HUNTER S. THOMPSON'S SUICIDE yesterday really jerked my head around. Perhaps there have been other two-month stretches when so many important and unforgettable people have left us, but I don't remember when. I did some Internet searching tonight and came up with the following list, from Jan. 1, 2005, to today.

• Shirley Chisholm, died on Jan. 1 at the age of 80. She was the first black woman elected to Congress. In her words: "My greatest political asset, which professional politicians fear, is my mouth, out of which come all kinds of things one shouldn't always discuss for reasons of political expediency."
• Robert Matsui, died on Jan. 1 at the age of 63. He had myelodysplastic disorder, a form of bone marrow cancer. Matsui was forcibly removed into an internment camp, with his parents, the year after he was born. As a congressman he worked hard to get long-delayed justice for the Japanese survivors of the internment camps. Another article about Matsui can be found here.
• Johnny Carson, died on Jan. 23 at the age of 79. He had emphysema. I could never get enough of Joan Embery coming on with her animals, or the Magnificent Karnak. I always had to empty my bladder before I watched him; he made me laugh so hard tears were streaming down my face. “All of us who came after are pretenders. We will not see the likes of him again."
• Ernst Mayr, died on Feb. 3 at the age of 100; also see here. Mayr was an ornithologist, an evolutionary biologist, and "arguably one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century."
• Ossie Davis, died on Feb. 4 at the age of 87. His personal life and his acting career were seamless, both expressions of his unshakeable belief in social and racial justice. And his marriage of over 50 years to Ruby Dee, also an actor and political activist, was a moving example of a truly healthy, loving, nurturing relationship between a man and a woman.
• Arthur Miller, died on Feb. 11 at the age of 89. His life and work were testaments to intellectual freedom and independence of mind. Here is a remembrance of Miller from a different ideological point of view; and here is a piece on his relationship with Marilyn Monroe.
• Sandra Dee, and here, died on Feb. 20 at the age of 63. She was on dialysis at the time of death and died of complications from kidney disease. Dee was "only" a teen movie and television icon, but millions of people loved her in the parts she played, and for some of us, she is a part of our childhood and youth that is gone now.
• John Raitt, and here, died on Feb. 20 at the age of 88. He was one of the finest musical singers of the last century, and the father of Bonnie Raitt, a blues singing legend in her own right.
• Hunter S. Thompson, died on Feb. 20. He committed suicide. He was a journalist who invented a new form of journalism and was widely admired for his writing and reporting, despite or maybe because of his eccentricities. Here is a Salon interview from Feb. 2003 and two more remembrances from Investors.com and Rolling Stone.

I hope that this list of people we loved and lost will comfort everyone who will miss them. And may Shirley Chisholm, Robert Matsui, Johnny Carson, Ernst Mayr, Ossie Davis, Arthur Miller, Sandra Dee, John Raitt, and Hunter S. Thompson enjoy each other's company in whatever sphere they inhabit now as much as we enjoyed, admired, respected, and learned from them when they were alive.