Notable deaths last week
• Dan Walker, a combative populist who became Illinois governor after condemning Chicago's reaction to Democratic National Convention demonstrations as "a police riot" and later went to prison for bank fraud, died Wednesday. He was 92.
The self-styled reformer died at his home in Chula Vista, California, according to his son Dan Walker Jr., a suburban Chicago attorney.
Described as either "brilliant" or "phony" by those who knew and watched him, the Democrat bested the revered Paul Simon in the 1972 primary for governor, beat the incumbent Republican and, some believe with the benefit of a different direction, could have been the 1976 presidential nominee.
"He was brilliant, very - even excessively - ambitious," said former U.S. Sen. Adlai Stevenson III, whose first Senate campaign in 1970 Walker managed. "I can't say that he was terribly principled; he was very bent on winning at all costs."
Walker made his name in 1968 when he chaired the panel that criticized Chicago's response to anti-Vietnam War protests outside the convention where Democrats gave the presidential nomination to Hubert H. Humphrey.
The report angered then-Mayor Richard J. Daley and sparked an antagonism that Walker repeatedly fueled throughout his tenure in Springfield, prompting the Chicago boss to back a 1976 primary candidate and send Walker to a humiliating defeat. That opened the door in November for a victorious Republican, James Thompson, who served a record 14 years at the helm.
• David Goldberg, chief executive officer of SurveyMonkey.com and husband of Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook Inc., has died. He was 47.
He died unexpectedly Friday night, his brother, Robert Goldberg, wrote in a Facebook post. No other details were given.
• The fill-in Santa whose downfield jaunt at a Philadelphia Eagles game in 1968 lives on in sports history for the hail of snowballs and shower of boos that rained down on him has died. Frank Olivo was 66.
The story of Olivo's misfortune has long been held up as a symbol of Philly sports fans' ferocity, but far from minding his moment in sports history, Olivo "gloried in it," said his cousin, Richard Monastra.
"It was his 15 minutes of fame," he said. "He kind of liked it, actually."
The snowy onslaught began with the real Santa Claus stuck in New Jersey and unable to make it to the final game of the season between the Minnesota Vikings and a moribund Eagles team that started the year with 11 straight losses.
Olivo, who was in the stands wearing a Santa suit and fake white beard, was asked to fill in. But when he ran downfield past a row of elf-costumed "Eaglettes" and the team's 50-person brass band playing "Here Comes Santa Claus," thunderous boos erupted from the crowd of 54,535 and snowballs began raining down.
• A half-century after dropping 70 pounds and keeping them off, Weight Watchers founder Jean Nidetch made some allowances: Cokes in her fridge, Klondikes in her freezer, the occasional potato or extra piece of bread on her plate.
But she never again touched the chocolate marshmallow cookies she called her ultimate weakness, the treat she'd stash in the hamper and eat by the boxful in the middle of the night, all the while praying she'd choke on her next bite.
"Why would I want to see that movie again?" she asked.
Weight-loss royalty to the end, Nidetch died Wednesday at 91, her son David said. Her brainchild made her a multimillionaire, a late-night fixture, the inspiring face that could stir droves of Weight Watchers adherents to a frenzy. But she kept her vow to never be overweight again.
• Geoff Duke, who won six world motorcycling titles and became the sport's first global star, has died. He was 92.
Duke, who retired from the sport in 1959 with 33 grand prix wins, died on Friday, the official MotoGP website said.
Son Peter Duke was quoted as telling bikesportnews.com that his father had been "ill for some time but he passed away peacefully" in the Isle of Man.
• Prolific crime and mystery writer Ruth Rendell, perhaps best known for her Chief Inspector Wexford novels, died Saturday, said her publisher, Penguin Random House. She was 85.
She was one of Britain's most popular crime novelists and authored dozens of books, including many written under the pen name Barbara Vine.
Rendell was a member of the House of Lords who had received wide recognition and many awards throughout her long career. Her Inspector Wexford series was made into a popular TV series, winning her many new fans and accolades.
• Pete Brown, the first black player to win a PGA Tour event, died Friday. He was 80.
Brown won the 1964 Waco Turner Open in Burneyville, Oklahoma, and the 1970 Andy Williams-San Diego Open.
• Ben E. King, the unforgettable lead singer for the Drifters and solo star whose plaintive baritone graced such pop and rhythm `n blues classics as "Stand by Me," "There Goes My Baby" and "Spanish Harlem," has died. He was 76.
A native of North Carolina who moved to New York City as a boy, King was singing with the Five Crowns when they were hired in 1958 to become the new incarnation of the Drifters, a top act for Atlantic Records who had several doo-wop hits featuring tenor Clyde McPhatter. The new Drifters, their records among the first in the rock era to use strings, had a more polished production and vocal style and became key influences on recordings by Phil Spector and others in the 1960s.
King co-wrote and sang lead on "There Goes My Baby," and he and the Drifters followed with such favorites as "Save the Last Dance for Me" and "This Magic Moment," romantic and emotional ballads mostly written by the team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman.
• Mexican actress and comedian Maria Elena Velasco, best known for her character "The Indian Maria," has died at age 74.
Velasco's "La India Maria," which exaggerated stereotypes about Mexico's indigenous people, became one of the most recognizable characters in Mexican film, dressed in colorful blouses and full skirts with her hair in braids.
"La India Maria," often accompanied by her faithful donkey "Filemon," sometimes illustrated the journey from her native village to the big city and the inevitable comic situations that followed.
