Clarence Gilyard (December 24, 1955 – November 28, 2022) landed his first role on the TV show “Diff’rent Strokes” in 1981. In 1986, Gilyard made his film debut in “Top Gun,” in which he played Sundown, one of the elite fighter pilots. Two years later, he was cast as Theo, the computer expert who helps Hans Gruber’s terrorist group, in the thriller “Die Hard.” He got his big primetime TV break in 1989, when he landed the role of Conrad McMasters on the NBC legal drama “Matlock,” starring opposite Andy Griffith. He then portrayed Chuck Norris’ crime-fighting partner Jimmy Trivette on “Walker, Texas Ranger.” Despite his accomplished acting career, Gilyard stepped away from acting in 2006 to start teaching at UNLV and directing productions at the university’s Nevada Conservatory Theatre.
André Leon Talley (October 16, 1948 - January 18, 2022) was an American fashion journalist, stylist, creative director, and editor-at-large of Vogue magazine. He was the magazine's fashion news director from 1983 to 1987, its first African-American male creative director from 1988 to 1995, and then its editor-at-large from 1998 to 2013. He was the first Black man to hold his position at Vogue, and oftentimes he was the only Black person in the front row at fashion shows. “He was like the Black Rockette… he was the one,” said Whoopi Goldberg, pointing out the whiteness of the industry in the 2018 biopic The Gospel According to André. In that documentary, Talley says, “you don’t get up and say, ‘look, I’m Black and I’m proud,’ you just do it and it impacts the culture.”
Bill Russell (February 12, 1934 – July 31, 2022) was an American basketball player and coach in the NBA, most notably for his Celtics tenure. He was the NBA’s first black star, five times the league’s most valuable player. His defensive leaping ability transformed basketball from a horizontal to a vertical game. And in 1966, when the Celtics coach Red Auerbach stepped down and named Russell his successor, he became the first black head coach in modern America’s four major sports leagues.
Ashley Frederick Bryan (July 13, 1923 - February 4, 2022) was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. Most of his subjects are from the African-American experience. He was a U.S. nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2006 and he won the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for his contribution to American children's literature in 2009. In a career spanning more than six decades, Bryan's vibrantly colored collage and paper-cut illustrations adorned the pages of some 50 books, folktales and poetry collections by such acclaimed writers as Langston Hughes, Nikki Giovanni and Walter Dean Myers.
Brigadier General Charles McGee (December 7, 1919- January 16, 2022) was the eldest of the surviving Tuskegee Airmen. His life of dedicated service included flying combat aircraft in three major wars. On his 22nd birthday, Japanese aircraft bombed Pearl Harbor, and the next day America officially entered World War II. After earning his wings and 2nd Lieutenant’s commission in June 1943, McGee joined the 302nd Fighter Squadron, part of the racially segregated 332nd Fighter Group, one of the units of the Tuskegee Airmen. McGee ended his combat time in World War II after 136 missions. When the Korean War began in 1950, McGee quickly joined the 67th Fighter Bomber Squadron and flew his favorite aircraft, the P-51 Mustang on 100 combat missions. By 1967, with the Vietnam War in full swing, the Air Force assigned McGee to command the 16th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron at Tan Son Nhut Air Base in South Vietnam. Flying RF-4 Phantom II jet fighters, McGee completed 172 combat missions and earned his first Legion of Merit.
With a total of 409 combat missions across three wars, he had earned the Legion of Merit twice, earned three Distinguished Flying Crosses, and was awarded a Bronze Star, among many other awards. In 2020, McGee received a promotion to Brigadier General. Then-Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General David Goldfein, noted the importance of recognizing McGee’s legacy: “Charles McGee is a genuine American hero whose courage in combat helped save a nation, and whose legacy is felt to this day across the entire US Air Force.”
Coolio (August 1, 1963 – September 28, 2022) was one of the most popular rappers during the 1990s, most famously for his hit single “Gangsta’s Paradise”. Born Artis Leon Ivey Jr., he cut his first single in the late 1980s, “Watcha Gonna Do,” By 1994, he had established himself in the Los Angeles rap scene and signed to Tommy Boy Records, where he released his debut studio album, It Takes a Thief.
