Obituaries
This page lists the obituaries of people who made news during their lifetimes. Obituaries of historians can be found here.
SOURCE: Politico(7-23-10)
Daniel Schorr, the NPR analyst who was the last active member of Edward R. Murrow’s team at CBS, died Friday morning, NPR announced. He was 93.
He had been a senior news analyst for NPR since 1985, offering commentary on “Weekend Edition” and “All Things Considered.”
“What other person was personally acquainted with both Richard Nixon and Frank Zappa?” asked Scott Simon, the host of Weekend Edition. “Dan was around for both the Russian Revolution and the Digital Revolution. Nobody else in broadcast journalism — or perhaps any field — had as much experience and wisdom.
He added: “In a business that’s known for burning out people, Dan Schorr shined for nearly a century.”...
He had been a senior news analyst for NPR since 1985, offering commentary on “Weekend Edition” and “All Things Considered.”
“What other person was personally acquainted with both Richard Nixon and Frank Zappa?” asked Scott Simon, the host of Weekend Edition. “Dan was around for both the Russian Revolution and the Digital Revolution. Nobody else in broadcast journalism — or perhaps any field — had as much experience and wisdom.
He added: “In a business that’s known for burning out people, Dan Schorr shined for nearly a century.”...
2010-07-23 14:38
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SOURCE: NYT(7-22-10)
Lt. Gen. Peter Walls, the last commander of white Rhodesian forces in what is now Zimbabwe, who played a central and sometimes ambiguous role in the first days of his country’s transition to majority rule only to fall out bitterly with its first black leader, died on Tuesday in South Africa, where he lived in exile. He was 83.
Lt. Gen. Peter Walls in 1977. He fought the guerrillas and then oversaw the military during the transition to Robert Mugabe.
A son-in-law, Patrick Armstrong, said Wednesday that General Walls had collapsed at an airport in George, on the Indian Ocean coastline. The cause of death was not immediately known.
As the overall commander of Rhodesian forces from 1977 onward, General Walls oversaw an ultimately doomed campaign to halt a shifting bush war conducted by guerrillas loyal to Joshua Nkomo, a nationalist patriarch, and Robert Mugabe, who went on to become the increasingly autocratic president of Zimbabwe after the country achieved independence in 1980....
Lt. Gen. Peter Walls in 1977. He fought the guerrillas and then oversaw the military during the transition to Robert Mugabe.
A son-in-law, Patrick Armstrong, said Wednesday that General Walls had collapsed at an airport in George, on the Indian Ocean coastline. The cause of death was not immediately known.
As the overall commander of Rhodesian forces from 1977 onward, General Walls oversaw an ultimately doomed campaign to halt a shifting bush war conducted by guerrillas loyal to Joshua Nkomo, a nationalist patriarch, and Robert Mugabe, who went on to become the increasingly autocratic president of Zimbabwe after the country achieved independence in 1980....
2010-07-23 09:13
SOURCE: WaPo(7-16-10)
David H. Blackwell, 91, who rose from poverty in Southern Illinois to become one of the country's most prominent statisticians and the first African American to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences, died July 8 at a hospital in Berkeley, Calif., of complications from a stroke.
Dr. Blackwell was also the first black tenured professor at the University of California at Berkeley, where he became chairman of the statistics department. A wide-ranging scholar, he was known as an elegant theoretician who made important contributions to a number of fields, especially in statistics and probability.
His analysis of bluffing as a poker strategy, as well as his research on dueling -- using statistics to determine the most opportune moment for a dueler to shoot -- helped establish him as an expert in game theory....
Dr. Blackwell was also the first black tenured professor at the University of California at Berkeley, where he became chairman of the statistics department. A wide-ranging scholar, he was known as an elegant theoretician who made important contributions to a number of fields, especially in statistics and probability.
His analysis of bluffing as a poker strategy, as well as his research on dueling -- using statistics to determine the most opportune moment for a dueler to shoot -- helped establish him as an expert in game theory....
