PASSINGS: Dan Resin, Earl Thompson, John Carl Brogdon

Dan Resin

Actor portrayed Ty-D-Bol Man

Dan Resin, 79, who portrayed the dapper Ty-D-Bol man in television commercials for the toilet bowl cleaner, died Saturday in Wayne, N.J., of complications from Parkinson’s disease.

Resin also played Dr. Beeper, a snobbish physician and country club member in the 1980 comedy “Caddyshack.”

Resin was born Daniel Wrzesien in South Bend, Ind., and studied music and theater at Indiana University. After a stint in the Army, he headed to New York to pursue an acting career.

His Broadway roles included parts in “Once Upon a Mattress” and “Don’t Drink the Water.” Resin appeared in hundreds of television commercials for products including the New York Lottery and Bird’s Eye frozen vegetables.

As the Ty-D-Bol man Resin wore a captain’s uniform and sailed off in a motorboat across the blue waters of a toilet tank. He was one of at least six actors who portrayed the Ty-D-Bol man, according to a 1985 story in the Dallas Morning News.

Earl Thompson

Author, UCLA economist

Earl Thompson, 71, a UCLA economist whose recent research focused on why the federal bailout and stimulus policies benefited bankers, was found dead July 29 in his campus office. The cause of death was unknown.

In 2001, he co-wrote the book “Ideology and the Evolution of Vital Institutions,” which outlined the foundations of his theory that tied historical events to economic theory and politics.

He also published more than 40 articles in academic journals on such topics as monetary theory and welfare economics.

“Earl was a truly original thinker,” Roger E.A. Farmer, chairman of the UCLA department of economics, said in a statement.

Earl Albert Thompson was born Oct. 15, 1938, in Los Angeles and received a bachelor’s degree from UCLA in 1959. After earning a master’s degree and a doctorate in economics from Harvard University, he taught at Stanford University. In 1965, he joined UCLA, where he remained for most of his career.

He spent a year at the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., when his wife, Velma Montoya, worked for the Office of Policy and Development in the Reagan White House.

John Carl Brogdon

Deputy assessor, Culver City official

John Carl Brogdon, 81, a property tax expert who served for many years as Los Angeles County deputy assessor and was active in local politics, died Monday at his home in Pasadena of complications from dementia, his family said.

Brogdon joined the assessor’s office in the late 1950s. He ran for the top job in 1990, winning The Times’ endorsement for the post overseeing the largest single property-taxing jurisdiction in the country. Incumbent John Lynch won the election. Brogdon, who retired from the assessor’s office in 1992, ran again unsuccessfully in 1994 and 2000.

He served on the Culver City council in the 1970s.

A native of Valdosta, Ga., Brogdon received a bachelor’s in history from Abilene Christian University and a master’s in history from the University of Arizona.

-- Times staff and wire reports

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