Post Mortem

Abe Pollin dies

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:54:31 -0500

Abe Pollin, 85, Washington's homegrown sports entreprenur who owned the Wizards and Mystics basketball teams and was chairmen and owners of Washington Sports & Entertainment organization, died today. He had been battling a degenerative brain disease, corticobasal degeneration, for several years. Pollin was among the last of the old-school pro sports owners as a family business, shaped by his strong personality and his intense loyalties. His teams lost more than they won, and fans often criticized his personnel moves or his failure to spend more money, but there was no one in public life who loved Washington more than Pollin. I think of him as the George Halas of the mid-Atlantic. His wealth came from his construction and development company -- it built several large apartment houses and office buildings, one of which featured the first-ever rooftop pool in Washington. He was also a major philanthropist in the community, paying

The Daily Goodbye

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:34:08 -0500

Good morning readers to the non-standard language edition of Postmortem's Daily Goodbye. I can only imagine what a non-Nordic copyeditor thought when coming across Svein Gilje's byline for the first time. Mr. Gilje, a Seattle Times reporter who spoke and read French, German, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish, as well as English, was founding president of Seattle's Nordic Heritage Museum, the first of its kind in North America to highlight the heritage of immigrants from the five Nordic countries -- Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland. Another man who made his living from language Alan Dary, a Boston radio host, tried to dislodge any Boston accents from his family's speech. Too bad; we like regional quirks. As did Stanley Ellis, an expert on English dialects, the first person to provide expert evidence for speaker identification in an English court. Former Thai prime minister Samak Sundaravej, who was forced from office after

Composer of NPR Theme Dies

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:21:05 -0500

Don Voegeli, a University of Wisconsin music professor who composed the "All Things Considered" theme song for National Public Radio, died Saturday in Madison, Wis. He was 89. This is more of an audio story than a text one, so I'll just link you to the NPR web page that lists the theme and variations over the years; it's fun to dial back and see which ones you remember, if you're an NPR listener. In addition, here's the NPR story that appeared in 2002 in which Mr. Voegeli talked about how the theme song came about.

The Daily Goodbye

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:00:59 -0500

Good morning, and plan for a thankful week. Rusty Kanokogi was once stripped of a medal for competing against men in judo. Determined that no woman would have to have a similar experience, she dedicated herself to establishing women's judo and getting the sport into the Olympics. (Don't miss the testimonial from Billie Jean King in the last paragraph). Few things provide as much delight for children as a carousel and Patrick M. Donelan did his part to restore the historic St. Louis carousel -- 60 horses and four reindeer. Too bad there's not a photo of the carousel with the obit. A YMCA scuba diving course changed Larry Thornton's life, and he became a salvage diver, historian, and treasure hunter who was still diving while undergoing chemotherapy and radiation. He died Nov. 11. Mountain-climbing stories are only partly about techniques and rock skills. Human behavior and relations are the

Secret Histories

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:00:04 -0500

One of the great delights of this job is finding a well-edited oral history of someone we write about. That was the case with the obit of diplomat James M. Wilson last week. The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, housed at the Library of Congress, is one of the best. "Many accounts provide information on what to do when your embassy is blown up, or if one is in the midst of a war or civil unrest. These accounts include those of Robert Dillon whose embassy in Beirut was hit by Islamic extremists in 1983 and Prudence Bushnell whose embassy in Nairobi was blown up by Al Qaeda in 1998," wrote Charles Stuart Kennedy, describing the collection. In addition to European history, the collection has remembrances from those who served in Indochina, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and "the tale of

