Obituaries

Louis Wolfson, Central to the Fall of a Justice, Is Dead at 95

Louis E. Wolfson, a self-made industrialist and financier whose legal troubles were central to the resignation of a Supreme Court justice and who later achieved a cliffhanging sweep of the 1978 Triple Crown as a thoroughbred owner, died Sunday at his home in Bal Harbour, Fla. He was 95. On both counts, Mr. Wolfson’s mark has proved lasting. The Triple Crown victory of his colt, Affirmed, has not been matched in the three decades since, and Justice Abe Fortas, who stepped down in 196

St.Clair Bourne, Filmmaker, Dies at 64

St.Clair Bourne, a documentary filmmaker who recorded American black culture, produced portraits of eminent African-Americans and, in one stark film, drew a parallel between the civil rights movement and the “troubles” in Northern Ireland, died on Saturday in Manhattan. He was 64 and lived in Brooklyn. The cause was a pulmonary embolism, said Judith Bourne, his sister and only immediate family member. In a 36-year career in which he made more than 40 films, either produ

Thomas P. Whitney, Solzhenitsyn Translator, Dies at 90

Thomas P. Whitney, a former diplomat and writer on Russian affairs who was best known for translating the work of the dissident writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn into English, died on Dec. 2 in Manhattan. He was 90. Mr. Whitney’s family confirmed the death. A longtime resident of Washington, Conn., he had lived in Manhattan in recent years. Mr. Whitney translated two of Mr. Solzhenitsyn’s major books: “The First Circle” (Harper & Row, 1968), a novel of life in Stalin’s

On West Village Streets, Tears for a Gay Activist

Friends and colleagues of Bob Kohler, a veteran gay rights activist who died at 81 on Wednesday, took to the streets of the West Village last evening, celebrating the life of the man they called a hero, a griot and a legend of the gay community. With candles and signs held high, and with pill bottles and ceramic pots filled with some of Mr. Kohler’s cremated remains, dozens of his friends and admirers marched through the streets, chanting to the beat of a drummer, stories of Mr. Koh

Henry Hyde, 1924-2007 (Weekly Standard)

The first time I spoke to a pro-life group--it was the summer of 1993--I expected Illinois congressman Henry Hyde to be there. I was speaking in Milwaukee at National Right to Life's annual convention and my assumption was that when a major anti-abortion group gathered, Hyde's presence was required. But Hyde wasn't there. I had brought my daughter Sarah with me and I was disappointed she wouldn't get to hear Hyde, the great pro-life orator and the nation's leading defender of the unborn.

Elizabeth Hardwick, Writer, Dies at 91 (helped found NY Review of Books)

Elizabeth Hardwick, the critic, essayist, fiction writer and co-founder of The New York Review of Books, who went from being a studious Southern Belle to a glittering member of the New York City intellectual elite, died Sunday night in Manhattan. She was 91. Her death, at a Manhattan hospital, was confirmed today by her daughter, Harriet Lowell. Known mainly as a critic, and credited for expanding the possibilities of the literary essay through her intimate tone and her

Richard Nolte, Three-Week Ambassador During Six-Day War, Dies at 86

Richard Nolte, a Middle East expert whose tenure as American ambassador to Egypt lasted only three weeks in 1967 because of the turmoil of the Six-Day War and despite the fact that he sympathized with the Arab cause, died Nov. 22 at his home in Hanover, N.H. He was 86. The cause was complications of a stroke, his brother, Charles, said. Mr. Nolte eventually became chairman of the American Geographical Society, the oldest cartography society in the United States. He was

Bill Murphy, professor who was the target of segregationists

I wrote a tribute to my late colleague Bill Murphy of the UNC faculty. It appears in the current issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. I reprint it here:On August 6, 1962, the following brief article ran on Page 22 of The New York Times, under the headline"Teacher, Target of Attacks, Resigns Post in Mississippi":OXFORD, Miss., Aug. 5 (UPI) — A University of Mississippi law professor who has been the target of segregationists for several years has resigned to take a

Lester Ziffren, 101, First to Report Start of Spanish Civil War, Dies

Lester Ziffren, a foreign correspondent for United Press in the 1930s whose coded message from Madrid signaled to the world the start of the Spanish Civil War, died at his home in Manhattan on Nov. 12. He was 101. The cause was congestive heart failure, his daughter, Didi Hunter, said. It was a tip from a friend, a Spanish aristocrat, that prompted Mr. Ziffren to defy Spanish government censors by sending a cryptic telegram to the United Press bureau in London on July 1

Henry J. Hyde, a Power in the House of Representatives, Dies at 83

Former Representative Henry J. Hyde, the powerful Illinois Republican who won battles to prohibit federal financing of abortions and to impeach President Clinton but who failed to persuade the Senate to convict and remove him from office, died yesterday in Chicago. He was 83. The cause was complications of heart surgery, his son Anthony said. With his heavyset build and snow-white hair, Mr. Hyde was an imposing figure on the House floor and a persuasive speaker whose ar

Robert Hecht Jr. dies at 92; controversial dealer in classical antiquities

When Robert E. Hecht Jr. arrived at the loading platform of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in the fall of 1972, he was carrying a large wooden box and was escorted by an armed guard. Inside the box was perhaps the finest Greek vase to survive antiquity, a masterpiece that would soon be making headlines around the world. The Met had agreed to pay a record $1 million for the ancient work. Hecht said it had been in the private collection of a certain Lebanese gentleman. But when Met director Thomas Hoving heard the story, he scoffed: "I bet he doesn't exist." Indeed, as Hecht later revealed in his unpublished memoir, he had just bought the vase from "loyal suppliers" who had dug it up from ancient tombs outside Rome and smuggled it out of Italy....

Hunter College Professor Who Photographed the People of Harlem Dies at 89

When, as a budding photographer, Roy DeCarava applied for a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1952, his proposal stated: "I want to show the strength, the wisdom, the dignity of the Negro people. Not the famous and the well known, but the unknown and the unnamed, thus revealing the roots from which springs the greatness of all human beings." That year he became the first African-American photographer to receive a Guggenheim, and he spent 57 more years advancing his goals. He was st