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PASSINGS: Dick Harter, Minoru Mori, Michael Hossack

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Dick Harter

Former Oregon Ducks coach

Dick Harter, 81, the University of Oregon men’s basketball coach whose Ducks team ended UCLA’s 98-game home winning streak in 1976, died Monday at a South Carolina hospital, according to Island Funeral Home in Hilton Head. The cause was not given.

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Harter compiled a college record of 295-196 at Rider University, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Penn State. He won two Ivy League championships with Pennsylvania.

In the NBA, Harter was the first head coach of the expansion Charlotte Hornets in 1988. Known as a defensive specialist, he was an assistant with the Indiana Pacers three times before retiring in 2010. He was the defensive coach under Larry Bird when the Pacers reached the NBA Finals in 2000, losing to the Lakers in six games. He was also an assistant with Detroit, New York, Portland, Boston and Philadelphia.

On Feb. 21, 1976, Harter led his Oregon team to UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, where the Bruins hadn’t lost a game since 1970. Oregon won, 65-45. In seven seasons at Oregon, Harter led the Ducks to a 113-81 record and was named Pac-8 coach of the year in 1977.

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Harter was born Oct. 14, 1930, in Pottstown, Pa., and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.

Minoru Mori

Japanese property tycoon

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Minoru Mori, 77, a Japanese property tycoon who built China’s tallest building, died of heart failure Thursday, according to Mori Building Co. in Tokyo.

Mori, the company’s chairman, was born Aug. 24, 1934, in Kyoto, Japan. He and his father, Taikichiro, an economics professor, started Mori Building in 1959 to buy and sell real estate when Minoru was a student at the University of Tokyo. Soon his younger brother, Akira, joined the company.

Mori Building built and rented office buildings during the boom leading up to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. After the oil shock of the 1970s, the company decided that tearing down old buildings was too costly and started to construct higher-quality structures in new locations.

Minoru Mori became company president in 1993, when Japan’s land prices were surging amid its “bubble” economy. With his visions of a “vertical garden city,” he transformed Tokyo’s landscape with mammoth mixed-use development projects such as Roppongi Hills, Ark Hills and Atago Green Hills. Many buildings around the city bear his family name.

In China, his 101-story Shanghai World Financial Center, which opened in 2008, has the world’s highest rooftop at 1,614 feet and highest observation deck.

Michael Hossack

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Longtime Doobie Brothers drummer

Michael Hossack, 65, a longtime drummer for the Doobie Brothers, died of cancer Monday at his home in Dubois, Wyo., said a statement from the band’s manager, Bruce Cohn. A native of Paterson, N.J., Hossack played with the Doobie Brothers from 1971 to 1973 and rejoined in 1987. His drumming can be heard on early hits including “Listen to the Music,” “China Grove” and “Blackwater.” He stopped performing with the band two years ago.

-- Los Angeles Times staff and wire reports

news.obits@latimes.com

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