Talk:Ric Ocasek

message: The article states that Ric Ocasek was born March 23rd, 1949. It also states that he graduated from Maple Heights High School in 1963. If both of those dates are correct that means he graduated from High School a couple months after turning 14. I suggest that at least one of those dates must be wrong.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kyle kursk (talk • contribs) 21:07, 11 December 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: It's been an open secret since the beginning of the Cars that he's older than stated but that's the date published in sources that meet Wikipedia guidelines for reliability so that's what we're stuck with. Apparently public records aren't to be considered per WP:BLPPRIMARY. For a long time Benjamin Orr's year of birth was given as 1953, as was Tom Petty's. I guess the record companies didn't want their new wave acts to be just a few years younger than the Beatles. Piriczki (talk) 14:17, 19 December 2017 (UTC)

text: If there are reliable-source citations for 1944, then we need to include them. Right now, we have AllMusic, Joel Whitburn, and The New York Times all saying 1949. Making claims based on one's analysis of when he ostensibly graduated high school, etc., is original research / WP:SYNTH. --Tenebrae (talk) 14:34, 3 May 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: I've added the 1944 date as well based on CNN and USA Today giving his age as 74 today (May 3, 2018), but these may be based on the uncited 1944 date given in Wikipedia until about a half-hour ago.--Tenebrae (talk) 14:46, 3 May 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: Year of birth was not based on when he graduated high school. Piriczki (talk) 16:02, 3 May 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: Hi, Piticzki. I didn't say it was. I was referring to the first comment in this section: "It states that he moved from Baltimore to Cleveland when he was 16 with his family. (1949+16=1965) It then states that he graduated from high school in Maple Heights (Cleveland) in 1963. How did he graduated from a high school two years before he moved to where the high school is." I'd also have to note that uncited "open secrets", i.e., rumors, aren't really RS. --Tenebrae (talk) 20:40, 3 May 2018 (UTC)

text: I don't know if this helps or is worth citing, but Newsday says, "Ocasek, who is either 69 or 74 according to different sources....".--Tenebrae (talk) 20:42, 3 May 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: I suppose that could be used to cite "sources differ" in the article's first sentence. I just corrected an edit that took out 1944 and left only 1949 -- the editor's comment said "all credible sources" say 1949, but I just found another source -- the Associated Press -- which says 1944. Having now put that source as a cite in the article, there is the AP, CNN, and USA Today saying 1944, and a book compiling Billboard charts, AllMusic, and a NY Times "Chronicles" social announcement on the 1993 birth of Ocasek's son saying 1949. If it weren't for the NY Times blurb, I'd say all credible sources say 1944. But until there is a credible source that both puts the date at one year and rejects the other year, it will likely have to remain with both years. Jhw57 (talk) 16:25, 7 May 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: How could it be that sources differ? can't you just ask his age in an interview? or check his US birth certificate and that's it. He's a public person, that should be easy --†_JuanPa_† (talk) 22:12, 10 September 2018 (UTC)

text: @Gerntrash Ric would've been 15 years old in 1964 when his first child Christopher was born. Also this article states that he graduated high school in 1963. You can never graduate high school at the age of 14. 107.218.152.97 (talk) 01:44, 16 September 2019 (UTC)
replies: text:  Cite your sources Gerntrash (talk) 01:47, 16 September 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: @Gerntrash Mylife.com (even though it's a blacklisted website) claims Christopher was born in 1964 and the early life section says he graduated from Maple Heights High School in 1963. Like I said, you can't possibly finish high school at age 14. 107.218.152.97 (talk) 01:49, 16 September 2019 (UTC)

text: Sorry, that is WP:SYN.  DOB tagged as needing a reliable source and current date as dubious with reasoning and citation. Toddst1 (talk) 12:31, 16 September 2019 (UTC)

