In his passing, Ober broke a great internet boundary, turning the traditional internet paradigm on its head and becoming the first subject of a false death rumor, wherein the rumor of its falsehood was what turned out to be fake, and the death itself was sadly real. While the false death rumor is a venerable online genre, having prematurely claimed the passings of Jeff Goldblum and Patrick Swayze among others, the false rumor of a false death rumor has been until today, an unexplored frontier of the internet.

Ober was best known for his work hosting MTV's trivia show from 1987 - 1990. He went on to host several other game shows including Make Me Laugh and Smush before fading from the airwaves. Recently he worked off-camera as a writer/producer on shows such as The New Adventures of Old Christine and Mind of Mencia.

Enjoy the clip below for a taste of the wry, mop-topped, sardonic host in his prime.

Describing his world view as one of "serene pessimism," he viewed humans as having no privileged status in the universe and said they would become extinct without leaving significant traces of their existence.

A safe prediction.
[Bloomberg. Pic via]

The story just broke, and the cause of death is unconfirmed thus far. But Wasserstein's health has been a subject of speculation for years; he shed a significant amount of weight a few years ago, sparking rumors of ill health then.

Wasserstein built a career as a consummate dealmaker. But his last piece of work in the media was a deal he didn't make; he withdrew from the bidding on BusinessWeek last month, after considering trying to land the magazine for his portfolio.

Born to a wealthy family in Brooklyn, Wasserstein came out of Harvard and became one of the premier M&A men on Wall Street. He advised on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of deals over the course of more than 20 years. He formed his own investment bank, sold it off for more than $1 billion, and then joined Lazard, where he continued his work.

He divorced his wife last year, and early this year married a much younger woman, who now finds herself a widow.

The effect of Wasserstein's death on New York and on his financial business are still unknown; but the fallout will surely be felt. Soon.

UPDATE: Daily Intel has this statement from the bosses at New York magazine:

New York Media editor-in-chief Adam Moss and publisher Larry Burstein released the following statement: "We're shocked and saddened by the loss of Bruce Wasserstein. We extend our deepest sympathy to his family and friends and share in their grief."

He had one of those 1960s stories so quintessential it sounds like a bad period movie: born in Coney Island, spent the early part of the '60s as a photojournalist covering civil rights and dog shows, fell in with Andy Warhol in '64, was the Factory photographer-in-residence for three years, became a Black Panther, and ended the decade by fleeing the states to spend 15 years in Katmandu selling hashish.

His Factory photos were instantly iconic, because that's how the Factory worked. Warhol and Dylan, Marcel Duchamp, the Velvet Underground performing live, and, of course, Edie.

He returned to the United States in 1982, became addicted to coke, and managed a British post-punk band. He kicked drugs and photographed club kids at Limelight.

Finkelstein died of pneumonia and emphysema. According to his website: "His work can be seen in upcoming exhibitions, including 'Who Shot Rock' at the Brooklyn Museum this Fall, and a retrospective at Idea Generation, London in December 2009."

Penn once said that "Photographing a cake can be art," and his portraits and still life raised the value of the objects in his work from the mundane into the magnificent. He was know for the extreme precision and realness of his photography, which managed to capture the eye and the imagination in an age well before Photoshop.

His most recent exhibit, Small Trades, a collection of more than 250 full-length portraits that he took in the '50s, is currently on display at the J. Paul Getty Museum in L.A.

Starting in 1983, Mr. Magic hosted "Rap Attack" with Marley Marl on WBLS radio in NYC—which was the first all-hip hop radio show, anywhere. For a long time, he was the man when it came to breaking new rappers on the East Coast. He got name-dropped a lot, as you would imagine. "Every Saturday, Rap Attack, Mr. Magic, Marley Marl," said Biggie Smalls. "I gots to have it/ I miss Mr. Magic," said Nas. Miss Info [via Gametagradio.com] posted a letter from DJ Premier this morning remembering the man's accomplishments:

HE PAVED THE WAY FOR ALL RADIO STATIONS THAT EVER DID MIXSHOWS AND ALSO SPARKED THE CAREER OF BOOGIE DOWN PRODUCTIONS DUE TO THE DISS HE SHOWED WHEN THEY CAME TO SHOP THEIR DEMO TO HIM AND WAS TURNED AWAY WHICH THEN SPARKED "SOUTH BRONX" AND "THE BRIDGE IS OVER"…….