2010-07-16 10:30
SOURCE: Telegraph (UK)(7-13-10)
Professor Robin Matthews, who died on June 19 aged 83, held the two most senior chairs of economics in Britain – the Drummond Chair at Oxford and the Chair of Political Economy at Cambridge, where he was also a popular and long-serving Master of Clare College; outside his discipline he was a leading exponent of directmate three-movers in chess.
Matthews described himself as writing economic history in the style of an economist. Sceptical of conventional economic models of "rational individualistic utility maximisation", his interests moved toward the institutional and psychological underpinnings of economic behaviour.
His most cited and admired article, however, was a 1968 paper in the Economic Journal on why Britain had had full employment since the war. In this he argued that far from injecting demand into the system, governments in the so-called "Golden Age of Keynesianism" had persistently run large current account surpluses, instead of the budget deficits that would have been the expected manifestation of a Keynesian stimulus. From this he inferred that fiscal policy had been not only deflationary, but strongly so in the post-war period, therefore something other than Keynesian fiscal policy must have been responsible. The answer, he felt, lay in demand arising out of wartime destruction and an unusually prolonged private sector investment boom....
Matthews described himself as writing economic history in the style of an economist. Sceptical of conventional economic models of "rational individualistic utility maximisation", his interests moved toward the institutional and psychological underpinnings of economic behaviour.
His most cited and admired article, however, was a 1968 paper in the Economic Journal on why Britain had had full employment since the war. In this he argued that far from injecting demand into the system, governments in the so-called "Golden Age of Keynesianism" had persistently run large current account surpluses, instead of the budget deficits that would have been the expected manifestation of a Keynesian stimulus. From this he inferred that fiscal policy had been not only deflationary, but strongly so in the post-war period, therefore something other than Keynesian fiscal policy must have been responsible. The answer, he felt, lay in demand arising out of wartime destruction and an unusually prolonged private sector investment boom....
2010-07-14 16:25
SOURCE: NYT(7-13-10)
George Steinbrenner, who bought a declining Yankees team in 1973, promised to stay out of its daily affairs and then, in an often tumultuous reign, placed his formidable stamp on 7 World Series championship teams, 11 pennant winners and a sporting world powerhouse valued at perhaps $1.6 billion, died Tuesday morning at a hospital in Tampa, Fla., where he lived. He was 80.
The cause was a heart attack, the Yankees said. Mr. Steinbrenner had been in failing health for several years.
His death came eight months after the Yankees won their first World Series title since 2000, clinching their six-game victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at his new Yankee Stadium, and two days after the team’s longtime public-address announcer, Bob Sheppard, died at 99.
A pioneer of modern sports ownership, Mr. Steinbrenner started the wave of high spending for players when free agency arrived, and he continued to spend freely through the Yankees’ revival in the late ’70s and early ’80s, the long stretch without a pennant and then renewed triumphs under Joe Torre as manager and General Manager Brian Cashman....
The cause was a heart attack, the Yankees said. Mr. Steinbrenner had been in failing health for several years.
His death came eight months after the Yankees won their first World Series title since 2000, clinching their six-game victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at his new Yankee Stadium, and two days after the team’s longtime public-address announcer, Bob Sheppard, died at 99.
A pioneer of modern sports ownership, Mr. Steinbrenner started the wave of high spending for players when free agency arrived, and he continued to spend freely through the Yankees’ revival in the late ’70s and early ’80s, the long stretch without a pennant and then renewed triumphs under Joe Torre as manager and General Manager Brian Cashman....
2010-07-14 15:59
SOURCE: NYT(7-7-10)
Juanita M. Kreps, who was President Jimmy Carter’s secretary of commerce from 1977 to 1979, the first woman and the first economist to hold a post traditionally occupied by men with business interests, died Monday in Durham, N.C. She was 89.
The cause was complications of Alzheimer’s disease, her daughter, Laura Anne Kreps, said.