Elisabeth Soderstrom

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:00:43 -0500

The great Swedish soprano Elisabeth Soderstrom has died at the age of 82. She was regarded as perhaps the finest singing actress on the operatic stage -- in other words, she had not just a beautiful voice, but a deeply expressive, nuanced acting talent as well. Soderstrom made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1959 and was in huge demand for several years, then virtually disappeared from the American stage. She had returned to Sweden to raise her three sons and to continue her career at home. She later made a triumphant return to this country and continued to appear in operas and tour in recitals, often with pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy, until well into her 60s. (Here she is in a badly out-of-synch tape of Beethoven's "Fidelio.") She had a magnetic stage presence and rare ability to describe the intricacies of music in general, and singing in particular, as

Jeanne-Claude and Christo

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:11:09 -0500

Jeanne-Claude, the wife and collaborator of the artist Christo, has died at 74. She was a vibrant figure in the art world, and not just because of her hair, which was the color of a fire engine crossed with a pumpkin. I particularly enjoyed working on this obituary because I was able to draw on one of my former journalistic lives as an art critic. I've seen two Christo efforts in person (the Central Park gates and the 1985 wrapping of the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris), and I have to say there really is something magical about what Christo and Jeanne-Claude created. There's an enchanting spirit of joy in their work. People respond to it, and there is a palpable sense of shared communal happiness that can't be denied. They lift up the heart. The New York Times's Michael Kimmelman captured the essence of their work in this description

Jack Miller, 'the perfect lawyer'

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:53:38 -0500

In 1961, Herbert J. "Jack" Miller Jr. received a call from Robert F. Kennedy, the new attorney general, asking if he would accept the job of running the Justice Department's criminal division. Miller, a Republican, could only blurt out, "Who, me?" Miller, who died Nov. 14 at age 85, carried out Bobby Kennedy's war on organized crime, leading the Justice Department's crusade against mob families and corrupt labor unions. He secured an indictment and ultimately a conviction against Teamsters Union leader Jimmy Hoffa and helped write laws regulating the interstate activities of organized crime. In 1965, Miller formed his own law firm and ultimately became one of the most prominent lawyers in town. Washingtonian magazine called him, in a flattering profile, "the perfect lawyer." Miller may not have been as well known as his friend and courtroom rival Edward Bennett Williams, but he was just as influential in Washington's legal

Featured Advertiser

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:53:38 -0500

The Daily Goodbye

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:40:40 -0500

Good morning. Those of us who are healthy forget the toll that AIDS and HIV has taken on young people the world over. Edward Zold, who was diagnosed with the illness himself, didn't forget and was one of the ones responsible for getting drugs and treatment for fellow sufferers. Eddie Bell, who died Monday, was the first black All-American and captain of the football team at the University of Pennsylvania, and then one of the brave souls who integrated pro football in the '50s. Labor lawyer Eugene Cotton championed meatpackers, fighting low wages, no health insurance or pensions, and six-day workweeks. He died Nov. 11, having negotiated some of the first pension and medical benefits in the industry as well as hefty raises, paid holidays and vacations of up to six weeks a year. Istvan Belovai, a former Hungarian military intelligence officer who died Nov. 6, uncovered and revealed to

The Daily Goodbye

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:48:11 -0500

Good morning. The pickings are a bit slim this morning, but I'd advise you take a look at the amazing life of Medal of Honor winner Lewis Millett; it's not the ordinary hero story you'll read elsewhere. The man described as the power behind the oldest open-air swimming club in the world, Allan Titmuss "would brook no nonsense," the Times of London says. His death will cause him to miss the Christmas dip in the cold waters of the Hyde Park lake. The tulip man of Oak Lawn, Ill. planted more than 1,000 bulbs of his favorite flower in the front yard, drawing visitors for years. But he never lived in the house where the tulips bloomed, even though he had gutted and rehabbed it. Perhaps, like the tulips, it was just for the beauty of the thing. Then of course, there's Sy Syms, who drew potential shoppers into his

