People we lost 2023: Odes to local luminaries in Seattle's arts, culture and lifestyle scene – The Seattle Times

As 2023 comes to a close, The Seattle Times features team is looking back at the Washington luminaries on our beats — arts, food, outdoors and beyond — who died this year. From activists, artists and advocates for the arts to a beloved meteorologist and a Holocaust survivor who found solace at Mount Rainier, these men and women left massive legacies in their respective fields.

Read on for tributes written by Seattle Times reporters.

When, in April, the Mexican American painter Alfredo Arreguín died at age 88, the Pacific Northwest art world lost a giant. Arreguín, creator of luminous and densely patterned paintings of lush fauna and flora, gained wide acclaim during his lifetime — all the way to Spain and the Smithsonian Institution — and paved the way for a generation of artists of Latin descent. His paintings reflected the mosaic of his life: vivid colors of Michoacán pottery, blankets and baskets; lush Mexican jungle scenes; frothing waves inspired by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai and his time in Japan on break from the Army; the herons, orcas and salmon of the Pacific Northwest, part of a lifelong preoccupation with environmental protection. While he won awards for this distinct blend of influences and bright colors, what stood out was how many people remembered his gregarious and generous character. “He took really big bites out of life,” his son Ivan Arreguín-Toft said. “For a famous artist, he never slowed down and never stopped. He loved, he lived, he ate, he laughed all at the highest level of … creativity, energy, passion.”

— Margo Vansynghel, arts economy reporter

Along with his brother Gary Lee Conner, bassist Van Conner — who died of pneumonia Jan. 18, at age 55 — was one half of the fraternal nucleus of Screaming Trees, an essential grunge band that was among the movement’s first acts to get noticed outside of the Northwest. The Ellensburg-formed rockers put out four indie-label albums, including three with venerable punk/alternative label SST, before making the major-label leap with 1991’s “Uncle Anesthesia” right as grunge mania was crossing over into a mainstream phenomenon. While Screaming Trees never hit the almost unfathomable commercial heights of some of their peers, their most recognizable song, “Nearly Lost You,” became one of the era’s quintessential tunes, thanks in part to its inclusion in the “Singles” soundtrack. Beyond his work with Screaming Trees, Van played in numerous side projects including Solomon Grundy, in which he sang and played guitar, and post-Trees bands VALIS and Musk Ox.

— Michael Rietmulder, music writer

When Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancers Deborah Hadley and Benjamin Houk ended their performance at the premiere of Kent Stowell’s “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet” in 1987, the audience was utterly quiet. “Three thousand people, absolutely silent, savoring the moment,” Houk remembered. Hadley, who died of heart failure in May at the age of 71, was a magical dancer who could transfix an audience, disappearing into her roles in story ballets in a way that Houk called “otherworldly.” PNB’s star ballerina in the 1980s, she performed with the company for 13 years, retiring without fanfare — she never wanted a fuss — in 1991. Hadley founded the Washington Academy of Performing Arts the year after her retirement, and continued to teach and inspire young dancers for the rest of her life. 

— Moira Macdonald, arts critic

No matter how many thousands of guests Wier Harman welcomed to Town Hall Seattle from the stage of the venue’s Great Hall, he could make everyone in even a packed house feel like an audience of one. Harman, who served as Town Hall’s executive director for 17 years, died on Dec. 11 at the age of 57, from lung cancer. He stepped down in late 2022, after stewarding Town Hall through a $35 million building renovation campaign and also a pandemic, but those were just some of the most visible parts of his legacy. While expanding and elevating the organization’s wide-ranging programming, including literature, music, science and civics-focused events, Harman’s commitment to keeping the venue affordable and inclusive was matched only by his commitment to artists. “He always had his antenna up to what people are doing, where things could go, what connections could be made between people and ideas,” said Harman’s collaborator and friend Joshua Roman, who served as artistic director of Town Music for 14 years. “And he was so, so full of passion about making them happen.”

— Gemma Wilson, arts and culture reporter

The news of Rachel’s Ginger Beer founder Rachel Marshall’s passing, in April at age 42, hit Seattle like a gut punch. Since the first brews, created with her partner Adam Peters in the kitchen at now-closed Licorous in 2011, the 42-year-old transformed her farmers market stand into what many considered to be Seattle’s gold standard of ginger beer.  

The vibrant flagship store opened in Pike Place Market in 2013, followed by additional taprooms in Capitol Hill, University Village and in the Amazon Spheres. Her bartenders at Capitol Hill watering holes Nacho Borracho and Montana were among some of the first in the city to pull cocktails on tap. 

Even while juggling multiple businesses, Marshall was known for championing aspiring cooks who were women and people of color, pushing them to reach for their goals while also stepping aside to make space in what can feel like a crowded industry. Yalla owner Taylor Cheney says Marshall’s mentorship was “life-changing. I feel like she is a true supporter of women. She would always walk by and talk to me and ask how my week was going … allowing me to rant. I‘m just going to miss that a lot.”

