Albin Krebs, 73; Obituary Writer for the New York Times

Albin Krebs, 73, obituary writer for the New York Times for 20 years, died Friday at his home in Key West, Fla., of cancer.

Krebs specialized in writing obituaries of major artists, performers and politicians--such as Gene Autry, Truman Capote and James Beard--from 1969 until he retired in 1989.

The two decades capped his long career in journalism, which be- gan during his college days at the University of Mississippi, where he was editor of the student newspaper.

When he advocated admitting blacks to Ole Miss in a 1952 editorial, a cross was burned outside his window.

A decade later, the Pascagoula, Miss., native was a reporter for Newsweek covering the admission of James Meredith as his alma mater’s first black student.

Krebs spent four years in the Air Force as a press censorship officer in South Korea and Japan.

He later attended Columbia University’s School of Journalism and earned a fellowship to travel and study in Europe.

In addition to Newsweek, Krebs worked for the United Press International wire service and for the New York Herald Tribune until it folded after a strike in 1966.

He soon joined the New York Times, and, before turning to obituaries, had such assignments as the newspaper’s Notes on People column about well-known personalities.