Allan Casson, 72; USC Professor Helped Boost...

Allan Casson, 72; USC Professor Helped Boost High School Education

Allan Casson, 72, a popular USC professor of English who worked to improve the quality of high school education, died Friday in Los Angeles of lung cancer.

Born in Cambridge, Mass., Casson earned bachelor’s degrees in English literature from Williams College and Oxford University and a doctorate from Harvard, becoming a ranked tennis player along the way.

He joined the USC faculty in 1960 and taught until his retirement in 1987. He also served at various times as chairman of the English department, head of graduate studies in English and chairman of undergraduate studies. Much loved by students, he earned repeated awards as USC’s most outstanding teacher.

Casson contributed to several books to help high school students prepare for college admission, and worked to improve college board examinations. He also conducted Saturday seminars and summer sessions for high school teachers.

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Ura Koyama, 114; Reportedly World’s 2nd-Oldest Person

Ura Koyama, 114, Japan’s oldest person, died Tuesday in Iizuka City in southern Japan of pneumonia, Japanese officials said.

According to the UCLA-based Gerontology Research Group, which tracks “supercentenarians” -- those over 110 -- Koyama was the second-oldest person in the world. She was born Aug. 30, 1890.

The world’s eldest, according to the agency, is Hendrikje Van Andel of the Netherlands, who was born June 29, 1890.

An American now is in second place, according to the supercentenarian-trackers. She is Bettie Wilson, born Sept. 13, 1890.

The oldest person in Japan, according to its Health Ministry, is now Yone Minaga, 112, of Fukuoka, who was born Jan. 4, 1893.

Possibly because of its low-fat, fish-based diet, Japan consistently ranks among nations with the world’s longest life spans.

In 2003, Japanese women could expect to live 85.3 years, and men 78.3 years.

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Laurette Goldberg, 73; Harpsichordist Founded Baroque Orchestra

Laurette Goldberg, 73, a harpsichordist and founder of the San Francisco Bay area’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and MusicSources, died Sunday of heart failure at Berkeley’s Alta Bates Hospital.

Born in Chicago and educated at its Chicago Musical College, she did graduate work at Mills College where she later taught harpsichord. She also taught for 40 years at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

In 1966, Goldberg studied harpsichord with Gustav Leonhardt in Amsterdam, which set her on a course to make the Bay Area a center for early music.

In 1981, Goldberg launched the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra of the West, the first full orchestra using period instruments in the western United States. The group, now the largest of its kind in the country, has regularly performed in Berkeley, San Francisco, Palo Alto and Los Angeles, and is planning its 25th season.

After she turned the orchestra over to her hand-picked successor, Nicholas McGegan, Goldberg in 1986 began organizing her MusicSources enclave. The center includes a museum of early keyboard instruments, a library of documents on historic performance practice, a school for teaching historical performance and a garden of plants prevalent when baroque music was popular.

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Henry O. Paynter, 98; Oldest Competitive Badminton Player

Henry O. Paynter , 98, who is listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest competitive badminton player, has died in Westbank, British Columbia, after a stroke three weeks ago, Canadian officials announced Tuesday.

An orchardist, farmer and beekeeper, Paynter was born in Newcastle, England, but moved to Canada with his family when he was 2. He attended Herbert Business College and served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II.

Paynter discovered badminton when he was 19, and two years later organized a car raffle to raise money for a two-court fieldhouse.

He taught his four sons and two daughters to play the game, and at 95 was still competing -- with his 50-year-old son Henry A. Paynter as a partner -- in the Canadian open masters badminton championships.

Two years ago, at 96, Paynter earned the Guinness listing as the world’s oldest competitive badminton player. That year the still-agile Paynter planted, watered and weeded a corn patch and picked 1,900 ears of corn himself.

Paynter attributed his longevity to genetics, working in his fields and, possibly tongue in cheek, to bee stings.