OBITUARIES

[LAD-1972]

It has taken quite the sad turn. For someone so talented to be so screwed up is just a tragedy on top of a tragedy

It’s definitely bizarre to say the least.

[Ilovevh]

David Lander, actor who played Squiggy on Laverne & Shirley, dies at age 73
Friends and fans are paying tribute to the beloved actor, who died from complications due to multiple sclerosis. Lander is best known for playing Squiggy on the popular ABC sitcom Laverne & Shirley.

[Brett]

Sad. Will always remember him in that role. They were both great. RIP.

[Wruff_ajax]

Wow! This death is unfolding like an episode on the ID channel. Supposedly he was fond of Nitrous Oxide & lighting candles...WTF?

Former Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh’s affinity for nitrous oxide, alcohol and candles concerned those closest to him in his final days — and has led some to believe his hard-partying ways contributed to his inability to escape the fire that ultimately killed him, TheWrap has learned.

In the months leading up to his Nov. 27 death in Connecticut, Hsieh, 46, had gone on a buying spree in Park City, Utah, the posh mountain town that is home to the Sundance Film Festival and a go-to vacation spot for celebrities like Will Smith, Robert Redford and Michael Jordan.

The entrepreneur raised eyebrows there with his use of nitrous oxide and massive use of candles – a dangerous combination.

“People in Park City say Tony Hsieh was high on nitrous oxide all the time and behaved very erratically — Howard Hughes-style — with 500 candles burning in his home — creating a fire threat that the local fire department had to manage,” a person with knowledge of Hsieh’s relationships in Park City told TheWrap.

Since March, Hseih had purchased 15 Park City homes, totaling 57 bedrooms, 71.5 bathrooms and more than 68,000 square feet, according to Curbed. Throw in two vacant lots he purchased, and Hseih’s Park City investment was worth around $56 million.

Park City Fire District reps did not respond to TheWrap’s request for comment. Nitrous oxide is not flammable but can accelerate the burning process.

It’s unclear why Hsieh had spent millions on Park City real estate; one possibility is that he was looking for a new tech hub to replicate his success in revitalizing downtown Las Vegas where he’d invested hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Daily Mail on Wednesday also reported that Hsieh’s drug use worried those closest to him and had accelerated since stepping down as Zappos CEO last summer. Hsieh’s “drug of choice” was nitrous oxide, the site reported, in the form of “whippets” from whipped cream dispensers.

“His heavy alcohol and drug use was known by everyone around him,” one unnamed colleague told the Daily Mail. “Anyone that challenged him about it was cast aside.”

The colleague said many in his inner circle are now asking if Hsieh’s drug use could have played a role in his tragic death.

Early on the morning of Nov. 18, firefighters were called to a home in New London, Connecticut, and told Hsieh was trapped inside, according to the Hartford Courant. Hsieh was pulled unconscious from the home and CPR was administered before he was later taken to a local hospital. He died last Friday, nine days after the fire. Medical examiners on Monday ruled it an accident and said his death was due to injuries caused by smoke inhalation.

Still, the circumstances surrounding Hsieh’s death remain unclear. An emergency dispatcher, in audio obtained by The Daily Mail, said the fire was in a “shed that is attached to the exterior of the house,” and that a “male is barricaded inside” and unresponsive. “Everyone else is outside the house,” the dispatcher said. “They are trying to get him to open up.” Later, New London Fire Captain Brian Wright said that people at the home told firefighters Hsieh was “locked inside” a storage area and that first responders had to bust the door in to get to him.

The discrepancies have left a handful of lingering questions, including whether Hsieh was “barricaded” or “locked” inside the room. The fire, as well as Hsieh’s inability to escape it, could be tied to his drug use, the colleague said.

“The talk among his former colleagues at Zappos is that Tony was likely in the shed blacked out drunk and on drugs,” the colleague said. “He was a major alcoholic and a drug addict. He was hardcore.”

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/...211458121.html



When the business icon died in a fire last week, questions abounded. The answers seem rooted in a Covid-period spiral, where he turned to drugs and shunned old friends.

In August, shortly after Tony Hsieh, the legendary entrepreneur behind Zappos, moved to Park City, Utah, he eagerly awaited a visitor: the singer Jewel. The longtime friends originally met the way fellow rock stars should, on Richard Branson’s Necker Island, and Hsieh, who had been buying up properties around the mountain town, was planning to spend the next week showing her around.

