Obituaries - Nov. 3, 1999

* Sir Robin Black; Former Governor of Hong Kong

Sir Robin Black, 93, former British governor of Hong Kong and Singapore. During his tenure in Hong Kong, from 1958 to 1964, Black saw the colony prosper. But he repeatedly appealed to London for help in housing the hundreds of thousands of illegal refugees from mainland China. Black served in the administration of Britain’s colonies for more than three decades. He was governor of Singapore from 1955 to 1958. During World War II, Black was held for several years in a Japanese prison camp. In later years, he was chancellor of both the English- and Chinese-speaking universities in Hong Kong. Black was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1962. On Friday in London.

* Nise da Silveira; Pioneered Use of Art in Therapy

Nise da Silveira, 94, a psychiatrist who helped pioneer the use of art as therapy. A native of Alagoas state in Brazil, Da Silveira moved to Rio de Janiero in 1933 and began working at a psychiatric hospital on the outskirts of the city. At that time, a standard treatment for mental patients was shock therapy. As an alternative, she encouraged schizophrenics to draw. To gain support for her innovative approach, Da Silveira sent several of the patients’ drawings to Austrian psychoanalyst Carl Jung. He encouraged her work. On Saturday in Rio de Janeiro.

* William Wilson; Co-Wrote ‘An Incomplete Education’

William Wilson, 51, who co-wrote “An Incomplete Education” to tell people what they never learned in college. The book, written with Judy Jones and published by Ballantine Press in 1987, continues to sell more than 100,000 copies a year. Wilson, a former researcher and editor for Esquire magazine, said he was inspired to write the book by the elementary questions writers asked him. “Haven’t these people ever been to college?” he asked Jones, his Esquire office mate. “What they don’t know could fill a book.” So they wrote the book. The humorously presented information included explanations of such terms as swale, vale and dale. Born in Middletown, Conn., Wilson was educated at Yale and Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. In addition to his work for Esquire and GQ magazine, he wrote for Artforum and Interview. For more than a decade Wilson had worked in ACT UP and other gay organizations to gain funding for AIDS treatment. On Oct. 18 in New York of AIDS.