Life In Legacy - Week of September 29, 2007

Art and Literature

Ken Danby (67) Canadian realist painter best known for his 1972 painting At the Crease, depicting a masked hockey goaltender and considered by many a Canadian national symbol. Danby was known for creating unique visual images that study everyday life. He was believed to have suffered a heart attack when he collapsed and died while canoeing in Canada's Algonquin Park in northern Ontario on September 23, 2007.

André Emmerich (82) influential Manhattan art dealer whose gallery was an early champion of the '50s and '60s school of Color Field painting. Emmerich also mounted important shows of pre-Columbian art. He presided over an extensive stable of American and European contemporary artists (1954-98), mounting elegant presentations in two consecutive uptown galleries. He had a stroke earlier in the month and died in New York City on September 25, 2007.

Walter Kempowski (78) German author, a chronicler of German history best known for his books on World War II that drew on personal narratives. The tragedy of that war, expulsion and displacement, and the tumultuous postwar years were themes that dominated Kempowski's work. He died of cancer in northeastern Germany on September 28, 2007.

Lenore Tawney (100) artist whose monumental sculptural weavings redefined the possibilities of both sculpture and weaving in the second half of the 20th century and helped to create the genre of fiber art. In the '60s, besides small-scale weavings influenced by American Indian, Peruvian, and African art, Tawney began producing enigmatic assemblage boxes and collages, including postcard collages, with sometimes fragile objects attached, which she sent to friends without envelopes; no piece was ever lost in the mail. She died in New York City on September 24, 2007.

William Zimmer (61) art critic who covered SoHo's gallery scene in the '70s and '80s and later wrote for the New York Times (1982-2004), reviewing art for the Westchester, Connecticut, and New Jersey regional sections, and other publications. Zimmer died of cancer in New York City on September 28, 2007.

Business and Science

Alfred Audi (69) businessman who rescued the L. & J. G. Stickley Co. from near financial collapse and restored it as one of America's preeminent furniture makers. Audi bought the Stickley company in 1974; his father had been the biggest Stickley furniture dealer in the country at his store in New York City. The younger Audi died after battling cancer for two years, in Syracuse, New York on September 29, 2007.

Minnie Ortner (97) cofounder with her husband, Harvey (d. 1991), of Harvey's Broiler, the landmark '50s Downey (Calif.) drive-in restaurant and coffee shop that became a southern California car-culture magnet and later was renamed Johnie's Broiler after they sold it in the '60s. It closed in 2001. In January 2007, much of the iconic restaurant structure was illegally demolished by bulldozers before police halted the demolition. The Downey city prosecutor filed a criminal case against the site's tenant, charged with conducting a demolition without a permit. A jury trial was scheduled to begin Oct. 9. Minnie Ortner died of pneumonia in Hacienda Heights, California on September 25, 2007.

Kazuko Oshima (65) noted jewelry designer whose work combined the delicacy of wire with the solidity of stone. Sold exclusively in the US by Barney's, Oshima's jewelry was popular worldwide with well-heeled women and celebrities, among them Bianca Jagger. Oshima died of esophageal cancer in New York City on September 28, 2007.

Wolfgang ("Pief") Panofsky (88) nuclear physicist and brilliant administrator, the driving force behind the creation of Stanford University's 2-mile-long linear electron accelerator. Panofsky made crucial discoveries about the nature of the neutral pi meson, advised three US Presidents about science, and was a powerful proponent of nuclear arms control. He died of a heart attack in Los Altos, California on September 24, 2007.

George Rieveschl (91) chemical engineer whom millions of sufferers of allergies, colds, rashes, hives, and hay fever can thank for the relief they receive by swallowing a capsule of beta-dimethylaminoethylbenzhydryl ether hydrochloride—the antihistamine he invented and renamed Benadryl. Rieveschl died of pneumonia in Cincinnati, Ohio on September 27, 2007.

