Comment

Obituaries are written by Herald staff or contributors, but we welcome information from relatives and friends. Contact the obituaries editor on (02) 9282 2509 or timelines@smh.com.au.

Click here for information on death notices, finding archived obituaries and buying reproductions of published Fairfax content.

Obituaries

In Passing

In Passing

Rose Marie, Simonetta Puccini , Heather Menzies-Urich

Vietnamese refugee who became a film star

Hiep Thi Le stars as Le Ly Hayslip in a scene from Heaven and Earth

Hiep Thi Le, who escaped Vietnam on a fishing boat when she was about 9 and a dozen years later became an unlikely movie star when she was cast as the central figure in Oliver Stone's 1993 film Heaven and Earth, has died in Los Angeles aged 46.

McCandless II, made first untethered space flight

Astronaut Bruce McCandless II during a spacewalk a few meters away from the cabin of the Earth-orbiting space shuttle ...

Bruce McCandless II, a NASA astronaut who was the first person to fly freely and untethered in space during a 1984 space-shuttle mission has, died in California aged 80. His death was announced by NASA, but details about the place and cause of death were not disclosed.

In Passing

In Passing

Kazimierz Piechowski, Clifford Irving, Peter Duffell

Kevin Robinson, soaring BMX star, dies at 45

Kevin Robinson at X Games LA 2013

Kevin Robinson, a BMX freestyle star who in 2006 became the first known rider to land a double flair – a double backflip with a half twist that many other BMX riders considered impossible – and who set world records by soaring 8.2 metres above a ramp and back-flipping 25.6 metres on his bicycle, has died aged 45. The cause was a stroke, his friend Scott Moroney said.

Visionary leader of science research

Wynford Connick.

Wynford Connick came to Australia to boost local knowledge of military explosives, and became an outstanding manager of Australia's research activities in support of the defence forces.

Anatomist continued a noble tradition

Geoffrey Kenny.

Researcher Geoffrey Kenny was an early investigator of the pineal gland, which has sometimes been called the "third eye", and in a lifetime of study he became a significant contributor to our understanding of its role in the body.

Aunty Jack loses his Thin Arthur

Grahame Bond (left) and Rory O'Donoghue got together in 2005 for a one-off national tour.

A widely admired musician, actor, teacher and athlete, Rory O'Donoghue was one of the group of young performers who burst onto the national stage as Australia embraced a new kind of nationalism in the wake of the election of the Whitlam government.

Sportsman had unique state record

Mike Woods (centre) playing for Melbourne.

Mike Woods was a formidable heavyweight boxer, and it was his powerful physique that earned him a unique honour as a sportsman.

Suzanna Leigh, 60s actress played love interest opposite Elvis

Suzanna Leigh signed up to play the feminine lead opposite Elvis Presley in his new movie Paradise, Hawaiian Style, ...

Suzanna Leigh, who has died aged 72, was a British-born 60s starlet who dated, among others, Richard Harris, Steve McQueen and Michael Caine; but it was her friendship with Elvis Presley, for whom she supplied the love interest in the 1966 film Paradise, Hawaiian Style, that dominated her life.

In Passing

In Passing

Aline, Countess of Romanones, Max Clifford, Charles Robert Jenkins

In Passing

Jack Doroshow in the 1968 documentary, The Queen.

King Michael of Romania, Jack Doroshow, Norman Baker

John Roarty, at the forefront of hip replacement surgery

Dr John Roarty, highly regarded surgeon.

John Roarty is regarded as one of the pre-eminent orthopaedic surgeons, and a pioneer of hip replacement surgery, in Australia. He devoted his life to his profession, and with a gentle tenacity, in his characteristically unassuming way, rose to the top of his field.