In the last week, many notable Americans passed away. This week saw a longtime politician pass away, as well as a beloved musician and a legendary Hollywood writer. Meanwhile, the sports world lost two legends in their respective sports of football and handball. These amazing people came from various walks of life, helping to shape American culture and life in some way. May they be put In Memoriam forever.

Politics

Jerry Kleczka (1943-2017) was a Democratic politician who served in the House of Representatives, representing Wisconsin's 4th district.

Prior to his political career, Kleczka worked as an accountant and was a member of the National Guard. He served the 7th district in the Wisconsin State Assembly from 1969-74. Kleczka was then elected to the State Senate to represent the 3rd district, serving from 1975 until 1984.

In 1984, he won the state's special election for a seat in the House following the death of Clement J. Zablocki. During his time in Congress, he was a member of the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on the Budget. He retired in 2005 after serving ten terms. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Kleczka's nephew announced he died on October 8 at age 73 from natural causes.

Entertainment

Grady Tate (1932-2017) was a drummer and singer of hard bop and jazz.

He started out as a drummer in the Quincy Jones Orchestra and would grow to become a popular sideman on albums, working with Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery among others. Tate also did several albums of his own. He also played with the likes of Count Baise, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald over the years.

His most widely heard work comes from “Schoolhouse Rock”, as he did the vocal work for the songs “Fireworks,"“I Got Six,” and “Naughty Number Nine.” Tate's death was confirmed on NPR by Wendy Oxenhorn, the executive director of the Jazz Foundation of America.

He passed on October 8 at age 85 from complications due to Alzheimer's.

Bob Schiller (1918-2017) was a screenwriter who worked on many classic shows and radio programs. He wrote for 1950s shows like “The Jimmy Durante Show”, “It's Always Jan” and “That's My Boy” and penned radio scripts for “Abbott and Costello” and “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.”

His biggest success came in 1953 when he began his partnership with Bob Weiskopf.

Together the two of them wrote for “I Love Lucy”, “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”, “Make Room for Daddy” and “The Bob Cummings Show.” This would continue over the following two decades as the pair wrote for “The Lucy Show”, “The Red Skelton Show”, “The Carol Burnett Show” and “All in the Family.”

According to IMDB, over his career Schiller was nominated for six Primetime Emmys, winning two of them. In 1988. he was honored with the Laurel Award for TV Writing Achievement by the Writers Guild of America. The Los Angeles Times reported that his daughter confirmed that Schiller died on October 10 at age 98.

Sports

Y.A. Tittle (1926-2017) was an NFL quarterback who played 17 seasons for the Baltimore Colts, San Francisco 49ers, and New York Giants.

He is best known for his last four seasons with the Giants, when he led the team to the NFL Championship game three times after being considered washed-up.

Tittle made seven Pro Bowls and was selected an an AP First-Team All-Pro three times and was MVP of the league in 1963. When he retired he was the NFL's all-time leader in games played, completions, attempts, passing yards and passing touchdowns.

He is in the 49ers Hall of Fame, the Giants Ring of Honor and has had his No.14 retired by New York. In 1971, he was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame. His family confirmed to his alma mater LSU that Tittle died on October 8 at age 90.

David Chapman (1975-2017) was considered one of the greatest handball players of all time.

From 1993 until 2004, he won eight United States Handball Association (USHA) national singles titles and seven national doubles titles in four-wall handball. In three-wall handball, Champman won two national singles titles and three doubles titles. He also won two World singles championships and two World doubles championships in four-wall during this time before retiring in 2004.

In 2008 he made a comeback, playing until 2012. During this period he won another national singles title in both four-wall and three-wall, as well as two more national doubles titles in both disciplines. According to UShandball.org, Chapman passed away suddenly at his home on October 10 at age 42.
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