Obituaries

Grand Ayatollah Fadlallah, Shiite Cleric, Dies at 75

Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the top Shiite cleric in Lebanon, whose writings and preachings inspired the Dawa Party of Iraq and a generation of militants, including the founders of Hezbollah, died Sunday morning in Beirut. He was 75. Ayatollah Fadlallah suffered a liver hemorrhage at Bahman Hospital, run by Al Mabarrat Charity Association, which he founded, his adviser Hani Adbdallah said. Hezbollah called for three days of mourning, while clerics and political figur

Algirdas Brazauskas, First Lithuanian President, Dies at 77

Algirdas Brazauskas, a former Communist bureaucrat who helped steer his native Lithuania through tempestuous political straits to independence from the Soviet Union and then became the country's first president after it broke with the Soviet Union, died Saturday at his home in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital. He was 77. The cause was lymphoma and prostate cancer, according to Lithuanian news reports. As president of Lithuania from 1993 to 1998 and prime minister from 20

William Taylor, Vigorous Rights Defender, Dies at 78

William L. Taylor, who as a lawyer, lobbyist and government official for more than a half century had significant roles in pressing important civil rights cases and in drafting and defending civil rights legislation, died Monday in Bethesda, Md. He was 78 and lived in Washington. His son, David Van Taylor, said the direct cause of death was fluid in his lungs, a complication of a head injury he suffered in a fall a month ago. William Taylor began his long fight for raci

Dolph Briscoe, Texas Governor in the ’70s, Dies at 87

Dolph Briscoe Jr., a former governor of Texas who helped restore credibility to its government after a major scandal and later built his ranching family’s already vast enterprise into the largest individual landholder in the state, died Sunday at his home in Uvalde, Tex. He was 87. The death was of natural causes, said his assistant, Barbara Woodman. “A moderate conservative Democrat,” in his own words, Mr. Briscoe was governor from 1972 to 1978, serving a two-year term

Dwight Armstrong, Who Bombed a College Building in 1970, Dies at 58

Dwight Armstrong, one of four young men who in 1970 bombed a building on the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison, killing one person and injuring several others — a political protest that, gone violently wrong, endures in the national memory as an act of domestic terrorism — died on June 20 in Madison. He was 58. Dwight Armstrong remained at large for nearly seven years. The cause was lung cancer, said Susan Lampert Smith, a spokeswoman for the University of Wisco

Pete Quaife, a Bassist for the Kinks, Dies at 66

Pete Quaife, a bassist who joined forces with two schoolmates to form the Kinks, one of the leading rock bands of the 1960s British Invasion, died on Wednesday in Herlev, Denmark. He was 66. The cause was kidney failure, a spokeswoman for the band said. Born Peter Alexander Greenlaw Quaife on Dec. 31, 1943, he went to William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School in North London with Ray and Dave Davies, and the three began playing music together in 1961, with a succession o

Prescott Bush Jr., Scion of a Political Family, Dies at 87

Prescott S. Bush Jr., the brother of one president and uncle of another, and a retired insurance executive who tried but never made it far in the family business — politics — died Wednesday after a long illness. He was 87. Mr. Bush’s death was confirmed by Tracey Bergonzi, a spokeswoman at Keohane Funeral Home in Hingham, Mass., a town where Mr. Bush had lived for several years. The cause of death was unclear. Besides being the uncle of one president, George W. Bush, an

Charles Ensley, Labor Leader and Union Critic, Dies at 69

Charles Ensley, who led the union representing New York City social workers for 26 years and was a forceful critic of union corruption, died on Friday in Manhattan. He was 69. The cause was lung cancer, his wife, Annette, said. As president of Social Service Employees Union Local 371, which represents 15,000 social workers, Mr. Ensley was independent, outspoken and often irascible, clashing with other union leaders as well as mayors of both major parties. H

Edith Shain, Who Said Famous Kiss Came Her Way, Dies at 91

Edith Shain, who became something of a celebrity decades after World War II, asserting that she was the nurse kissed by a sailor in Life magazine’s memorable photograph of V-J Day in Times Square, died Sunday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 91.... Wearing sneakers and a nurse’s uniform, Mrs. Shain re-enacted the moment captured by Life’s renowned photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt. Many men have claimed to be the sailor who bestowed the kiss. “The happiness was indescr

Gerald W. Heaney, a Judge Who Ruled for the Desegregation of Public Schools, Dies at 92

Gerald W. Heaney, a Midwestern federal appeals court judge who over 40 years on the bench played a central role in major school desegregation cases and championed the rights of the accused, died Tuesday in Duluth, Minn. He was 92. His son, Bill, confirmed the death. In the estimation of former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, a friend and fellow Minnesotan, Judge Heaney “should have been on the Supreme Court.” “Many judges have told me he was one of the mo

