Notable Massachusetts Deaths: 2021 Year In Review

MASSACHUSETTS — They were writers and actors, lawyers and law enforcement officers. One of them was a Nobel Prize winner, while another pushed his wheelchair-bound son to the finish line in 32 Boston Marathons.

And they were all among the Massachusetts residents and natives who died in 2021. Below, Patch remembers some of those who were notable or notorious in their fields who died this year.

Sports

Jerry Remy, the former Red Sox player who went on to become even more well known as a broadcaster, died Oct. 30 after a long battle with cancer. He was 68.

Remy, who was born in Fall River and grew up in Somerset, made his major league debut with the California Angels in 1975. The second baseman was traded to the Red Sox in December 1977. He played seven seasons with the Red Sox, batting .275 with seven home runs, 329 RBI and 208 stolen bases in 1,154 games during is 10-year Major League career.

Remy started broadcasting games for NESN in 1988. From 2001 to 2015, he was partnered with Don Orsillo. The duo won four New England Emmy awards. In 2004, Sports Illustrated named Remy as Massachusetts' favorite sports announcer.

In March, 80-year-old Dick Hoyt, who inspired thousands of runners, fathers and disabled athletes by pushing his son, Rick, in a wheelchair in dozens of Boston Marathons and hundreds of other races, died. Dick Hoyt first pushed his son, who is quadriplegic has cerebral palsy, in the Boston Marathon in 1980. Dick and Rick completed 32 Boston Marathons together, until Dick, citing health issues, retired in 2014.

Law

F. Lee Bailey, 87, whose clients included O.J. Simpson, the murderer known as the Boston Strangler and the innocent man who inspired "The Fugitive," died June 3. Bailey's high-profile career made him a local and national celebrity beginning in the 1960s, but in more recent years he was accused of financial fraud, filed for personal bankruptcy, and disbarred.

Thousands of people, including police from across Massachusetts, lined the streets of downtown Worcester in June to say goodbye to Officer Enmanuel "Manny" Familia, who drowned during a water rescue June 11. Familia, a five-year member of the department, became the first Worcester officer to die in the line of duty in almost a decade.

Arts & Culture

Former Boston Symphony Conductor James Levine, who ruled over the Metropolitan Opera for more than four decades before being eased aside when his health declined and then was fired for sexual improprieties, died on March 9. Levine led the Boston Symphony Orchestra for seven years before health problems stemming from a fall forced him to step down in 2011.

Barbara Erickson, president and CEO of The Trustees of Reservation, died after a years-long battle with a rare form of cancer, was just 42 when she died on Jan. 21. Erickson, who lived in Newton and had a home in Chatham, became the first female president and CEO of The Trustees, a land conservation and historic preservation nonprofit that protects green and historic space for public use, in 2012. Under Erickson's stewardship, the organization saw a sharp increase in membership and doubled its revenue.

Eric Carle, the beloved children's author and illustrator whose classic "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and other works gave millions of kids some of their earliest and most cherished literary memories, died May 23 at age 91.

Stage & Screen

Massachusetts native Olympia Dukakis died May 1. The veteran stage and screen actress, whose flair for maternal roles helped her win an Oscar as Cher's mother in the romantic comedy "Moonstruck," was 89.

Eddie Mekka, a Worcester native best known for his role on "Laverne & Shirley," died Nov. 27. He was 69. Mekka began his show business career in the Worcester County Light Opera. He played Carmine "The Big Ragoo" Ragusa on "Laverne & Shirley," but also appeared in Broadway productions including "Grease" and "A Fiddler on the Roof."

Academia

Dr. Bernard Lown, a Massachusetts cardiologist who invented the first reliable heart defibrillator and later co-founded an anti-nuclear war group that was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, died Feb. 16. He was 99.

Award-Winning UMass historian Stephen Oates died Aug. 27. The award-winning Civil War historian who wrote biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Clara Barton, William Faulkner and others, was 85. Lown, who was a professor at Harvard University and a physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, had helped advance cardiac treatment.

More Year In Review Coverage On Patch:

• The Top 5 Massachusetts News Stories Of 2021
• The Top Massachusetts Business Stories Of 2021: Year In Review
• The Oddest, Funniest Massachusetts Stories Of 2021
• The Top Massachusetts Celebrity Sightings In 2021