And a late pass from us: RIP to Roc Raida, another hip hop legend and a crazy skilled scratch DJ with the X-Men who died about a week and a half ago after a martial arts accident. Life's short.

Kristol, born in Brooklyn to Orthodox Jews, was a Trotskyite at City College and an infantryman in World War II. When he came home, he edited Commentary, founded The Public Interest, and in the 1970s became the world's first Neoconservative.

Neoconservatives were, basically, former leftist intellectuals who decided they hated liberals, radicals, and Goldwater conservatives, and loved American moral superiority and, uh, tax cuts. It was much "sunnier" and nicer than regular conservatism. And they liked FDR. And Israel.

The big idea of Neoconservatism was, per 2003-era Irving, "cutting tax rates in order to stimulate steady economic growth." A revolutionary concept! Great for getting elected. And pretty good for getting reelected, until it stops working.

In fact, nearly every major tenet of his political philosophy, as he laid it out in 2003, informed the worst abuses of Bush administration. The entire section on foreign policy and American military might would be laughable if it weren't for the disastrous way in which his theories were tested on the ground.

He is survived by his son Bill Kristol—a remarkably embarrassing partisan party hack, which is at least not something Irving ever was—his wife Bea, and their daughter Elizabeth Nelson.

Gibson was an actor with a credit list as long as your arm, whose work included performing as a Laugh In regular, the role of the Neo-Nazi in The Blues Brothers, the voice of WIlbur in the original Charlotte's Web film, in Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia and most recently a stretch on Boston Legal. He was also a something of an early performance artist, doing a stage routine in which he meekly read off-kilter poetry.

But he is perhaps best known for his role in Robert Altman's classic Nashville in which he played meglomanical country superstar Haven Hamilton. For that part for which Gibson himself wrote the character's songs including We Must Be Doing Something Right To Last 200 Years, shown below set to a montage of patriotic images by someone who clearly did not see the film for which the song was written.

We all remember the Texas-born Swayze from his roles in Dirty Dancing and Ghost, but the actor's real break came from the television adaptation of North and South, a Civil War drama. The actor went on to star in a number of hits, like Point Break.

While we all have fond memories of Swayze's silver screen hits, we are most impressed by his courageous cancer battle. Though he knew his days were numbered, Swayae signed on to star in A&E's The Beast. And, honestly, whatever you'll say about the show, his gumption was commendable. We've previously honored Mr. Swayze with a video tribute, but here;s our absolutely favorite performance from Dirty Dancing, the sleeper hit that helped make him a star.

RIP, Patrick. You touched many lives and, as cynical and mean as we may be, will always be adored

Pang was the Golden State's answer to Bernie Madoff, accused of faking his educational credentials, diverting money he was supposed to be investing to his private jet and misrepresenting how his firm made money. His death came amid fresh question over whether Pang had diverted some assets to a lover to hide them from authorities.

Pang died after being rushed by paramedics to a hospital near his home, according to the Wall Street Journal. The coroner told the press there were no signs of foul play but will not say more until toxicology reports are complete.

Carroll's writing career started when he was attending Catholic prep school in the 1960s; he chronicled his rapid descent into heroin addiction—and the lengths he went to get it, like prostituting himself for money to buy it—in his journals, which were turned into The Basketball Diaries. After gaining popularity in the 70s, the book surged to popularity again in the 80s when it was repackaged and republished, and again in the 90s, when they were adapted into a film with Leonardo DiCaprio playing Carroll.

