Some notable Western New Yorkers who died in 2008
Anthony Bodami Jr., 76. Contractor who owned the Buffalo Blazers soccer team in the 1970s. Jan. 6.
Geraldine J. Memmo, 76. Buffalo director of urban affairs, Seneca Gaming Authority commissioner. Jan. 10.
Mary Ognibene, 81. Retired reporter and columnist for the Niagara Gazette, died Jan. 12.
James H. "Bud" McArtney, 84. Popular local Swing Era bandleader whose Buddy Mack Orchestra played at dances and proms for 30 years. Feb. 3.
Harry R. Landis, 108. One of the last two surviving U.S. veterans of World War I, Kresge store manager in Niagara Falls. Feb. 4.
Monsignor Emil P. Zupa, 84. Longest-serving pastor in the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo. Feb. 6.
Andrew Topolski, 55. Well-known local artist. Feb. 14.
Ike Ehrlichman, 87. Longtime movie booker for Buffalo theaters. Feb. 17.
Magda Cordell McHale, 86. Painter, futurist and a professor emerita in UB's School of Architecture and Planning. Feb. 21.
Willard Harris, 74. Painter and former chairman of the art department at UB. Feb. 21.
Salvatore G. Capizzi, 92. Allegany County district attorney. Feb. 23.
Ed Kelly, 89. Longtime labor reporter for The Buffalo News. Feb. 25.
Isabelle Armesto, 87. Manager of the Buffalo Chamber Music Society in the 1970s and 1980s. Feb. 27.
Lillian M. Levey, 86. First woman dean of students at Canisius College. March 5.
Jack P. Adkins, 73. Auto dealer. March 14.
Bill Lamale, 88. Inquiring Reporter for the Buffalo Courier-Express. March 27.
Jonathan Cote, 25. Security contractor taken hostage in Iraq. Killed in April.
James W. Morphis, 84. Founder and co-owner of Antoinette's Sweets. April 4.
Harold J. "Hal" English, 97. Nationally recognized pastel artist. April 12.
Bishop LeRoy Anderson, 87. Longtime minister in Buffalo and one of the 12 members of the governing body of the Church of God in Christ. April 14.
Joseph L. Mancuso, 88. Internationally recognized as the originator of the business incubator. April 22.
Emery Fisher, 81. UB track coach and longtime race official who led thousands of local youngsters to track through the Jesse Owens Games and Big E Relays. April 27.
Peter E. Goretti, 53. Club owner, music promoter, proprietor of Showplace Theater. May 6.
Alex G. Schmidt, 73. Founder of the Schmidt's Auto Body and Glass chain. May 7.
Theodore P. Jewell, 77. Town of Tonawanda police chief. May 10.
Lloyd Moore, 95. Frewsburg farmer, NASCAR's oldest driver. May 18.
Dr. George E. Moore, 88. Director of Roswell Park Cancer Institute from 1952 to 1967. May 19.
Jimmy Griffin, 78. Feisty four-term mayor of Buffalo. May 25.
Terrence J. Smerka, 62. First male principal at all-girls Mount Mercy Academy. May 31.
Tim Russert, 58. Award-winning network TV newsman. June 13.
Dr. Harold Brody, 85. Professor of anatomy at UB and an expert on aging. June 13.
Leonard N. Catalano, 97. As Len Catlan, a popular local bandleader in the 1930s and 1940s. June 18.
Betsy Glaser Hurley, 71. First woman to become a Lockport City Court judge and the first to be appointed to serve in the Niagara County district attorney's office. June 21.
John G. Lawrence, 75. City of Tonawanda mayor and Common Council president. July 1.
Dr. Robert M. Wilson, 80. Chief of staff at Lockport Memorial Hospital. July 3.
Eugene E. Burke, 82. Lackawanna City Court judge and clerk to Erie County judges. July 4.
Anna Scibetta Ogorek, 85. Society page reporter for the Courier-Express. July 4.
