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Notable deaths last week

Marcia Wallace, the voice of Edna Krabappel on “The Simpsons,” has died.

“Simpsons” executive producer Al Jean says Wallace’s “irreplaceable character,” the fourth-grade teacher who has to deal with Bart Simpson’s constant antics, would be retired from the show.

The longtime TV actress’ credits ranged from playing a wise-cracking receptionist on “The Bob Newhart Show” to appearances on Candice Bergen’s “Murphy Brown.”

Lawrence Klein, a Nobel Prize-winning economist who was credited with establishing economic forecasting models for the modern age, has died at his home in Gladwyne, Pa. He was 93.

He spent the majority of his career at the University of Pennsylvania as an economics professor.

The Nobel committee stated in its citation that “few, if any, research workers in the empirical field of economic science have had so many successors and such a large impact.”

Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams, who helped found the American Football League and whose battles for players helped lead to the merger with the NFL, has died. He was 90.

Adams’ 409 wins were the most of any current NFL owner. He notched his 400th career win in the 2011 season finale when his Titans defeated the team that replaced his Oilers in Houston, the Texans. His franchise made 21 playoff appearances in 53 seasons, eighth among NFL teams since 1960.

Adams joined Dallas oilman Lamar Hunt on Aug. 3, 1959, when they announced the AFL would begin competing with the NFL at a news conference in Adams’ office. Adams founded one of the new league’s charter franchises.

The NFL retaliated by placing the Cowboys in Dallas and tried to get into Houston, but Adams held the lease to the one available stadium.

Tony Brevett, a Jamaican musician who launched the popular rocksteady band The Melodians, has died. He was in his 60s.

The Melodians were best known for their hit, “The Rivers of Babylon.” The song was included in the soundtrack of the 1972 movie “The Harder They Come.”

British director Antonia Bird, known for films such as “Face,” “Priest” and “Mad Love,” has died. She was 54.

The BBC, citing Bird’s agent, said Saturday the director had been suffering from anaplastic thyroid cancer and had died in her sleep.

Bill Sharman effortlessly straddled both sides of the Celtics-Lakers rivalry, winning championships and making friends from Boston to Los Angeles during a unique basketball career.

Sharman, the Hall of Famer who won multiple titles both as a player for the Celtics and a coach for the Lakers, died at his home in Redondo Beach, the Lakers announced. He was 87.

He played his first NBA season with the Washington Capitols in 1950-51, but Red Auerbach landed him for Boston after the Capitols folded. Sharman became an eight-time NBA All-Star with the Celtics, averaging 17.8 points and 3.9 rebounds per game in his 11-year career.

Reggie Rogers, a first-round NFL draft pick whose career stalled after he was sentenced to prison for a car crash that killed three teenagers, has died. He was 49.

The former University of Washington defensive lineman had a troubled life and was arrested this month for investigation of domestic violence assault. His wife told police he hit her on the head with a flashlight in an argument about his drinking. Rogers had pleaded not guilty.

Donald D. Smith, the longtime jockey at Penn National who won more than 1,500 races, has died. He was 69.

Wes Bialosuknia, who averaged 28 points a game for Connecticut in the 1966-67 season to set a school record, has died. He was 68.

Augusto Odone, a former World Bank economist, defied skeptical scientists to invent a treatment to try to save the life of his little boy, wasting away from a neurological disease, and to give hope to other children afflicted with the same genetic defect.

Odone, 80, died five years after the death of his son Lorenzo, who astonished doctors by surviving decades longer than they predicted.

The concoction, derived from natural cooking oils, became known as Lorenzo’s Oil, which was also the title of a movie depicting the relentless efforts by Odone and his late wife, Michaela, to try to find a cure.

Anthony Caro, the leading British sculptor of his generation, has died of a heart attack, his family said. He was 89.

Caro, who made monumental sculptures with scrap metal, was active well into old age.

Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara, Thailand’s Supreme Patriarch who headed the country’s order of Buddhist monks for more than two decades, has died at 100.

Vladimir Keilis-Borok, a prominent University of California, Los Angeles, seismologist and geophysicist who sought to predict earthquakes, has died. at age 92.

Juliette Moran, a chemist whose 39-year career with GAF Corp. took her to levels of corporate leadership reached by few women of her generation, has died. She was 96.

Famed playback singer Manna Dey, who recorded nearly 4,000 songs and can be heard in scores of Bollywood films, has died in a Bangalore hospita. He was 94.

Dey’s deep voice and mastery in singing classical music-based songs enthralled millions of music lovers. He started his singing career in 1942.

His death was being mourned by millions of fans. Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan tweeted his condolences, saying “Strange how we connect events of our life with his songs.”

India’s President Pranab Mukherjee said the country “has lost a veteran playback singer, a versatile artist of extraordinary ability and a creative genius who mesmerized listeners with his enchanting voice.”

Bill Mazer, the sports-talk radio pioneer who also was a fixture in New York television during a 60-year career, has died. He was 92.

William H. Sullivan, a diplomat who oversaw the “secret war” in Laos, aided in negotiations to end U.S. military involvement in Vietnam and was the last American ambassador to Iran, has died at age 90.

Francisco Mayoral, a noted defender of Mexico’s gray whales and one of the country’s earliest and most-experienced whale-watching guides, has died of a stroke at age 72.

Major Owens, a former librarian, antipoverty activist and New York state senator who served 12 terms in the U.S. House and became the self-styled “Rappin’ Rep” for channeling his liberal advocacy into musical verse, has died in Manhattan. He was 77.

British actor and musician Noel Harrison, who sang the Academy Award-winning ballad “The Windmills of Your Mind,” has died at 79.

The son of actor Rex Harrison, Noel Harrison was a British champion skier and represented the country at the 1952 and 1956 Olympics before becoming a professional musician.

Allan Stanley, a Hall of Fame defenseman who won four Stanley Cups with the Toronto Maple Leafs during a 22-year NHL career, has died. He was 87.

Lou Scheimer, who founded the Filmation animation studio that produced Saturday morning cartoons including “Fat Albert” and “The Archie Show,” has died. He was 84.

He won a Daytime Emmy Award as a producer of the 1974-75 season of the “Star Trek” animated series.

Jovanka Broz, who was married to Yugoslavia’s dictator, Josip Broz Tito, for nearly 30 years but lived in isolation as the federation he had built broke apart, has died at 88.

British actor and musician Noel Harrison, and his bride, Sara Tufnell, at the register office after their wedding at Caxton Hall, Westminster, London. Associated Press/March 22, 1959
American Football League president Lamar Hunt, center, is flanked by K.S. “ Bud” Adams Jr., left, owner of the Houston AFL team, and Harry Wismer, owner of the New York AFL team, in Dallas. Adams Jr. has died in his Houston home. He was 90. Associated Press/Jan. 26, 1960
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