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J.L. Chestnut Jr., the first black lawyer in Selma, Ala., and an attorney for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during the city's landmark protest marches of the early 1960s, died Sept. 30 at St. Vincent's Hospital in Birmingham. He was 77.
Donald BlakesleeDecorated flying ace during WWII >>Frances Lomas Feldman, a USC professor and social work pioneer who conducted a groundbreaking study in the 1970s that showed cancer patients faced discrimination in the workplace, has died. She was 95. >>
Craig Fertig, whose name was synonymous with USC football over five decades as a quarterback, assistant coach and broadcaster, died Saturday of kidney failure at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach. He was 66. >>
Army Sgt. Israel Garcia and his wife, Lesly, were strolling through his base in Vicenza, Italy, one afternoon when he noticed a community bulletin board with a small advertisement for a souped-up, red and silver 1996 Volkswagen with images of checkered racing flags on the doors. >>
Army Pfc. Jennifer L. Cole was hesitant when she got her orders to go to Iraq last spring. But once she got there, she was happy. >>
Allyn Overton Kreps, a Los Angeles lawyer who managed California Democrat Alan Cranston's 1968 campaign for U.S. Senate, died Sept. 9 at Glendale Adventist Medical Center of complications from Parkinson's disease. He was 78. >>
His antique collection led to dozens of TV appearances. The balky machines made him a 'Tonight Show' favorite with Johnny Carson. He also was a noted theater organist. >>
Eletra Casadei, the California fashion designer whose prom dresses put away the Sweet Sixteen look and moved into strapless, backless, slit-to-here styles, has died. She was 55. >>
George 'Wydell' Jones'Rama Lama Ding Dong' songwriter >>Hayden Carruth dies at 87; poet wrote eloquently of farmers' lives even as he battled emotional illsHayden Carruth, an editor, critic and poet who earned recognition late in his 50-year writing career for powerful work that explored the struggles, loves and desires of people who made their living with their hands -- as he did for two decades -- has died. He was 87. >>
In the 1950s, the group helped drive the folk music revival that paved the way for such artists as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Peter, Paul and Mary. >>
House Peters Jr.Television actor was Mr. Clean >>Choi Jin-sil, one of South Korea's most popular actresses, was found dead Thursday in an apparent suicide after suffering from post-divorce depression and online rumors about her financial dealings, police said. She was 39. >>
Father Werner Papeians de Morchoven, a Benedictine monk from Belgium and a former missionary to China who was one of the founders of St. Andrew's Abbey in Valyermo, Calif., in the mid-1950s, has died. He was 94. >>
Marian McQuade, an advocate of care for the elderly who founded National Grandparents Day after years of petitioning governors, members of Congress and presidents to support her cause, has died. She was 91. >>
Celebrated political cartoonist Boris Yefimov, who drew brutally satirical images of the Soviet Union's foes in the service of Josef Stalin, died Wednesday. He was 108. >>
Dale Pitt, who co-wrote with her husband "Los Angeles A to Z," the first encyclopedia on the city and county of Los Angeles, a 1997 local best-seller that was admired for its scholarship and readability, has died. She was 77. >>
Milt Davis, an All-Pro defensive back for the Baltimore Colts who played on two National Football League championship teams and twice led the league in interceptions, has died. He was 79. >>
She established a center of government in Van Nuys so that Valley residents didn't have to go downtown to do city business. She also brought Bradley to the Valley to meet constituents. >>
A first-rate trumpet and cornet player, he also wrote books on jazz, including one about trumpet star Bix Beiderbecke and a controversial history of white jazz musicians. >>
Ada Dodson, a World War II Marine Corps veteran who was active in the Women Marines Assn., has died. She was 94. >>
Oliver Kaufman Crawford, who overcame the blacklist of the 1950s to become one of television's most successful writers, has died. He was 91. >>
Jack Faulkner, a longtime executive with the St. Louis Rams going back to the franchise's days in Southern California, died Sunday night at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, the Rams announced. He was 82. >>
Peter Camejo, a Green Party leader who was a third-party candidate in three California gubernatorial elections before becoming Ralph Nader's running mate in the 2004 presidential race, died Saturday. He was 68. >>
Dionicio Morales, an early giant of Eastside activism who came out of the agricultural fields of Moorpark to create the nation's largest Latino human services provider, has died. He was 89. >>
Charles A. O'BrienFormer state deputy atty. gen. >>Osborn Elliott, the editor who led Newsweek magazine for 16 years and transformed it into a potent rival of Time with enterprising journalism that captured the turmoil of the 1960s, died Sunday at his home in New York of complications from cancer, the magazine announced. He was 83. >>
