Joyce Sloane, 80, a woman known as the “den mother” to alumni of Chicago’s famed The Second City comedy club, including John Belushi, Gilda Radner and Bill Murray, has died.
Sloane’s daughter said her mother died “absolutely peacefully” in bed late Thursday as she got ready to watch Jim Belushi on television.
During her 50 years with the improv theater, Sloane served as executive producer, founded its national touring company and co-founded the Toronto branch of The Second City.
Sloane is credited with discovering the Belushi brothers and Nia Vardalos of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” fame. Other alumni include Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Mike Myers and Tina Fey.
Richard B. Parker, 87, a career Foreign Service officer and Middle East expert who served in the 1970s as the U.S. ambassador to Algeria, Lebanon and Morocco, died Jan. 7 at a retirement facility in Washington. He had vascular disease.
Parker retired from the State Department in 1980 after more than 30 years of service. He also held diplomatic posts in Australia, Israel, Jordan and Egypt.
In retirement, he was a diplomat-in-residence at the University of Virginia, where he taught classes on foreign policy in the Arab world and served as an editor of the Middle East Journal.
The depth of his expertise in Arab culture led him to write scores of academic papers on a variety of topics, including Lebanese proverbs and Arabic graffiti in Middle Eastern men’s restrooms.
Denver Post wire services