Lorraine Rothman (75) cofounder of the feminist self-help clinic movement who demystified basic gynecology for thousands of women at centers in Los Angeles and Orange counties. In 1971, Rothman, a teacher and mother of four, founded with Carol Downer the Los Angeles Feminist Women's Health Center, which taught women how to perform their own cervical self-examinations and pregnancy tests. They also popularized a procedure called menstrual extraction, which could be used as a method of early abortion. Rothman died of cancer in Fullerton, California on September 25, 2007.

Education

Robert J. Bruss (67) author, investment expert, and syndicated real estate columnist whose advice appeared in newspapers across the country for more than 20 years. Bruss was noted for his straightforward, knowledgeable writing on questions that often perplex consumers. He wrote about such matters as how to prepare a house for sale, whether vacation homes were good investments, and how to choose a Realtor or home inspector. He died of cancer in Burlingame, California on September 26, 2007.

Frederick H. Burkhardt (95) prominent educator who headed both the American Council of Learned Societies and Bennington College and helped to put the open-admissions policy into effect at the City University of New York (CUNY). Burkhardt died of congestive heart failure 10 days after his 95th birthday, in Bennington, Vermont on September 23, 2007.

Martha Anne Dow (68) president of the Oregon Institute of Technology and a microbiologist who taught for more than 25 years. Dow died while receiving breast cancer treatment in Portland, Oregon on September 29, 2007.

Ivan Hinderaker (91) longest-serving chancellor (1964-79) of the University of California at Riverside, who led the campus in its formative years as it struggled for students and respect. Hinderaker came along when the college, which opened in 1954, was struggling to boost its enrollment and name recognition. Among other achievements, he pushed for the building of the Carillon Tower, now a landmark bell tower on the Riverside campus. He died in Irvine, California on September 23, 2007.

John Johns (85) former president of Furman Universiy who helped to steer the school through its separation from the South Carolina Baptist Convention in 1992. During his 18-year tenure, Johns helped to raise the school's endowment from $12 million to $109 million when he retired in 1994. He had been hospitalized and died in Greenville, South Carolina on September 27, 2007.

News and Entertainment

Patrick Bourque (29) former bassist for the Canadian country music band Emerson Drive. Bourque replaced the band's original bass player, Jeff Loberg, in 2003 but resigned from the band in August '07. He died suddenly in Montreal, Canada on September 25, 2007.

Velma Wayne Dawson (94) woman who made the Howdy Doody marionettes for the NBC-TV children's show from 1948 until the program ended in '60. Dawson died in Palm Desert, California on September 26, 2007.

Charles B. Griffith (77) screenwriter and director best known for writing low-budget Roger Corman movies, including The Little Shop of Horrors (1960). In a Hollywood screenwriting career that began in the mid-'50s, Griffith wrote more than two dozen films. Many were directed by Corman, including Attack of the Crab Monsters, Not of This Earth, A Bucket of Blood, Teenage Doll, Creature from the Haunted Sea, and Rock All Night. His most memorable screenplay may be The Little Shop of Horrors, the outrageous black comedy about a dimwitted flower shop flunky named Seymour who breeds a giant man-eating plant. (Griffith is pictured above in an uncredited role as a burglar.) A cult favorite, the film was adapted for an '80s Broadway musical and filmed again in 1986. Griffith died five days after his 77th birthday, in San Diego, California on September 28, 2007.

Inkyo Volt Hwang (38) X-rated movie director, known sometimes as Chico Wanker Wang, who had been involved in making more than 300 pornographic movies. Hwang was at first a suspect in the death of his wife, porn actress Maryam Haley (25; aka Haley Paige), who died mysteriously of a suspected drug overdose on August 21, but no charges were filed. Hwang was found dead in a motel room in Morgan Hill, California on September 29, 2007.

Evelyn Knight (89) popular recording star of the '40s and early '50s. A versatile singer known for her sophisticated, witty style, Knight had 13 top-40 hits (1944-51). "A Little Bird Told Me," which sold more than 2 million copies, was a No. 1 hit for seven weeks in early 1949. Knight died of lung cancer in San Jose, California on September 28, 2007.

