This week: a rock collaborator, a star of Tottenham Hotspur, and an influential diplomat
THE musician Richard Swift, pictured, who has died aged 41, was a record producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist known for his work with The Black Keys and The Shins.
Raised in Minnesota, Utah, Swift started performing and singing in church (his family were Quakers) before moving to California to pursue a music career. While working in a studio in the early 2000s, he began working on solo projects, playing most of the instruments and engineering the project himself. The work was released as The Richard Swift Collection Vol 1 in 2005.
Later, he became known for his collaborations with other artists. Between 2011 and 2016 he played keyboards in the American indie rock band The Shins. He was also touring bassist with the rock band The Black Keys and collaborated with The Pretenders and Sharon Van Etten among others.
In a post on the band's official Instagram profile, The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach and Patrick Cairney shared a black and white photo of Swift. Alongside the photo they wrote: "He was the funniest person we ever met, one of the most talented musicians we have ever worked with and we feel so honoured to have known him."
In 2016, Swift released a collaborative covers album with Damien Jurado and his last full solo album, The Atlantic Ocean, was released in 2009.
THE footballer Goran Bunjevcevic, who has died aged 45, made 51 appearances for Tottenham during a five-year spell at White Hart Lane.
Bunjevcevic left the club in 2006 and spent a short period with Den Haag in Holland before retiring and eventually taking up a new position as sporting director of the Serbian Football Association.
He was a popular figure in Serbian football, having captained Red Star Belgrade to a league title in 2000 and made 16 appearances for the Yugoslavia national team.
After Serbia's opening World Cup win over Costa Rica two weeks ago, defender Aleksandar Kolarov dedicated his match-winning free-kick to Bunjevcevic, who suffered an aneurysm in May.
Kolarov told reporters: "We dedicate this win to our director, and we want him to know that we are all supporting him.
"He's had some health problems. We want to relay this message to him and his family that we are 100 per cent behind him."
THE diplomat Jamsheed Marker, who has died aged 95, was recognised as a leading figure in the negotiations that led to the Soviet Union pulling out of Afghanistan in 1989, ten years after the invasion. He also played an important role in the resolution of the conflict in East Timor.
Born in Hyderabad, India, and schooled in India and Pakistan, Marker started his diplomatic career in 1965 when he was appointed Pakistan's high commissioner in Ghana.
Over the following years, he served as ambassador in many different countries including France, Canada, Japan as well as the Soviet Union. He was also close to the Ronald Reagan administration in the 1980s which allowed him to help negotiate the Afghanistan withdrawal.
His role in East Timor came in 1999 when he was appointed the United Nation's Special Envoy as it fought for independence from Indonesia - something it eventually achieved in 2002 after a long and bloody war. Marker wrote about his experiences in his book East Timor: A Memoir of the Negotiations for Independence. He also published a memoir, Quiet Diplomacy, in 2010.
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