David J. Mahoney, 79. State Supreme Court justice. July 5.
William F. Robinson, 94. Retired bus driver, Erie County legislator and semiprofessional baseball player in the old Negro Leagues. July 5.
Paul J. Koessler, 71. Former president of Greater Buffalo Press, philanthropist, active Canisius College alum and chairman of the Peace Bridge Authority. July 17.
Luther "Woody" Woodson Sr., 78. Barber on Buffalo's East Side for more than 40 years. July 17.
Gerald J. D'Amico, 74. Local musician and proprietor of a landmark music store in Niagara Falls. July 17.
James A. Pickens, 69 Marine and Buffalo heavyweight boxing champion. July 22.
Mary L. Guida, 91. Co-founder of John & Mary's Submarines. Aug. 19.
Samuel C. Perla, 85. law firm founder, witty toastmaster. Aug. 20.
John F. "Jay" Bonfatti, 52. Buffalo News reporter. Aug. 28.
Obadiah Sarles, 87. Founded Orville's appliance stores. Sept. 4.
Buddy Herrick, 91. Vaudeville acrobat, a Hollywood stuntman, squash instructor at the Saturn Club. Sept. 23.
Frank A. Delia, 71. Auto dealer, racehorse owner. Oct. 5.
Alberta "Sunny" Brady, 92. Registered nurse who helped found Benedict House. Oct. 6.
Finley R. Greene Jr., 66. Advertising executive, fundraiser, philanthropist. Oct. 7.
Herbert E. Zimmerman Sr., 89. Longtime chief of the Amherst Police Department. Oct. 7.
Joseph Block, 91. President of one of downtown Buffalo's oldest businesses, T.C. Tanke Jewelers. Oct. 14.
Dorothy Price, 82. First woman to graduate from UB's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Oct. 19.
Richard J. Keane Jr., 75. Democratic assemblyman and chairman of the Erie County Legislature. Oct. 21.
William Eisen, 88. Master tailor, Holocaust survivor and lecturer. Oct. 25.
Killian Vetter, 81. Tireless human rights advocate. Oct. 26.
Margaret Roblin, 60. Chairwoman of the Buffalo Arts Commission, wife of industrialist Daniel Roblin. Oct. 29.
Frederick A. Boorady, 78. Aerospace engineer recognized internationally as an expert in liquid propulsion. Nov. 4.
Lynda H. Suchman, 59. Former director of the Erie County Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinic. Nov. 6.
Richard Johnston, 89. News hockey writer. Nov. 6.
Donald A. Hess, 64. Chairman of the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute. Nov. 13.
Grey Fitzpatrick, 86. Editor and publisher of the Olean Times Herald. Nov. 13.
Tom Borrelli, 51. Buffalo News sportswriter. Nov. 19.
Louis Robert "Bob" Blake, 94. Longtime star hockey player for the Buffalo Bisons. Nov. 26.
The Rev. Herbert V. Reid, 72. Pastor of Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church for 45 years and a leader in the community's civil rights movement. Nov. 27.
Sidney Birzon, 90. Jeweler, co-founded Fantasy Island. Dec. 1.
Terrell Moreland Griggs, 77. Hospital chaplain co-founded local Interfaith AIDS Network. Dec. 2.
Arnold Weiss, 85. Attorney, publisher of the Buffalo Jewish Review. Dec. 12.
John H. Dieckman Jr., 60. Pedal steel guitarist known as Mudbone Johnny. Dec. 13.
Tony Jaeger, 79. Pianist, well-known figure in Buffalo's jazz scene. Dec. 17.
Lionel "Mike" English, 82. College teacher active in local theater circles. Dec. 19.
Adelbert Fleischmann, 96. Founding partner of the Buffalo law firm Jaeckle, Fleischmann & Mugel. Dec. 24.
Norman J. Wolf Jr., 71. State Supreme Court justice. Dec. 25.
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