Martin Manulis (92) stage, TV, and film producer best known for launching Playhouse 90, the live dramatic anthology series that became a TV classic. The sole producer of more than 60 Playhouse 90 segments, including every one in its first two seasons, Manulis brought together a host of first-rate directors, writers, and actors. The CBS-TV show, which debuted in 1956, won six Emmys in its first season, including best new program series. Manulis died in Los Angeles, California on September 28, 2007.

Lois Maxwell (80) Canadian-born actress who was to many fans the definitive Miss Moneypenny in James Bond films. As secretary to Bond's chief M, Maxwell as Moneypenny was the demure foil to Bond's suave rake in 14 films from Dr. No (1962) to A View to a Kill (1985). She died of cancer in Perth, Australia on September 29, 2007.

Ashley Perrin (25) daughter of Marguerite Perrin, cast member of the Fox network reality show Trading Spouses, who had also appeared in several episodes of the series along with her younger sister Abigail. Ashley Perrin was killed in a car accident in Ponchatoula, Louisiana on September 25, 2007.

Natalya Pivovarova (44) Russian singer and founding member of the St. Petersburg's seminal indie pop band Kolibri who had released six albums in a 10-year span. Pivovarova mysteriously left the group in 1998 and later formed a new band called S.O.U.S. She was killed in a car accident near Koktebel, Ukraine on September 24, 2007.

Gary Primich (49) harmonica player whose soulful and proficient playing developed a strong following among blues fans in the US and Europe. Primich had recorded eight CDs. He died suddenly and unexpectedly in Austin, Texas on September 23, 2007.

Randy van Horne (83) founder of the Randy Van Horne Singers, a studio group that performed the theme songs for The Flintstones, The Jetsons, The Huckleberry Hound Show, and several other popular TV cartoons of the '60s. In the late '50s, veteran film singing dubber Marni Nixon was a member of the group. Van Horne died of cancer in Woodland Hills, California on September 26, 2007.

Conway Wickliffe (41) special effects technician who had worked on numerous blockbuster films, including the James Bond movies Casiono Royale (2006), Die Another Day (2002), and V for Vendetta (2005). Wickliffe was currently working on the Batman sequel, Batman: The Dark Knight (2008), due to be released in UK cinemas in the summer of 2008. He was killed while riding in a truck carrying a camera platform that crashed into a tree while following a stunt vehicle during a test run at a special effects facility in Longcross, Surrey, England on September 24, 2007.

Politics and Military

Abu Usama al-Tunisi (??) senior leader of the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaida, believed to be connected to the kidnapping and killings of three American soldiers in June 2006 in Fallujah, Iraq. al-Tunisi later became a leader in helping to bring foreign terrorists into the country and may have held the only key to al-Qaida leadership there. He was shot and killed by US-led forces in Baghdad, Iraq on September 28, 2007.

Nenad Bogdanovic (54) Belgrade mayor who launched the Serbian capital's postwar recovery. A senior official in the pro-Western Democratic Party, Bogdanovic played an important role in Belgrade politics after the 2000 ouster of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Bogdanovic was elected mayor in 2004. He died of cancer in Belgrade, Serbia on September 27, 2007.

Paul Crowley (57) longest-serving Democrat in the Rhode Island House of Representatives. Crowley, who owned La Forge Casino Restaurant, was first elected to office in 1981 and was deputy chairman of the House Finance Committee. Much of his legislative career was spent trying to improve the state's school districts. He died of cancer in Newport, Rhode Island on September 24, 2007.

Harry Dent (77) former top adviser to President Richard M. Nixon who helped Nixon to win the White House in 1968 by beating Democrat Hubert Humphrey by a slim margin that included winning the previously solid Democrat South. Dent and his wife later started a lay ministry that helped to build churches and orphanages in Romania after the fall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989. Dent died of Alzheimer's disease in Columbia, South Carolina on September 28, 2007.

