers in North Wildwood, Andrew Markee, known to thousands as the Fudgy Wudgy Man, spent lazy-hazy beach days providing underage beachgoers with frozen Choco Tacos, Chipwiches and Rocket Pops. He was a common sight — bronzed complexion offset by an airbrushed T-shirt, white pork-pie-hat and tube socks — trucking his customized cooler (made from PVC tubing) up and down the Shore. The Philadelphia native, who died Nov. 11 at age 76, was quite the philanthropic frozen-treat vendor — he supported an annual (and appropriately pirate-themed) beachfront treasure hunt for kids every season.

—Caroline Russock

 

Photographer

Ray Metzker

You can learn some things from photographer Ray Metzker’s Nude Composite: Philadelphia, 1966, which sold at Christie’s this fall for $68,750 — Metzker was internationally respected and exhibited all over the world, but he always returned to Philadelphia, both in his work and to his South Philly digs. A Milwaukee native, Metzker moved here in 1962 to teach at what’s now the University of the Arts, and began what turned out to be a nearly half-century of shooting the streets, buildings and people of Philly and Atlantic City. Though he’s best known internationally for his Composite series, in Philadelphia, he’ll always be remembered for capturing the beauty and drama of his adopted hometown on film. He died Oct. 9 at age 83.

—Emily Guendelsberger

 

Light heavyweight boxing champ

Matthew Saad Muhammad

Life began and ended tragically for Philly fighter Matthew Saad Muhammad — orphaned and abandoned as a child, living in a homeless shelter and suffering from ALS as an older man — but in between he was a world champion. Muhammad died May 25 at (probably) age 59. Known for his ability to take a hit and keep on fighting, “Miracle Matthew” won light heavyweight titles with both the North American Boxing Federation and the World Boxing Council. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1998 and there’s no way his “rags-to-riches-to-rags life story” (as the New York Times described it) won’t be a Hollywood movie one day.

—Patrick Rapa

See Also: People Who Died — Part 1 | People Who Died — Part 3