Harry H. Shorey; Entomologist Combated Crop-Imperilling Insects

Harry H. Shorey, 67, UC Riverside entomologist who combatted insects that threaten the state’s agricultural crops. Born in Quincy, Mass., Shorey earned a bachelor’s degree in entomology at the University of Massachusetts and his master’s and doctorate at Cornell University. After post-doctoral research in Australia, Shorey joined the UC Riverside faculty. He spent the years from 1978 to 1985 operating his own greenhouse and nursery in Vashon, Wash., but then returned to California to spend a year as director of UC’s Kearney Agricultural Center which provides research for California’s agricultural industry. Since 1986, Shorey’s laboratory and research had been based at Kearney, while he was associated with UC campuses in Berkeley, Davis and Riverside. Shorey became widely known for using pheromones, released through “puffers” patterned after bathroom air fresheners, to thwart insects’ mating behavior, eventually killing off the pests. At the time of his death in a traffic collision, Shorey and his laboratory assistant, Ryan Mahaffey, 18, were conducting field research in the Coachella Valley. Their work was directed at carob moths which threaten date crops. Mahaffey was also killed. On Monday in Coachella, Calif.

W.V. ‘Bill’ Wright; Nevada Newspaper Executive and Historian

W.V. “Bill” Wright, 80, Nevada newspaper executive and historian who expanded the Las Vegas Review-Journal and helped develop the Nevada State Museum system. A native of Texas, Wright joined the Review-Journal in 1941, shortly after graduating from the University of Missouri. The newspaper at that time had a circulation of 3,000, which grew to about 48,000 by 1966 when Wright was named general manager. He doubled that before his retirement in 1981, making the newspaper the most widely read one in Nevada. A passionate amateur historian, Wright worked throughout his adult life to preserve Nevada’s state resouces and develop the various branches of the Nevada State Museum and related historical societies. He suffered several broken ribs in a July fall, and had flown to Scripps Hospital for diagnostic tests. On Tuesday in La Jolla, Calif., of heart failure.

Dorothy Tuttle La Tour Nitch; Dancer in Musical Films

Dorothy Tuttle “Tut” La Tour Nitch, 80, a dancer in Judy Garland musicals of the 1940s. A native of Los Angeles, Nitch became a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract dancer as a teenager and was educated at the studio high school. She was one of the glamorous waitresses in the 1946 film “The Harvey Girls,” about the pioneering restaurant chain, starring Garland and Angela Lansbury. Her other films included Gene Kelly’s “American in Paris.” She retired from the screen after her marriage, and became active in Santa Monica civic groups working to preserve historic sites, in the Santa Monica Republican Women’s Club and in the Santa Monica Presbyterian Church, where she was volunteer wedding director. After her second marriage, to James E. Nitch, she moved to Encino and volunteered in the Encino Women’s Club, the Old Treasures Club and the National Charity League of Los Angeles. On Aug. 12 in Encino.

Eddie Smardan; Innovator in Children’s TV Advertising

Eddie Smardan, 72, innovator in packaging and advertising in children’s television. After working in Portland, Ore., Vancouver, Wash., and Sacramento as a radio disc jockey and announcer, Smardan moved to Los Angeles, where he wrote, produced and directed for television and film, and worked for advertising firms. In 1975 he formed E. Smardan & Associates, a consulting firm for advertising companies and agencies and 12 television stations. He helped create and produce network and syndicated television shows, including “New Zoo Revue,” “The Funny Company,” “Groovy Ghoulies” and “The Archies.” Smardan placed the first “wall-to-wall” Saturday morning network advertising schedules for Mattel toys, causing commercials to appear simultaneously on all national children’s television shows. The project earned him several national awards for creative use of media. From 1982 until 1991, he was chairman of Reachable Star Inc., a packager, producer and distributor of children’s television programs. Smardan served as president of the Hollywood Radio-Television Society and was a consultant to the National Assn. of Broadcasters. On Aug. 4 in Encinitas, Calif.

Cosby Earl Turner Sr.; Probation Officer, Senior Volunteer

Cosby Earl Turner Sr., 89, a probation officer who spent his retirement years helping senior citizens. Born in Monroe, La., Turner came to Los Angeles as a child and was educated at UCLA as a teacher. He became manager of the Pueblo del Rio Housing Project and during World War II served as an Army sergeant in Europe. After the war, Turner earned a master’s degree in social work at USC and worked for 18 years as a Los Angeles County probation officer. After his retirement in 1969, Turner embarked on his volunteer career with the National Council on Aging, the American Assn. of Retired Persons, the Distinguished Gentlemen’s Club and the Wilshire Community Police Council. He also remained active in St. Agatha’s Catholic Church. On July 30 in Los Angeles.

Otto Wichterle; Inventor of Soft Contact Lens

Otto Wichterle, 84, a Czechoslovak chemist who invented the soft contact lens. Wichterle gained prominence through his ability to translate scientific research into practical uses. When employed by the Bata shoe manufacturing company during World War II, he invented a nylon fiber frequently employed for industrial uses. In 1956, using an Erector set and a phonograph motor, he invented a spin-casting process to make soft contact lenses out of a polymer he created that could hold moisture. About 100 million people around the world now wear the soft contact lenses he made possible. He patented both the material and the process in 1963, but the rights were sold by the Czechoslovak government and went eventually to Bausch & Lomb. Wichterle reportedly received less than $33,000 for his creation. Wichterle was chairman of the Czech Academy of Sciences, but was stripped of his honors by the Communist government. After the establishment of the Czech Republic in 1993, he was rehabilitated and elected honorary chairman of the academy. On Tuesday in Strazisko, Czech Republic, after a heart attack and stroke.

Aline Mosby; Wire Service Reporter, Columnist

Aline Mosby, 76, a wire service reporter and Hollywood columnist who helped popularize Marilyn Monroe. A native of Missoula, Mont., Mosby studied journalism at the University of Montana and joined United Press in Seattle in 1943. She remained with the wire service and its successor, United Press International, until 1984. Working in the Los Angeles bureau in the 1950s, Mosby daringly doffed her clothes to cover a nudist convention in San Bernardino County. She also wrote about Hollywood and was among the first to interview a young Marilyn Monroe after the future actress appeared in an attention-getting calendar layout. Wire service historians credit Mosby with helping Monroe become a well-known star. The journalist aroused controversy when she moonlighted anonymously for a magazine called “Confidential” that many in Hollywood considered a scandal sheet. To avoid embarrassing her wire service, Mosby resigned for six months and moved to Europe, only to rejoin United Press in London. She was later assigned to Paris and then to Moscow, where she spent many years. She interviewed Lee Harvey Oswald when he defected there in 1959 and covered the trial of U-2 pilot Gary Powers. Mosby detailed her Moscow experiences in a 1962 book, “The View From No. 13 People’s Street.” She opened UPI’s Beijing bureau in 1972. On Aug. 7 in Escondido of a cerebral hemorrhage.