Obituaries

Herbert J. Miller Jr., 1924-2009

Last Saturday, Herbert J. Miller Jr., known as “Jack” to his friends and colleagues, died at age 85 in Rockville, Maryland. Miller, a native of Minnesota, came to Washington after service in WWII, graduated from George Washington University’s law school in 1949, and went to work at Kirkland & Ellis, one of the city’s best firms. Thus began one of the most varied and impressive legal careers in a city that hardly lacks great lawyers. In 1961, Miller was persuaded by Attorney Gene

Thomas J. Graff, an Expert on West Coast Water Use, Is Dead at 65

SAN FRANCISCO — Thomas J. Graff, a leading environmentalist who championed the idea of offering financial incentives for environmentally friendly behavior, an approach that had far-reaching impact on state and federal policies, especially on water use in the drought-prone West, died Nov. 12 in Oakland, Calif., where he lived. He was 65. The cause was thyroid cancer, his family said. Mr. Graff, who founded the first California office of the Environmental Defense Fund and

Robert Cameron, High-Flying 'Above' Photographer, Dies at 98

One of Robert Cameron’s thousands of vibrant color aerial photographs zeroes virtually straight down from above the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge to its anchorage, the reddish hue of the majestic structure glowing in a setting sun. Another captures a stretch of Queens Boulevard, the multilane vehicular spine of one of New York City’s five boroughs, showing its cars, walkers, stores and trees dotting into the distance. Then there is a close-up of rock climbers da

Jeanne-Claude, Part of a Creative Powerhouse Behind Ephemeral Artworks

With her husband, Christo, Jeanne-Claude was part of an inseparable artistic duo that produced some of the world's most well-known and monumental works of art. Jeanne-Claude, who died Nov. 18 in New York City at age 74 after suffering a brain aneurysm, created landmark public displays using textiles, including the 18-foot-high, 24-mile-long "Running Fence" in California and "Surrounded Islands" in which the couple installed giant lily pad-like structures in Flori

Col. Lewis Millett, Who Led 'Bayonet Hill' Charge, Dies at 88

Col. Lewis L. Millett, an Army veteran of three wars who received the Medal of Honor for leading a rare bayonet charge up a hill in Korea, died Saturday in Loma Linda, Calif. He was 88. His death was announced by his sister Ellen Larrabee. Colonel Millett’s forebears fought in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and World War I. He was so eager to follow in their footsteps that he deserted the American armed forces in the months before the Pearl Harbor attack and join

Allen Hughes, Music and Dance Critic for The Times, Dies at 87

Allen Hughes, a longtime music and dance critic for The New York Times who was known for his encouragement of experimental dance companies and his love of the 20th-century French musical repertory, died on Monday in Sarasota, Fla. He was 87 and had lived in Sarasota since 2003. The cause was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, said his wife, Nina. Mr. Hughes was an urbane observer of the musical and dance worlds, covering them for The Times for 26 years, starting in

John J. O’Connor, a Times TV Critic in Years of Industry Upheaval, Dies at 76

John J. O’Connor, who as a television critic for The New York Times for more than 25 years covered the medium as it expanded from a business dominated by three networks to a universe of hundreds of diverse cable and broadcast channels, died on Friday at his home in Manhattan. He was 76. The cause was lung cancer, which had been diagnosed only four weeks ago, said Seymour Barofsky, his partner of 47 years. Mr. O’Connor joined The Times as a television critic in 1971 and

Serb Patriarch Pavle dies, spoke for Balkan peace

BELGRADE, Serbia -- Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Pavle, who called for peace and conciliation during the Balkan ethnic wars of the 1990s but failed to openly condemn extreme Serb nationalism, died Sunday. He was 95. There have been reports of an internal struggle over who would succeed Pavle, a respected theologian and linguist known for personal humility and modesty. The favorite is influential Bishop Amfilohije, a hard-liner known for his anti-Western and ultra-nationalist

José Cisneros: Iconic El Paso artist dies

EL PASO -- José Cisneros, the modest, self-taught artist knighted by the king of Spain and celebrated in Texas, Mexico and across the United States, died Saturday. Cisneros, regarded as a legend for his vivid pen-and-ink sketches of Spanish conquistadores, Franciscan missionaries, frontier settlers and Apache warriors, was 99. He died of natural causes at an El Paso foster-care home where he was admitted two weeks ago, according to his family. Born in Villa

Amir Pnueli, Pioneer of Temporal Logic, Dies at 68

Amir Pnueli, who turned a philosopher’s explorations of time, logic and free will into a critical technique for verifying the reliability of computers, died on Nov. 2 in Manhattan. He was 68. The cause of death was a brain hemorrhage, according to New York University, where Dr. Pnueli (pronounced p’new-EL-ee) was a professor of computer science. In their first few decades, computers were essentially glorified calculators. Numbers were fed in, and after some calculating

