Obituaries - Sept. 21, 1999

Arnold Feuerman; Prolific Inventor

Arnold Feuerman, 81, inventor whose 37 patents included vaporized gasoline and a sewing needle for the blind. Feuerman was an office manager for the FBI’s Detroit district office in 1937 when he went into private business as an accountant for Morton Truck Co. During World War II the Army assigned him to the War Production Board. In the 1950s, Feuerman built an independent laboratory where he invented a variety of products. Among them were the special vaporized gasoline, a fuel injection system and a sewing needle that could be threaded by a blind person. He went on to work with Arnold Automotive Group, one of the nation’s largest auto dealers, and became its chairman. Feuerman also founded the Michigan Cancer Foundation and as a final gesture of support donated his liver for hepatitis C research. On Friday in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., of liver cancer.

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Willi Millowitsch; German Comic Actor

Willi Millowitsch, 90, one of Germany’s best-known comic actors and a fixture at the famed Cologne carnival. Born into a Cologne family of actors, Millowitsch made his first stage appearance at the age of 5. During World War II, he toured Nazi-occupied France with a theater group that entertained German soldiers. His career took off in the 1950s, leading to numerous stage, film and television roles. He also had pop music hits. Millowitsch’s own theater in Cologne, which he directed until 1996, became one of Germany’s most popular comedy stages. On Monday in Cologne of heart failure.

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Henri Storck; Belgian Documentary Filmmaker

Henri Storck, 92, Belgian film pioneer who made a breakthrough 1933 documentary about a coal miners’ strike. Storck achieved international acclaim with the documentary “Misery in the Borinage,” which he co-wrote and directed with Dutchman Joris Ivens. Their short, stark account focused on the grim conditions of mine workers in the Borinage region around the southern Belgian city of Mons during a strike to protest pay cuts. Born in the North Sea resort of Ostend, Storck worked as an actor, cinematographer, art director, producer and director in a career that spanned 70 movies. He was best known for his documentaries, which included “The Unknown Soldier,” “Rubens” and “The Peasant’s Symphony.” Storck once said he saw himself as “an active witness of the century . . . [who] wanted to show others how the world is organized, what makes it go around.” On Thursday in Brussels.