Obituaries - Sept. 10, 1999

* August Cinquegrana;

Filmmaker, Documentarian

August Stephen Cinquegrana, 58, a filmmaker whose documentary about Los Angeles boxing clubs, “Goodnight Miss Ann,” was nominated for an Academy Award. Born in Ohio and raised in Long Beach, Cinquegrana graduated from San Francisco State University in 1967 and became an editor at KPIX, where he earned the station a local Emmy for his editing on the Patty Hearst kidnapping story. In 1977, Cinquegrana won a $10,000 independent filmmaker’s award from the American Film Institute and used the money to make “Goodnight Miss Ann,” which received an Academy Award nomination for best short subject. He later worked closely with director Francis Ford Coppolla at Zoetrope studios and directed several documentaries for PBS and HBO. His last documentary, “The Digital Divide,” which discusses the social consequences of the computer revolution, will be broadcast by HBO in January. On Aug. 16 in San Francisco of cancer.

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Mcwayizeni Ka Dinizulu;

South African Zulu Prince

Mcwayizeni Ka Dinizulu, 67, the most senior prince of South Africa’s Zulu people. An uncle and close ally of Zulu monarch, King Goodwill Zwelithini, Mcwayizeni served as regent before Zwelithini was crowned king in 1971 and remained highly influential until South Africa elected its first democratic government in 1994. Since then his public profile had diminished considerably. His support for the African National Congress made him many enemies among the Zulus, the majority of whom support the nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party led by Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi. There have been reports of several attempts on Mcwayizeni’s life since he joined the ANC in 1990. On Tuesday after a long illness.

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W.E. ‘Gene’ Giberson;

Head of JPL Flight Projects

W.E. “Gene” Giberson, 76, former head of Jet Propulsion Laboratory flight projects. After growing up in San Pedro, Giberson earned an electrical engineering degree from Marquette University. His JPL tenure from the late 1950s until his retirement in 1990 spanned the age of space exploration. In 1958, for the launch of the United States’ first satellite, dubbed Explorer 1, Giberson helped organize and staff an improvised tracking site in a Los Angeles County sheriff’s station to verify that the satellite was in orbit. He managed the Mariner Venus and Mercury project in 1973 and in the late 1970s managed the Seasat oceanographic satellite to demonstrate the use of imaging radar in earth science study. As assistant laboratory director for space flight in the 1980s, he oversaw all of JPL’s space missions. On Aug. 31 in Pasadena of cancer.

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Shelomo Morag;

Preserved Jewish Dialects

Shelomo Morag, leading Israeli linguist who helped preserve variations of Hebrew and Jewish languages. Yona Sabar, UCLA professor of Hebrew and Aramaic, said Morag was the first to recognize the importance of preserving languages spoken by Jews immigrating to Israel in the 1950s. He established the Center for Linguistic Traditions at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and began taping the dialects of newcomers, particularly Jews from Yemen, Iraq and North Africa. Working to preserve their particular speech patterns before they were lost in the Israeli melting pot, Morag wrote or edited many books based on the tapes. Sabar said Morag’s center today serves linguistic scholars around the world. On Saturday in Jerusalem.

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Bernard Pechter;

Established Gay Synagogue

Bernard Pechter, 63, San Francisco stockbroker who helped establish the city’s only gay synagogue and the Theater Rhinoceros. A native of Chicago, Pechter studied Romance languages at the University of Illinois and worked in Europe as a tour director. He moved to San Francisco in 1959 and became a stockbroker for various leading firms, including Bear Stearns. In 1975, Pechter helped found the popular Theater Rhinoceros, which showcases gay and lesbian plays. Two years later he was one of 40 people who created Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, a groundbreaking synagogue committed to serving gays and lesbians. The synagogue now has more than 400 members. On Sunday in San Francisco after a long illness.

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Lev Razgon; Writer

Survived Russian Labor Camps

Lev Razgon, 92, Russian writer and human rights activist who spent 17 years in Soviet labor camps. Razgon became prominent with the publication of “Not a Thought Up Story,” a recollection of his years in labor camps during the Stalin era. He was sent to the camps in 1938 on charges of anti-state activities, and emerged with his sense of humor and love of life undiminished. But, he said, after writing about two starving 10-year-old girls in the camps who offered him sex for bread, “I will never forgive!” He never considered his years in the camps a loss, noting that it was there that “man gets free of dogma and any boundaries. Strange as it may be, he becomes more free.” On Wednesday in Moscow of a heart attack.

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Stanley M. Simmons;

Set and Costume Designer

Stanley M. Simmons, 71, costume and set designer for Broadway shows and ballets. Born in New Orleans, Simmons spent most of his life in New York City before retiring to Los Angeles. He created original costumes for Tennessee Williams’ “Garden District” and for such musicals as “Show Boat,” “The King and I,” “Brigadoon” and “Lena: The Lady and Her Music.” He designed sets and costumes for “Coppelia” and costumed major American ballet companies as well as the troupes of Agnes de Mille and Jerome Robbins. Simmons’ television credits include the Emmy Award-winning Shirley MacLaine special “Gypsy in My Soul.” On Saturday in Los Angeles of heart failure.