James R. Lilley, 81, Envoy in Tiananmen Era, Dies

WASHINGTON — James R. Lilley, a former intelligence agent and ambassador to China who viewed that country with a rare blend of pragmatism and love because of his childhood there, died Thursday at a Washington hospital. He was 81. Mr. Lilley, who lived in Washington, died of complications linked to prostate cancer, said his son Jeffrey of Silver Spring, Md. Under his old friend President George H. W. Bush, Mr. Lilley was ambassador in Beijing from 1989 to 1991, a period

Film historian Ken Wlaschin dies at 75

Ken Wlaschin, 75, film programmer, historian and author who ran the London Film Festival and later the AFI Film Festival, died Nov. 10 at his home in Palm Springs after a short illness. A native of Nebraska and a graduate of Dartmouth, Wlaschin pursued further studies at University College in Dublin, where he met Maureen Kennedy Martin, whom he married in 1961 after serving in the U.S. Army Counter-Intelligence Corps. During the 60s he worked as arts editor and critic for the Rome D

A Pioneering Smokejumper in a Career Marked by Tragedy

On the afternoon of July 12, 1940, Earl Cooley jumped out of an airplane and into history by parachuting to fight an Idaho forest fire, as part of the first team of smokejumpers. Mr. Cooley, who died Nov. 9 at age 98, went on to become the superintendent of the U.S. Forest Service's first squad of smokejumpers, based in Montana. During World War II, he trained Mennonites and Quakers, conscientious objectors who became smokejumpers for the Forest Service instead of soldiers.

David Lloyd, 75, Dies; Wrote ‘Chuckles’ Episode

David Lloyd, who wrote scores of scripts for some of the most popular television sitcoms of the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s — including the memorable Chuckles the Clown episode of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” which was revered by comedy connoisseurs for wringing belly laughs from a funeral — died Tuesday at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 75. The cause was prostate cancer, which was diagnosed 21 years ago, his son Christopher said. Mr. Lloyd was an astonishingly produ

Donald Harington, Ozark Surrealist, Dies at 73

Donald Harington, who created a surreal rural mini-world in more than a dozen novels set in the fictional Ozark hamlet of Stay More, Ark., died Saturday in Springdale, Ark. He was 73 and lived in Fayetteville, Ark. The cause was complications of pneumonia, said his wife, Kim. Mr. Harington, who never achieved popular success but attracted a devoted cult following, blended myth, dreamscape and sharply observed Ozark speech and manners to depict a rural society whose rich

Thomas J. O’Malley, Who Helped Launch Glenn Into Orbit, Dies at 94

Thomas J. O’Malley, the aviation engineer who pushed the button that launched the rocket that carried John Glenn into orbit in 1962, and who five years later played a major role in reviving the Apollo moon program after a launching-pad fire killed three astronauts, died Friday in Cocoa Beach, Fla. He was 94 and lived in Cocoa Beach. The cause was pneumonia, his daughter, Kathleen O’Malley, said. At the height of the cold war, with the United States still reeling from th

Gene D. Cohen, Geriatric Psychiatrist, Dies at 65

Gene D. Cohen, a pioneer in the field of geriatric psychiatry who helped shift the emphasis in gerontological research from the problems of people as they age to their potential, died Saturday at his home in Kensington, Md. He was 65. The cause was metastatic prostate cancer, his wife, Wendy Miller, said. At his death, Dr. Cohen was the founding director of the Center on Aging, Health & Humanities at George Washington University and had held leadership positions at the National

Hunter College Professor Who Photographed the People of Harlem Dies at 89

When, as a budding photographer, Roy DeCarava applied for a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1952, his proposal stated: "I want to show the strength, the wisdom, the dignity of the Negro people. Not the famous and the well known, but the unknown and the unnamed, thus revealing the roots from which springs the greatness of all human beings." That year he became the first African-American photographer to receive a Guggenheim, and he spent 57 more years advancing his goals. He was st

Soviet H-bomb scientist Ginzburg dies

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vitaly Ginzburg, a Russian physicist who survived Stalin's purges by working on the Soviet atomic bomb project and later won the Nobel Prize for physics, died in Moscow late on Sunday after a long illness. He was 93. Ginzburg won the 2003 Nobel physics prize for developing the theory behind superconductors, materials which allow electricity to pass without resistance at very low temperatures. He shared the prize with British-American Anthony Leggett and Russian-bo

Alice S. Rossi, Sociologist and Feminist Scholar, Dies at 87

Alice S. Rossi, a noted sociologist and feminist scholar who was a founder of the National Organization for Women, died on Tuesday in Northampton, Mass. She was 87 and lived in Amherst, Mass. The cause was pneumonia, her son, Peter E. Rossi, said. At her death, Professor Rossi was the Harriet Martineau professor of sociology emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, where she had taught from 1974 until her retirement in 1991. In her scholarship, Professor Rossi explored the status of