Carroll quickly rose to fame as a downtown fixture on New York's punk scene after the publication of Diaries; he gained the accolades of and influence over Patti Smith, Harmony Korine, Keith Richards, Lou Reed, Pearl Jam, Rancid, and others over the years.

Carroll and his mentor, Ted Berrigan, once took a trip to see Carroll's idol, Jack Kerouac. When they got there, Kerouac supposedly said: "At thirteen years of age, Jim Carroll writes better prose than 89 percent of the novelists working today."

Writers, magazines, actors, rock stars continued to want to be a part of Carroll's ongoing narrative; if the CBGB of yore had a poet laureate, it would've been unanimously voted as him. At one point, he actually hit the stage of CBGB as a musician sometime after Patti Smith infamously made him get on stage with her to read. Shortly thereafter, he secured a three-record deal with Atlantic Records.

Carroll's personal life remained spotty. He moved from New York to San Francisco in lieu of escaping drugs, but since moved back. He married Rosemary Klemfuss in 1978., but they later divorced. Carroll, however, kept clean, continued to write, perform spoken word, and record music, prolifically so.

Caroll loved writers, and loved the act of writing as much as the art of it. Carroll's survived by his brother Tom. He will be missed. Here he is, talking about Frank O'Hara:

Jim Carroll, Poet and Punk Rocker, Is Dead at 60 [NYT]

But judging from the clips available on YouTube, he appears to been something out of a pop culture design fantasy.

Bongiorno shot to fame in the 50's hosting the beloved Lascia o Raddoppia?, Italy's version of the $64,000. After that he went on to host a number of shows on Silvio Berlusconi's media empire, including, judging from the clips available on YouTube, an Italian version of Wheel of Fortune, something like an Italian Price Is Right set in a corn field, and another show that looks like an Italian Who Wants to Be a Millionaire set on a space station.

Overall, his ouevre appears to be what you'd get if Russ Meyer had art directed Bob Barker's career — which is more or less all the American public has been asking for all these years. Thank you Italy for at last making this dream come true; a shame we only realized it when it was too late.

Archerd, a New Yorker, brought new vitality to entertainment reporting and penned, for decades, the "Daily Variety" column for Variety and received kudos for breaking earth-shattering stories, perhaps most notably the fact that Rock Hudson died of AIDS. He was so trusted and well-respected, in fact, that Warren Beatty called Archerd to spread the word that he had married Annette Benning. That's no small potatoes.

Later, when television networks were angling for a piece of the action, rather than resisting, Archerd joined onto Entertainment Tonight for a spell. He also founded the People's Choice Awards, so we're all indebted to his egalitarian approach to entertainment. As a testimony to his place in the Hollywood media's upper echelons, Archerd played himself on the small and big screen.

Archerd left the scene back in 2005, when he retired to live out his days with his actress wife, Selma. He died this evening. He was 87-years old. Aspiring journalists of all ilks should be in awe.

Initial reports hint at a drug overdose; anonymous sources tell both the New York Post and TMZ that drug paraphernalia was found next to Goldstein's body in his Lafayette Street apartment.

On September 19, 2008, Goldstein and former Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker were critically injured in a Learjet crash in South Carolina. Four other people, including the pilot, copilot and two passengers, died in the incident. Second- and third-degree burns to Goldstein's hands and head required three surgeries. In the weeks after the incident, Goldstein told People magazine he was coping with the trauma one day at a time.

A decade or so earlier, Goldstein had attempted suicide amid a struggle with drug addiction before entering recovery and maintaining a sober life for close to 10 years. He also struggled with obesity from a young age and eventually had gastric bypass surgery.

Press accounts have referenced DJ AM's Twitter stream, where the last entry, dated Tuesday, is a reference to a Grandmaster Flash song, reading, "New York, New York. Big city of dreams, but everything in New York ain't always what it seems."

Goldstein had an on-again, off-again relationship with singer Mandy Moore and was once engaged to reality TV star Nicole Richie.

(Pic: Goldstein in June, at the launch of the videogame DJ Hero. Getty.)