Final Chapters for Jan. 28, 2018: Ursula K. Le Guin, Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, Paul Bocuse

Ursula K. Le Guin was an award-winning science fiction and fantasy writer who explored feminist themes and was best known for her Earthsea books. She died Jan. 22 at her home in Portland, Ore. She was 88. Le Guin’s first novel was “Rocannon’s World” in 1966. She gained fame three years later with “The Left Hand of Darkness,” which won the Hugo and Nebula awards for science fiction. Her best-known works, the Earthsea books, have sold in the millions worldwide and have been translated into 16 languages. She also produced volumes of short stories, poetry, essays and literature for young adults and won the Newbery Medal, the top honor for American children’s literature.

Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker was chief of staff to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and was a key player in the civil rights movement. He died Jan. 23 in Chester, Va. He was 88. Walker was brought in by King to be the executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and served in that post during 1961-64. He helped King assemble his famous “Letter From Birmingham Jail” and helped organize the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which culminated with King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

Paul Bocuse was the most celebrated French chef of the postwar era and a leading figure in the pathbreaking culinary movement known as nouvelle cuisine. He died Jan. 20 in Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or, outside Lyon. He was 91. Bocuse emerged as the first among a brilliant band of chefs who developed a modernized version of classic French cooking in the late 1960s and early ’70s. He parlayed celebrity into a restaurant empire that extended beyond France to embrace the United States and Japan, and in so doing he became a role model for the chef-entrepreneurs of the present day.

Hugh Masekela was a South African jazz musician and anti-apartheid activist. He died Jan. 23 in Johannesburg after a long battle with cancer. He was 78. Masekela, often called the “Father of South African jazz,” scored an international No. 1 hit in 1968 with “Grazing In The Grass.” He appeared with Paul Simon and several other South African musicians as part of the “Graceland” album tour in the 1980s. His 1987 song “Bring Him Back Home,” calling for Nelson Mandela’s release from prison, became an international anthem for the anti-apartheid movement.

Olivia Cole was an actress who won an Emmy for her role in the 1977 ABC miniseries “Roots.” She died Jan. 19 of a heart attack at her home in San Miguel de Allende, a city in central Mexico. She was 75. Cole received an Emmy Award for her portrayal of Matilda, wife of Ben Vereen’s Chicken George in “Roots.” Her other screen credits included the Oprah Winfrey-produced miniseries “The Women of Brewster Place” and “L.A. Law.”

John Coleman was a co-founder of the Weather Channel and the original meteorologist on ABC’s “Good Morning America” during a six-decade broadcasting career. He died Jan. 20 at home in Las Vegas. He was 83. Coleman worked at several local stations in Chicago and the Midwest before joining “GMA” when it launched in 1975, staying with the program for seven years. He served as CEO of the Weather Channel for about a year after helping launch it in 1981. He went on to join KUSI-TV in San Diego, where he spent 20 years as a weatherman before retiring in 2014.

Allison Shearmur was a studio executive and independent producer who helped bring a string of box-office hits to the screen, including the “Bourne” franchise, the “Hunger Games” series and the yet-to-be-released “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” She died Jan. 19 of lung cancer in Los Angeles. She was 54. Shearmur helped to oversee feature film production at Universal Pictures, was co-president of production at Paramount Pictures and was president of motion picture production at Lionsgate before setting out as an independent producer.

Warren Miller was an outdoor filmmaker who for decades made homages to downhill skiing that he narrated with his own humorous style. He died Jan. 24 at his home on Orcas Island in Washington. He was 93. Miller produced more than 500 action films about a variety of outdoor activities, including surfing and sailing. But he was best known for his thrill-seeking films featuring daredevil skiers barreling down breathtakingly steep slopes.

Mark E. Smith was the lead singer and driving force of British post-punk band the Fall. He died Jan. 24 at his home in England. No cause of death was given. He was 60. Smith was a teenage dockworker when he formed the Fall in 1976, and he kept the band going for four decades and more than 30 albums. The group was never a huge commercial success, although some of the band’s albums reached the British Top 40, but it had a big influence on other artists.

Bob Smith was widely regarded as the first openly gay comic to perform on “The Tonight Show.” He died Jan. 20 at his home in New York of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was 59. Smith made his groundbreaking appearance on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” in July 1994. He was featured in a first-season episode of “HBO Comedy Half-Hour” that same month. His stand-up career was cut short by his disease, and he went on to write fiction and nonfiction books full of heart and humor.

Simon Shelton Barnes was a British actor who played Tinky Winky in the children’s television series “Teletubbies.” He was found dead Jan. 17 in Liverpool, England. Police said the death was not suspicious. He was 52. Barnes played one of four gentle, brightly colored characters in the toddler-centric show between 1998 and 2001.

This story was originally published January 27, 2018 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Final Chapters for Jan. 28, 2018: Ursula K. Le Guin, Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, Paul Bocuse."