Skateboarding Icon Commits Suicide

Influential American reportedly depressed after breakup

(NEWSER) - Influential American artist Mike Kelley was found dead yesterday at age 57, in what police say appears to be a suicide. A friend told investigators he had been depressed following a recent breakup, the New York Times reports. Kelley specialized in large-scale pieces, often incorporating sculpture, video, or performance, and his work tended toward what the art world terms "abjection"—a preoccupation with visceral, shocking, gross-out imagery. He's been featured extensively in gallery shows, and will be included in the upcoming Whitney Biennial. One of his pieces was also used as the cover of the Sonic Youth album Dirty in 1992. More»

Ilya Zhitomirskiy may have committed suicide

(NEWSER) - A programmer and online privacy advocate some hailed as an "anti-Mark Zuckerberg" has been found dead at the age of 22. Ilya Zhitomirskiy, one of four friends from New York University who founded open-source social network Diaspora, was found dead on Saturday by police in San Francisco responding to reports of an apparent suicide, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. More»

Former pitcher was 42

(NEWSER) - Onetime Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu has been found dead in his Southern California home at age 42. Police are investigating the case as a suicide, reports AP . Born in Japan, Irabu was signed in 1997 with great fanfare by the San Diego Padres, but he was traded to the Yankees the same year; he said they were the only team that interested him. He went 29-20 over 3 years for the team and was traded to the Montreal Expos in 1999 before retiring in 2002, the New York Post reports. He was 34-35 overall, never quite living up to expectations of being the Japanese Nolan Ryan. More»

Gunter Sachs shot himself Saturday, aged 78

(NEWSER) - Gunter Sachs, the German-born billionaire married to Brigitte Bardot for three years in the 1960s, has killed himself at age 78. Sachs, an art collector and photographer who was also involved with Iranian queen Soraya Esfandiary, shot himself at his Swiss resort chalet Saturday, his family says. Sachs married Bardot in Las Vegas weeks after meeting her. Just hours after meeting her, he had a helicopter fly over her home and drop hundreds of roses, the BBC notes. Bardot's spokesperson says she is "devastated" by his death. Click to read more about the playboy . More»

(NEWSER) - David Carradine, the star of campy '70s TV classic Kung Fu who enjoyed a career renaissance as the villain in the Kill Bill films, was found dead today in Bangkok, where he was shooting a movie, the AP reports. Carradine, part of a prominent Hollywood family that included father John, a legendary character actor, and niece Martha Plimpton, had apparently hanged himself, according to a local media outlet. More»