Retailer Sy Syms Dies

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:24:55 -0500

Sy Syms, 83, the discount clothing retailer who told television viewers for 35 years that "an educated consumer is our best customer," died today of heart disease in New York City. According to a press release, Mr. Syms founded his business in New York's financial district in 1959, and was the first retailer to sell off-price men's clothing. He narrated his well-known slogan in his first television commercial in 1974 and is used to this day. In 1983, when SYMS had expanded to 11 stores, Mr. Syms took the company public. He remained CEO of SYMS Corp. until 1998, when he was succeeded by daughter, Marcy. Mr. Syms continued as the company's chairman until his death. Today, SYMS Clothing has 30 stores in 13 states. In June 2009, SYMS acquired Filene's Basement. The company currently operates 52 stores under the SYMS and Filene's Basement brands. SYMS branched out in 1980

Get the Bad News Over With

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:40:57 -0500

T. Rees Shapiro, an obit desk and Post Mortem contributor, writes: British novelist Jon Canter had some interesting observations on the London Guardian Web site the other day about "bad news." He wrote: "The fact is, death - currently, of British soldiers in Afganistan - is the top news story of the day, whatever the day is." On the obituary desk, this is indeed the case. Canter had some ideas on how to give it. He said when given the duty to personally report some discouraging news about death to our friends, we often feel it is neccessary to dilute the information. As Mary Poppins once said, a "spoonful of sugar will help the medicine go down," but Canter asks to what end does that serve the bearer, or receiver, of sad news? Everyone knows the story: You tell a friend you want to meet them for coffee, you sit

The Daily Goodbye

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:06:47 -0500

Good morning. Some called Charlie Barber "Mayor of the Falls Road Corridor." Others called him the luckiest man in the world. He fell asleep on a park bench and wound up in a family's home, where he had a roof and dinner while living the life of the homeless. Here's a tough obit of a tough man, Lawrence Hanigan who, as the chairman of Via Rail, helped put an end to Canada's century-old romance with the rails. Actor Dennis Cole who appeared in dozens of TV shows throughout the '60s and '70s, including "The Young and the Restless," "Bracken's World," "Bearcats!," "Medical Center," "Police Story," "Fantasy Island," "Trapper John, M.D.," "Murder, She Wrote" and "Charlie's Angels," died Sunday in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. He was 69. Chicago School Board president Michael Scott was found along the Chicago River, dead of a gunshot wound to his head. The medical examiner rules suicide,

Woodward (by Bernstein)

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:56:38 -0500

British actor Edward Woodward died today, and I felt too great an urge to see how many eagle-eyed readers might notice the implied Woodward-Bernstein joke, given by surname. More than that, Woodward, who was 79, enjoyed a varied and successful career. In addition to his best-known role, that of the urbane security specialist-for-hire on CBS's "The Equalizer," Woodward appeared in Shakespeare productions opposite Michael Redgrave and showed skill as a musical comedy actor directed by Noel Coward. British television made him a star with the spy series "Callan," which ran from 1967 to 1973. He attracted a cult following for a starring role in the eerie thriller "The Wicker Man" (1973) and was damned good in "Breaker Morant" (1980) as a scapegoated Australian soldier who is court-martialed by the British during the Boer War. Woodward was apparently a gifted singer, as can be heard in this scene from "Breaker Morant."

The Daily Goodbye

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:29:15 -0500

Good morning, fellow latecomers. Nothing wrong with being late to the party, just so you turn up. My Mondays are catch-up days so let's get to it. Joe Brennan was one of those guys everybody liked. He was also a man who survived a lot of misadventures, from falling into a raging creek, to flying a plane during war, to an auto crash.... he received the last rites five times before the last one, just before his death last week. A modern artist in the Hopi tradition, Michael Kaboti died in Flagstaff, Ariz. from complications related to the H1N1 influenza. Of his bold canvases, the quiet artist once said: "My paintings speak a lot louder than me." Patriarch Pavle, head of the seven million member Serbian Orthodox Church who called for peace and conciliation during the Balkan ethnic wars of the 1990s but failed to openly condemn extreme Serb nationalism,