Obituaries - Sept. 2, 1999
Edward Goldstein; Former Head of MSL Industries
Edward A. Goldstein, 77, former president of MSL Industries manufacturing concern. Despite his success in business, Goldstein did not attend college until after he retired from MSL in the 1970s. He earned a degree at UCLA in his senior years. Goldstein, who served in the Army during World War II, was a lifelong supporter of the arts. On Sunday in Los Angeles.
Alex Haynes; Helped Develop Seat Belts for Cars
Alex Haynes, 89, auto industry executive who helped adapt seat belts for cars in the 1950s. Known as “Mr. Safety” for his emphasis on making automobiles and trucks safer, Haynes was a member of the Ford Motor Co. engineering department when Henry Ford II asked him to investigate using seat belts. Ford and Haynes were already aware of studies showing crash survival rates improved if passengers could avoid being thrown from a car. Haynes led development of the first belts installed in Ford automobiles. Later, working with a team of international engineers, Haynes helped create the automotive division of Hyundai Motor Co. On Monday in Stuart, Fla.
Bert MacLeech; Special Education Pioneer
Bert MacLeech, 90, pioneer in providing services to the developmentally handicapped and in teaching special education. Opposed to institutionalizing the handicapped, MacLeech led a movement in the 1950s to establish community-based services for them. He and his late wife, Pearl, co-founded the Young Adult Adjustment Centers, later combined with the National Institute for People With Disabilities. MacLeech was executive director of the joint organization from 1957 to 1967. With education degrees from Occidental College and Harvard University, he moved to USC to teach special education. During his tenure at USC, MacLeech was president of the California Assn. of Professors in Special Education and co-chaired Mayor Tom Bradley’s Task Force on the Handicapped. He was a fellow of the American Assn. on Mental Deficiency, and his publications included “The Handbook on Mainstreaming for Regular Classroom Teachers.” During his retirement, MacLeech was active in the Congress of California Seniors and served as president of the Senior Citizens Club at Angelus Plaza in downtown Los Angeles. On Aug. 26 in Los Angeles.
George Sugarman; Controversial Sculptor
George Sugarman, 87, New York artist who created controversial and colorful large-scale sculptures from California to Europe. A native New Yorker, Sugarman studied at the Zadkine School of Sculpture in Paris and originally made his artworks out of wood. Switching to aluminum, he created his first polychrome sculpture in 1959 and in 1970 fashioned his first huge outdoor sculpture in El Segundo for the Xerox Corp. Over the next two decades, Sugarman created about 30 massive sculptures across the United States and in Germany and Belgium. In 1989, he installed a cluster of eight steel pieces at Koll Center Irvine, painting them white, yellow, apricot, purple and turquoise. A Times writer critiqued the sculpture garden as “more like a G-rated playground for adults than the kind of major work of art that people drive out of their way to see.” Sugarman’s art has been exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art among other museums. On Aug. 25 in New York.
