Harry Simons, 83; Juvenile Court Official

Harry Simons, 83, Los Angeles County probation officer, juvenile court referee and commissioner for 39 years. Simons began working for the county during summers as a UCLA and USC student deputy probation officer. After serving in the armed forces during World War II, he became a full-time probation officer. Moving into administration, he eventually became director of the Santa Monica office of the Probation Department. At night, he attended Southwestern Law School and began a part-time law practice. In 1960, the Los Angeles County Superior Court tapped him as a referee for its Juvenile Court. He was also a commissioner of the court, sitting as a judge on cases when all parties agreed. On Friday in Los Angeles of heart failure.

T.A. Waters, 60; Writer, Authority on Magic

T.A. Waters, 60, actor, author, magician and expert on mind reading. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Waters had a lifelong interest in magic, working in his youth for a manufacturer of magicians’ equipment. He started his career as a Shakespearean actor in off-Broadway theaters in New York, but gravitated to Southern California. An occasional performer of magic, he was more frequently a lecturer and writer on the subject, primarily mentalism or mind-reading. “We all considered him the foremost mentalist among magicians,” said practicing magician Ricki Jay. “He was a walking encyclopedia of magic and mentalism.” An eclectic writer, Waters penned Gothic novels, science fiction books and tomes on magic including the highly respected “The Encyclopedia of Magic and Magicians,” published in 1989. His “Psychologistics: An Operating Manual for the Mind” detailed a mix of psychology, parapsychology, mysticism and the occult. A Times reviewer praised that book as “impressively lucid and useful” with “sound and sensible” chapters on speed-reading and memory. Waters served for many years as librarian at the Magic Castle in Hollywood. On Friday in Hollywood of a heart attack.