I n Arizona, 2025 may be remembered as the year of two momentous deaths in particular. March brought the death at 77 of Raúl Grijalva, the longtime Tucson congressman and progressive stalwart. And in September, an assassin’s bullet cut down 31-year-old conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk, who’d built a Phoenix-based political influence machine with national reach. But Grijalva and Kirk were far from the only notable Arizonans who died last year. The Valley lost beloved restaurateurs, impactful music figures and longtime staples of the local arts scene. It bid farewell to familiar TV news faces and a Pulitzer-winning cartoonist. It’s also the year that the state began executing prisoners again, putting two convicted murderers to death. Here are some of the most notable figures who died in 2025. ROBERT X. PLANET JAN. 5 Any history of Phoenix’s rich ‘80s punk music scene isn’t complete without discussing Robert X. Planet and his band Killer Pussy, which played a kitschy mix of new wave and punk that was funny, bawdy and unique. The band’s singer, Lucy LaMode, told Phoenix New Times the two were “joined at the hip” since they met in the late ‘70s. The Killer Pussy song “Teenage Enema Nurses in Bondage” has become a classic track beyond Arizona’s borders. Planet was also known for his humorous and irreverent takes on culture throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s. He let his giant creative flag fly with robot creations, fashion designs and building sets for plays. More recently, he and Roxanne DeWinter graced the seminal downtown arts space The Alwun House with staged readings of Edgar Allen Poe’s works each Halloween. Planet died in his sleep in January. He was 74. – Amy Young ANGEL DIAZ APRIL 30 Angel Diaz made Phoenix more colorful. The tattoo artist and muralist’s bold work, often inspired by Mexican culture and the Sonoran Desert, graces many a client and wall around the Valley. His other gifts to the city were intangible — the support he gave to other artists and the love he had for his community — but their impact was on display 10 days after his death at 45, when friends, family and fans filled a Phoenix art space to celebrate his life and raise money for his family. A GoFundMe page encapsulated Diaz’s legacy. “Angel Diaz was more than an artist,” it reads. “He was a storyteller, a mentor and a visionary. His murals brightened city walls, his tattoos carried deep meaning for those who wore them and his crafts were treasures to everyone who held them. Though he may be gone, his art lives on.” Sadly, not all of his work remains. His “Super Barrio Bros.” Nintendo-themed mural, on the building on the corner of Van Buren and 16th streets, was painted over in August when a car dealership bought the building. Its loss is even more deeply felt with the loss of its creator. – Jennifer Goldberg LORI HASSLER JULY 22 Lori Hassler left an outsized impact on the Valley through her food, friends and family. The Phoenix chef owned The Farish House, a charming French bistro located in a historic brick house downtown. There, she served carefully crafted dishes that were both elegant and comforting. Hassler grew up in Tempe, graduated from Arizona State University and traveled throughout Europe, studying food and wine. She opened the Scottsdale restaurant Radda-Cafe Bar in 2003, later working as a wine representative and personal chef. She opened The Farish House in 2018. In 2020, Hassler was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, which she fought for the next five years until her death at 54. Her friends remember the chef and mother as kind, strong and a “badass” leader. Hassler is survived by her husband of 25 years, their daughter and her beloved downtown Phoenix restaurant, which continues her legacy of warm hospitality and thoughtfully crafted food. – Tirion Boan FRANK CAMACHO AUG. 29 Born in Laveen, where his father worked as a cotton farmer, Frank Camacho grew to become a television pioneer and one of the most recognizable faces on local television. He died in August at 75. After starting his career in radio — first at KRUX and then at KTAR — Camacho transitioned to television, spending three decades as a news anchor for Arizona’s Family. He was one of the first Mexican- American news anchors in Arizona. For more than 30 years, Camacho was beamed into the homes of Valley residents. He interviewed every president from Gerald Ford to Barack Obama, and was on the air to announce the end of the 2004 Lewis Prison standoff, which was the longest in U.S. history. He retired in 2012, later serving as the communications director for the Arizona Democratic Party. But he was a newsman through and through. “Once you’re in the news business, once you’re a journalist,” he told the Arizona Republic in 2019, “I guess you always are.” – Zach Buchanan BETSY MAE QUAN TOY YEE OCT. 18 Betsy Mae Quan Toy Yee served as the charismatic matriarch of the casual downtown Japanese restaurant Blue Fin for nearly 30 years. She was 91 years old. The Phoenix native studied at Arizona State University and Columbia University, then worked in education as a high school counselor. She traveled the world. Yee and her husband, Howard, raised five children and opened Ye Olde Pharmacy and Ye Olde Trader. She also made savvy investments in real estate. That included the building housing Blue Fin. When the Japanese restaurant’s owner had to move, Yee took over the eatery rather than find a new tenant. “She just had all this energy, and she needed to channel it somewhere,” her daughter, Lyn Yee, said. Betsy Yee and her staff built a loyal following of lunchtime regulars that included politicos, journalists and educa- tors working at downtown schools. Yee was known for stopping at tables to chat and top up drinks. Blue Fin has remained a staple while downtown has changed, with high-rises shooting upward and a light rail line initially threatening the building. Notably, Yee successfully organized to save the restaurant from an eminent domain claim. Her willingness to push back, not roll over, was a critical lesson for her daughter. In addition to her children and grand- children, Yee is survived by Blue Fin, which Lyn runs with the same commit- ment to affordable food with a personal touch. – Sara Crocker by Phoenix New Times Staff The Departed
