PASSINGS: Edmund Szoka, Arlene Martel, Brian Hutton, Peter McAlevey

Edmund Szoka

Former archbishop of Detroit

Edmund Szoka, 86, an American cardinal who served as governor and financial administrator of the Vatican and was a confidant of St. John Paul II, died of natural causes Wednesday at a hospital in Novi, Mich., the Archdiocese of Detroit announced.

Szoka received his first assignment as a priest in 1954, as associate pastor of a parish in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. By the early 1990s, he was the Vatican’s point man for finance. And by the end of that decade, he was running one of the world’s smallest countries: Vatican City.

In between, Szoka honed his administrative skills as archbishop of Detroit.

Edmund Casimir Szoka was born Sept. 14, 1927, in Grand Rapids, Mich., to Polish immigrants.

Szoka’s leadership of the Detroit archdiocese was highlighted by Pope John Paul II’s 1987 visit to Michigan. Szoka also endured criticism for closing more than 30 small parishes in Detroit. John Paul II made him a cardinal in 1988.

Szoka grew close to the Polish-born John Paul II — spending Christmas and Easter dinners with him — prayed for the pontiff at his deathbed and led a rosary in St. Peter’s Square the night he died.

In 1990, Szoka became president of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, which audits Vatican accounts, approves or disapproves budgets and handles major financial transactions such as buying and selling property.

By demanding strict financial accountability from within and requiring regular contributions from dioceses worldwide, the Vatican operated in the black under Szoka’s leadership.

As governor of Vatican City, Szoka held executive and legislative power in the city-state. He managed annual budgets and oversaw the famous collection of Vatican buildings and artworks.

Szoka resigned in 2006 and lived in the Detroit suburb of Northville after his retirement from active ministry.

Arlene Martel

Actress best known for role as Spock’s wife

Arlene Martel, 78, an actress best known for her role as T’Pring, the Vulcan bride of Spock on a 1967 episode of “Star Trek,” died Aug. 12 at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica of complications from heart bypass surgery and breast cancer, according to her daughter Avra Douglas.

In the episode “Amok Time,” the Enterprise transports the half-human, half-Vulcan Spock to his home planet so he can be reunited with T’Pring, to whom he was betrothed as a child.

The science-fiction TV series was canceled after only a few seasons, but fan interest remained high and Martel was a popular presence at “Star Trek” conventions for years.

“It makes you feel not like a big wave that washed out to the ocean,” she told The Times in 2005, explaining why she enjoyed appearing at the annual fan gatherings. “That in some way you touched someone in a way you never knew.”

After her death, Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock, sent a Twitter message memorializing the actress. “Saying goodbye to T’Pring, Arlene Martel. A lovely talent.”

Born Arline Greta Sax on April 14, 1936, in New York City, she began acting in TV shows in the late 1950s. Known professionally as Arlene Sax or Arlene Martel, she had guest roles on “The Twilight Zone,” “Hogan’s Heroes,” “Bewitched” and other series.

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Brian G. Hutton, a TV and movie actor of the 1950s and ‘60s who went on to direct a handful of films — including the Clint Eastwood war movies “Where Eagles Dare” and “Kelly’s Heroes” — died Tuesday at Barlow Respiratory Hospital in Los Angeles after a heart attack, said his business manager Susan Ollweiler. He was 85.

Peter McAlevey, a former Newsweek correspondent turned movie producer whose credits include “Radio Flyer,” “Naked Movie” and the documentary “Screamers,” died Aug. 15 in Los Angeles, his family announced. He was 58 and had liver cancer.

—Times staff and wire reports

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