April 10, 2012

2012Raymond Aubrac, French engineer and activist (born 1914)^[†]

Raymond Aubrac was a member of the French Resistance in World War II. A civil engineer by trade, he assisted General Charles Delestraint within the Armée secrète. Aubrac and his wife Lucie, both communist Resistance members, were friends with Ho Chi Minh; US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger solicited his help amid the Vietnam War to establish contact with North Vietnam.

2012Barbara Buchholz, German theremin player and composer (born 1959)^[†]

Barbara Buchholz was a Berlin-based German musician and composer. She was one of the leading theremin players of the world.

2012Lili Chookasian, Armenian-American operatic singer (born 1921)^[†]

Lili Chookasian was an American contralto of Armenian ethnicity, who appeared with many of the world's major symphony orchestras and opera houses. She began her career in the 1940s as a concert singer but did not draw wider acclaim until she began singing opera in her late thirties. She arose as one of the world's leading contraltos during the 1960s and 1970s, and notably had a long and celebrated career at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City from 1962 through 1986. She was admired for her sonorous, focused tone as well as her excellent musicianship. She often chose, against tradition, to sing oratorios from memory.

2012Luis Aponte Martínez, Puerto Rican cardinal (born 1922)^[†]

Luis Aponte Martínez was a Puerto Rican Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of San Juan from 1965 to 1999. He is the only Puerto Rican to have been named a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He participated as an elector in the two conclaves of 1978, which elected Popes John Paul I and John Paul II.