Obituaries - Feb. 16, 1999

Harry A. Cole; 1st Black Judge on Maryland High Court

Harry A. Cole, 78, the first black to serve on Maryland’s highest court and in its state Senate. The son of a tailor, Cole graduated from Morgan State College and served in the Army in Europe and the Pacific during the final two years of World War II. He earned a law degree at the University of Maryland and in 1953 became the first black lawyer in the state attorney general’s office. A year later, Cole was the first black elected to the Maryland Senate, defeating the incumbent by only 37 votes. In 1967, Cole was named to the Municipal Court bench by then-Gov. Spiro T. Agnew, and 10 years later became the first black named to the Maryland Court of Appeals. He was the first chairman of the Maryland Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. During his tenure on the state high court, Cole wrote the unanimous court opinion that upheld the right of the state to fund abortions for poor women and was the lone dissenter in a decision upholding local funding for public schools. On Sunday in Baltimore of pneumonia.

William T. Fields; Founder of MCI-WorldCom Predecessor

William T. Fields, 52, founder of the predecessor to the MCI-WorldCom telecommunications giant. Fields, a financial consultant, was one of nine original investors in Long Distance Discount Service, established in 1984 after the breakup of AT & T’s Bell system. Originally a telephone equipment company, Long Distance Discount Service soon became a long-distance provider. Fields served as the company’s first chief executive officer and chairman of the board. He relinquished the titles to a handpicked successor less than a year later. The company has since become MCI-WorldCom, now second only to AT & T as the world’s largest telecommunications company. On Saturday in Tupelo, Miss., of pancreatic cancer.

David Golding; Hollywood Publicist, Army Journalist

David Golding, 85, Hollywood publicist and Stars and Stripes executive during World War II. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Golding graduated from the University of Wisconsin, worked as a reporter for Film Daily and then joined the Army as the war approached. He served as managing editor of the Mediterranean edition of the Army newspaper Stars and Stripes, headquartered in Rome. Under Golding’s direction, its daily and Sunday editions reported news from every front. After the war, Golding returned to Hollywood, heading promotion and publicity for 20th Century Fox, Samuel Goldwyn, Hecht-Hill-Lancaster and Universal Studios. He spent a decade in London, working with Universal’s operations there and managing his own consulting firm. On Sunday in Santa Monica.

Bradford Grow; Navy Aviator and Guadalcanal Hero

Bradford Grow, 99, Navy aviator and hero of Guadalcanal. The rear admiral, who retired in 1952, graduated from the Naval Academy in 1922 and began flying four years later. In 1939, he led a squadron of amphibious planes on a round-trip flight between San Diego and Panama without refueling to demonstrate the aircraft’s capabilities. During World War II, Grow commanded aircraft carriers, including the Kasaan Bay and the Lexington in the Pacific and European theaters. At Guadalcanal, Grow presided over the calm evacuation of the Wasp as it sank under enemy fire. His many war decorations included the Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit and the French Croix de Guerre. On Thursday in O’Fallon, Ill.

Sen. Libero Gualtieri; Investigated Slaying of Italian Leader

Sen. Libero Gualtieri, 75, Italian legislator who led the inquiry into the kidnapping and murder of Prime Minister Aldo Moro. While president of the Parliamentary Commission on Massacres from 1988 to 1994, Gualtieri investigated the 1978 murder of Moro, who was kidnapped and slain by members of the Red Brigades. Gualtieri also led parliamentary probes into the 1980 crash of a domestic airliner near the island of Ustica that killed 81 people and alleged illicit activities by Italian secret services. Gualtieri Gualtieri joined the Democrats of the Left in the last legislature. First elected in 1979, he had held his previous seats with the Republican Party. Monday in Cesena, Italy, of an aneurysm.

George N. Mangurian; Northrop Engineer and Designer

George N. Mangurian, 92, Northrop aerospace engineer and executive who helped design craft from wooden biplanes to space exploration vehicles. A native of Springfield, Mass., Mangurian earned a master’s degree in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As a structural engineer for Chance Vought Co., he performed stress analysis on an open cockpit wooden biplane for the Navy. In the 1930s he worked for United Aircraft in Hartford, Conn., and Glenn L. Martin Co. in Baltimore. Beginning during World War II, Mangurian worked for Northrop Aircraft in Hawthorne, helping to design a long-range bomber version of the Flying Wing, which in recent years has evolved into the B-2 Stealth bomber. In 1951, Mangurian became chief of structures at Northrop, and by 1959 was marketing director for the firm’s space division. Before his 1971 retirement as a vice president, Mangurian headed high-gravity stress tests on NASA space equipment and development of Navy deep sea submarine rescue vehicles. A resident of Palos Verdes Estates for two decades, Mangurian retired to Madison, Conn., and in recent years lived in Bethesda, Md. He was also a highly regarded amateur jazz pianist. On Friday of a heart attack while vacationing in Atlantis, Fla.