Passages 2025: Brenton Wood, Leo Dan, Rosita Missoni, more stars we’ve lost

Italian designer Rosita Missoni, co-founder of the eponymous fashion house known for its bright and patterned styles, died on Jan. 1 at the age of 93, a company official said.

She had launched the business in 1953 with her husband, the late Ottavio Missoni, developing a brand which gained international recognition and awards for its distinctive patterns and avant-garde use of textiles and an approach to fashion often compared to modern art. Rosita Missoni remained creative director for the womenswear collections until the late 1990s, when she passed the task on to her daughter, Angela Missoni.

John Phillips, Getty ImagesBrenton Wood (born Alfred Jesse Smith), the soul singer known for the hits “The Oogum Boogum Song” and “Gimme Little Sign,” died at 83 years old on Jan. 3, his manager Manny Gallegos told Variety, the New York Post and TMZ. Gallegos told the Post and Variety that Wood’s final message to fans was a reference to his 1967 song: “Catch you on the rebound.”
Mike P. McGinnis, Getty Images

Leo Dan, the legendary Argentine singer-songwriter of romantic hits that took Latin America by storm, has died. He was 82.

Dan died on Jan. 1, his family announced on his social media accounts. “This morning our beloved Leo Dan left his body in peace and with the love of his family,” read the statement on Instagram, originally written in Spanish. “Thus, he returned to the pure light of his Heavenly Father, to guide us and take care of us from infinity. … We invite everyone who was part of his story and who were touched by his legacy, to celebrate his love, his music and his life.” His hit records include “Celia,” “How I Miss You, My Love” (“Cómo Te Extraño Mi Amor”) and “Ask Me for the Moon” (“Pídeme la Luna”).

Jason Merritt, Getty ImagesBritish author, playwright and literary critic David Lodge died at 89 on Jan. 1, according to a statement released Jan. 3 by his publisher, Penguin Random House. A Booker Prize-shortlisted author, Lodge was known for works such as “Small World” and “Nice Work,” part of his “Campus Trilogy,” as well as “Changing Places” and “The British Museum is Falling Down.”