text: Ric Ocasek was born March 23, 1944. His family moved to Maple Heights, Ohio in 1960 (source: 1959 Baltimore City Directory and 1960 Cleveland City Directory). He graduated from Maple Heights High School in 1963 (he said so himself in the source cited in the article). He appears in the 1961, 1962 and 1963 editions of the Maple Heights High School yearbook. He was married in 1963 or 1964 (source: Cuyahoga County Marriage Records and Indexes). His first child was born June 26, 1964 (source: Ohio birth index). That makes a birth date of 1949 quite dubious. Ohnothimagain (talk) 12:56, 16 September 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: Sure.  Now go get a WP:RS to back that up.  Toddst1 (talk) 13:04, 16 September 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: I added a source from NME that has his DOB in 1944. Spengouli (talk) 14:28, 16 September 2019 (UTC)

text: Per   his date of birth is disputed.  Toddst1 (talk) 18:08, 16 September 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: Do you have a source that a) I can actually read (bloody GDPR…) and b) states that his date of birth is disputed that doesn't date from before we started querying it? I suspect he's used us for that.--Launchballer 18:23, 16 September 2019 (UTC)
replies: text:  , the passage in that NYT obituary that is being referred to is as follows: "Sources have differed on Mr. Ocasek’s age; some say he was 70, but a few public records and previous articles about him suggest that he was 75."  Doc StrangeMailboxLogbook 18:28, 16 September 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: Note: the updated NYT article now states 75, with the above note removed. All other major news organizations seem to be also reporting 75 - perhaps we could just note the fact the 1949 also has been reported in the past? Connormah (talk) 22:44, 16 September 2019 (UTC)

text: Also, per the Washington Post  "Tall and lanky, with a fondness for dark sunglasses and a corresponding aversion to publicity, Mr. Ocasek had long declined to clarify varying reports about his age, which some sources gave as 70. According to a New York police spokesman, he was 75, and was discovered by police officers about 4 p.m. Sunday in response to a 911 call. The medical examiner’s office announced on Monday that the cause was heart disease, and noted that he had pulmonary emphysema. [...] Mr. Ocasek was born Richard Otcasek in Baltimore on March 23, 1944, according to New York Police Department records." Connormah (talk) 22:52, 16 September 2019 (UTC)

text: FWIW, The Washington Post, citing New York police records, reports his birth date as March 23, 1944. – Archer1234 (talk) 02:54, 17 September 2019 (UTC)

text: So, basically everything I've already posted here and elsewhere on Wikipedia. Ohnothimagain (talk) 23:27, 17 September 2019 (UTC)

text: Thank you,  Doc Strange. Gerntrash (talk) 01:34, 19 September 2019 (UTC)

text: Pardon me for bringing this topic back from the dead (no pun intended), but given that sources meeting WP:RS discuss the confusion that arose about Ocasek's true age after his death, is there a reason this story hasn't been incorporated into the article? It's helpful information for the casual reader who may not realize that the matter was conclusively settled. Also, I think it's interesting (not to mention bizarre) that he apparently falsified government documents to maintain the pretense. Carguychris (talk) 20:40, 20 September 2023 (UTC)

text: 75 is more accurate. This article says Ric graduated high school in 1963, and according to the website mylife.com, his first child Christopher was born in 1964. There's no way he could have given birth to his first child at the age of 15. 107.218.152.97 (talk) 01:31, 16 September 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: WP:IMDBREF Toddst1 (talk) 23:07, 16 September 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Age? 

message: Change his age from 75 to 70 under the personal life and death section: https://pagesix.com/2019/09/15/the-cars-frontman-ric-ocasek-found-dead-in-manhattan-townhouse/ 2604:6000:1011:4687:E9A6:247C:E3B0:86F1 (talk) 01:21, 16 September 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: 75 is more accurate. This article says Ric graduated high school in 1963, and according to the website mylife.com, his first child Christopher was born in 1964. There's no way he could have given birth to his first child at the age of 15. 107.218.152.97 (talk) 01:31, 16 September 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Semi-protected edit request on 16 September 2019 

message: You erroneously say he was 70 when he died at the end of the article. He was 75. 165.225.0.77 (talk) 01:35, 16 September 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Semi-protected edit request on 16 September 2019 

message: Ric Ocasek was 70. He was born March 23, 1949 and died September 15, 2019. 108.29.20.192 (talk) 01:42, 16 September 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Semi-protected edit request on 16 September 2019 

