PASSINGS: John Durkin, Jackie Guthrie
Notable deaths of 2012 (Ron Frehm / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (David Longstreath / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Chris Pizzello / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (John Duricka / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Lucy Pemoni / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Victoria Will / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Andre Luiz / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Ron Edmonds / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Tony Gutierrez / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Charles Rex Abrogast / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Elizabeth Conley / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Eric Gay / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Jim Mone / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Walt Zeboski / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (David Van Der Veen / AFP / Getty Images)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Matthew Cavanaugh / EPA)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Ray Howard / Associated Press)
With his silky voice and and casual style, the baritone most famous for his rendition of “Moon River” was one of America’s top vocalists from the 1950s into the 1970s. He was 84. Full obituary
Notable deaths of 2012
Notable deaths of 2012 (Carlo Allegri / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (John Marshall Mantel / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Gus Ruelas / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Santi Visalli / Getty Images)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Jim Hollander / EPA)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Charles Sykes / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Bebeto Matthews / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
Notable deaths of 2012 (George Wilhelm / Los Angeles Times)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Diether Endlicher / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Hassan Ammar / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Ed Rode / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Nati Harnik / Associated Press)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Alexander Joe / AFP / Getty Images)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Olivier Ferrand / Capitol Records)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
Notable deaths of 2012 (Jakub Mosur / For The Times)
Notable deaths of 2011 (Frazer Harrison / Getty Images)
Notable deaths of 2011 (Al Messerschmidt / Getty Images)
Notable deaths of 2011 (Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)
John Durkin
Former U.S. senator from New Hampshire
Former U.S. Sen. John Durkin, 76, a New Hampshire Democrat who won his seat in 1975 in one of the closest elections in Senate history, died Tuesday at Franklin Regional Hospital in Concord, N.H., after a brief illness. His death was confirmed by an official at the New Hampshire Veterans Home, where Durkin had lived since 2011.
Durkin was elected to the Senate on Sept. 16, 1975, after a long fight that wound its way from New Hampshire to Washington and back again. The initial vote tally in November 1974 showed Republican U.S. Rep. Louis Wyman winning by 335 votes. A recount put Durkin up by 10 votes, prompting an appeal to the state Ballot Law Commission, which was charged with making decisions on write-ins, strangely marked ballots and voter intentions.
After the commission ruled that Wyman won by two votes, Durkin appealed to the U.S. Senate, which handed the matter to its rules committee. But the committee sent it back to the full Senate. After 30 days of discussion, 32 roll call votes and a record-setting six cloture votes to cut off debate, the Senate declared the seat vacant on July 30, 1975, and returned the race to New Hampshire for a Sept. 16 runoff. Durkin won by 27,000 votes and was sworn in two days later.
He was defeated in 1980 by Republican Warren Rudman. Durkin ran again in 1990 but lost to Republican Bob Smith. In later years, he worked as an attorney.
Durkin was born March 29, 1936, and grew up in Brookfield, Mass. He graduated from Holy Cross College in 1959, spent two years in the Navy and earned a law degree from Georgetown University in 1965. Durkin moved to New Hampshire the following year to become an assistant attorney general and was named insurance commissioner two years later.
Jackie Guthrie, 68, who was married to folk singer Arlo Guthrie in 1969 and served as a videographer during his recent concert tours, died Sunday of liver cancer at the couple’s winter home in Sebastian, Fla., according to an obituary released by his record label. A Utah native, she grew up in Malibu and met her future husband in the late 1960s while a cashier at the Troubadour nightclub in West Hollywood. She had four children with Guthrie and one with singer David Crosby.
— Times staff and wire reports
More to Read
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for the L.A. Times biggest news, features and recommendations in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
More From the Los Angeles Times
-
-
-
Sept. 16, 2024
-