Obituaries - Oct. 4, 1999

* Alastair Hetherington; Former Editor of The Guardian

Alastair Hetherington, 79, former editor of England’s Guardian newspaper and head of the British Broadcasting Corp. in Scotland. As editor of The Guardian from 1956 to 1975, Hetherington oversaw the move of the venerable Manchester Guardian to the renamed newspaper’s present base in London. He joined the paper in 1950 after four years at the Glasgow Herald, and served as assistant editor and foreign editor. During his tenure in the top spot, Hetherington not only supervised its move from Manchester to London, but also guided it through a 1960s financial crisis that almost ended in a merger with London’s Times. After putting The Guardian on sound financial footing, Hetherington left in 1975 to head the BBC in Scotland, a post he held three years. He also was a professor of media studies at Stirling University and wrote half a dozen books including “A Walker’s Guide to Arran,” a Scottish island where he had a home. On Sunday in Stirling, Scotland.

*

Eva Israelsen; Had a 400-Member Family

Eva Israelsen, 104, Utah matriarch of one of the world’s largest families, numbering almost 400 members over five generations. Born Eva May Butler on Oct. 5, 1894, she was a student at Utah Agricultural College, now Utah State University, in the 1920s when she met her future husband, Victor E. Israelsen. She and her husband operated a dairy farm in Logan, Utah. They had 11 children, who gave the Israelsens 67 grandchildren, 271 great-grandchildren and 40 great-great grandchildren. She appeared in Life magazine in October 1993 on the occasion of the births of her 200th and 201st great-grandchildren.

*

Heinz G. Konsalik; Prolific German Novelist

Heinz G. Konsalik, 78, one of Germany’s most popular postwar novelists. Born Heinz Guenther in Cologne, Germany, he studied theater and literature as well as medicine--which all showed up in his later novels. He was also influenced by his experience during World War II as a war reporter on the eastern front, where he was seriously wounded. He published his first book in 1953 under the last name Konsalik, his mother’s maiden name. He rocketed to fame in 1956 with “The Doctor of Stalingrad,” a war story that sold more than 3.5 million copies in Germany and was made into a movie. Reviewers belittled his prolific work, but readers bought it. Konsalik penned more than 150 novels, which were translated into 42 languages and sold more than 80 million copies around the world. On Saturday in Wals, Austria.