Claude ("Blackie") Evans (71) longtime Nevada labor leader. Evans was head of the state AFL-CIO (1978-99), which represents more than 150 local unions and more than 120,000 members, and oversaw Nevada political action efforts, lobbying for labor-related laws at the state Legislature. He died of apparent heart failure in Henderson, Nevada on September 28, 2007.

Rod Gander (76) former chief of correspondents at Newsweek who later became president of Marlboro College and served for four years (2002-06) in the Vermont state Senate. Gander suffered from lung cancer but died of heart failure in Brattleboro, Vermont on September 24, 2007.

Carol Ann Gotbaum (45) stepdaughter-in-law of New York City public advocate Betsy Gotbaum, arrested at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport for disorderly conduct after a conflict with gate crews who refused to allow her to board a plane after arriving late at the airport. Initial reports indicated that Gotbaum was "yelling and screaming" and running through the terminal. She was found dead in a holding cell, apparently after accidentally strangling herself while trying to move her handcuffs from behind her back to the front, in Phoenix, Arizona on September 28, 2007. Update: The Maricopa County (Ariz.) Medical Examiner's Office released its autopsy report on November 9, 2007, saying that Gotbaum, on her way to a rehab center in Tucson, was acutely intoxicated on alcohol and prescription drugs when she accidentally strangled herself in a police holding room at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

Richard Graham (86) founding officer of the National Organization of Women (NOW) who also played an important role in launching the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). In the early '60s Graham was prominent in what leading feminist Betty Friedan called the "underground feminist movement," a mostly female network in Washington, DC whose members promoted women's issues, often at great risk to their government jobs. He died of a stroke in Royal Oak, Maryland on September 24, 2007.

Pat M. Holt (87) leading Latin American affairs expert with the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (1950-77) whose misgivings about the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba were ignored. Holt died of septicemia, a blood infection, in Arlington County, Virginia on September 24, 2007.

Donald J. Mulvihill (76) lawyer who studied the causes of violent crime under President Lyndon B. Johnson and led the Washington office of the law firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel for more than 40 years. In 1968, Mulvihill directed a task force on individual acts of violence for the National Commission on the Causes & Prevention of Violence, a group convened by Johnson after the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. Mulvihill died of a brain tumor four days after his 76th birthday, in Washington, DC on September 29, 2007.

Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema (90) Dutch World War II resistance hero—better known as the "Soldier of Orange." Roeelfzema was a student at the University of Leiden when the Nazis occupied the Netherlands and later went underground and fled to England, where he carried out numerous missions in the service of the Dutch royal house in exile. He died in his sleep in Hawaii on September 26, 2007.

Haidar Abdel Shafi (88) former Palestinian negotiator, leading Palestinian nationalist, and physician. Shafi was best known internationally for leading the Palestinian team with Jordan to the Madrid Peace Conference in 1991 and to peace talks in Washington in the two years after. He died of stomach cancer in Gaza City, Gaza Strip on September 25, 2007.

Gen. Otto Spacek (89) Czech World War II fighter who fought against Nazi Germany in Britain and participated in an operation that liberated France. As a member of the Royal Air Force in 1944, Spacek participated in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, an operation that began the liberation of France and western Europe from the Nazi troops, and survived three air crashes. He died in Prague, Czech Republic on September 24, 2007.

Society and Religion

Hugo Black 3rd (54) assistant US attorney who shared a name with his grandfather, a former US Supreme Court Justice. Besides being the grandson of former Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, he also was the son of longtime Miami prosecutor Hugo Black Jr. The youngest Black joined the US AttorneyÕs Office in 1995 and mostly prosecuted white collar fraud cases. He died of intestinal bleeding in Miami, Florida on September 29, 2007.

Juli Blakeley (63) South Carolina woman who gained fame in the '70s and spent years in the public eye after giving birth to quadruplets—Olivia, Katie, Blake, and Clay—but whose relationship with her ex-husband, Kenneth W. Thornton, was contentious. Thornton was recently released from prison after serving a three-year sentence for failing to pay child support and alimony for many years. Blakeley's body was found in a house fire; investigators determined that she had been murdered and that the fire was deliberately set, on Pawleys Island, South Carolina on September 28, 2007.

