TheState.com: Obituaries - Wire

Obituaries in the news

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:28 EDT

Robert W. Plaster

LEBANON, Mo. (AP) - Robert W. Plaster, a Missouri business leader who was accused in the 1970s of plotting to bomb a competitor's truck in an effort to dominate the propane business, died Saturday. He was 78.

Plaster died of natural causes at his home south of Lebanon, Laclede County Coroner Steve Murrell said.

He made his fortune by turning Empire Gas into one of the nation's largest propane distributors.

In the 1970s, he was acquitted after the U.S. Justice Department accused Empire of antitrust violations by using a variety of tactics to acquire a monopoly of the propane market. The Justice Department also accused Plaster, Empire and another man of working with two other men to use dynamite to destroy a competitor's tank truck.

Actor Guillaume Depardieu dead at 37

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:43 EDT

Guillaume Depardieu, the often-troubled son of renowned French film star Gerard Depardieu who gained praise for his own career as an actor, died Monday, hospital officials said. He was 37.

Guillaume Depardieu died at Raymond-Poincare hospital in Garches, west of Paris, from complications related to a sudden case of pneumonia, the Paris area hospitals authority said.

He had been rushed to the hospital late Sunday. Family lawyer Jean-Yves Lienard said the actor flew to France on Sunday from Romania, where he contracted a pulmonary illness while filming.

Guillaume Depardieu won the prize in 1996 as the most promising young actor at the Cesar awards - France's equivalent of the Academy Awards - for his role in the film "Les Apprentis" (The Apprentices).

"I loved him infinitely. He was a wonderful guy, an immense actor," said Alain Corneau, who directed both father and son in the 1991 movie "Tous les Matins du Monde" (All the Mornings of the World), on French radio RTL. The film marked the start of the younger Depardieu's professional acting career.

Music photographer William Claxton dies at 80

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:28 EDT

William Claxton, a celebrated photographer who worked with such entertainers as Bob Dylan and Frank Sinatra and who helped establish the organization that runs the Grammy Awards, has died. He was 80.

Claxton died Saturday at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of complications stemming from congestive heart failure, his son Christopher said.

He was best known for his soulful portraits of jazz artists such as Chet Baker, and he went on to photograph Dylan and other musicians such as Joni Mitchell and Tom Jones. His images graced the covers of numerous albums.

Claxton, a founding member of The Recording Academy, started his photography career in 1952 while a student at University of California, Los Angeles.

He also worked with Sinatra, Steve McQueen and Rebecca De Mornay, and his photographs regularly appeared in such magazines as Life, Paris Match and Vogue.

Ex-Minn. legislator Allan Spear, gay pioneer, dies

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:28 EDT

Allan H. Spear, a former Minnesota state senator who was one of the nation's first openly gay legislators, has died. He was 71.

He died Saturday of complications after heart surgery performed Thursday, said Don Jorovsky, a longtime friend who used to work for Spear.

Spear, a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party - Minnesota's version of the Democratic Party - was first elected in 1972 and was state Senate president from 1993 to 2000, when he retired. He was the first non-attorney to lead the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Spear announced he was gay in a 1974 interview with the Minneapolis Star, becoming one of only two openly gay legislators in the country. Spear started working that decade to amend Minnesota's Human Rights Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. The legislation passed in 1993.

Former DFL state Sen. Roger Moe, who served as the Senate's majority leader while Spear was president, said his colleague never became impatient when the legislation failed to pass.

Nobel Prize winner Dr. George Palade dies at 95

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:38 EDT

Dr. George Palade, who won a Nobel Prize in 1974 for his work isolating and identifying cell structure and helped create one of the leading cell biology programs in the nation at the University of California, San Diego, has died. He was 95.

Palade died Tuesday, the university announced.

He was born in Romania, earned his medical degree there and came to the United States in 1946.

During the 1950s and 60s, Palade took advantage of new techniques to understand the cell structure, its function and chemistry. Using those techniques, he identified the function of, among other things, mitochondria, the power plants of the cell, and ribosomes, the protein-making machinery.

"George Palade was not only one of the leading scientists of his era, but was a pioneer in modern cell biology, using electron microscopy to study and describe subcellular structures for the first time," said Dr. David A. Brenner, vice chancellor for health sciences.

Former Olympic champion skier Prokurorov dies

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:11 EDT

Alexi Prokurorov, a Russian cross country skier who won a gold medal at the 1988 Olympics, died Friday after he was hit by a car while crossing a road. He was 44.