message: All sources of Ric's birthday point to the media, who are unreliable source.
This source in the Library of Congress is hard evidence that Ric was born in 1949. 
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n88615966.html 194.36.17.147 (talk) 01:50, 16 September 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: WP:IMDBREF Toddst1 (talk) 23:07, 16 September 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Semi-protected edit request on 16 September 2019 

message: If Ric Ocasek was born in 1949, he was not 75 when he died. One of the numbers is wrong. Her22372 (talk) 12:31, 16 September 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Age Discrepancy for Ric Ocasek 

message: He has a son who is older than me - and I'm 54.   So, I'm guessing he was 75.  I doubt he had a son at age of 15.
Perhaps he keep his age a mystery because when the Cars broke in the late 70s he was in his mid thirites - which was, in those days,
considered old for Rock & Roll.  But not anymore of course.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:46:8200:450E:5D6:67EF:5E07:DB05 (talk) 13:20, 16 September 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Confusion over his age 

message: Any relation to Oliver Ocasek (November 2, 1925 – June 25, 1999) who served as President of the Ohio State Senate in the 1970s and 1980s?--Artaxerxes 13:41, 16 September 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: Testing signature linking.--Artaxerxes (talk) 11:37, 17 September 2019 (UTC)

text: In a July 2008 interview in a Czech outlet (iDNEZ.cz), Paulina stated: "But he did not know his grandmother and grandfather from Bohemia much, and his father was already born in America."--Artaxerxes (talk) 16:42, 17 September 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: The only living grandparent when Ric was born in 1944 was his paternal grandfather, August. Ric's mother, Pauline, was orphaned in 1933 at age 13. She was adopted by William and Cora Brown and was living with them on the 1940 US census and listed as Pauline Brown (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K7XD-LXH). Cora Brown would have been the grandmother in Baltimore that Ric Ocasek referred to in interviews as encouraging his interest in music. 73.72.224.164 (talk) 11:52, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

text: Hard enough just getting his age. Having resolved that: he married Constance in 1963, the year he was graduated from high school. With a reliable source showing wedding date (year, month, day) we could, yes.--Artaxerxes (talk) 15:53, 20 September 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Family 

message: The wire story I read in the local paper about Ocasek's death, I believe from the Washington Post but I can't confirm it as their site is blocking me, stated that his birth name was Ritchard Otcasek.  Note the divergent spelling of first name that no one else appears to be acknowledging.  Just thought I'd throw that out. RadioKAOS / Talk to me, Billy / Transmissions  01:34, 26 September 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Since we're talking about discrepancies here 

message: In the 1993 film "Fear of a Black Hat" , the band N.W.H. , tries its hand at doing a more "mainstream" musical collaboration - ala Run DMC & Aerosmyth - and team up with Ric for a cover of The Tubes song , "White Punks On Dope". ( Re-titled, "White Cops On Dope".). The scene did not make the final cut of the film ,but,the music video does appear as a bonus feature on the DVD release,as well as appearing on the soundtrack album. 75.104.163.41 (talk) 02:17, 9 October 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: WP:ISAWIT, did ya?  Toddst1 (talk) 02:19, 9 October 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cameo in "Fear of a Black Hat". 

message: Are we sure?  73.6.96.168 (talk) 01:16, 6 September 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, I'm sure; we've got five sources for his death, one of them The New York Times. — JohnFromPinckney (talk) 03:39, 6 September 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  He's Dead? 

message: I first saw Mr. Ocasek late one night in the 1980s, when I worked at City Market in Aspen, Colorado. He seemed stoned out of his mind, so, as we were used to dealing with famous people, unless one might have done something unacceptable, I let him be. Years later, after returning to Long Island, where I was studying at LIU, I saw Mr. Ocasek again at Kennedy Airport, where, because my girlfriend's family had not shown up in order to meet us, he offered us a ride to Huntington Village. As I remember, he had an SUV or a minivan, because it was roomy. He was with his wife and at least one of his kids. I told him about our meeting in Aspen, but he kind of shrugged it off. I found him to be very pleasant, courteous, and simply the nicest famous person whom I had ever met. - Bryce "Jack" Combs  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 178.89.101.59 (talk) 00:32, 23 March 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Nice Guy