Rev. George Brooks Sr. (81) longtime civil rights activist in Phoenix who founded a church, served in the Arizona state Legislature, and led the Maricopa County NAACP chapter in the '60s. Brooks took over the county NAACP chapter in 1961 and fought for the rights of blacks who struggled to get jobs, were barred from Phoenix hotels, and could find only a handful of places to buy a meal in the city. He also served a term as a legislator in 1991-92 after a scandal led to the convictions of seven lawmakers for bribery and other crimes. He founded Southminster Presbyterian Church, helped to bring Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to Phoenix in the '60s, and championed the first Meals on Wheels and Head Start programs in south Phoenix. He died in Phoenix, Arizona on September 26, 2007.

Nadine Carson (76) Los Angeles philanthropist and community volunteer who supported several causes involving the arts, education, and the special needs of children. Carson often made financial contributions with her husband, Ed, chairman of First Interstate Bancorp until he retired in 1995. They were major supporters of the Music Center—including Walt Disney Concert Hall, where a small outdoor amphitheater is named for them. Nadine Carson died of cancer in Houston, Texas on September 23, 2007.

Richard DuBois (74) former Mr. USA of 1957, one of the musclemen who later toured the country in Mae West's stage act. In the '50s and early '60s, DuBois was a sought-after physique model who frequently appeared in muscle magazines. He eventually became an evangelist and for the last 19 years was pastor of Gospel Lighthouse in West Los Angeles. He died in Santa Monica, California on September 26, 2007.

Kurt Julius Goldstein (93) Holocaust survivor who later played a large role in fighting racism and anti-Semitism. Goldstein was one of fewer than 500 prisoners out of 3,000 to survive the 1945 Nazi-forced "death march" from Auschwitz in Poland to the Buchenwald concentration camp in central Germany. He died in Berlin, Germany on September 24, 2007.

Adam Cardinal Kozlowiecki (96) Polish-born Jesuit missionary who spent most of his life in Africa, where he became the first archbishop of Lusaka, Zambia in 1959. Kozlowiecki resigned that post in 1969, saying that a native African should have it. (The results were unfortunate; he was succeeded by Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, whose erratic behavior led to his own resignation in 1983 and his excommunication in September 2006.) A survivor of two Nazi concentration camps, Kozlowiecki continued his missionary work until his death in Lusaka, Zambia on September 28, 2007.

Michael Richard (49) Texas inmate put to death for the 1986 shooting of Marguerite Lucille Dixon, a 53-year-old nurse and mother of seven, killed in her own home just eight weeks after Richard's release from his second prison term. Hours after the US Supreme Court announced it would review whether the lethal injection method most states use is cruel and unusual, Richard was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas on September 25, 2007.

David Hans Schmidt (47) Phoenix man expected to plead guilty for trying to extort more than $1 million from actor Tom Cruise for stolen wedding photos. Dubbed the "Sultan of Sleaze" for peddling celebrity porn, Schmidt was arrested in July for attempting to sell Cruise stolen photos of his own 2006 Italian wedding to actress Katie Holmes. Schmidt was expected to enter a formal guilty plea during an Oct. 11 hearing in a Los Angeles-area federal court and faced up to two years in prison. He was found dead in his home from an apparent suicide, in Phoenix, Arizona on September 28, 2007.

Rabbi Avraham Shapira (94) spiritual leader of Israel's religious Zionist movement, a chief rabbi in that country for 10 years beginning in 1983. Shapira was best known for his call on observant soldiers in 2005 to disobey orders to dismantle 21 Jewish settlements during Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip that year, which helped to foster widespread fervent opposition to the pullout and fears of clashes between settlers with their backers and the security forces. Shapira died in Jerusalem, Israel on September 27, 2007.