Life In Legacy - Week of December 27, 2008

Art and Literature

Edward D. Cartier (94) artist whose illustrations graced The Shadow in the '30s and '40s and numerous other science fiction and mystery publications in a career that spanned several decades. Cartier had suffered from Parkinson's disease in recent years and died in Ramsey, New Jersey on December 25, 2008.

Thomas B. Congdon Jr. (77) book editor who guided into print columnist Russell Baker's memoir (Growing Up), Peter Benchley's biggest best-seller (Jaws), and David Halberstam's mammoth tome about the auto industry (The Reckoning), eventually founding his own short-lived (1979-85) publishing house. Described by authors as a meticulous, old-fashioned line editor, Congdon worked at several publishing houses in the '70s—Harper & Row, Doubleday, and E. P. Dutton, where he was editor in chief. He died of complications from Parkinson's disease and congestive heart failure, in Nantucket, Massachusetts on December 23, 2008.

Aldo Crommelynck (77) master printmaker whose style and command of techniques depicted the best of European artists including Picasso, Braque, and Matisse, and later helped younger American artists like Jim Dine and Jasper Johns to express their visions on paper. Crommelynck died of pneumonia in Paris, France on December 22, 2008.

Robert Graham (70) sculptor whose massive bronze works mark civic monuments across America, including the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, DC., where his life-size figure of Roosevelt in his wheelchair is installed at the entrance to the memorial. Graham's sculptures also honor boxer Joe Louis in Detroit, jazz great Charlie Parker in Kansas City, and Duke Ellington in New York's Central Park. Graham had been married to Oscar-winning actress Anjelica Huston since 1992. He died in Santa Monica, California on December 27, 2008.

Robert Nylen (64) cofounder and publisher of New England Monthly, a highly regarded regional literary magazine (1984-90). In 1986-87, New England Monthly won National Magazine Awards for general excellence in the under-100,000-circulation category. In 1990 it had a circulation of 140,000 but ceased publication that September, a casualty of the economic downturn in New England. At his death, Nylen was a magazine consultant and free-lance writer. He died of cancer in Ashfield, Massachusetts on December 23, 2008.

Business and Science

René-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet (65) distinguished investor who traced his lineage to the French aristocracy, hobnobbed with members of European high society, and sailed around the world on fancy yachts. But after losing more than $1 billion of his clients' money to Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme, De la Villehuchet locked the door of his Madison Avenue office and apparently swallowed sleeping pills and slashed his wrists with a box cutter, in New York City on December 23, 2008.

Philip S. Egan (88) industrial designer, one of the last surviving members of the Tucker '48 sedan design team. The Tucker automobile was born of the vision of Preston Thomas Tucker, a self-taught automobile designer. It sold for just $2,450; only 51 were ever built. Egan created much of its interior. Today, 47 Tuckers survive, in museums and private hands; in 2008, one of them sold at auction for just over a million dollars. Egan died in San Rafael, California on December 26, 2008.

Christine Maggiore (52) skeptical AIDS patient who denounced research showing that HIV causes AIDS and refused to take medications to treat her own virus. Maggiore came to believe that flu shots, pregnancy, and common viral infections could lead to a positive test result. She gave birth to two children and breast-fed them, denying any risk to their health. When her 3-year-old daughter, Eliza Jane, died of what the coroner determined was AIDS-related pneumonia, Maggiore protested the findings and sued the county. She herself had been treated for pneumonia in the last six months and died in Van Nuys, California on December 27, 2008.

Al Meyerhoff (61) environmental and labor lawyer whose landmark cases included the 2002 settlement of a class-action lawsuit against some of America's biggest clothing retailers that alleged sweatshop abuses on the island of Saipan. More than a month ago, Meyerhoff learned that a rare blood disorder diagnosed in 2007 had turned into leukemia. He died in Los Angeles, California on December 21, 2008.

Don Randall (91) dynamic sales and marketing force behind legendary electric guitar designer Leo Fender's (d. 1991) phenomenal success during his company's first 20 years. Randall was a cofounder of what is now the Scottsdale, Arizona-headquartered Fender Musical Instruments Corp. Fender was world-renowned for designing and manufacturing the iconic electric guitars played by Ritchie Valens, Dick Dale, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and countless other music legends, but Randall was the marketing genius. He died in Santa Ana, California on December 23, 2008.

