Obituaries - March 5, 1999

Deane F. Johnson; Entertainment Lawyer, Executive

Deane F. Johnson, 80, an entertainment lawyer and executive whose clients ranged from Bing Crosby and Shirley Temple to William Holden, Norman Lear, CBS and Paramount. As a protege of John “Jack” O’Melveny, Johnson became the major Hollywood liaison for the Los Angeles law firm O’Melveny & Myers after his graduation from Stanford Law School in 1942. He also chaired the firm’s management committee from 1977 until he left in 1981 to become one of four co-presidents of Warner Communications Inc. in New York City. Johnson retired from Warner in 1996. At O’Melveny, he was largely credited with making it “the law firm that Hollywood can talk to” through his work with leading actors, studios, independent producers, television networks, record companies and professional sports teams, including the National Football League’s Rams. Born in Des Moines and reared in Ione, Calif., Johnson played varsity baseball and rugby at Stanford as an undergraduate. He was first in his law class, a member of the Order of the Coif and moot court competition champion. As a Stanford Law School alumnus he served as chairman of its Board of Visitors and donated his Colorado ranch to the school, the largest gift in its history. Johnson was also a trustee of Caltech and of the American Film Institute, board member of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and a director of the Boy Scouts of America, the Actors Fund and the American Museum of the Moving Image. On Sunday in Beverly Hills.

Margy Johnson Lowe; Among First Black Female Judges

Margy Johnson Lowe, 74, one of the first black women made a federal judge, who presided over a controversial 1988 racketeering case in New York. Lowe, born in Harlem and a graduate of Hunter College and Brooklyn Law School, was one of the first black women in the federal judiciary when she was appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1978. She was known for her rulings in discrimination cases, including a widely noted injunction she issued in 1984 that barred New York City from using residency requirements to prevent homeless people from voting. One of her most controversial cases resulted in unusually harsh criticism by fellow judges of her handling of the trial of Anthony Salerno, the reputed former head of the Genovese crime family, and nine other defendants. Eight were convicted on charges that included loan sharking, bid rigging, union fraud, extortion, gambling and murder conspiracy. Those convictions were overturned in 1991 by a federal appeals court that said it was frustrated by Lowe’s response to charges by three jurors that she had pressured them to reach a verdict. Lowe said in a sworn statement that she could not recall interfering in the deliberations. The appeals panel also cited other errors, including Lowe’s denial of a defense request to question three FBI agents who had taped conversations involving one of the defendants, Matthew Ianniello. “This was an error of constitutional magnitude,” the panel concluded. Lowe had homes in the Bronx and Las Vegas and had been doing some judicial work in Las Vegas when she died. On Saturday of heart failure at a hospital in Las Vegas.

Dr. Joseph F. Ross; Nuclear Medicine Board Ex-Chief

Dr. Joseph F. Ross, 88, former head of the American Board of Nuclear Medicine. A pioneer in using nuclear medicine for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, Ross helped found the national professional group in 1971, served as its president from 1973 to 1976 and was executive director until 1997. Born in Azusa, Ross was educated at Stanford University, where he played football, and at Harvard Medical School. He taught at Harvard, the University of Rochester and Boston University before joining UCLA in 1954 as associate dean of the medical school and professor of radiology. Four years later, he was named director of UCLA’s Laboratory of Nuclear Medicine and Radiation Biology, a post he held until 1965. He was also chief of the division of hematology and oversaw its research training program. In the 1950s he helped found and served as president of what became the American Society of Hematology. Ross’ work led to assignments for the government. President Harry S. Truman awarded him the Certificate of Merit in 1948 for developing methods to preserve blood needed for transfusions during World War II. Years later, he accompanied the Atomic Energy Commission on several missions to other countries. Ross was also consulted on treatment of victims of the Soviet Union’s 1986 nuclear power plant disaster at Chernobyl. On Feb. 25 in Los Angeles.

Shirley Satin Simmons; Mother of Fitness Guru

Shirley Satin Simmons, 87, appeared in television commercials and exercise videos with her son, fitness guru Richard Simmons. A New York City native, Simmons entered show business as a tap dancer. She met her husband, Leonard D. Simmons Sr., a singer and master of ceremonies, at a theatrical boardinghouse in Philadelphia in 1938. After they married, they performed together under the stage names Bobby and Shirley Leonard. In 1939 they moved to New Orleans, where she performed in Bourbon Street variety shows. She gave up show business when her children, Leonard Jr. and Richard, were born in 1946 and 1948, and embarked on a new career selling cosmetics. When Richard Simmons became a fitness star, she began to appear with him in commercials. She exercised alongside the parents of Sylvester Stallone, Dustin Hoffman and other celebrities in a fitness video called “The Silver Foxes.” On Sunday in New Orleans.