Soon after arriving, Jewel played a private acoustic set for around 50 residents of the community Hsieh was building there—a reprise of sorts of the city-within-a-city of artists and entrepreneurs that Hsieh had famously created in downtown Las Vegas. It should have been a magical moment, according to a person who was there, with the Grammy nominee seated in front of a fireplace and views of the Wasatch Mountains framing the performance.

“He fostered so much human connection and happiness, yet there was this void. It was difficult for him to be alone.”

But within a day, Jewel abruptly left. Shortly after, the singer sent Hsieh a letter via FedEx, since he had forsworn email and texts as part of a digital cleanse.

“I am going to be blunt,” she wrote in the letter, the content of which was shared with Forbes. “I need to tell you that I don’t think you are well and in your right mind. I think you are taking too many drugs that cause you to disassociate.”

She continued: “The people you are surrounding yourself with are either ignorant or willing to be complicit in you killing yourself.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/angelau...h=2dedc2e84f22

[Daisy Hill]

David Lander, actor who played Squiggy on Laverne & Shirley, dies at age 73
Friends and fans are paying tribute to the beloved actor, who died from complications due to multiple sclerosis. Lander is best known for playing Squiggy on the popular ABC sitcom Laverne & Shirley.

Have to admit I loved me some Laverne and Shirley back in the day. Jumped the shark when they moved to California but between the 3's company apartment and Laverne and Shirley's apartment I developed a life long obsession with rounded top entry doors. It seemed to me that every home in California must have those doors.

Anyway Squiggy was an iconic character played to perfection which basically meant David Landers typecast himself forever, which is shame because he must have been a great comic actor to so completely inhabit that character


RIP Mr Lander, long term illnesses suck.

[Daisy Hill]

I know it was highlighted in that story but I think it is a gross simplification to chalk Tony Hsieh's death to a "covid spiral" . His alcohol addiction was long term and his party lifestyle had been questioned before. He was a big fan of Burning Man and Coachella festivals and that type of activity was unusual for a high powered CEO but apparently he thought of it as part of his creativity. His campground in Las Vegas was known as a party place and his camper in particular was where you get whatever you wanted. He had really not advanced much beyond a frat boy mentality as far as that was concerned but now had money to do as much as he wanted whenever he wanted and no one around him who had the courage or authority to put the brakes on him.

Interventions were talked about and dismissed

Everyone should have a no nonsense friend like Jewel who will call you out on your bullshit. But this is simply a case, much like Prince, or Elvis where we lose someone far too soon to their addictions because everyone saw it coming and no one felt that they were the person who could make the genius, the mythical creature, do the right thing and get help.

Sadly, he won't be the last lost this way.

[I Coulda Hada VH]

Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley and Welcome Back Cotter will always remind me of Tuesday nights on ABC in the mid 70s. Good times.

[Elwood P.]

David Lander, actor who played Squiggy on Laverne & Shirley, dies at age 73
Friends and fans are paying tribute to the beloved actor, who died from complications due to multiple sclerosis. Lander is best known for playing Squiggy on the popular ABC sitcom Laverne & Shirley.

RIP

[Raldo]

RIP David Lander

Met him about 18 years ago when my father-in-law worked for the local MS chapter. They had David come in as a guest speaker talking about his book. Very nice guy.

[billy007]

rest in peace, Mr. Lander

[Daisy Hill]

RIP

That made me laugh out loud. "I treated you like a queen because you were 17, then your birthday came around and you let me go to town." How did that get past the censors? LOL

[Elwood P.]

That made me laugh out loud. "I treated you like a queen because you were 17, then your birthday came around and you let me go to town." How did that get past the censors? LOL

"This song is Night after Night. Its about two nights in a row."

[CaboChris]

That made me laugh out loud. "I treated you like a queen because you were 17, then your birthday came around and you let me go to town." How did that get past the censors? LOL

Because as a society back then we weren't as uptight or pc as we are now. You know this. We grew up with Archie Bunker and Fred Sanford.

[Elwood P.]

We grew up with Archie Bunker and Fred Sanford.

Those Were . . The . . Days!

[edwardv]

The 70s rocked minus the gas lines.

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