Dr. Kreps, who lived in Durham, wrote books and taught economics much of her life. But economics was no abstract subject to this daughter of an Appalachian coal mine operator, a child of the Depression and a broken home who had worked her way through college, climbed rungs of academic achievement to become vice president of Duke University and won high marks running the Commerce Department....
The cause was complications of Alzheimer’s disease, her daughter, Laura Anne Kreps, said.
Dr. Kreps, who lived in Durham, wrote books and taught economics much of her life. But economics was no abstract subject to this daughter of an Appalachian coal mine operator, a child of the Depression and a broken home who had worked her way through college, climbed rungs of academic achievement to become vice president of Duke University and won high marks running the Commerce Department....
2010-07-14 15:58
SOURCE: NYT(7-7-10)
Jim Bohlen, whose snap decision to sail to Amchitka Island, Alaska, to protest an underground nuclear test led to the creation of the environmental organization Greenpeace, died Monday in Comox, British Columbia. He was 84 and lived in Courtenay, British Columbia.
The cause was complications of Parkinson’s disease, his daughter, Margot Bradley, said.
Mr. Bohlen was a founder of the Don’t Make a Wave Committee, a group of Sierra Club members determined to oppose nuclear testing at Amchitka Island in the Aleutians, which had begun in 1969....
The cause was complications of Parkinson’s disease, his daughter, Margot Bradley, said.
Mr. Bohlen was a founder of the Don’t Make a Wave Committee, a group of Sierra Club members determined to oppose nuclear testing at Amchitka Island in the Aleutians, which had begun in 1969....
2010-07-14 15:56
SOURCE: NYT(7-8-10)
Joya Sherrill, who sang with Duke Ellington as a teenager, toured the Soviet Union with Benny Goodman and was one of the first African-American performers to host a children’s television show, died on June 28 at her home in Great Neck, N.Y. She was 85.
Her death was confirmed by her son, Richard Guilmenot III, who said she had been suffering from leukemia.
Born in Bayonne, N.J., on Aug. 20, 1924, Joya Sherrill originally aspired to be a writer. While she was still in high school, her father arranged through a mutual friend for her to meet Duke Ellington so she could sing him the lyrics she had written to his theme song, “Take the ‘A’ Train.”...
Her death was confirmed by her son, Richard Guilmenot III, who said she had been suffering from leukemia.
Born in Bayonne, N.J., on Aug. 20, 1924, Joya Sherrill originally aspired to be a writer. While she was still in high school, her father arranged through a mutual friend for her to meet Duke Ellington so she could sing him the lyrics she had written to his theme song, “Take the ‘A’ Train.”...
2010-07-14 15:54
SOURCE: AP(7-13-10)
The Rev. Henryk Jankowski, a Polish priest who gained prominence in the 1980s by supporting Lech Walesa’s Solidarity movement but later saw his reputation marred by anti-Semitic remarks and an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse of a minor, died on Monday in Gdansk. He was 73.
His death was announced by Pawel Adamowicz, the mayor of Gdansk. Mr. Adamowicz did not give a cause of death, but Polish news reports noted that Father Jankowski had battled diabetes for years.
Father Jankowski, who was the parish priest for the St. Brygida church in Gdansk, came to national prominence when he celebrated Masses for shipyard workers striking under Mr. Walesa’s leadership — resistance that paved the way for Communism’s eventual demise in Poland. He was one of many priests who waded into dangerous waters to support Solidarity’s struggle for freedom against Communist rule....
His death was announced by Pawel Adamowicz, the mayor of Gdansk. Mr. Adamowicz did not give a cause of death, but Polish news reports noted that Father Jankowski had battled diabetes for years.
Father Jankowski, who was the parish priest for the St. Brygida church in Gdansk, came to national prominence when he celebrated Masses for shipyard workers striking under Mr. Walesa’s leadership — resistance that paved the way for Communism’s eventual demise in Poland. He was one of many priests who waded into dangerous waters to support Solidarity’s struggle for freedom against Communist rule....
