Obituaries

Sargent Shriver, first Peace Corps director, dies at 95

R. Sargent Shriver — the first Peace Corps director, one-time vice-presidential nominee, and most famous Kennedy in-law — died Tuesday in his native Maryland. He was 95 and had been suffering from Alzheimer’s since 2003. While he never held elected office, the idealistic Shriver had one the most of distinguished records of public service of any American from the World War II generation. He urged his brother-in-law, President Kennedy, to create the Peace Corps and then b

Liu Huaqing Dies at 94; Oversaw Modernization of China’s Navy

Gen. Liu Huaqing, a military commander who oversaw the modernization of the Chinese Navy, died on Friday. He was 94. His death was announced by Chinese state news organizations, which did not give details on the illness that led to his death. In China, General Liu is commonly called “the father of the modern Chinese Navy.” For much of the 1980s, as commander of the People’s Liberation Army Navy, General Liu spearheaded ambitious efforts to transform the Ch

Richard Winters Dies at 92; Led ‘Band of Brothers’

Richard Winters, the commanding officer of Easy Company, the Army unit whose gritty combat from the beaches of Normandy to the capture of Hitler’s mountain retreat was recounted in the book and television series “Band of Brothers,” died Jan. 2 in Campbelltown, Pa. He was 92 and lived in Hershey, Pa. His death was confirmed by Nikki Soliday, executive director of the Hershey-Derry Township Historical Society, which maintains an exhibit of Mr. Winters’s war memorabilia, including the

James R. Mann, South Carolina Congressman Who Worked on Nixon Impeachment, Dies at 90

James R. Mann, a South Carolina congressman who played a critical role in drafting the articles of impeachment against Richard M. Nixon and emerged as one of the South’s most eloquent voices on the matter, died Monday in Greenville, S.C. He was 90. The cause was Alzheimer’s disease, his son James Jr. told The Associated Press. Mr. Mann, a previously obscure legislator who had never held a leadership position in the House, unexpectedly took center stage during the post-

R. Richard Rubottom, Who Helped Shape Cuban Policy, Dies at 98

R. Richard Rubottom, a diplomat who influenced and helped hone United States policy toward Latin America in the late 1950s, a time of economic and political tumult that culminated in Fidel Castro’s takeover in Cuba, died Dec. 6 in Austin, Tex. He was 98. His family announced the death. Mr. Rubottom rose from modest roots — his parents ran a boardinghouse in central Texas — to become the “official most responsible for defining United States Cuban policy” in the years im

Richard C. Holbrooke: Strong American Voice in Diplomacy and Crisis

Richard C. Holbrooke, the Obama administration’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan since 2009 and a diplomatic troubleshooter who worked for every Democratic president since the late 1960s and oversaw the negotiations that ended the war in Bosnia, died Monday evening in Washington. He was 69 and lived in Manhattan.... Mr. Holbrooke was hospitalized on Friday afternoon after becoming ill while meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in her Washington

Samuel T. Cohen, Neutron Bomb Inventor, Dies at 89

Samuel T. Cohen, the physicist who invented the small tactical nuclear weapon known as the neutron bomb, a controversial device designed to kill enemy troops with subatomic particles but leave battlefields and cities relatively intact, died on Sunday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 89. The cause was complications of stomach cancer, his son Paul said. Unlike J. Robert Oppenheimer and Edward Teller, the respective fathers of the atomic and hydrogen bombs, Mr. Cohen was

Stephen J. Solarz, Former N.Y. Congressman, Dies at 70

Stephen J. Solarz, a nine-term Democratic congressman whose concerns went beyond traffic lights and beach erosion in his Brooklyn district to nuclear weapons, the Middle East and his revelation that Imelda Marcos owned 3,000 pairs of shoes, died Monday in Washington. He was 70 and lived in McLean, Va. His death, at a Washington hospital, was caused by esophageal cancer, his wife, Nina, said. When he was elected to the House in 1974, Mr. Solarz finagled a seat on the Fo

Chalmers Johnson, anti-imperialist advocate, dies at 79

[John Nichols, a pioneering political blogger, has written the Beat since 1999. His posts have been circulated internationally, quoted in numerous books and mentioned in debates on the floor of Congress.] With one word, "blowback," Chalmers Johnson explained the folly of empire in the modern age. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, true American patriots—as opposed to the jingoists and profiteers whose madness and greed would steer

Emilio Massera, Leader of Brutal Argentine Junta, Dies at 85

BUENOS AIRES — Emilio Massera, a leader of the military junta of Argentina’s bloody dictatorship and the former head of the country’s most notorious political prison, where an estimated 5,000 people were tortured and killed, died here on Monday. He was 85. His death, at a naval hospital, was caused by a cerebral hemorrhage, an army spokesman said. Mr. Massera had been mostly bedridden since 2002, when he had a stroke. He had been treated for a heart condition and dementia for years.

