TVSquad

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Jack B. Sowards: He was a television and film writer who wrote for Bonanza, Peyton Place, Daniel Boone, The Streets of San Francisco, Barnaby Jones, Hagen, The Bold Ones, B.L. Stryker, and Star Trek: TNG. He also wrote the big screen movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. He died in Valley Village, CA at age 78.

• General Wayne A. Downing: He was a news analyst for NBC News for many years and former leader of the U.S. Military's Special Operations Command. He died on July 17 at age 67. Here is background on Downing's career, and Brian Williams has a remembrance of Downing here.
  
  
• Moe Di Sesso: He was an animal trainer who worked on several TV shows, including Seinfeld, Murphy Brown, The Bionic Woman, Green Acres, Rin Tin Tin, Will and Grace and Third Rock From The Sun. He also trained the rats in the movies Willard and Ben, and trained Sandy the Dog in Annie. He died in Newhall, CA at age 83.
  
  
• Vivienne Nearing: She was one of the contestants charged with perjury for lying about her involvement in the qui show scandals in the 1950s (she later told the truth). She beat champion Charles Van Doren on the show Twenty-One, and then it was discovered contestants were given the answers beforehand. She died of cancer in East Hampton, NY at age 81.