2010-07-14 15:53
SOURCE: NYT(7-5-10)
Nasr Abu Zayd, an Egyptian scholar who was declared an apostate for challenging mainstream Muslim views on the Koran, died here on Monday. He was 66.
The official Egyptian news agency, MENA, said he died at a hospital where he was being treated for an unidentified illness.
Dr. Abu Zayd’s liberal, critical approach to Islamic teachings angered some Muslim conservatives in Egypt in the 1990s, when President Hosni Mubarak’s government was combating an uprising by armed Islamic militants. Dr. Abu Zayd criticized the use of religion to exert political power. He argued that the Koran was both a literary and religious text, a view that clashes with the Islamic idea that the holy book is the final revelation of God....
The official Egyptian news agency, MENA, said he died at a hospital where he was being treated for an unidentified illness.
Dr. Abu Zayd’s liberal, critical approach to Islamic teachings angered some Muslim conservatives in Egypt in the 1990s, when President Hosni Mubarak’s government was combating an uprising by armed Islamic militants. Dr. Abu Zayd criticized the use of religion to exert political power. He argued that the Koran was both a literary and religious text, a view that clashes with the Islamic idea that the holy book is the final revelation of God....
2010-07-14 15:52
SOURCE: NYT(7-4-10)
Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the top Shiite cleric in Lebanon, whose writings and preachings inspired the Dawa Party of Iraq and a generation of militants, including the founders of Hezbollah, died Sunday morning in Beirut. He was 75.
Ayatollah Fadlallah suffered a liver hemorrhage at Bahman Hospital, run by Al Mabarrat Charity Association, which he founded, his adviser Hani Adbdallah said. Hezbollah called for three days of mourning, while clerics and political figures from Iran, Iraq, the Persian Gulf states, Lebanon and around the Middle East issued condolences.
“Today we lost a merciful father and a wise guide,” the Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a statement.
Ayatollah Fadlallah was one of the most learned and influential Shiite “spiritual references,” or marjas. All Shiites must choose a marja, whose teachings they follow and to whom they give alms. Ayatollah Fadlallah was a marja to Shiites across the Islamic world, in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, as well as in Arab nations....
Ayatollah Fadlallah suffered a liver hemorrhage at Bahman Hospital, run by Al Mabarrat Charity Association, which he founded, his adviser Hani Adbdallah said. Hezbollah called for three days of mourning, while clerics and political figures from Iran, Iraq, the Persian Gulf states, Lebanon and around the Middle East issued condolences.
“Today we lost a merciful father and a wise guide,” the Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a statement.
Ayatollah Fadlallah was one of the most learned and influential Shiite “spiritual references,” or marjas. All Shiites must choose a marja, whose teachings they follow and to whom they give alms. Ayatollah Fadlallah was a marja to Shiites across the Islamic world, in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, as well as in Arab nations....
2010-07-14 15:48
SOURCE: NYT(6-28-10)
Algirdas Brazauskas, a former Communist bureaucrat who helped steer his native Lithuania through tempestuous political straits to independence from the Soviet Union and then became the country's first president after it broke with the Soviet Union, died Saturday at his home in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital. He was 77.
The cause was lymphoma and prostate cancer, according to Lithuanian news reports.
As president of Lithuania from 1993 to 1998 and prime minister from 2001 to 2006, Mr. Brazauskas forcefully addressed the serious economic and foreign policy challenges faced by the new non-Communist government. But it was in his role as the last leader of Lithuanian Communists that he helped pave the way for Lithuanian independence....
The cause was lymphoma and prostate cancer, according to Lithuanian news reports.
As president of Lithuania from 1993 to 1998 and prime minister from 2001 to 2006, Mr. Brazauskas forcefully addressed the serious economic and foreign policy challenges faced by the new non-Communist government. But it was in his role as the last leader of Lithuanian Communists that he helped pave the way for Lithuanian independence....