Alfred Shaheen (86) textile manufacturer who revolutionized the garment industry in postwar Hawaii by designing, printing, and producing aloha shirts and other ready-to-wear items under one roof. Elvis Presley wore a Shaheen-designed red aloha shirt on the album cover for the Blue Hawaii (1961) soundtrack. Shaheen died of complications from diabetes in Torrance, California, where he had lived for the last five years, on December 22, 2008.

J. Lamar Worzel (89) ocean geophysicist and a designer of jury-rigged devices that gave an early view of the peaks and troughs of the deep sea and revealed the way sound flows below the waves. Worzel died of a heart attack in Wilmington, North Carolina on December 26, 2008.

Education

Christopher Hibbert (84) British historian and author whose histories and biographies covered subjects as varied as King George IV, the French Revolution, the emperors of China, and the city of Rome. Hibbert's gift for narrative in more than 60 books won a wide readership. He died of bronchial pneumonia in Henley-on-Thames, England on December 21, 2008.

Samuel P. Huntington (81) political scientist best known for his views on the clash of civilizations. Huntington retired from active teaching in 2007 after 58 years at Harvard. His research and teaching focused on American government, democratization, military politics, strategy, and civil-military relations. He argued that in a post-Cold War world, violent conflict would come not from ideological friction between nations but from cultural and religious differences among the world's major civilizations. His book, The Clash of Civilizations & the Remaking of World Order (1996), has been translated into 39 languages. He died on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts on December 24, 2008.

News and Entertainment

Clint Ballard Jr. (77) Texas-born songwriter whose songs, heard on 10 million records, included the 1965 hit "The Game of Love" and Linda Ronstadt's No. 1 single "You're No Good" (1975). Ballard had a stroke in 2006, and his health had steadily deteriorated. He died in Denton, Texas on December 23, 2008.

Manuel Benitez (39) former child actor and murder suspect wanted by the FBI for the slaying of his girlfriend Stephanie Spears, found beaten to death with a dumbbell at their Hawthorne, California home in 2004. Benitez was featured on the TV show America's Most Wanted earlier this year. He was charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, and an arrest warrant was issued by the US District Court in California. As a child actor, Benitez had small parts on the TV shows Highway to Heaven and Trapper John MD and in the films Pee Wee's Big Adventure (1985) and Stand & Deliver (1988) under the stage name Mark Everett. He was shot and killed by police after a two-hour hostage standoff inside a restaurant that also injured his 7-year-old son, in El Monte, California on December 23, 2008.

Delaney Bramlett (69) singer-songwriter-producer who wrote classic rock songs such as "Let It Rain" and worked with musicians George Harrison and Eric Clapton. Bramlett enjoyed a career in the music business that spanned 50 years. He was perhaps best known for standards such as "Superstar," cowritten with Leon Russell and recorded by Usher, Luther Vandross, Bette Midler, The Carpenters, and most recently, Sonic Youth, in a version featured on the Grammy-nominated soundtrack of the movie Juno. Bramlett died of complications from gall-bladder surgery, in Los Angeles, California on December 27, 2008.

Alvah H. Chapman Jr. (87) former president and chief executive of the Miami Herald, chairman of Knight Ridder Corp., and a champion of philanthropic causes in south Florida. Chapman worked to house the homeless, helped to sculpt downtown Miami's contemporary appearance, and led the group We Will Rebuild after Hurricane Andrew in 1992. He had Parkinson's disease, suffered strokes in recent years, and broke a hip last March. He died of pneumonia in Coconut Grove, Florida on December 25, 2008.

William J. ("Sandy") Colton (83) Associated Press photographer and editor for 20 years who supervised innovative changes including the news agency's conversion from black and white to color photography. Colton had battled cancer in recent years and died of heart failure in upstate Bleecker, New York on December 25, 2008.