— Jackie Varriano, food writer

Steve Pool, a longtime KOMO 4 weather forecaster, died on Nov. 21 after battling early onset Alzheimer’s disease. He was 70. Pool worked at the station for 40 years before retiring in 2019. Friends, family, colleagues and viewers affectionately remembered Pool for his sweet spirit, legendary broadcasts and as a great friend. During his career, Pool won several Emmys for his work, helping to blaze a trail as one of the country’s first Black weather forecasters. Over the years, Pool also filled in as a weather person for ABC’s “Good Morning America.” When Pool retired, he told The Seattle Times, “I always think, ‘You’re lucky to be doing this job. It’s not easy to get in here.’ ” He was inducted into the University of Washington’s Communications Hall of Fame in 2004. In a statement, the Seattle Association of Black Journalists said Pool’s life and journalism career “set an incomparable standard for the Seattle media industry,” adding that he always made viewers feel at home.

— Tat Bellamy-Walker, communities reporter

Known far and wide as the Chef in the Hat for his trademark fedora, Thierry Rautureau charmed, mentored and supported legions during his decades-long Seattle career. His first restaurant — posh, prix fixe Rover’s — won him a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northwest in 1998, with Julia Child just one of many famous visitors. Then came his popular follow-ups, Luc and Loulay. Along the way, he also worked tirelessly for charitable causes, including serving on the board of nonprofit Food Lifeline. As fellow local restaurant luminary Tom Douglas — who hosted the popular “Seattle Kitchen” radio show with Rautureau for decades — reflected, “He was a fabulous chef, a true friend, a generous soul, a loving father, a curious mind, a thoughtful husband … When you define generosity, it would be difficult to leave Thierry out.” Rautureau died in October at age 64 from the effects of pulmonary fibrosis.

— Bethany Jean Clement, food writer

There may never be another food-and-drink-personality bigger in Seattle than this humble barman. The estimable Murray Stenson made Zig Zag Café a destination bar, and that was before he was anointed “The Best Bartender in America” in 2010 by the Tales of the Cocktail festival in New Orleans. His legacy worldwide will be that he discovered an obscure pre-Prohibition era drink called “The Last Word” that became a cult hit during this cocktail renaissance. It’s also the de facto signature cocktail of Seattle. Stenson shunned the Instagram-pyrotechnic cocktails and precious bartenders who refer to themselves as mixologists. In the church of Murray, the old-school barman preached greeting regulars by their first names, memorizing their drink orders and creating a sacred third place vibe. He mentored dozens of barkeepers to adopt that philosophy. And that may be the best legacy that Stenson left us. Stenson died in September, at age 74.

— Tan Vinh, food writer

The world lost one of its strongest Holocaust survivors, Bronka Sundstrom, in November, at age 98, in Lacey. Sundstrom, nee Bronka Czyzyk, hailed from a religious Jewish family in Poland. When the Nazis invaded, she was interned in a ghetto then deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where she saw her father led into the gas chambers. She endured a forced march to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, which British forces liberated in 1945. Both her parents and eight siblings perished during World War II. The Red Cross took the young refugee to Sweden, where she met and married Ake Sundstrom. They settled in Tacoma in the late 1940s and fell in love with the local mountains. In 1980, they retired to a cabin in Ashford and spent nearly every day in Mount Rainier National Park, where they became folk heroes to local hikers, climbers and guides for their endurance and longevity into older age. In 2002, Bronka became the oldest woman to climb Mount Rainier, making the round-trip journey in a single 19-hour push. “If it weren’t for the mountains, I wouldn’t be the person I am today,” she told the Holocaust Center for Humanity. “The mountains teach us of independence, strength, confidence and beauty.” She hiked into her 90s, clocking 5-mile walks just weeks before her death from congestive heart failure.

— Gregory Scruggs, outdoors reporter

Stephaun Elite Wallace, a scientist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and LGBTQ+ rights advocate, died on Aug. 5, at age 45. Wallace was known widely as a Father in the national ballroom scene and for his trailblazing efforts in HIV and AIDS research and combating COVID-19 disparities. Seattle’s medical and ballroom communities remembered the decorated researcher for his pioneering career that helped uplift and expand health care access for LGBTQ+ people. Wallace also mentored many people in the ballroom scene, providing support and guidance. Wallace’s friend and colleague, C. Davida Ingram described him best as a parental figure who cared for several chosen children. “Ask someone, ‘Was Stephaun your father?’ And hear the response from the people that he loved,” Ingram said. Wallace’s chosen son, Ricardo Wynn, echoed that, saying his father was a role model to many Black LGBTQ+ people. Wallace’s death marks a huge loss to Seattle’s LGBTQ+ community and is a moment to reflect on his significant contributions.

— Tat Bellamy-Walker, communities reporter