Celebrated tenor; politician's ex-wife
Luciano Pavarotti, whose vibrant high C notes and ebullient showmanship made him the most beloved and celebrated tenor since Caruso and one of the few opera singers to win crossover fame as a popular superstar, has died. He was 71. His manager, Terri Robson, said in an e-mailed statement that Pavarotti died at his home in Modena, Italy, at 5 a.m. local time Thursday. Pavarotti had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year and underwent further treatment in August. For serious fans, the unforced beauty and thrilling urgency of Pavarotti's voice made him the ideal interpreter of the Italian lyric repertory, especially in the 1960s and '70s when he first achieved stardom. For millions more, his charismatic performances of standards like "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's "Turandot" came to represent what opera is all about.
Effi Barry, the District of Columbia's stoic former first lady who endured her husband's drug abuse and unfaithfulness during his years as the city's mayor, died Thursday. She was 63. Barry died of leukemia at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis, Md., said Justin Paquette, a spokesman for the hospital. Effi Barry separated from Marion Barry in 1990, shortly after he was caught on videotape at a downtown hotel smoking crack cocaine with an ex-model and asking her to have sex with him. Throughout her husband's three-month trial -- during which federal prosecutors played the grainy 83-minute tape of the FBI sting -- Barry sat in the front row of the courtroom with a hook and yarn.
Author Madeleine L'Engle, whose novel "A Wrinkle in Time" has captivated generations of schoolchildren and adults since the 1960s, died Thursday, her publicist said. She was 88. L'Engle died of natural causes at a nursing home in Litchfield, said Jennifer Doerr, publicity manager for publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The Newbery Medal winner wrote more than 60 books, including fantasies, poetry and memoirs, often highlighting spiritual themes and her Christian faith.
Actress Miyoshi Umeki, who won an Oscar for her performance as the doomed wife of an American serviceman in "Sayonara" and later starred in the Broadway musical "Flower Drum Song," died Aug. 28. She was 78. The Japanese-born actress, the first Asian performer to win an Oscar, died of cancer at a Licking nursing home, said Michael Hood, her son. In "Sayonara," the 1957 film version of James A. Michener's best-selling novel, she teamed with Red Buttons in a tragic subplot about a U.S. serviceman and local woman who fall in love in post-World War II Japan. They commit suicide rather than part when he is supposed to return to America.
New Mexico Supreme Court Justice Pamela Minzner, the state's first female chief justice, died Friday after a battle with cancer, the court said. She was 63. Minzner had been on the state's highest court since 1994, the second woman ever to serve on the five-member panel. Minzner was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1994 to fill a vacancy and was elected to the seat in 2002 for an eight-year term. She served as chief justice in 1999-2000. Minzner received her law degree in 1968 from Harvard University, where she was one of just 22 women in a class of more than 500.
John T. Scott, an artist who created large-scale abstract sculptures, as well as drawings and prints, has died. He was 67. The Arthur Roger Gallery, a French Quarter gallery that exhibited his work, reported on its Web site that Scott died Saturday. He died at Methodist Hospital in Houston after a long fight against pulmonary fibrosis, the Times-Picayune newspaper reported. The longtime Xavier University art professor received the prestigious John D. MacArthur Fellowship in 1992. He had earned his bachelor's degree at Xavier and returned as a faculty member in 1965 after getting his master's degree from Michigan State University.
Former Clemson basketball standout Clarke Bynum, who once helped thwart a plane hijacking, died Monday. He was 45. Bynum died after a long battle with cancer, Clemson athletics spokesman Tim Bourret said. The 6-foot-7 Bynum averaged five points and two rebounds in four seasons with the Tigers from 1980-84. He was an All-Academic selection in the Atlantic Coast Conference in his senior season. However, Bynum may be better known for subduing a man who attacked a pilot in the cockpit of a British Airways jet in December 2000. The passenger managed to grab the controls, sending the plane into two nosedives. But Bynum and other passengers burst into the cockpit and wrestled the man down, restraining him until the flight, with 398 people on board, could land.