Jo Ann Cornell (88) former Oklahoma State Prison Rodeo queen and journalist. Cornell worked as a reporter for the Oklahoma City Times, the Daily Oklahoman, and the New Orleans Times-Picayune in the '40s. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2000 and died in Weatherford, Oklahoma on December 24, 2008.

Elsa Fabregas (87) Spanish voice actress perhaps best known for dubbing the voices of many legendary Hollywood screen actresses for the release of their films in Spain, including Vivian Leigh's voice in Gone with the Wind (1939) and Rita Hayworth's voice in Gilda (1946). Fabregas also dubbed for Doris Day, Sophia Loren, Ingrid Bergman, Gena Rowlands, Katharine Hepburn, Anne Bancroft, Shelley Winters, and Grace Kelly during an acting career that spanned more than 70 years. She died in Barcelona, Spain on December 21, 2008.

Joe Fahy (54) award-winning medical reporter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette since 2004. Fahy had previously worked at the Indianapolis Star, where he shared in a 2000 George Polk Award for reporting on failures in the care of the mentally retarded. He died of cancer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on December 23, 2008.

William R. Glendon (89) First Amendment lawyer who represented the Washington Post in the Pentagon Papers case. In 1971, the US government, alleging that publication of material from a classified report on American involvement in Vietnam, known as the Pentagon Papers, could cause irreparable injury to the national interest, obtained injunctions to prevent their publication by the New York Times and the Post. Glendon joined Alexander M. Bickel, chief counsel for the Times, in arguing before the US Supreme Court that the government should not be allowed to prevent publication. The court agreed by a 6-to-3 majority. Glendon died in White Plains, New York on December 25, 2008.

Steve Hacker (59) original bassist for the '60s garage rock band The Villains, who recorded two hit songs, "Don't Ever Leave Me" and a version of "Short'nin' Bread," for Nashville's pioneering label Bullet Records. Hacker reportedly died in a house fire in McCutcheonville, Indiana on December 22, 2008.

Israel Horowitz (92) record producer, an executive editor and classical music columnist for Billboard magazine. As director of classical artists and repertory for Decca Records (1958-71), Horowitz produced influential recordings by violinists Ruggiero Ricci and Erica Morini, organist Virgil Fox, conductor Leopold Stokowski, and flamenco guitarist Sabicas, among others. He died in Closter, New Jersey on December 26, 2008.

Eartha Kitt (81) sultry singer, dancer, and actress who rose from South Carolina cotton fields to become an international symbol of elegance and sensuality. A self-proclaimed "sex kitten" famous for her catlike purr, Kitt was one of America's most versatile performers, winning two Emmys and nabbing a third nomination. She also was nominated for several Tonys and two Grammys. Her career spanned 60 years, from her start as a dancer with the famed Katherine Dunham troupe to cabarets and acting and singing on stage, in movies, and on TV, notably as the Catwoman on the '60s Batman series. She died of colon cancer in Connecticut on December 25, 2008.

Harold Pinter (78) 2005 Nobel Laureate praised as the most influential British playwright of his generation and a loud voice of political protest. Pinter's distinctive contribution to the stage has been noted with an adjective—"Pinteresque." He wrote 32 plays, the best known of which include The Birthday Party and The Homecoming; one novel, The Dwarfs (1990); and 22 screenplays, including The Quiller Memorandum (1965) and The French Lieutenant's Woman (1980). He died of throat cancer in London, England on December 24, 2008.

Lark Previn (35) adopted daughter of actress Mia Farrow whose sister, Soon-Yi Previn Allen, was at the center of Farrow's messy breakup with Woody Allen in the '90s. Born in Vietnam in 1973, Lark Previn was one of three children adopted by Farrow and her then-husband, conductor Andre Previn. She died in Brooklyn, New York on December 25, 2008.

Heath Sammons (20) aspiring musician and songwriter who played guitar in a private jam session in Los Angeles this past summer that sparked a close friendship with his rock star idol, former Guns N Roses lead guitarist Slash, as Sammons coped with several rounds of chemotherapy and intense surgery during his nearly three-year battle with a rare form of terminal bone cancer. Sammons lent his talent to help raise money for cancer research, where he played at all five of the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life charity events in Manatee County, Florida in 2006. He died in Palmetto, Florida on December 24, 2008.