He was heading toward a train station in Vladimir, 100 miles east of Moscow, and died at the scene, police said. The Russian Cross Country Ski Federation said Prokurorov was about to board a train to Moscow to have a medical exam for insurance coverage.

Federation secretary Yuri Garmash said Prokurorov was a 13-time national champion and received state honors for his services to the sport.

Prokurorov competed in five Winter Games, winning the 30-kilometer freestyle in Calgary, Alberta. His last Olympics was in 2002 at Nagano, Japan, where he was the Russian team's flag bearer, the International Ski Federation said.

Bubble-blower Susan M. Williams, 47, dies

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:41 EDT

Susan Montgomery Williams, a Fresno, Calif., woman with a talent for blowing enormous chewing gum bubbles, parlayed that skill and a keen understanding of the news media's enthusiasm for superlatives into eccentric international semi-celebrity.

Mrs. Williams, 47, died Oct. 1 of an aneurism after suffering a stroke the week before, apparently unrelated to her hobby.

She had painstakingly inflated her bubble gum abilities into appearances on the Johnny Carson and Jay Leno late-night television programs. Her talent won her travel for appearances on broadcasts in Spain, Germany, England and Japan.

Mrs. Williams was born in National City, Calif., and as a child moved with her family to the San Joaquin Valley. She attended, but did not graduate, from Roosevelt High School, said her ex-husband, Joseph C. Williams Jr.

She received disability insurance for epilepsy, said her ex-husband.

Obituaries in the news

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:53 EDT

Ted Briggs

LONDON (AP) - Ted Briggs, the last survivor of the World War II sinking of British battle cruiser HMS Hood, died Saturday. He was 85.

He died in a hospital in Portsmouth, England, said HMS Hood Association Chairman Peter Heys.

Briggs was one of only three seamen among the crew of more than 1,000 to survive the attack by the German battleship Bismarck in the Denmark Strait on May 24, 1941.

Briggs, an 18-year-old signalman, later described how he was sucked under by the sinking ship before surfacing and seeing the Hood disappear below the waves.

Mexican director Servando Gonzalez dies at 85

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:08 EDT

Servando Gonzalez Hernandez rose from gofer at a Mexican film studio to become a director in Hollywood. But he may be most remembered in Mexico for film that nobody ever saw.

Gonzalez, who died in Mexico City on Saturday at age 85, was the government's chief documentary filmmaker when "a military type" asked him to set up six cameras around a Mexico City plaza in 1968 and film the events below.

What occurred was the Tlatelolco massacre, when soldiers opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators and - by varying accounts - 25 to 350 people died in one of the most controversial events in Mexican history.

Gonzalez told the Mexico City newspaper La Jornada last year that the man who hired him appeared after the raw film was developed and took it all away.

"He disappeared. I never knew anything about that material," he said. "I haven't even known who has it."

Obituaries in the news

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 06:33 EDT

Eddie Brinkman

CHICAGO (AP) - Eddie Brinkman, a record-setting shortstop with a 15-year career in major league baseball, has died. He was 66.

Brinkman died Tuesday in his hometown of Cincinnati. The Chicago White Sox, for whom he was a longtime coach and scout, held a moment of silence for him before their AL Central tiebreaker against Minnesota. The team did not give a cause of death.

Brinkman made his big league debut at 19 in 1961 with the Washington Senators and played in an era when shortstops were known for their gloves rather than their bats.

"Steady Eddie" was traded to the Detroit Tigers after the 1970 season. He set the league record for shortstops with 72 straight errorless games - a mark Cal Ripken broke in 1990.

Record-setting shortstop Ed Brinkman dies at 66

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:08 EDT

Eddie Brinkman, a record-setting shortstop during a 15-year career in the majors and a former high school teammate of Pete Rose, has died. He was 66.

Brinkman made his big league debut at 19 in 1961 with the Washington Senators and played in an era when shortstops were known for their gloves, rather than their bats. The only two times he hit over .240 came when Hall of Famer Ted Williams personally worked with him.

"Steady Eddie" was traded to Detroit after the 1970 season in a deal that included Denny McLain. Brinkman solidified his reputation as "good-field, no-hit" more than ever in 1972, the year he won his lone Gold Glove.

Brinkman batted just .203 with six home runs and 49 RBIs for the AL East champion Tigers, but set the league record for shortstops with 72 straight errorless games - a mark Cal Ripken broke in 1990.

Obituaries in the news

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:33 EDT

Edison Chouest

GALLIANO, La. (AP) - Edison Chouest, a commercial shrimper who turned one utility vessel into a major shipbuilding and offshore petroleum service company, died Wednesday. He was 91.