• Late CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite's grandson and the voice of Dennis the Menace has died.
Colby College President David Greene says Peter Cronkite, a student at the school, took his own life over the weekend in Waterville, Maine. He was weeks away from graduation.
Cronkite was sports editor of the campus newspaper and was on the rugby team. He was also a film enthusiast who, as a boy, served as the voice of Dennis the Menace in a 2002 animated movie.
• Lokeren says soccer defender Gregory Mertens, 24, died on Thursday, three days after he suffered heart failure during a training match.
Lokeren said Mertens was medically screened several times during his career, and that nothing pointed toward a fundamental heart problem.
• Vardan Militosyan, an Olympic silver medalist and two-time European champion weightlifter for the Soviet Union, has died. He was 64.
• Calvin Peete, who taught himself how to play golf at 24 and became the most successful black player on the PGA Tour before the arrival of Tiger Woods, has died at 71.
Peete won 12 times on the PGA Tour, mainly on the strength of his uncanny accuracy off the tee. Peete led the PGA Tour in driving accuracy for 10 straight years starting in 1981, and he captured the Vardon Trophy over Jack Nicklaus in 1984. He also played on two Ryder Cup teams.
• Francois Michelin, the grandson of Michelin & Cie.'s founder and head of the French tiremaker for almost half a century, has died. He was 88.
• Oscar-winning Australian cinematographer Andrew Lesnie, best known for his work on "The Lord of the Rings," has died at 59.
• When he stood on his toes, leaned his head back and began to incoherently shout "Louie Louie" into a microphone 52 years ago, Jack Ely had no idea he was creating a rock `n' roll classic.
Or, for that matter, did the lead singer of The Kingsmen know he was laying the groundwork for one of the first federal investigations into dirty song lyrics, while simultaneously creating a tune so memorable that everybody from the Beach Boys to Nirvana would later record it.
Ely, who has died at age 71, had simply walked into a tiny Portland recording studio with his band one day in 1963 to cut an instrumental version of a song that had been a hit on Pacific Northwest jukeboxes - one that kids could dance to.
"Right out of his mouth, my father would say, `We were initially just going to record the song as an instrumental, and at the last minute I decided I'd sing it," Ely's son, Sean Ely, said.
• Gene Fullmer, a former middleweight champion and member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame whose 55 career victories included two wins over Sugar Ray Robinson, has died at 83.
Fullmer suffered from Alzheimer's disease and dementia for years and died Monday while fighting a bacterial infection, nephew Larry Fullmer said.
Fullmer turned pro in 1951 and defeated Robinson in 1957 to win the middleweight title. The two fought four times, with Fullmer going 2-1-1. He lost the title in a rematch with Robinson, but regained the vacated title in 1959 by beating Carmen Basilio. He defended it seven times.
He was named the Boxing Writers Association of America's "Fighter of the Year" in 1961. He retired in 1963 with a 55-6-3 record, including 24 knockouts. Fullmer was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991.
• The youngest daughter on hit 1970s television show "The Partridge Family" has died.
Suzanne Crough Condray, who played Tracy Partridge, was found dead Monday night at home in Laughlin, near Las Vegas. She was 52.
Las Vegas police said they believe she suffered a medical episode and that the circumstances of her death are not suspicious.
Crough as Tracy played the tambourine as a member of the TV family's band. She was often the warm backdrop that set up the zingers flung out by her on-screen brother Danny, played by Danny Bonaduce.
• Scott Baldwin, whose promising career at Nebraska in the early 1990s ended because of injuries and his battles with mental illness, has died.
Baldwin's family said he died of cardiac arrest Wednesday in New Jersey. He was 45.
Baldwin in January 1992 was charged with felony assault for attacking a Lincoln woman but was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Nine months later he was shot during an altercation with Omaha police, with the bullet lodging near his spinal cord and paralyzing him from the chest down.
• Verne Gagne, one of professional wrestling's most celebrated performers and promoters, has died. He was 89.
Gagne won several regional championships after turning pro in 1950 before heading to the newly formed American Wrestling Association, based in Minneapolis, in 1960, the WWE said.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Gagne became a promoter and eventually the sole owner of the AWA. He remained an active competitor until the early 1980s, holding the AWA World Heavyweight Championship title 10 times between 1960 and 1981.
• Jayne Meadows, the Emmy-nominated actress and TV personality who often teamed with her husband, Steve Allen, has died. She was 95.
The red-haired Meadows appeared in several Broadway shows and films before she first became known to a wider audience as a panelist on the prime-time game show, "I've Got a Secret."
• Mike Phillips, a standout basketball player at the University of Kentucky in the 1970s, has died after a fall in western Kentucky. He was 59.
Phillips and Rick Robey were known as the "Twin Towers" on the 1978 championship team that went 30-2 and beat Duke in the NCAA final.
• Don M. Mankiewicz, an Oscar-nominated screenwriter from a legendary Hollywood family who created the television shows "Marcus Welby, M.D." and "Ironside," has died in California. He was 93.
• Jim Fanning, the longtime Montreal Expos executive who managed the franchise to its only playoff appearance in Canada, has died. He was 87.
The Toronto Blue Jays confirmed Fanning's death Saturday.
Fanning was the Expos' general manager when the team entered the major leagues in 1968 and spent 25 years with the franchise that moved to Washington in 2005 and became the Nationals.
Fanning was born in Chicago on Sept. 14, 1927, and attended high school in Moneta, Iowa. He played in college at Buena Vista in Iowa and the University of Illinois.