The blue-eyed star of 'The Hustler,' 'Cool Hand Luke' and 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' was at home. He had long battled cancer. >>
The physician 'completely transformed American understanding of chocolate' with the artisanal company he started with onetime patient John Scharffenberger in 1990. >>
APPRECIATION
Refusing to romanticize his nonconformist characters, the star put his sex appeal to complicated and fascinating use. >>
Rising from the oil fields to the board room, Edfred L. Shannon directed the 1981 sale of Santa Fe International to Kuwait Petroleum Corp., the largest merger in U.S. history at the time. >>
Dr. Ronald N. Kornblum, a nationally recognized expert on chokehold deaths who served eight years as Los Angeles County coroner until he resigned amid charges of poor management and an escalating caseload, died Tuesday at his home in La Cañada-Flintridge after a long illness, his family said. He was 74. >>
John E. Taylor, a scholar known for his encyclopedic knowledge of World War II intelligence records and his ability to find the most arcane material in the National Archives, where he worked for 63 years, died Sept. 20 of congestive heart failure at his home in Washington, D.C. He was 87. >>
Connie Haines, a petite and dynamic big band singer who performed alongside Frank Sinatra in the Harry James and Tommy Dorsey orchestras, died Monday in Clearwater, Fla. The cause of death was myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune neuromuscular disease. She was 87. >>
He co-founded the Southern California Alcohol and Drug Programs, which serves about 3,000 people each year. McDonald helped develop projects, raise money and mentor those in recovery. >>
Mickey Vernon, a two-time American League batting champion with the Washington Senators and seven-time all-star first baseman during a 20-year career in the major leagues, has died. He was 90. >>
Funeral services for influential Motown Records producer and songwriter Norman Whitfield, who died Sept. 16 of complications from diabetes, will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Angelus Funeral Home, 3875 S. Crenshaw Blvd., Los Angeles. Information: (323) 296-6666. The service will be open to the public. >>
Patrick Flynn, the music director of the Riverside County Philharmonic for 19 years who also guest-conducted ballet, opera and classical orchestras around the world, has died. He was 72. >>
Dick LynchN.Y. Giants player and radio analyst >>Georgi Kitov, an archaeologist who was an expert on the treasure-rich Thracian culture of antiquity, died while excavating a temple in central Bulgaria considered to be one of his greatest discoveries, his family said. He was 65. >>
As a partner in the Los Angeles law firm of Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, he helped build the firm's music practice. >>
He spent his career at the Agriculture Department, visiting almost 2,500 of the nation's 3,141 counties. In each, he took a picture of the courthouse, interviewed residents and took notes. >>
Retired Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Julius M. Title, who was the oldest retired judge assigned by the state to hear cases, died of heart failure Sunday at his home in Cheviot Hills. He was 93. >>
Wally HilgenbergEx-Vikings linebacker >>Barefoot SandersJudge ruled on desegregation >>A nationally respected expert on criminal law, the Supreme Court and juvenile law, the witty teacher had more than 1,600 fans on the Facebook group 'Charlie Whitebread Rocks My World.' >>
Paola Timiras, a medical doctor and researcher who pioneered the study of the physiology of aging and taught molecular and cell biology at UC Berkeley for more than 50 years, died Sept. 12 at the end of a full day's work. She was 85. >>
A public memorial service for Elmer Dills, the longtime restaurant and travel critic for KABC-TV and KABC-AM radio, will be held at 1 p.m. Oct. 3 at All Saints Church, 132 N. Euclid Ave., Pasadena. Dills, 82, died Sept. 15. >>
The only woman to win sports journalism's highest award, Garber covered athletics at a time when most women were relegated to the society pages and banned from locker rooms. >>
Nancy Hicks Maynard, a pioneer in newsroom diversity who was a co-founder of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education and later helped her husband run the Oakland Tribune for nearly a decade, died Sunday at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. She was 61. >>
The Beverly Hills resident was one of the most vocal witnesses of the horrors of the Nazi reign, giving 2,500 talks in schools, colleges, churches and synagogues around the world. >>
Earl Palmer, a New Orleans drummer who provided the distinctive backbeat for seminal rock 'n' roll songs by Fats Domino and Little Richard, then traveled west to become one of Hollywood's busiest session musicians, has died. He was 83. >>
