9
DIED
>
celebrated funk
singer-songwriter, at
77, on Feb. 9.
> Lata Mangeshkar,
playback singer
known as India’s
“Queen of Melody,”
at 92, on Feb. 6.
P.J. O’Rourke,
conservative
author, satirist,
and political
commentator, o n
RECORDED
The Cook Islands’
DISMISSED
Former Alaska
Governor Sarah
Palin’s defamation
case against the
New York Times,by
a district judge on
Feb. 15. (A jury
later also ruled in
the Times’ favor.)
RESIGNED
Cressida Dick,
London’s police
commissioner,
on Feb. 10, after
a recent report
found widespread
misogyny and
racism within the
city’s police force.
ARRESTED
FormerHonduran
President Juan
Orlando Hernández,
on Feb. 15, on drug-
traffi cking charges.
RENAMED
Facebook’s News
Feed on Feb. 15—
as, simply, “Feed.”
SETTLED
Sandy Hook suit
A historic victory
REMINGTON ARMS HAS SET-
tled a wrongful-death lawsuit
with nine families who lost loved
ones in the Sandy Hook Elemen-
tary School shooting for $73 mil-
lion, attorneys announced on
Feb. 15. The settlement ends a
long-running legal battle over
how Remington marketed the
rifl e used in the 2012 massacre.
Though it means the suit
ended without a verdict, it’s the
fi rst time a U.S. gun manufac-
turer has been held liable in a
mass shooting, the plaintiff s’
lawyers said, and could open the
door to future lawsuits against
gunmakers.
Josh Koskoff , an attorney
representing the families, says
it should be a “wake-up call” to
the fi rearms industry, which is
largely immune to lawsuits under
federal law.
“Our hope is that this victory
will be the fi rst boulder in the av-
alanche that forces that change,”
he says. “These nine families
have shared a single goal from the
very beginning: to do whatever
they could to help prevent the
next Sandy Hook.”
While the families remem-
bered those they lost, they ex-
pressed relief at the outcome.
“Today is about what is right
and what is wrong,” says Francine
Wheeler, whose 6-year-old son,
Ben, was killed in the shooting.
—MELISSA CHAN
DIED
Ivan Reitman
Comedic auteur
BY ERNIE HUDSON
IVAN REITMAN WASN’T ALWAYS THE
funniest guy in person, but in his body
of work, he was one of the greatest co-
medic geniuses of our time. He directed
and produced so many beloved fi lms,
including National Lampoon’s Animal
House, Space Jam, Kindergarten Cop,
and Ghostbusters, which I starred in.
Reitman, who died on Feb. 12 at 75,
knew what was funny, and he had the
ability to bring it out on screen.
In 1982, I ran into Reitman by ac-
cident on an elevator while shooting a
movie. That’s when he fi rst mentioned
Ghostbusters—and that there was noth-
ing in it for me. So I said, “Good luck
with that.” But then I auditioned any-
way and they loved me.
My career would not have been the
same if it weren’t for Reitman. Ghost-
busters didn’t launch my career, but the
movie resonated with so many people.
It amazed me just how popular it be-
came. The fandom grew in the weirdest
ways and crossed generations.
So many directors get in the way;
I really admired that Reitman knew
how not to. He didn’t interfere, and
he trusted talent. I wonder how many
comedians became comedians after
watching his movies.
There’s a humanity that’s vibrant and
alive in Reitman’s work. That is rare,
and very special. And he showed over
and over again that he had an intuitive
understanding of what brought people
together—and what people would re-
spond to.
Losing him feels like losing family.
Hudson is an actor
MILESTONES
REITMAN: MCA UNIVERSAL/EVERETT COLLECTION; DAVIS: ANTHONY BARBOZA—GETTY IMAGES
