Obituaries - March 24, 1999

Lucienne Bloch; Artist, Photographer

Lucienne Bloch, 90, artist and photographer who worked with Diego Rivera and his wife, Frida Kahlo. The daughter of composer Ernest Bloch, she was born in Switzerland and studied sculpture and painting at the Ecole National et Superieure des Beaux Arts in Paris. She worked with glass sculpture, woodcuts, terra cotta and portraits in ink, gesso and oil, and illustrated books. Bloch also became a renowned photographer, and contributed freelance photos to Life magazine. In the 1930s, Bloch learned the vanishing art of fresco from Rivera, married his chief plasterer, Stephen Pope Dimitroff, and befriended Kahlo. Many of her photographs of Kahlo have been published in art books, and her photos remain as the only record of Rivera’s controversial Rockefeller Center murals. Those New York City artworks by the Mexican muralist were destroyed after critics charged that they were anti-capitalist. To get the photos, Bloch hid a Leica camera in her blouse and duped a night guard into granting her access. During the Depression, Bloch did murals with the federally funded Works Progress Administration. She lived for many years in Mill Valley, where Dimitroff ran a frame shop, but moved to California’s north coast in 1965. On March 13 in Gualala, Calif.

Jean Guitton; Catholic Philosopher, Author

Jean Guitton, 98, Catholic philosopher and oldest member of the Academie Francaise. Guitton was the author of about 30 works, mostly focusing on the relationship between Catholicism and modern thought. He frequently met with Pope Paul VI and was the only layman authorized to take part in the Second Vatican Council. Guitton, who was close to several French presidents, was also a painter, journalist and novelist. Among his books were the eight-volume “Modern Thought and Catholicism,” published between 1930 and 1955, and “My Philosophical Testament,” published last year. On Sunday in Paris.

James McMillan; Helped Integrate Las Vegas

James McMillan, 82, who led the fight to integrate Las Vegas and its casino industry four decades ago. McMillan, a dentist who served several terms as head of the Las Vegas chapter of the NAACP, was best known for his battle with the city’s white establishment. In 1960, when top black entertainers headlined at Strip hotels but were not permitted to stay in them, McMillan sent a letter to Nevada business and civic leaders threatening a massive march if segregated resorts failed to end racist policies. The letter prompted death threats, and McMillan’s friends, armed with shotguns, kept a protective vigil around his house. Two major white leaders, then-Nevada Gov. Grant Sawyer and the late Las Vegas Sun publisher Hank Greenspun, supported McMillan. The casino industry soon agreed to integration, avoiding the march. Raised in Mississippi, where he noted recently “they used to hang black folks,” McMillan was the first black to play on the University of Detroit’s football team. He served in the Army Dental Corps in China, Burma and India during World War II, and in 1953 became Nevada’s first licensed black dentist. In the 1970s, McMillan was appointed to the Nevada State Board of Dental Examiners, and in the mid-1990s he was elected to the Clark County School Board. On Saturday in Las Vegas of cancer.

Hildegard Peplau; Psychiatric Nursing Pioneer

Hildegard E. Peplau, 89, nurse, educator and administrator known as the mother of psychiatric nursing. A native of Reading, Pa., who in childhood saw the devastating flu epidemic of 1918, Peplau earned her cap at the Pottstown (Pa.) School of Nursing. As nurse at Bennington College in Vermont, she earned a bachelor’s degree in interpersonal psychology. She also studied psychology with Erich Fromm and Harry Stack Sullivan and determined to apply their interpersonal theory to nursing. In 1952, Peplau published her seminal book “Interpersonal Relations in Nursing,” which was considered radical because it was the first textbook by a nurse without a physician as co-author. During World War II, Peplau served in the Army Nurse Corps at the American School of Military Psychiatry in England and later worked on the National Mental Health Act of 1946. She earned master’s and doctoral degrees at Columbia University and taught its first classes in graduate psychiatric nursing. She taught for 20 years at Rutgers University and lectured around the world. Peplau served as executive director and president of the American Nurses Assn. and last year was inducted into its Hall of Fame. She was also a board member of the International Council of Nurses and in 1997 received its highest honor, the Christiane Reimann Prize, for outstanding contributions in health care. On March 17 in Sherman Oaks.

