The Daily Goodbye

Good morning, everyone.

One of the Cleveland police officers who helped arrest a suspected mass murderer just weeks ago has now died of throat cancer. Jack Steele rushed to the scene of the suspect's arrest, a mile from his home, and helped secure the alleged criminal and the scene.

Puerto Rican singer Joaquin Rivera, who died Sunday, spread joy by his constant smile and his music, his friends said, and was so well-known in his community that he is featured in a mural of Latino musicians on a wall at 5th and Somerset streets in North Philadelphia.

The co-author of the folk ditty "MTA" about a man doomed to ride Boston's subway forever for lack of an exit fare, has died. Bess Lomax Hawes, daughter of the great folklorist John Lomax and sister of Alan Lomax, was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Clinton.

Bob Keane, who discovered early rock and roll star Richie Valens in the 1950s, has died at age 87. In his autobiography "The Oracle of Del-Fi," Keane wrote that Valens "needed my guidance, and I needed his unpolished musical talent to help us both learn and go forward. We needed each other to complete the circuit."