Ann Savage (87) film noir actress who won a cult following as a femme fatale in such '40s pulp-fiction movies as Detour. Starting with her 1943 debut in the crime story One Dangerous Night, Savage made more than 30 films through the '50s, including Westerns (Saddles & Sagebrush, Satan's Cradle), musicals (Dancing in Manhattan, Ever Since Venus), and wartime tales (Passport to Suez, Two-Man Submarine). She died in her sleep of complications after a series of strokes, in Los Angeles, California on December 25, 2008.

David Alexander Smith (36) dancer and choreographer, known in entertainment circles as "Ice," who created the Gully Crepper dance move used by Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt to celebrate his victories each time he won a race in the 4-by-100 meter relay quartet at the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China last August. Smith was shot to death during an argument with two men at a nightclub in Kingston, Jamaica on December 26, 2008.

Robert Ward (70) Georgia blues musician who played with some of Motown's biggest artists. Ward moved to Ohio and founded The Ohio Untouchables, which later became The Ohio Players. In the '70s, he moved to Detroit where he performed with The Temptations, Wilson Pickett, and other Motown artists. He suffered a stroke in 2001 and never fully recovered. He died in Dry Branch, Georgia on December 25, 2008.

Dale Wasserman (94) self-taught playwright responsible for two Broadway hits of the '60s, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (adapted from Ken Kesey's novel) and the musical Man of La Mancha, about Don Quixote. Wasserman wrote more than 75 scripts for TV, the stage, and the movies. He died of congestive heart failure in Paradise Valley, Arizona, near Phoenix, on December 21, 2008.

Politics and Military

Lansana Conte (70s) dictator of the African nation of Guinea for 24 years. Conte had ruled Guinea with an iron fist since grabbing power in a 1984 coup. The government did not disclose his birth date, but he was believed to be in his 70s. He died after a lengthy illness in Conakry, Guinea on December 22, 2008.

Barney Goltz (84) former Washington state senator. Elected in 1972, the Bellingham Democrat served one term in the House. Goltz was elected to the state Senate in 1974, where he served until January '87. He had suffered from Parkinson's disease in recent years but died of cardiac arrest in Olympia, Washington on December 25, 2008.

J. Jeff Hays (78) longtime Indiana state representative from Evansville who helped the University of Southern Indiana, a former regional campus of Indiana State University until 1985, to become an independent school. Hays served in the Indiana General Assembly for 24 years (1970-96) and was an unsuccessful Democrat candidate for mayor in 1975. He died in Evansville, Indiana on December 23, 2008.

Mildred Litton (98) mother of the late US congressman Jerry Litton (D-Mo.), killed in a 1976 plane crash along with his wife, their two children, and two others as they headed to a victory celebration after he won the Democrat senatorial primary. Mildred Litton died in Chillicothe, Missouri on December 25, 2008.

Dr. John P. Pryor (42) decorated US Army Reserve soldier and leading surgeon on the University of Pennsylvania's trauma center team, director of the hospital's nationally recognized trauma training program and later a member of the 1st Medical Detachment Forward Team with the 344th Combat Support Hospital in his second tour of duty in Iraq as a combat surgeon. Pryor's surgical expertise touched many lives in America and Iraq. He wrote of his war experiences and the painful parallels between battlefield deaths and urban homicides in stories published in the Washington Post and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Pryor was reportedly killed by enemy fire near his living quarters in Mosul, Iraq on December 25, 2008.

Tuanku Ja'afar Tuanku Abdul Rahman (86) royal state ruler, constitutional head of central Negri Sembilan state, who became Malaysia's 10th king for five years (1994-99) under the country's unique monarchal system. Tuanku Ja'afar was hospitalized after complaining of a headache and dizziness and died several hours later, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on December 27, 2008.

Eric Wilson (96) British World War II hero who fought valiantly in North Africa despite severe wounds. Wilson died 68 years after he was "posthumously" awarded his nation's highest combat honor by officials who thought he had been killed. The oldest living holder of the Victoria Cross, Wilson had been reported killed in North Africa in 1940 but was later found alive and trying to tunnel his way out of a prison camp. He later performed further service in Africa and Burma. He died In Stowell, England on December 23, 2008.

