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Notable deaths in 2004, January thru March

Estelle Axton, co-founder of the famed Stax Records Co. in Memphis, which generated hits from acts including Sam and Dave, Otis Redding Jr. and The Staple Singers, died of natural causes on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2004, at the hospice at Saint Francis Hospital in Memphis. She was 85. The musicians on the soul record label called Axton ``Lady A.'' ``Were it not for her, there's no way Stax could have become what it became,'' said David Porter. Porter and Isaac Hayes co-wrote numerous Stax hits, including Sam and Dave's ``Soul Man'' and ``Hold On, I'm Coming.'' Hayes said Axton was responsible for the racial harmony at Stax:``You didn't feel any backoff from her, no differentiation that you were black and she was white ... She was like a mother to us all.''

Estelle Axton, co-founder of the famed Stax Records Co. in Memphis, which generated hits from acts including Sam and Dave, Otis Redding Jr. and The Staple Singers, died of natural causes on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2004, at the hospice at Saint Francis Hospital in Memphis. She was 85. The musicians on the soul record label called Axton ``Lady A.’’ ``Were it not for her, there’s no way Stax could have become what it became,’’ said David Porter. Porter and Isaac Hayes co-wrote numerous Stax hits, including Sam and Dave’s ``Soul Man’’ and ``Hold On, I’m Coming.’’ Hayes said Axton was responsible for the racial harmony at Stax:``You didn’t feel any backoff from her, no differentiation that you were black and she was white ... She was like a mother to us all.’’  (AP/The Commercial Appeal, Mike Maple, file)

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Notable deaths in 2004, January thru March

Philanthropist Sybil Brand, Feb. 17

Philanthropist Sybil Brand is shown in 1969 in Southern California. Brand, one of Los Angeles’ busiest charity fundraisers, died Tuesday night, Feb. 17, 2004, at her Beverly Hills home. She was believed to be 104. Brand spent her life raising money for a variety of charities, including the American Cancer Society, the Braille Institute and the March of Dimes. She helped raise millions to build a county women’s jail, the Sybil Brand Institute for Women, which operated from 1963 until it closed for renovations in 1997.  (AP/Los Angeles Times)

Photographer Charlie McCarty, Jan. 19

Photographer Charlie McCarty is shown in this undated photo in Braine L’Alleud, Belgium. McCarty, who began his career working with the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II, died Jan. 19, 2004, at the age of 88. McCarty joined Reuters in 1984 as a photographer and was the driving force behind its entry into the news pictures business early the next year. When Reuters bought UPI’s international photo service in 1985, McCarty turned it into the Reuters News Pictures Service.  (AP/Reuters, file)

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