Those We Lost — October 14

Honoring those we lost on October 14 — remembered for what they gave, and for what they left behind.

Maxine Powell

Born May 30, 1915 — died October 14, 2013

Etiquette instructor, finishing-school founder, and head of Motown’s Artist Development department

Powell directed Motown’s Artists Development Department, coaching performers in stage presence, interviews, grooming, movement, and poise; Mary Wilson recalled her telling the young singers, ‘One day, you may be performing before kings and queens.’ Her behind-the-scenes work helped young Black artists present themselves with command and professionalism while Motown transformed American popular culture.

Emmett Chappelle

Born October 24, 1925 — died October 14, 2019

Biochemist, astrobiology researcher, inventor, and NASA scientist

Chappelle studied photosynthesis, developed methods using bioluminescence to detect living organisms, and contributed to remote sensing and biomedical testing during a long federal research career. His fourteen U.S. patents and work on light-producing chemical reactions advanced space science, environmental monitoring, and medical analysis.

Fred Dean

Born February 24, 1952 — died October 14, 2020

Football defensive end; Hall of Famer

Dean, an All-Southland Conference player at Louisiana Tech, was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the second round of the 1975 NFL Draft and recorded seven sacks and 93 tackles as a rookie. Traded to the San Francisco 49ers in 1981, he earned All-Pro honors as the 49ers won Super Bowl XVI, led the NFC with a career-high 17.5 sacks in 1983 including a then-NFL record six in one game against the New Orleans Saints, and won a second title in Super Bowl XIX. A four-time Pro Bowler, he was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2008.

Audrey Smedley

Born October 31, 1930 — died October 14, 2020

Social anthropologist; professor emerita

Smedley, born in Detroit, earned her B.A. and M.A. at the University of Michigan and her Ph.D. in social anthropology from the University of Manchester in 1967, based on field research in northern Nigeria, while raising two boys as a single mother. She taught at the State University of New York at Binghamton and Virginia Commonwealth University, and her book Race in North America: Origin and Evolution of a Worldview received the 1993 Outstanding Book Award from the Gustavus Myers Center. Her scholarship on the origin of the idea of race informed the American Anthropological Association’s statement on race, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science named her a Fellow.

D’Angelo

Born February 11, 1974 — died October 14, 2025

Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist; neo-soul pioneer

Born Michael Eugene Archer in Richmond, Virginia, D’Angelo released the platinum-selling debut Brown Sugar in 1995, which produced signature hits like Lady and earned multiple Grammy nominations. Voodoo (2000) topped the Billboard 200 and won the Grammy for best R&B album, while Untitled (How Does It Feel) earned him the Grammy for best male R&B vocal performance. His third album, Black Messiah (2014), won Best R&B Album at the 58th Grammy Awards. He helped spearhead the neo-soul movement of the 1990s.

Roberta Alexander

Born March 3, 1949 — died October 14, 2025

Operatic soprano; voice teacher

Alexander, born in Lynchburg, Virginia, moved to the Netherlands at 23 and made her Dutch National Opera debut in 1975. She was a leading soprano at the Metropolitan Opera from 1983 to 1991, singing Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Bess in Porgy and Bess, the title role in Jenufa, Vitellia in La clemenza di Tito, Mimi in La boheme and Antonia in The Tales of Hoffmann, and she was especially celebrated in Mozart roles such as Fiordiligi and Donna Elvira on stages including Glyndebourne, Berlin, Vienna and London. She recorded for Etcetera and Philips, including Porgy and Bess, and taught in the Conservatorium van Amsterdam’s Classical Voice department in her final years.