Society and Religion

Ryan Joshua Armstrong (22) Chapman University student and son of prominent Riverside County (Calif.) pastor Rev. Ron Armstrong, founding senior minister at Wildomar's multicongregational Catholic ministry Cornerstone Community Church, which has about 5,000 active members. Ryan Armstrong was stabbed to death after a fight outside a sports bar in Temecula, California on December 26, 2008.

Jaime Castillo (40) former rock drummer in religious cult leader David Koresh's band who served 15 years in various federal prisons for his role in the killings of four Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms agents during a 1993 gun battle between members of the Branch Davidian sect led by Koresh and federal agents in Waco, Texas. Castillo was among nine survivors prosecuted on weapons charges and voluntary manslaughter related to the standoff at the cult compound that resulted in the deaths of 76 people, including Koresh and 21 children. Castillo suffered from hepatitis C and died of liver failure in Sylmar, California on December 26, 2008.

George Francis (112) America's oldest man. Francis was born on June 6, 1896 in New Orleans. He died of congestive heart failure in Sacramento, California on December 27, 2008.

Rev. Robert J. Marshall (90) ecumenist who in the '70s led the Lutheran Church in America, then the nation's largest Lutheran church, and helped to pave the way for its merger with two other denominations. Marshall died of heart failure in Allentown, Pennsylvania on December 22, 2008.

Ellie Nesler (56) California woman who sparked a national debate about vigilantism in 1993 when she shot and killed accused child molester Daniel Driver five times in the head in a Tuolumne County courtroom during a break in his preliminary hearing for allegedly molesting four boys, including her then-6-year-old son Willie at a Christian camp. Nesler was convicted of voluntary manslaughter but served only three years of a 10-year sentence before she was released because of jury misconduct. She later went back to prison on a conviction of drug charges, for which she served more than three years. The case became a 1999 TV movie, Judgment Day: The Ellie Nesler Story, on the USA cable network. Nesler died of breast cancer in Sacramento, California on December 26, 2008.

Bruce Pardo (45) unemployed aerospace engineer, prime suspect in the fatal shooting of least nine people and an arson fire. Dressed as Santa Claus, Pardo allegedly crashed a family Christmas Eve party at the suburban Los Angeles home belonging to the parents of his ex-wife, Sylvia Pardo (43), among the victims killed execution-style in what was thought to be the worst single killing spree in the US this year. Authorities said Pardo carried out the deadly attack for revenge over a divorce settlement finalized last week. Investigators later found a pipe bomb detonated in the rental car Pardo used on the day of the massacre. He had apparently planned to flee to Canada but was severely burned by the fire he set to destroy evidence. He reportedly died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head at his brother's home in Sylmar, California on December 25, 2008.

Brian G. Smith (37) former Utah State Highway patrol trooper believed responsible for two Dallas-area freeway robbery and shooting rampages that killed at least two drivers, Jorge Lopez (20) and William Scott Miller (42), at a major intersection on December 22. Smith was sought in Texas on robbery and burglary warrants issued in the Fort Worth suburb of Southlake, where authorities obtained evidence linking him to two previous robberies over the past eight days. Both incidents involved thefts of purses from women in vehicles parked at businesses near his home. He died shortly after shooting himself in the head during a brief standoff in Garland, Texas on December 24, 2008.

Rev. Marshall Truehill Jr. (60) New Orleans activist and religious leader. Truehill was known for his ministry in public housing projects. He was appointed by former Mayor Marc Morial to the City Planning Commission in 1998 and used his knowledge of planning and public policy with first-hand experience of New Orleans neighborhoods and its people to promote economic development and commerce while preserving the character and integrity of the city's historic neighborhoods. He died of a massive heart attack in New Orleans, Louisiana on December 25, 2008.

Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf (84) nationally prominent Reform rabbi known for his progressive, sometimes provocative public stances, including opposition to the Vietnam War, a speech at Yale accusing the university of a history of anti-Semitism, and early political support for his neighbor Barack Obama. Wolf died of a heart attack in Chicago, Illinois on December 23, 2008.