Sacramento lost legends this year. Here are key figures who died in 2022
The Sacramento region lost some legends in 2022.
From politicians to musicians, hall-of-fame coaches to ballet dancers, and many more in between, here are some of the most notable capital region figures who passed away this year, and the legacies they have left behind.
Artists and entertainers
▪ Ed Claudio, co-founder of the B Street Theatre who also started Actors’ Workshop and Actors’ Theatre, died Jan. 5 at his Sacramento apartment. He was 77.
▪ Barbara Crockett, an iconic dancer who co-founded the Sacramento Ballet with her husband Deane Crockett, died Aug. 26 following complications of a fall. She was 101.
▪ Tim Feerick, bassist for more than a decade for Sacramento-based rock band Dance Gavin Dance, died April 15 at a Sacramento County apartment complex. Feerick’s unexpected death came days before the band had been set to headline Swanfest, a one-day music festival at Heart Health Park in Sacramento. Feerick’s mother told ABC 10 she believed her son died of a fentanyl overdose. He was 33.
▪ Giovanni Pizano, better known as DJ Gio, was shot and killed April 10 in Sacramento’s Natomas Crossing neighborhood. Sacramento police in June arrested Nigel Robinson, who remains in jail and faces a homicide charge in Pizano’s death. Pizano, who had been deejaying since age 11, worked with notable musicians including Sacramento rapper Mozzy and L.A. hip-hop singer Ty Dolla Sign. He was 31.
Local business leaders
▪ Suzanne Peabody Ashworth, who turned her family farm in West Sacramento into a staple of the capital region’s farm-to-fork movement, died Dec. 23, 2021, of complications from Alzheimer’s disease, with her death announced by loved ones in early 2022. The 68-acre produce farm supplied more than 50 restaurants in the region through local wholesaler Produce Express. Ashworth was 70.
▪ Richard Niello Sr., patriarch of the San Francisco-founded Niello automobile business who brought the dealerships to the Sacramento area, where it became one of the region’s largest companies, died June 4 at his home. He was 99, 10 days shy of his 100th birthday.
▪ Joyce Raley Teel, matriarch of the West Sacramento-headquartered Raley’s supermarket chain and an active philanthropist in the Sacramento region, died Feb. 25 of natural causes. The only child of Raley’s founder Thomas P. Raley, Teel and her husband, Jim, took the helm of the supermarket company following Raley’s death in 1991, with the pair co-chairing the company for the next 24 years. Teel died at age 91.
Politicians
▪ Vic Fazio, who represented California in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1979 to 1999, died March 16 of cancer. Fazio, a Democrat known for his ability to reach across the aisle, represented West Sacramento and much of Yolo County, and is the namesake of the Vic Fazio Yolo Wildlife Area along the Yolo Bypass. Fazio was 79.
▪ Gary K. Hart, a former California lawmaker and state secretary of education, died Jan. 27 of pancreatic cancer. Hart, a Democrat, represented portions of the Central Coast while in the California Assembly from 1974 to 1982, then represented parts of Southern California in the California Senate from 1982 to 1994 before being tapped in 1998 by then-Gov. Gray Davis as secretary of education. Hart died in Sacramento at age 78.
Sports
▪ Pete Carril, a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer who coached at Princeton University for three decades before spending 15 years as assistant coach for the Kings, died Aug. 15 in Philadelphia. He was 92.
▪ John McVay, who as a top 49ers executive oversaw the team’s five Super Bowl wins in the 1980s and 1990s before being inducted into the team’s hall of fame in 2013, died Oct. 31 at his Granite Bay home. He was 91.
Journalists
▪ Dennis Renault, a political cartoonist for The Sacramento Bee and McClatchy’s other California newspapers for nearly three decades, died Oct. 19 in a Monterey County vehicle accident. Renault, who produced more than 6,000 cartoons for McClatchy newspapers between 1971 and 1998, was 86.
▪ Mort Saltzman, whose more than 40-year journalism career included multiple high-level editor positions at The Bee, died Nov. 9 of pancreatic cancer. After his retirement from editing, Saltzman went on to run a coffee shop at The Bee’s former location at 21st and Q streets. Saltzman was 82.
▪ Charles Starzynski, a longtime program director at Capital Public Radio, was shot and killed in a daytime robbery in Sacramento’s Fabulous 40s neighborhood on Oct. 20. Police arrested a homicide suspect, identified as DeSean Leon Brasser Jr., as well as an alleged accomplice in the robbery, Tajenae Unique Cooper. Starzynski, who was also a business partner with wife Karsan Elliott, owner of Elliott’s Fine Nutrition stores in Folsom and Citrus Heights, was 70 years old.
▪ Janet Vitt, who spent nearly three decades as a Bee reporter and editor, shaping the newspaper’s entertainment coverage, died Oct. 26. Vitt passed away at her Land Park home, following her second battle with cancer. She was 69.
Other notable Sacramento figures
▪ Donald H. Heller, who helped prosecute Manson family member and would-be presidential assassin Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme before becoming one of the Sacramento region’s most prominent defense attorneys, died June 29 after a long illness. He was 79.
▪ Lobbyists Kathy Lynch and Gerald Upholt, who advocated for hunting groups and gun rights causes, respectively, were fatally stabbed March 28 at their home in Loomis, allegedly by their adopted 19-year-old son, Dennis Henry Lynch. Kathy Lynch was 67. Upholt was 80. Dennis Lynch, charged in March with two counts of murder, remains in jail awaiting trial in Placer Superior Court.
This story was originally published December 30, 2022 at 6:30 AM.
