I didn't plan to write a wrap-up of January's notable deaths, but when each time I heard of one of these deaths, I thought, "Oh, a good idea for AWEARNESS!" And before I could get to my computer, another one happened. I'm sure I missed some, but leave them in the comments.

Trendsetter
Ebony Fashion Fair Producer and Director Eunice W. Johnson. She was the widow of Johnson Publishing Company founder John H. Johnson, gave Ebony magazine its name and was also the driving force behind the creation of the Fashion Fair makeup line, one of the first makeup lines for women of color. [NPR]

Entertainers
Art Clokey, the creator of Gumby and Pokey, and "Davey and Goliath." Clokey modeled his most famous character, Gumby, after his father, Arthur Farrington, who died in a car accident when Art was 9. [Boston.com]

Soul singer Teddy Pendergrass, who was paralyzed in 1982, a moment in history I remember intensely as my aunts use to play his music and talk about him all the time. He died of a protracted illness that followed a diagnosis of colon cancer last year. [Philly.com]

Enrich Segal, author of the iconic 1970s book and film Love Story. According to The New York Times, Erich Segal, who had suffered with Parkinson's disease for 25 years, died of a heart attack at home in London.[January Magazine]

Robert Parker, creator of "Spencer for Hire." Beginning with "The Gudwulf Manuscript" in 1973 and running through 2009's "The Professional," the Spencer series included almost 40 books. But don't fret, two more books are forthcoming. [LA Times]

Foodies
Glen W. Bell Jr. named our favorite fast food taco place after himself: Taco Bell. He had failed to break into the hamburger business, but found his love of Mexican food rewarded him. [NYTimes]

Al Bernardin, former dean of McDonald's Hamburger University (the fast-food chain's training center) and inventor of the legendary Quarter Pounder. He was instrumental in the birth of the company's Filet-o-Fish sandwich, french fries and hot apple and cherry pies as well. [SlashFood]

Donald Goerke, creator of SpaghettiOs. More than 150 million cans of SpaghettiOs are sold each year. Mr. Goerke also created the company's Chunky soup line.[NYTimes]

Considering the variety in these deaths, any tribute would be hard to pull off. At least it would have an excellent soundtrack, a buffet of food and a barrel of laughs and tears.

(Note: I wrote separately about Mary Daly, who died in January, and the late December passings of Brittany Murphy and Vic Chesnutt were also covered on the blog.)