Brubeck wasn’t just a crusader for rhythm. During his service in World War II, Brubeck was spotted playing a Red Cross show and ordered to form a band. Brubeck chose a racially integrated lineup, a rarity for military acts. During the 1950s and ’60s, Brubeck is reported to have canceled appearances at venues that balked at the mixed racial makeup of his quartet.

George McGovern, the South Dakota Democrat who ran for president in 1972 as a staunch opponent of the Vietnam War and a strong advocate of economic equality, died early Sunday in Sioux Falls. He was 90.

In the fall of 1972, I was only 10, but even as a 5th-grader, I was moved by McGovern’s anti-war, pro-social-justice message. I had a “Come Home America” pin that I would wear everyday to school, and after school, I would go to the local campaign office to stuff envelopes and lick stamps.

At the crack of dawn on Election Day, I went with my father to hand out flyers to arriving workers at Litton Industries. I remember the flyers explained that you were aloud time off at the beginning or end of work to vote, and then, inside made the pitch to working Americans with the headline “How in the Hell Can You Vote for Nixon?”

Dr. Barry Commoner, scientist, activist, educator and one of the founders of the modern environmental movement, died on September 30 at his home in Brooklyn. He was 95.

I met Dr. Commoner in 1980, when he brought his third-party campaign for US president to my university. Running as the candidate of the Citizens Party, which he helped found, Commoner didn’t command an auditorium. Instead, Commoner sat in what I remember as a smallish classroom, discussing the state of the world with an egalitarian equanimity. He knew he wasn’t going to win the election, but he had things he wanted to explain, and a level of participation he wanted to motivate.

San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, the twin-reactor power plant that spread its isotopic glow across coastal communities from Los Angeles to San Diego, was declared dead last week. SONGS, as it was affectionately known, was 44, though many of its parts are considerably younger.

I suppose it’s entirely possible that Gore Vidal’s spirit is somewhere laughing at Our Nation’s Premier Newspaper today, but barring that eventuality, I think we should all have a good chuckle on his behalf.

Sen. Robert C. Byrd passed away last evening at the age of 92. A fellow West Virginian remembers his service.

Stewart Udall, Secretary of the Interior under Presidents Johnson and Kennedy, passed away at the age of 90 on Saturday. Rather than repeat obituaries’ biographic details, this diary pays photographic tribute to his life’s passion, our wild public lands.

Rest in peace, Alex. Good work, Rep. Cohen.

Pioneering historian Howard Zinn dies at 87.

I loved Brendan Mullen, I loved how he changed our world. he will be sadly missed. And during the process of seeing him pass yesterday with his beloved wife Kateri, his friend of 32 yrs/bandmate Steve and his cousin Naill, I saw as well true compassion from the doctors and nurses in the ICU, I [...]