Boomer Heroes who died in 2011 included these four exemplars. Two are a little too old to be technically in the boomer generation, but they represent their spirit.
Clarence Clemons was born about four years too soon to boom, but the Big Man was the soul of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. I saw them early on, when Clemons came out in a Santa suit for the band's version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town.
Kara Kennedy was born in 1960. She is pictured receiving the Medal of Freedom award from President Obama on behalf of her father, Senator Ted Kennedy. Kara herself worked in politics, the media and for causes. She battled lung cancer until her premature death.
Steve Jobs was born in 1955, a middle-boomer visionary of the computer age. His influence on this rapidly changing present and on the future is hard to overestimate.
Wangari Maathai was born in Kenya in 1940. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her environmental justice activism, as the founder of the Green Belt Movement. She also is a link from boomer aspirations to the future. May all their best work live on and grow. And may they rest in peace.
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