Rockabilly pioneer Janis Martin, who was billed as "The Female Elvis," died Monday. She was 67. Martin died of cancer at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., her husband said Tuesday. Bradley Whitt, her husband of 28 years, said Martin learned she had cancer shortly after what turned out to be her last public performance -- a cancer benefit in Richmond in March. Martin rose to fame in the '50s as Elvis Presley's label mate at RCA Victor, which promoted her as "The Female Elvis." Her first record and biggest hit, "Will You Willyum," was released in 1956, when Martin was just 15. The song made the Billboard top 10 for one week and sold about 750,000 copies.
Former Rep. Jennifer Dunn, who became the most powerful Republican woman in Washington state history during six terms representing Seattle's east-side suburbs, died Wednesday. She was 66. Dunn a favorite of both Bush White Houses, was Washington state's ranking Republican in Congress when she retired in 2004. She told The Associated Press at the time that she was pursuing a new career as a policy adviser and planned to enjoy time with her new husband and baby granddaughter. She died after developing a blood clot while at her Virginia home, her family said in a statement.
Edward Gramlich, a former member of the Federal Reserve board who raised warnings about the housing boom, died Wednesday, current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke confirmed. He was 68. He died of leukemia. A distinguished economics professor and the former dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, Gramlich was appointed to the seven-member Fed board in 1997 by President Clinton. He served until August 2005 when he resigned to return to the University of Michigan, where he served as an acting provost in 2005 and 2006. In June, Gramlich published "Subprime Mortgages: America's Latest Boom and Bust," a book that is likely to serve as a blueprint for Washington policymakers seeking to find ways to stem a rising tide of mortgage delinquencies and the steepest slump in housing in 16 years.
Marcia Mae Jones, who starred as a child in such films as "The Champ" and "Heidi" and maintained an adult career in television Westerns and sitcoms, died Sunday. She was 83. Her son, Tim Chic, said his mother died of pneumonia, which developed into a serious infection Friday. She had long suffered from bouts of pneumonia, he said. Jones died at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital. Although she never achieved the stardom of Shirley Temple and Mickey Rooney, Jones played important roles in such films as "The Garden of Allah," "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "These Three." She started acting in films at age 2. Her son said she was proud of the fact that she was a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild at age 6.
The Rev. D. James Kennedy, a pioneering Christian broadcaster and megachurch pastor whose fiercely conservative worldview helped fuel the rise of the religious right in American politics, died Wednesday. He was 76. Kennedy died at his home in Fort Lauderdale from complications of a heart attack he suffered on Dec. 28, according to Kristin Cole, a spokeswoman for Kennedy's Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. He had not been seen publicly since the heart attack, and his retirement was announced Aug. 26. Kennedy was influential in the founding of the religious right, but did so more often from behind the scenes, as attention focused on his allies, the Revs. Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell.
Max McNab, who won the Stanley Cup as a player with the Detroit Red Wings in 1950 and later served as the general manager of two NHL teams in a nearly 50-year hockey career, died Sunday. He was 83. McNab suffered a massive stroke in Las Vegas on Saturday and died on Sunday, Peter McNab, his son and a former NHL player, said. Max McNab joined the Red Wings in 1948 and as a rookie centered a line with Hall of Famers Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay. His championship came two years later when the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in double overtime of Game 7 against the New York Rangers. After a back injury shortened his playing career, McNab got his first coaching job in 1952-53 with New Westminster of the WHL. He later coached in the league at San Francisco and Vancouver before becoming a coach-general manager for the San Diego Gulls.
Former Washington state Sen. Nathaniel "Nat" Washington, a distant relative of the nation's first president who found a way to finance two major hydroelectric projects on the Columbia River, died Aug. 18. He was 93. Washington, a Democrat who spent 30 years in the legislature and worked across party lines to win funds for farm-to-market roads in his central Washington district, died after a brief illness in Bellingham, where he resided for the past two years, his son, Tom F. Washington of Kirkland, confirmed on Wednesday. A direct descendant of George Washington's brother John, Nat Washington treasured the family connection and worked to debunk the stuffy reputation of the first U.S. president.