Sen. Robert Byrd dead at 92

Robert C. Byrd, 92, a conservative West Virginia Democrat who became the longest-serving member of Congress in history and used his masterful knowledge of the institution to shape the federal budget, protect the procedural rules of the Senate and, above all else, tend to the interests of his state, died at 3 a.m. Monday at Inova Fairfax Hospital, his office said. Mr. Byrd had been hospitalized last week with what was thought to be heat exhaustion, but more serious issues were disco

James N. Wood, President of the Getty Trust, Dies at 69

James N. Wood, who was the director of the Art Institute of Chicago for 25 years and took over as president and chief executive of the Getty Trust in Los Angeles in 2006, helping to steer it through a turbulent period, died Friday at his home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. He was 69 and also had a home in Bristol, R.I. Mr. Wood died of natural causes, the trust said, but no cause of death was announced. In his years at the Chicago institute, Mr. Wood beca

John P. Lewis, an Adviser to Presidents on Economic Aid, Dies at 89

John P. Lewis, who was an economic adviser to three presidents, largely on the subject of foreign aid, died Wednesday in Montgomery, N.J. He was 89 and lived at Stonebridge at Montgomery, a retirement community. His son-in-law Charles LaMonica said he died of natural causes. Mr. Lewis, a strong advocate of American aid to developing countries, was named by President John F. Kennedy to the Council of Economic Advisers in 1962. In 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson appointe

John Burton, a Columbia Dean, Dies at 77

John C. Burton, a former dean of Columbia Business School and an accountant whose fervent advocacy of transparency in financial reporting and for a greater role for accountants in public life led him to prominent positions in the federal and New York City governments, died in Manhattan on Sunday. He was 77. The cause was kidney failure, said his daughter, Eve. Mr. Burton, who earned an M.B.A. and a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia, was on the faculty from 1962 until 2002 and was de

Edwin E. Kintner, Nuclear Power Pioneer, Dies at 90

Edwin E. Kintner, who played a role in early efforts to harness nuclear power and later witnessed its destructive potential while heading the decontamination of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant after a partial meltdown, died on May 7 in Exeter, N.H. He was 90. Mr. Kintner had prostate cancer, his son Eric said. After World War II, Mr. Kintner helped develop a reactor for the Navy that was later used in the first nuclear-powered submarine, the Nautilus.

Lena Horne, Singer and Actress, Dies at 92

Lena Horne, who was the first black performer to be signed to a long-term contract by a major Hollywood studio and who went on to achieve international fame as a singer, died on Sunday night at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. She was 92 and lived in Manhattan. Her death was announced by her son-in-law, Kevin Buckley. Ms. Horne might have become a major movie star, but she was born 50 years too early, and languished at MGM in the 1940s bec

David E. Apter, Yale Political Scientist, Is Dead at 85

David E. Apter, a Yale professor who wove his expertise in political science and sociology into influential treatises on the often-tortured birth of developing nations, died Tuesday at his home in North Haven, Conn. He was 85. The cause was complications of cancer, his daughter, Emily Apter, said. In his 46-year academic career, Professor Apter wrote or helped write more than 20 books that drew on social science and political theory and his own forays into impoverished

S. J. Ledogar, Shaped Arms Treaties, Is Dead at 80

Stephen J. Ledogar, a United States ambassador who played a major role in the drafting of three major international arms control treaties, died Monday in Edgewater, N.J. He was 80 and lived in Guttenberg, N.J. The cause was bladder cancer, said his daughter, Lucy Ledogar van Beever. Mr. Ledogar was a Foreign Service officer for 38 years and ambassador to the three arms control negotiations during the Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations. He was an architect of agree

Walter Hickel, Nixon Interior Secretary, Dies at 90

Walter J. Hickel, who as governor of Alaska, United States secretary of the interior and then governor again of the nation’s last frontier state confounded critics by ricocheting from pro-business stalwart to ardent environmentalist and back again, died Friday in Anchorage. He was 90. Mr. Hickel died of natural causes at an assisted-living facility, according to Malcolm Roberts, his longtime assistant. A self-made millionaire, Mr. Hickel was governor of the 49th state f

Guenter Wendt dies at 86; storied overseer of early NASA space flights

John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, dubbed Guenter Wendt "The Pad Fuehrer." Pete Conrad, the third man to walk on the moon, jokingly called him a "dictator." And Alan Shepard, the first American in space, presented Wendt with a prop German helmet from "Hogan's Heroes" that was adorned with swastikas and labeled "Col. Guenter Klink." As pad leader for NASA contractors at Cape Canaveral, Fla., and at what