Edison Chouest Offshore spokesman Lonnie Thibodeaux confirmed the death. A cause was not released.

The company had its beginnings in 1960 when Chouest, who owned shrimp boats, bought a steel-hulled 65-foot utility vessel that had six months to go in a contract with Humble Oil Co. to supply a petroleum rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

During the 1960s, the company expanded by buying and refurbishing old vessels, and, in 1974, built North American Shipbuilding in Larose, La. That company built and designed its own cargo and utility vessels. The yard eventually added offshore specialty vessels and built ships for the U.S. military and government.

Mr. Clean actor House Peters Jr. dead at 92

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 11:09 EDT

House Peters Jr., a TV actor who became the original Mr. Clean in Proctor & Gamble's commercials for household cleaners, died Wednesday. He was 92.

Peters died of pneumonia at the Motion Picture and Television Fund Hospital in Los Angeles, said his son, Jon Peters.

The elder Peters' most memorable role came as Mr. Clean - a muscular man with a bald head, a hoop earring and a no-nonsense attitude toward dirt and grime. From the late 1950s and into the early 1960s, Peters Jr. helped advertise the famous household cleaner with the trademark jingle, "Mr. Clean, Mr. Clean."

Peters Jr. played many supporting roles through his career, including working with Roy Rogers and Gene Autry on their television shows. He also appeared in "Perry Mason," "Gunsmoke," "The Twilight Zone" and "Lassie."

"He always played the heavy," Jon Peters said, referring to his father's customary roles as a villain or brawny character. "Even though he wasn't happy about being cast in those roles, he worked really hard at it."

Singapore opposition loses icon as Jeyaretnam dies

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:56 EDT

With the death of Joshua B. Jeyaretnam, this thriving Southeast Asian city-state has lost its most iconic political maverick, dealing another blow to an opposition movement enfeebled by government lawsuits and voter apathy.

Jeyaretnam, a once wealthy lawyer driven to bankruptcy under the weight of defamation lawsuits filed by Singapore's leaders, died Tuesday at age 82.

In recent years, he had stood on street corners and outside subway stations peddling his books about politics because no retailer would stock them. A socialist at heart, he argued Singapore's free market policies enriches the elite while an underbelly of poor struggles to get by.

Jeyaretnam found his place in history as Singapore's first opposition politician to be elected to Parliament, in 1981 - 22 years after the governing People's Action Party took power when Britain granted self rule.

"He will, of course, be remembered as the man who ended the PAP monopoly," said Simon Tay, a former opposition legislator and now chairman of a think tank, the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. "Even if this first victory did not grow into a two-party system, it is an important marker."

Soviet political cartoonist Yefimov dies at 108

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:56 EDT

Celebrated political cartoonist Boris Yefimov, who drew brutally satirical images of the Soviet Union's foes in the service of Josef Stalin, died Wednesday. He was 108.

Yefimov's death was given wide coverage on Russian state television. No cause was given.

His cartoons spanned virtually the entire history of the communist state, from shortly after the 1917 revolution to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Among his most memorable drawings was one showing a wretched-looking Hitler, who is said to have ordered Yefimov shot if the Nazis captured Moscow in World War II. Instead, Yefimov was sent after the war to the Nuremburg trials to draw the Nazis as they faced justice.

Yefimov also turned his pen against the United States. His Cold War drawings portrayed Uncle Sam and American leaders as warmongers and money-grubbing capitalists.

Former Colts cornerback Milt Davis dies at 79

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:36 EDT

Milt Davis, an All-Pro defensive back who helped the Baltimore Colts win two NFL championships in the 1950s, has died. He was 79. He died of cancer in Oregon on Monday, the Baltimore Ravens said.

Davis spent four seasons with the Colts (1957-60) and led the NFL in interceptions in 1957 and 1959. He played a key role on the 1958 team that beat the New York Giants 23-17 in overtime for the title. In the championship game, Davis played with two broken bones in his right foot and forced a first-half fumble by Frank Gifford.

That year, Davis earned $7,000 as the Colts' right cornerback. After two more seasons, he was done with football. He was angered at racism against black players and eager to finish work on his doctorate at UCLA, where he played in college.

Davis was born on an Indian reservation near Muskogee, Okla., to parents of African-American and Native American ancestry.

"Aside from being a great football player, he was a man that knew about life issues and knew how to deal with it," Colts great Lenny Moore told the Los Angeles Times. "He was a beacon. ... He was incredibly respected, both with the white players and the black players."