Michael Seifert, SS Guard at Camp in Italy, Dies at 86

Michael Seifert had settled into a quiet retirement in Vancouver, British Columbia, living in a little white stucco house, gardening in the backyard. A former lumber mill worker, he had a seemingly pristine, if prosaic, background. But Mr. Seifert, who died Saturday, had concealed another identity that emerged only after a researcher in 1995 began collecting oral histories and photographs from Jews, political prisoners and others who had been incarcerated at Bolzano, the Nazi concen

Theodore C. Sorensen, Kennedy Counselor and Wordsmith, Dies at 82

Theodore C. Sorensen, one of the last links to John F. Kennedy’s administration, a writer and counselor who did much to shape the president’s narrative, image and legacy, died Sunday in Manhattan. He was 82. His death, at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, was from complications of a stroke he suffered a week ago, his wife, Gillian Sorensen, said. Mr. Sorensen once said he suspected that the headline on his obituary would read “Theodore Sorenson, Kennedy Speechwriter,” miss

Dame Joan Sutherland, Opera Singer, 84

PARIS, 26 OCTOBER 2010 — A little over two weeks ago Joan Sutherland died, yet another of the great singers of my youth to have left us this year. I first heard her in August 1960 when she sang Elvira in Puritani with the Glyndebourne Opera at the Edinburgh Festival, a year after her emergence from obscurity as Donizetti’s Lucia at Covent Garden. As too often in her early years, Sutherland was not entirely surrounded by singers of equal stature (though Ernest Blanc was an exception on this occas

Sheik Saqr al-Qasimi, Ruler of Arab Emirate, Dies at 90

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Sheik Saqr bin Mohammed al-Qasimi, a ruler in the United Arab Emirates federation and one of the world’s longest-reigning monarchs, died Wednesday, state media reported. He was 90. Sheik Saqr was succeeded as leader of the Ras al Khaymah emirate — one of seven composing the United Arab Emirates — by a son, Sheik Saud bin Saqr al-Qasimi. Sheik Saud was chosen as crown prince seven years ago, opening a family feud with his half brother.

Richard T. Gill, Economist and Opera Singer, Dies at 82

Richard T. Gill, in all statistical probability the only Harvard economist to sing 86 performances with the Metropolitan Opera, died on Monday in Providence, R.I. He was 82. The cause was heart failure, his son Peter said. A former resident of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Mr. Gill also had a home in Chocorua, N.H. Mr. Gill, a longtime Harvard faculty member who wrote many widely used economics textbooks, did not undertake serious vocal training (which he began as an anti-smo

Louis Henkin, Leader in Field of Human Rights Law, Dies at 92

Louis Henkin, a legal scholar often credited with creating the field of human rights law and the author of classic works on constitutional law and the legal aspects of foreign policy, died Thursday at his home in Manhattan. He was 92. His death was confirmed by his wife, Alice Hartman Henkin. Professor Henkin, unusual in combining equal expertise in constitutional law and international law, moved easily between academia and government. His legal scholarship was a fundam

Solomon Burke, Influential Soul Singer, Dies at 70

Solomon Burke, a singer whose smooth, powerful articulation and mingling of sacred and profane themes helped define soul music in the early 1960s, died on Sunday at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. He was 70 and lived in Los Angeles. His death was announced by his family on his official Web site, thekingsolomonburke.com. No cause was given. Drawing on gospel, country and gritty rhythm and blues in songs like “Cry to Me” (1962), “You Can Make It if You Try” (1963) and “Eve

Tony Curtis, Hollywood Icon, Dies at 85

Tony Curtis, a classically handsome movie star who earned an Oscar nomination as an escaped convict in Stanley Kramer’s 1958 movie “The Defiant Ones,” but whose public preferred him in comic roles in films like “Some Like It Hot” (1959) and “The Great Race” (1965), died Wednesday of a cardiac arrest in his Las Vegas area home. He was 85. His death was confirmed by the Clark County coroner, The Associated Press reported. As a performer, Mr. Curtis drew first and foremost

Gennadi I. Yanayev, 73, Soviet Coup Plotter, Dies

MOSCOW— Gennadi I. Yanayev, a former Soviet apparatchik who was part of a short-lived coup in 1991 that hastened the fall of the Soviet Union, died Friday in Moscow, according to Russian news reports. He was 73. Mr. Yanayev died in near obscurity, crushed by a wave of history he struggled in vain to resist. He had been ill for some time, but the cause of death was not immediately made public. Mr. Yanayev was among eight powerful Soviet government hard-liners, including

Jack Kershaw Is Dead at 96; Challenged Conviction in King’s Death

Jack Kershaw, who represented James Earl Ray as he fought to overturn his conviction in the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., arguing that Ray was an innocent participant in a conspiracy led by a mysterious figure named Raul, died Sept. 7. in Nashville. He was 96. His death was announced by the League of the South, an organization Mr. Kershaw helped found that tries to keep the spirit of the Confederacy alive. Mr. Kershaw, who was also a sculptor, wa