Obituaries

David Drew, Musicologist, Is Dead at 78

David Drew, a music critic and musicologist who almost single-handedly rescued the work of Kurt Weill from neglect and promoted him to his present position as an important 20th-century composer, died on July 25 in London. He was 78. The death was confirmed by Carolyn Weber, the director and vice president of the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music. Mr. Drew, a lifelong champion of under-recognized 20th-century composers, took on the cause of Weill, regarded as little more

Former Journal Reporter Kenneth Bacon Dies of Cancer at 64

Kenneth Bacon, who died Saturday at 64, was president of Refugees International, the Washington, D.C.-based organization that serves as a global advocate for the displaced. Sporting a trademark bowtie and an easy manner, Mr. Bacon was a familiar figure in Washington as chief Pentagon spokesman during the Clinton administration. He had previously worked as a reporter and editor for The Wall Street Journal, where his assignments included covering the Pentagon.

Riccardo Cassin, 100, Dies; A Legendary Mountaineer

Riccardo Cassin, a climber who scaled hundreds of the world’s most daunting peaks with daring, tenacity and technical brilliance, died Aug. 6 at his home in Piano dei Resinelli, near Lecco, Italy. He was 100. The news of his death was posted on the Web site of his education and conservation foundation, the Fondazione Riccardo Cassin. In a career lasting more than six decades, Mr. Cassin (pronounced cass-EEN) made about 2,500 climbs, more than a hundred of them first-tim

Margaret Wilson, First Black Woman to Head N.A.A.C.P. Board, Dies at 90

Margaret Bush Wilson, who became the first black woman to head the board of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, then was ousted in a bitter power struggle in 1983, died on Tuesday in St. Louis. She was 90. The N.A.A.C.P. announced her death. Mrs. Wilson came from a prominent middle-class black family deeply committed to civil rights and the N.A.A.C.P. and once said she was “born and raised” in the organization. She was the first woman to be p

Mike Seeger, Singer and Music Historian, Dies at 75

Mike Seeger, a singer and multi-instrumentalist who played an important role in the folk revival of the 1950s and ’60s, died on Friday at his home in Lexington, Va. He was 75. The cause was multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, said his wife, Alexia Smith. Although a quieter voice on the national stage than his politically outspoken, older half-brother, Pete, Mike Seeger was a significant force in spreading the music of preindustrial America during an increasingly c

Anne Wexler, an Influential Political Operative and Lobbyist, Is Dead at 79

Anne Wexler, who did just about everything in politics except run for office — from licking envelopes to running Democratic campaigns to serving as a top aide in the Carter White House before becoming an influential Washington lobbyist — died on Friday. She was 79. The cause was cancer, said Charles Kaiser, a family friend. In 1978, with his administration reeling from a bad economy, Congressional contentiousness and internal disarray, President Jimmy Carter gave Ms. We

R. M. Takasugi, Pioneering Asian Judge, Dies at 78

Robert M. Takasugi, who as a boy spent most of World War II with his family in a California internment camp and grew up to become the one of the first Japanese-Americans to serve as a federal judge, died Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 78 and lived in Montebello, Calif. Judge Takasugi was nominated by President Gerald R. Ford in 1976 to fill a vacancy on the United States District Court for the Central District of California. He presided over the 1984 trial of the automobile executiv

Thomas N. Schroth, Influential Washington Editor, Is Dead at 88

Thomas N. Schroth, who helped expand and deepen political coverage of Washington as the editor of Congressional Quarterly and a founding editor of National Journal, died on July 23 at his home in Sedgwick, Me. He was 88. The cause was congestive heart failure, his daughter Amy said. Mr. Schroth (pronounced to rhyme with growth) led the editorial staff of Congressional Quarterly from 1955 to 1969. It was a formative time for the publication, founded 10 years earlier as a

Amos Kenan, Israeli Writer and Iconoclast, Dies at 82

Amos Kenan, an iconoclastic Israeli writer whose anti-religious and anti-Zionist views made him a longstanding irritant to the political establishment, died on Tuesday in Tel Aviv. He was 82. Mr. Kenan, who fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war but also belonged to the anti-Zionist and anti-religious Canaanite movement, consistently roiled Israel’s political and cultural waters as a columnist, novelist, playwright, painter, sculptor, screenwriter and filmmaker. Somehow he maintained a

Bela Kiraly: A leader of Hungary's 1956 revolution dies

Bela Kiraly, one of the military leaders of Hungary's short-lived anti-Soviet revolution in 1956, has died, the government said. He was 97. A brief defense ministry statement provided no other details, including the cause of death or where and when it occurred. However, the daily newspaper Magyar Nemzet reported that Kiraly died Saturday morning in Budapest. Kiraly served in the Hungarian army during World War II and later led its military academy. In 1952,

