PASSINGS

Clarence Wagner

Native American preservationist

Clarence “Curly Bear” Wagner, 64, a Native American historian who pressed for repatriation of ancestral remains to tribes, died of cancer July 16 at a hospital in Browning, Mont., on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, said his cousin Walter Lamar.

As a young man, Wagner was on the board of the American Indian Movement, his cousin said.

Later, Wagner worked for the return of human remains that were released in 1988 by the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., and in the 1990s by Chicago’s Field Museum, officials at the museums confirmed.

Eileen Maxwell, a spokeswoman for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, said Wagner also was an important figure in the 1990 passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

In the early 1990s, Wagner worked on an archaeological project at media baron Ted Turner’s Flying D Ranch near Bozeman, Mont., to identify areas of tribal significance, said Mark Baumler, a Montana historic preservation officer.

Wagner helped establish the “Native America Speaks” interpretive program at Glacier National Park and often presented the program to park visitors, park spokesman Wade Muehlhof said.

Wagner interviewed and recorded the stories of Blackfeet tribal elders, and worked to preserve sites considered sacred by the tribe.

Meir Amit

Ex-head of Israel intelligence

Meir Amit, 88, a former general who headed Israel’s famed Mossad intelligence agency, died Friday after a long illness.

Amit was Mossad chief from 1963 to 1968. Under his leadership, the agency provided crucial intelligence that led to Israel’s victory in the 1967 war when the country defeated its Arab enemies in six days.

Amit, who was born Meir Slutzki in 1921, grew up in a kibbutz in northern Israel before enlisting in the pre-state Hagana movement. He later joined the army and moved up the ranks to become a general and head of military intelligence.

After his military service, Amit briefly entered politics and served as minister of transportation and minister of communications.

Steven Rothenberg, president of domestic releasing for Lions Gate who served in a senior executive role as the company grew from an indie to a major player in Hollywood with films including “Crash,” “3:10 to Yuma” and the “Saw” franchise, died July 16 of stomach cancer in Burbank. He was 50.

-- times staff and wire reports

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