Cece CarlucciPacific Coast League Hall of Fame umpire >>James Crumley, a crime novelist whose hardened detectives worked cases in dingy Montana bars and other rough hangouts around Big Sky Country, has died after years of poor health. He was 68. >>
James Crumley, a revered and influential crime novelist whose hard-boiled detective tales set in Montana and other Western locales were praised for both their grittiness and the lyrical quality of their prose, has died. He was 68. >>
Dr. Robert Katzman, the UC San Diego neuroscientist who pushed Alzheimer's disease into the public consciousness as a "major killer" and who co-founded the activist Alzheimer's Assn., died Tuesday at his home in La Jolla after a long illness. He was 82. >>
The co-founder of the Center for Marital and Sexual Studies in Long Beach 'helped legitimize and destigmatize sex research.' >>
Lynn Kohlman, a fashion model and photographer who worked with the creative teams of top New York designers Perry Ellis, Tommy Hilfiger and Donna Karan, has died. She was 62. >>
Mauricio KagelArgentine-born music composer >>Philip E. Clapp, an environmental advocate with decades of Washington experience who was known for his work on clean air and global warming issues, has died. He was 54. >>
The producer for the Temptations and the writer of such hits as 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine' had long struggled with diabetes and other ailments. >>
John Burnside, the inventor of a kaleidoscope-like device called the teleidoscope and an early gay movement activist who was the longtime partner of the late gay rights pioneer Harry Hay, has died. He was 91. >>
William 'Sarge' BrownFormer Vail ski resort manager >>Bob Winquist, a former director of the character animation program at California Institute of the Arts who greatly influenced a number of animators now working in Hollywood, has died. He was 85. >>
Ruthie the Duck Girl, a holdover from a time when colorful characters were as much a part of everyday life in New Orleans' French Quarter as beignets and cafe au lait, has died. She was 74. >>
Elmer Dills, 82, a longtime restaurant and travel critic known for his popular radio and television reports, died Monday at Pasadena's Huntington Memorial Hospital, according to KABC-TV Channel 7, where he dished out his reports on Southern California dining. The cause of death was not specified. >>
He became famous for catching great whites and may have been the inspiration for the Capt. Quint character in 'Jaws.' >>
Though he lacked the high profile of bandmates Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and David Gilmour, the keyboardist shaped the British psychedelic group's sound. >>
Olin Stephens, a naval architect who designed eight America's Cup winners, along with thousands of cruising and racing yachts, has died. He was 100. >>
The comedian was featured in Duke Ellington's musical revue 'Jump for Joy' and regularly brought the house down with his 'Hello, Mr. President?' monologue. >>
His wife told Claremont police that the novelist and humorist who wrote 'Infinite Jest' hanged himself Friday night. He was 46. >>
When their armored truck toppled into a canal that night in southern Afghanistan, the soldiers struggled to free themselves in the darkness as the water level rose. >>
The Defense Department last week identified the following American military personnel killed in Afghanistan and Iraq: >>
OBITUARY
The anchorman and commentator known for his opinion segments had been suffering from a kidney ailment. >>
Gregory Poe, a fashion designer with an offbeat sensibility who caused a sensation in the late 1970s with a line of see-through purses and raincoats infused with plastic fish and other whimsical items, died Sept. 1 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 51. >>
Charlie WalkerPopular DJ became Grand Ole Opry star >>Gregory McdonaldAuthor of 'Fletch' mystery books >>The L.A. artist captured the strong personalities of her subjects, including A. Philip Randolph, Martin Luther King Jr., Celes King III and Sojourner Truth. >>
Mel Harris, a former top television executive at Paramount and Sony Pictures Entertainment who was known as a TV, video and cable innovator, has died. He was 65. >>
The eldest brother of the Dalai Lama fled his homeland in 1950. He taught Tibetan studies at Indiana University and established a Tibetan cultural center there. >>
Jacqui Landrum, a dancer who with her husband, Bill, choreographed a number of films, including "Great Balls of Fire" and "The Doors," has died. She was 64. >>
Ralph S. Plaisted, an insurance salesman turned explorer who in 1968 led the first expedition that indisputably reached the North Pole over the ice, has died. He was 80. >>
Sherrill HeadrickAggressive linebacker >>Imam W. Deen Mohammed, the rebellious son of the late Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad who broke from black nationalism and guided his followers toward mainstream Islam, died Tuesday, according to family members. He was 74. >>
As a Navy pilot in the Pacific in WWII he rescued 15 downed airmen under enemy fire. He later served 20 years as lieutenant governor of his home state. >>