Herbert G. Klein, Aide in the Nixon White House, Dies at 91

Herbert G. Klein, a campaign and White House aide to President Richard M. Nixon who remained loyal to him despite personal and professional slights, died Thursday in San Diego. He was 91. His death, at Scripps Memorial Hospital, was confirmed by a family spokeswoman, Karin Winner, the editor of The San Diego Union-Tribune. Mr. Klein, who lived in the La Jolla district of San Diego, was also a long-serving editor for Copley Newspapers in that city both before and after h

Amos Elon, Israeli Author, Dies at 82

Amos Elon, an Israeli essayist and author who examined his society’s flaws and myths, explored some of its greatest figures and became for many years its most renowned public intellectual, died Monday in Italy, where he had made his home since 2004. He was 82. His wife, Beth, said the cause was leukemia. The author of nine books, Mr. Elon rose to international fame in the early 1970s after the publication of “The Israelis: Founders and Sons,” an affectionate but unspar

Vietnam photographer Van Es dies

Mr Van Es' most famous picture showed US citizens queuing on a rooftop to board a US helicopter during the evacuation of Saigon in 1975. The image came to be seen as a symbol of the failure of US policy in the war. His wife of 39 years, Annie, said he had never regained consciousness after a brain haemorrhage last week. Mr Van Es moved from the Netherlands to Hong Kong in 1967. He covered the Vietnam War between 1969 and 1975, working first

Henry T. King Jr., Prosecutor at Nuremberg, Dies at 89

Henry T. King Jr., one of the last Nuremberg war crimes prosecutors and an influential voice since World War II in international efforts to bring war criminals to justice, died Saturday at his home in Cleveland. He was 89. The cause was cancer, said his son, Dave. Mr. King was “one of a handful of uniquely credible veterans in his field, one of the last voices of Nuremberg,” John Q. Barrett, a law professor at St. John’s University and an expert on the trials, said Mond

Ray Nance, Last of the Bedford Boys, Dies at 94

Ray Nance, the last survivor of the Bedford Boys, soldiers from the Blue Ridge foothills whose heavy losses at Omaha Beach symbolized the sacrifices of all the Americans who fell at Normandy on D-Day, died Sunday in Bedford, Va. He was 94. His death was announced by his family. They were teenage buddies in the Depression days, growing up in Bedford, a town of 3,200 in central Virginia. They joined the National Guard together, they marched in Fourth of July parades and t

Susan Hibbert: Secretary at Eisenhower's wartime headquarters (obit.)

Susan Hibbert was witness to one of the most momentous events in the 20th century – the signing of the German surrender at the end of the Second World War on 7 May 1945. As a 20-year-old British staff sergeant in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) her job was to type up the surrender documents. She was not alone. Other women typed the French, German and Russian versions. As there had to be unanimous agreement, drafts were dispatched to the three allied capitals – London, Washin

Bill Stone, last British forces veteran of world wars, dies aged 108

Bill Stone, the last man to serve for the British armed forces in both world wars, has died aged 108. Mr Stone was one of just three surviving veterans of the First World War in Britain, having joined the Royal Navy on his 18th birthday and followed his three older brothers by serving as a Stoker. As well as taking part in a round-the-world 'Empire Cruise' visiting the Colonies onboard HMS Hood, he took part in the evacuation of Dunkirk, served in the 1943 Sicily landings, exp

Harry W. O. Kinnard, Who Said One Word Would Do, Dies at 93

Lt. Gen. Harry W. O. Kinnard, who inspired the storied retort “nuts” to a German surrender ultimatum during the Battle of the Bulge, died Monday in Arlington, Va. He was 93.... General Kinnard, a lieutenant colonel at the time and the division’s operations officer, would recall that General McAuliffe “laughed and said: ‘Us surrender? Aw, nuts.’ ” As General Kinnard related it long afterward in an interview with Patrick O’Donnell, a military historian: “He pondered for a

Father Neuhaus, iconic U.S. theologian, is dead at 72

The Reverend Richard John Neuhaus, a theologian who transformed himself from a liberal Lutheran leader of the civil rights and anti-war struggles in the 1960s to a Roman Catholic beacon of the neoconservative movement of today, died on Thursday in New York. He was 72 and lived in Manhattan. He learned he had cancer in November and recently developed a systemic infection that doctors say led to his death, said Joseph Bottum, editor of"First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion, Cultur

Griffin Bell, Carter's Attorney General, 90

Griffin Bell, the dean of Georgia lawyers and the United States Attorney General during most of the presidency of his childhood neighbor Jimmy Carter, died at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta on Monday morning. He was 90. A spokesman for King & Spalding, the law firm where he was senior counsel, said the cause of death was complications from pancreatic cancer. Judge Bell, as he was almost always addressed long after his 15 years' service on the Federal bench, embodied more than