“He was a wonderful boss. I lived with him for five years. We were the closest people who worked with him ... we were always there. Hitler was never without us day and night.” — Rochus Misch, former bodyguard of Adolf Hitler, is dead at 96.

Seamus Heaney, the Irish poet awarded the Nobel prize in 1995, died on Friday morning in Dublin hospital. He was 74.

Elmore Leonard, the crime and western author called "the closest thing America has to a national writer," passed away this morning of complications from a stroke he suffered in July. His longtime researcher Gregg Sutter announced the death on Facebook.

Dennis Farina, the Chicago cop who launched into a multi-decade acting career—including a starring role in Law and Order—from a consulting gig with director Michael Mann has died following a blod clot in his lung. He was 69.

Actor and martial artist Jim Kelly, best known as Williams in Enter the Dragon, has died.

Tax-evading financier Marc Rich, pardoned by President Clinton on his last day in office for some funny business about illegally selling Iranian oil while the country held Americans hostage, has died in Switzerland.

James Gandolfini died today at the young age of 51, but that doesn't mean he didn't leave us with a huge amount of work to remember him by.

Democratic New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg passed away this morning of viral pneumonia. He was 89.

Jack Vance, the science-fiction master and author of the Dying Earth series, has died. The New York Times Magazine profiled him in 2009.

Ray Manzarek, the keyboard player for the Doors who went on to produce records by X and Echo and the Bunnymen, has died at 74.

Legendary country singer George Jones has died, WMSV reports. Jones was hospitalized last week with a fever. He was 81.

Did you know that Maj. Sidney Freedman from M*A*S*H was once married to Diane Arbus? Rest in peace, Maj. Sidney Freedman from M*A*S*H.

Richie Havens, the legendary folk singer who opened Woodstock in 1969, died of a heart attack at his home in New Jersey today. He was 72.

Jonathan Winters, the comedian who helped make "improv" a household term and kept audiences laughing for over half a century, died last night of natural causes at his home in Montecito, California. He was 87.

Roger Ebert, the celebrated film critic, has passed away at age 70. Though active as a critic and pundit to the very end, Ebert had battled thyroid cancer since 2002, and lost his voice in 2006 following surgical complications.

Chinua Achebe, the Nigerian author and critic best known for his first novel Things Fall Apart, has died in Boston following an illness. He was 82.

Jason Molina, the musician and songwriter behind the great Magnolia Electric Co. and Songs: Ohia, passed away on Saturday at 39, Chunklet's Henry Owings reports. Molina had struggled with severe alcoholism, and had released no new recordings since 2009; in 2011 his family held a fundraiser to pay for medical bills he had accrued during treatment for his addiction. The Magnolia Electric Co. Tumblr has a moving memorial:

Hugo Chávez, president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, has died at the age of 58 after a long battle with an undisclosed type of cancer, Vice President Nicolás Maduro announced today.

Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, has died of cancer at age 58, Vice President Nicolás Maduro announced this afternoon. Chavez had been fighting the disease since 2011, flying twice to Cuba for surgeries, and hadn't been seen in public for months before his death. Nevertheless, the former paratrooper, who turned to democratic politics after being imprisoned over a failed military coup, was re-elected president last year thanks to huge support from the country's poor and working class.

William Watts Biggers, the co-creator of "Underdog," the dimly recalled yet foundational mod cartoon you once watched at your grandmother's house, thrilling as the shy and awkward shoe-shine dog transformed himself into a brave and awkward superhero to save his love Sweet Polly Purebred from all manner of canine villains, and which first inculcated in you a hope that power and dignity was attainable to the least among us, has died. Everything does.