Francoise DemulderWon World Press Photo award >>Ralph M. Kovel, a pioneer of price guides for antiques and collectibles who wrote 97 books on the subject and helped create the modern mania for family heirlooms and flea-market finds on "Antiques Roadshow" and EBay, died Aug. 28 at the Cleveland Clinic of complications from hip surgery. He was 88. >>
Don Haskins, the coach who hastened the full integration of college basketball when he started five black players for Texas Western College against an all-white University of Kentucky team and won the 1966 national NCAA championship, died Sunday. He was 78. >>
Anita Page, who co-starred in "The Broadway Melody," the 1929 film that was the first talking movie to win the best-picture Academy Award, died Saturday at her home in Van Nuys, according to Randal Malone, an actor and longtime friend. She was 98. >>
A memorial service for Oakley Hall, an author and creative-writing teacher at UC Irvine for more than 30 years, will be held at 4 p.m. Oct. 17 at the UC Irvine University Club, 801 E. Peltason Drive, Irvine. Hall died May 12 of complications from cancer and kidney disease. He was 87. >>
The opening line of Ivan Wilson's last letter home to his mother had a poignant resonance at his memorial service. >>
Tony Daly, a doctor for sports stars who became one in his own right because of this work, died Friday at his home in Beverly Hills after a six-year battle with prostate cancer. He was 74. >>
Joey Giardello, a former middleweight boxing champion who won a decision over Rubin Carter in 1964 and then sued over how the fight was depicted in the 1999 film "The Hurricane," has died. He was 78. >>
After the L.A. riots in 1992, she and others worked with the university to launch a course on revitalizing minority communities. >>
Robert Giroux, a distinguished giant of 20th century publishing who guided and supported dozens of great writers from T.S. Eliot and Jack Kerouac to Bernard Malamud and Susan Sontag, died in his sleep early Friday morning. He was 94. >>
The Arkansas native married a Civil War infantryman when he was 86 and she was 19. A Civil War historian says a few other such widows are still alive but do not want to be named. >>
Riitta ImmonenFinnish fabric, fashion designer >>Keller was on the celebrated writing team on Sid Caesar's variety TV shows in the 1950s and was a founding member of the Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band. >>
Australian actor Michael Pate, who appeared in dozens of films and was a regular guest star on U.S. television shows in the 1950s and '60s, died Monday in Australia of respiratory failure. He was 88. >>
In the annals of California municipal history, Lakewood of the early 1950s was David fighting the Goliath of Long Beach, a city intent on gobbling up its unincorporated neighbor parcel by parcel. The legal turf battles were exhausting Lakewood's defenders, most of whom were transplants drawn to the promise of this sleepy village-turned-postwar boomtown >>
In his nearly 70-year career, the animator worked on Disney films including 'Fantasia' and 'Bambi,' and Warner Bros. characters such as Bugs Bunny. He's best known for the 'Charlie Brown' specials. >>
Golfer Tommy Bolt, known as well for his legendary temper tantrums as for winning the 1958 U.S. Open, died Saturday in Batesville, Ark., the PGA Tour announced. He was 92. >>
He started the Duarte-based company with brothers Zeke and Gus. The firm was a major sponsor on various auto racing circuits. >>
Don LaFontaine, the highly sought-after voice-over artist whose sonorous-voiced narration on several thousand movie trailers earned him the title of "The Trailer King," has died. He was 68. >>
Jerry Reed, whose roles in three "Smokey and the Bandit" Southern comedy films opposite Burt Reynolds often overshadowed his gifts as a prolific country singer-songwriter and virtuoso guitarist, died Monday at his home outside Nashville of complications from emphysema. He was 71. >>
Ike PappasReporter saw Oswald's killing >>OBITUARY
Guthman was national editor of the L.A. Times during the paper's rise to prominence. His pursuit of Watergate stories earned him the No. 3 spot on Nixon's enemies list. He later taught at USC. >>
V. Orville Wright, president and chief executive of MCI Communications during its transformation from a start-up into the leading challenger of AT&T in the 1970s and 1980s, has died. He was 87. >>
Sullivan's Dublin, Ireland-based company, founded with three former Disney animators, also produced 'The Secret of NIMH,' 'An American Tail,' and 'All Dogs Go to Heaven.' >>
Allard Frank RoenCo-founder of La Costa Resort >> |
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HEADLINERS
Legendary movie star and irreverent cultural icon created a model philanthropy fueled by profits from a salad dressing that became nearly as famous as he was.
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Notable: 2007
Among the major notables who passed from the scene this year, three of the most famous -- two masters of cinema and a genius of football -- died on the same day: July 30. A roll call of newsworthy figures who died in 2007. PHOTOS
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