PASSINGS

An expert in infectious disease

John M. Leedom, 74, an infectious-disease expert who taught at USC’s Keck School of Medicine for 40 years, died June 27 of a heart attack while visiting Australia, the university announced.

Leedom was attending physician for medicine and communicable diseases at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center from 1965 to 2002, and chief of the division of infectious diseases there from 1975 to 2002. Much of his work was focused on stopping the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and, beginning in the early ’80s, battling the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

As director of the Multidisciplinary AIDS Clinic and the AIDS Service beginning in 1985, Leedom led efforts to test many of the drugs used to treat the disease, according to USC.

Born Oct. 18, 1933, in Peoria, Ill., Leedom earned bachelor’s and medical degrees from the University of Illinois. He began teaching at USC in 1962 and retired in 2002.

Chronicler of Negro leagues

Sherman “Jocko” Maxwell, 100, a pioneering black sportscaster who chronicled the Negro baseball leagues before the sport’s racial barrier fell, died Wednesday at a hospital in West Chester, Pa., after battling pneumonia, according to his son, Bruce Maxwell.

Supporting himself with a post office job during the day, Maxwell worked at night as a radio sportscaster. He was a prolific writer, submitting stories to the Ledger in Newark, N.J. – the predecessor of the Star-Ledger – on games played by the Newark Eagles.

“The first thing about Jocko to know is that there would be very few records of the Negro leagues that are accurate and there would be almost none without him,” Jerry Izenberg, a longtime Star-Ledger sports columnist, said.

Maxwell, a Newark native, began his broadcasting career in 1929, doing a five-minute weekly sports report on WNJR in Newark. He went on to broadcast on other stations in northern New Jersey and became the announcer for Sunday afternoon Newark Eagles games. His broadcasting career ended in 1967.

Maxwell, who served in the Army during World War II, also founded and managed the Newark Starlings, a semi-pro mixed-race baseball team.

From Times Staff and Wire Reports