Obituaries - Nov. 4, 1999

* Demetrio Basilio Lakas;

Former Panama President

Demetrio Basilio Lakas, 74, former Panamanian president who negotiated the 1977 treaty gaining control of the Panama Canal for his country. Lakas spent his entire 1972-78 term under the military regime of Omar Torrijos. Torrijos ruled under a constitution that gave him extraordinary power over the army and government. An engineer by profession, Lakas presided over an era of populist public works and spending programs, but also a period in which the government exercised strict control over the media and discouraged dissent. Lakas, along with Torrijos, won the promise of the United States, which engineered the canal, to return it to Panama on Jan. 1, 2000. On Tuesday in Panama City of a heart ailment.

* Grace McDonald;

Dancer, Actress of the 1940s

Grace McDonald, 81, 1940s actress and dancer who appeared on screen with the Andrews Sisters, and Abbott and Costello. McDonald began her career as half of a vaudeville tap-dancing team with her brother, Ray McDonald. She came to Hollywood in 1940 and quickly won a contract at Universal Studios. Among her films were “Give Out, Sisters” in 1942 with the Andrews Sisters, “It Ain’t Hay” in 1943 with Abbott and Costello and “See My Lawyer” in 1945 with Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson. Her first non-dancing role was in “Destiny” in 1944. After her marriage at the end of World War II, McDonald largely retired from show business to raise her three sons and devote herself to charitable causes. She was president of the Variety Club Heart Hospital at the University of Minnesota. On Saturday in Scottsdale, Ariz., of pneumonia.

* Keizo Saji;

Distiller, One of World’s Richest Men

Keizo Saji, 80, chairman of the Japanese whiskey distiller Suntory Ltd. Saji was the second son of Suntory founder Shinjiro Torii and joined the company in 1945. He moved up the ranks of Japan’s oldest and largest whiskey distiller, and was president from 1961 to 1990. He had been chairman for the last nine years. The Osaka-based company, which was founded in 1899, also makes beer and food products. Saji, a graduate of the Department of Science at Osaka University, has been listed by Forbes magazine as the 48th-richest person in the world with an estimated wealth of $6.7 billion. On Wednesday in Osaka, Japan.

* Judy Schoen;

Head of Theatrical Agency

Judy Schoen, 57, theatrical agent whose clients included Brian Dennehy and Lara Flynn Boyle. Born in Atlanta, Schoen was educated at the University of Colorado and began her career as an actress with the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. She made her Broadway debut in “Red and White and Maddox.” Schoen later became a stage manager and worked as a production manager for “Godspell.” In 1973, she became an agent and worked for three different agencies before forming her own company in 1988. On Friday in Los Angeles of lung cancer.

* Theodore R. “Ted” Scott;

Actor, Honolulu Radio Announcer

Theodore R. “Ted” Scott, 85, former actor and radio personality in Honolulu. Scott was a co-founder of the city’s Windward Theatre Guild in the early 1950s and starred in several of its productions. He also appeared in a number of television series and movies made in Hawaii, including a role as a supporting character in Jack Lord’s long-running “Hawaii Five-O.” He moved to Honolulu in 1950 to become a radio announcer for station KULA and worked for other Hawaii stations in his long career. On Oct. 28 in Redlands, Calif.