Obituaries - May 1, 1999

Arbit Blatas; Lithuanian Sculptor, Painter

Arbit Blatas, 90, Lithuanian-born sculptor and painter known for his portraits of Pablo Picasso and other artists. Blatas created a series of seven bronze tablets for a wall of the Campo del Nuovo Ghetto in Venice, Italy, commemorating the night of Dec. 5, 1943, when 200 of the city’s Jews were rounded up for deportation and death. He also did the black-and-white drawings used in the introductory segments of the 1978 television series “The Holocaust.” Blatas’ last book of paintings, “An Artist’s Venice,” was published in 1997. Although he lived and worked in New York, Blatas spent a part of each year in Venice. On Tuesday in New York City.

Edgar Bundren; L.A. Trucking Executive

Edgar Bundren, 93, pioneering trucking company executive. Bundren began working in The Times’ advertising department as a teenager. But he was far more interested in the trucking and delivery part of the operation. In the 1920s, he drove trucks through downtown Los Angeles to speed delivery of newspaper bundles to street-corner newsstands and delivery boys. He later joined his brother, Carroll, in the C.W. Bundren Trucking Co., which delivered rolls of newsprint to the printing presses of The Times and the Herald-Examiner until the truckers went out of business in 1988. Although he lost his right leg in a 1929 trucking accident, Bundren maintained diesel trucks and worked as shop foreman and union liaison until the company folded. On Monday in Newport Beach.

Dr. Jesse Garber; Birth Control Advocate

Dr. Jesse Garber, 83, Beverly Hills obstetrician and Planned Parenthood advocate. Garber served as a Beverly Hills health commissioner and, with his wife, former Beverly Hills Mayor Donna Ellman Garber, worked diligently for population control and civil rights. After retiring from his own practice, the doctor volunteered his medical services to Planned Parenthood in Santa Monica. He was also a regent in the Society of Fellows of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith and a major supporter of Brandeis, Columbia and Tufts universities. A native of Newark, N.J., Garber graduated from the University of Michigan and earned his medical degree from Tufts. As an Army captain during World War II, he earned a Silver Star when he rescued and treated a wounded soldier in Italy under enemy fire. On Tuesday in Beverly Hills.

Sir William McCrea; Scientist Studied Sun

Sir William McCrea, 94, an astrophysicist who studied the sun’s composition. As a young research student in 1929, McCrea conclusively confirmed a hypothesis that hydrogen was by far the most common element in the outer layers of the sun’s atmosphere. His work demonstrated that there are a million times more atoms of hydrogen in the sun’s atmosphere than of all other gases put together. His calculations--and the subsequent realization that every star was mainly composed of hydrogen--revolutionized the science of cosmology and led to the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe. He went on to develop important theories about the evolution of galaxies and planets. A native of Dublin, Ireland, McCrea studied at Cambridge University and taught at Edinburgh University and London’s Imperial College, Queen’s University in Belfast, London University and Sussex University. His books included “Relativity Physics” in 1935, “Physics of the Sun and Stars” in 1950 and “History of the Royal Astronomical Society 1920 to 1980” in 1987. McCrea was knighted in 1985. On Sunday in London.

Dr. Rose Payne; Transplant Researcher

Dr. Rose Payne, 89, whose research advanced the field of organ transplants. Payne, born in Lake Bay, Wash., and educated at the University of Washington, spent her career teaching and doing research at Stanford University. An expert in tissue-typing, she was credited with helping to identify proteins that play a key role in how the body accepts a tissue graft or blood transfusion. Before her work, and that of other scientists working on the same issue, doctors could only guess the likelihood of a transplant’s success, based on matching the blood type of the donor and recipient. In 1984, the American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics named an award in Payne’s honor. On April 18 in Cupertino, Calif.

Charles H. Pillard; Longtime Labor Leader

Charles H. Pillard, 80, longtime president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Pillard headed the union from 1968 to 1986, a period in which it reached its peak membership of 1 million, compared with its current 750,000. During his tenure, the union also successfully challenged President Richard Nixon’s federal wage controls as penalizing the working poor and won a case forcing Westinghouse to disclose information about its treatment of female and minority employees. But in those years the union also faced allegations of price-fixing over fees it charged trainees and accusations of racism. Pillard started as an electrician in Buffalo, N.Y. On Monday in Buffalo of a heart attack.

Garwood Van; Bandleader for Reagan

Garwood Van, 88, Las Vegas bandleader who was musical director for Ronald Reagan and other acts. Van gave comedian Red Foxx his first job in Las Vegas, signing him as an opening act for Dinah Washington in 1964. He also operated the city’s first rock ‘n’ roll club. He was known as a society bandleader when he was hired by the old El Rancho Vegas hotel in 1942. Later, he led the house band at the New Frontier, and was probably the only bandleader to play for a future U.S. president. Reagan went to Las Vegas in 1954 when his movie career was on the wane, earning top billing in a two-week stint at the New Frontier. He sang, danced and told some jokes about his early years as a sports announcer for the Chicago Cubs and his experiences in Hollywood. When Reagan returned to Las Vegas almost 30 years later to headline a political rally, Van recalled that the onetime song-and-dance man had a charisma that “endeared him to audiences.” On Sunday in Las Vegas.