PASSINGS: Scott Davis, Ed Moose, Frank Kermode, Ghazi Algosaibi

Scott Davis

Mount SAC track and field announcer

Scott Davis, 66, a longtime track and field announcer and statistician who added to the prestige of the Mount San Antonio College Relays by attracting such stars as Marion Jones, Carl Lewis and Asafa Powell to the annual meet he directed, died Wednesday at his home in Cerritos.

Davis, who previously had overcome skin cancer and bone-marrow cancer, had been suffering from the effects of treatment for the cancer, said his wife, Cheryl.

A well-known voice of world-class track and field events in the United States, Davis called the action at U.S. track and field championships, U.S. Olympic trials, NCAA meets and at his alma mater UCLA, in addition to Mount SAC. He also served as English-language announcer at international meets.

Davis was the meet director for the Mount SAC Relays in Walnut from 1997 to 2007. The annual track and field extravaganza, held every April, is an early season test for athletes of all levels.

Known for keeping meticulous records, Davis co-founded the Federation of American Statisticians of Track and compiled the annual FAST index, a list of top statistical marks in the sport. He was secretary general of the Assn. of Track and Field Statisticians.

Davis was born Sept. 21, 1943, in San Francisco and ran track as a teenager. He studied at UCLA, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s in systems engineering, and at what is now Cal State Northridge, earning a master’s in math. He worked as a systems engineer and a college math teacher.

Ed Moose

San Francisco restaurant owner

Ed Moose, 81, who owned two well-known San Francisco restaurants that attracted a mixture of celebrities, tourists and locals, died Aug. 12 at California Pacific Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said. No cause was given, but the San Francisco Chronicle reported that he had developed a staph infection after several surgeries.

Moose and partner Sam Deitsch owned the Washington Square Bar & Grill and later Moose’s, both in the city’s North Beach section. In their heyday, the restaurants attracted such celebrities as Tom Brokaw, Walter Cronkite and Tom Wolfe. Both have since closed.

Moose was born in St. Louis in 1929. He was a newspaper reporter and political strategist before getting into the restaurant business.

In 1973, Moose and Deitsch opened the Washington Square Bar & Grill, which Chronicle columnist Herb Caen nicknamed “the Washbag.” They sold the restaurant in 1990 and opened Moose’s the same year. Deitsch died in 2002.

Frank Kermode

Literary critic and Shakespeare scholar

Frank Kermode, 90, a respected literary critic and Shakespeare scholar, died Tuesday in Cambridge, England, according to publisher Alan Samson.

Regarded by some as Britain’s foremost critic, Kermode was instrumental in the creation of the London Review of Books, and his accessibility made him a kind of bridge between the world of academic literature and novels as they were read by everyday people.

Kermode was perhaps best known for his influential book, “The Sense of an Ending” — a witty meditation on the relationship between fiction and crisis. He also was a respected student of Shakespeare and would return to the Bard often over the course of his career, which took in such topics as the Bible and deconstructionist theory.

Kermode was born Nov. 29, 1919, on the Isle of Man. Raised in modest circumstances, he would eventually become an establishment figure, writing for the New Statesman and the Guardian as well as judging Britain’s prestigious Booker Prize.

Ghazi Algosaibi

Former Saudi envoy to Britain

Ghazi Algosaibi, 70, a former Saudi ambassador to Britain who often represented his country at international forums and was known for his poetry and liberal religious views in an overwhelmingly conservative country that banned his writings, died Sunday at a hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from colon cancer that had spread to his stomach, relatives said.

Algosaibi had a distinguished career in public service. He headed the ministries of health, electricity, water, industry and labor. He served in the high-profile post of ambassador to Britain from 1992 to 2002.

The scion of a wealthy trading family stretching between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, Algosaibi studied at the University of Cairo, the University of London and USC, where he earned a master’s degree in international relations.

Algosaibi, who was close to the kingdom’s ruling family, spoke out against terrorism and extremism and called for democratic reform in the kingdom while recognizing that it needed to be a very gradual process.

He also was a prolific novelist, poet and columnist. His writings were banned in Saudi Arabia because they frequently voiced criticism of ruling regimes in the region and often presented a satirical depiction of social and political mores.

It was only in the last month that the Saudi Culture Ministry lifted the ban on his writings, citing his contributions to the kingdom.

— Times staff and wire reports

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