Charles Sawtelle; Blue Grass Guitarist, Singer

Charles Sawtelle, 52, bluegrass and country guitarist and singer with the bands Hot Rize and Red Knuckles. Born in Austin, Texas, Sawtelle began his career playing steel guitar with the Drifting Ramblers in 1976. He ran a studio that produced records for musicians Mollie O’Brien and Pete Wernick and the band Beausoleil. Sawtelle worked with country bands Red Knuckles and the Trail Blazers and in 1978 was a founding member of the bluegrass group Hot Rize. Working together until 1990, the group took its name from an ingredient in Martha White Self-Rising Flour, a product that had been promoted for years by bluegrass legends Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. In recent years, Sawtelle organized a Colorado bluegrass band known as Charles Sawtelle and the Whippets. He also recorded and toured with bluegrass musician Peter Rowan. On Saturday in Duarte of complications of a bone marrow transplant and leukemia.

Michael Stewart; Music Publishing Executive

Michael Stewart, 70, major international music publishing executive. The Baltimore-born Stewart acted in his youth and earned a degree in aeronautical engineering at Johns Hopkins University. But working in New York, he fell in love with music by frequenting Tin Pan Alley. Stewart worked as an artists’ manager and record producer and in the 1950s set up two music publishing companies, Korwin Music and Dominion Music. Among the hits he published were “Chances Are,” “Moments to Remember” and “Never on Sunday.” In 1962, he sold his publishing interests to United Artists and joined the company to establish and head its music division, UA Music Group. As vice president of the film division, Stewart also supervised about 300 film soundtracks, including “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Fiddler on the Roof.” After 15 years with UA, in which he negotiated the acquisition of MGM’s publishing division, Stewart left to form and serve as president of Interworld Music Group. In 1981, he became president of CBS Music Publishing, where he created CBS Songs and acquired the UA/MGM Publishing Cos. he had built. With his wife, Gabriella, Stewart formed the Eastern Epic film company in 1987 to make motion pictures in India for the Asian market. On Monday in Beverly Hills of cancer.

Jack Tarver; Atlanta Publisher, Head of AP

Jack Tarver, 82, a country editor who became publisher of Atlanta newspapers and chairman of Associated Press. Tarver began his career on the weekly Vidalia (Ga.) Advance at $15 a week in 1938 and a year later started the Toombs County Democrat. A humor column propelled him to the big city dailies, first for the Macon News and in 1943 the Atlanta Constitution. Reprinted in 40 newspapers, Tarver’s weekly humor column that attracted attention involved “Gone With the Wind” and described Rhett Butler as a cross between Jesse James and Little Boy Blue and said Scarlett O’Hara was “as changeable as a baby’s underwear.” Tarver wrote a humor column for the Atlanta Constitution from 1943 until 1952, beginning by introducing himself: “I am, by way of background, a Georgian by birth, a Methodist through sprinkling, and a Roosevelt man out of obstinacy.” After the Constitution and Journal joined in 1950, Tarver was named assistant to the president of Atlanta Newspapers Inc., then general manager, vice president, president, and publisher from 1958 to 1976. He spent seven years as vice chairman of the parent company, Cox Enterprises Inc. From 1977 to 1983, Tarver also headed Associated Press, a cooperative news service among newspapers and broadcast groups around the world. He was elected head of the American Newspaper Publishers Assn. for 1976-77. On Sunday in Atlanta of a suspected heart attack.

Ernie Wise; Partner in British Comedy Team

Ernie Wise, 73, the straight man of the British comedy team Wise and Morecambe. Known as the one with the “short, fat, hairy legs,” Wise always said his partner Eric Morecambe was the “show” while he was the “business.” Born Ernest Wiseman in Leeds, England, Wise left school at 13 and three years later teamed with Morecambe in a show called “Youth Takes a Bow.” The duo worked together for more than 40 years, until Morecambe’s death in 1984. They were greatly loved and especially known for their Christmas specials, which became television classics. The two comedians were awarded Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1976. On Sunday near London of complications after two heart attacks.