2010-07-01 10:50
SOURCE: NYT(6-29-10)
William L. Taylor, who as a lawyer, lobbyist and government official for more than a half century had significant roles in pressing important civil rights cases and in drafting and defending civil rights legislation, died Monday in Bethesda, Md. He was 78 and lived in Washington.
His son, David Van Taylor, said the direct cause of death was fluid in his lungs, a complication of a head injury he suffered in a fall a month ago.
William Taylor began his long fight for racial justice as a young lawyer at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. working with Thurgood Marshall, who would later become a Supreme Court justice. He helped fight some of the difficult civil rights battles that followed the Supreme Court order in 1954 that schools be desegregated....
His son, David Van Taylor, said the direct cause of death was fluid in his lungs, a complication of a head injury he suffered in a fall a month ago.
William Taylor began his long fight for racial justice as a young lawyer at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. working with Thurgood Marshall, who would later become a Supreme Court justice. He helped fight some of the difficult civil rights battles that followed the Supreme Court order in 1954 that schools be desegregated....
2010-07-01 10:50
SOURCE: NYT(6-28-10)
Dolph Briscoe Jr., a former governor of Texas who helped restore credibility to its government after a major scandal and later built his ranching family’s already vast enterprise into the largest individual landholder in the state, died Sunday at his home in Uvalde, Tex. He was 87.
The death was of natural causes, said his assistant, Barbara Woodman.
“A moderate conservative Democrat,” in his own words, Mr. Briscoe was governor from 1972 to 1978, serving a two-year term and (after a change in the state’s Constitution) a four-year term. In those six years, Texas’ oil and gas industries boomed and Mr. Briscoe kept his pledge of no new taxes.
“The necessity of fiscal responsibility in all levels of government is second only to world peace in our survival,” he said....
The death was of natural causes, said his assistant, Barbara Woodman.
“A moderate conservative Democrat,” in his own words, Mr. Briscoe was governor from 1972 to 1978, serving a two-year term and (after a change in the state’s Constitution) a four-year term. In those six years, Texas’ oil and gas industries boomed and Mr. Briscoe kept his pledge of no new taxes.
“The necessity of fiscal responsibility in all levels of government is second only to world peace in our survival,” he said....
2010-07-01 10:49
SOURCE: NYT(6-26-10)
Dwight Armstrong, one of four young men who in 1970 bombed a building on the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison, killing one person and injuring several others — a political protest that, gone violently wrong, endures in the national memory as an act of domestic terrorism — died on June 20 in Madison. He was 58.
Dwight Armstrong remained at large for nearly seven years.
The cause was lung cancer, said Susan Lampert Smith, a spokeswoman for the University of Wisconsin Hospital, where he died.
The bombing took place on Aug. 24, 1970, during a time of intense agitation against the Vietnam War. At 3:42 a.m., an explosion tore through Sterling Hall, a building that housed both the university physics department and the Army Mathematics Research Center. The center, which operated under a contract with the United States Army, had been the target of many nonviolent protests since it opened in the 1950s....
Dwight Armstrong remained at large for nearly seven years.
The cause was lung cancer, said Susan Lampert Smith, a spokeswoman for the University of Wisconsin Hospital, where he died.
The bombing took place on Aug. 24, 1970, during a time of intense agitation against the Vietnam War. At 3:42 a.m., an explosion tore through Sterling Hall, a building that housed both the university physics department and the Army Mathematics Research Center. The center, which operated under a contract with the United States Army, had been the target of many nonviolent protests since it opened in the 1950s....
2010-07-01 10:48
SOURCE: NYT(6-25-10)
Pete Quaife, a bassist who joined forces with two schoolmates to form the Kinks, one of the leading rock bands of the 1960s British Invasion, died on Wednesday in Herlev, Denmark. He was 66.
The cause was kidney failure, a spokeswoman for the band said.
Born Peter Alexander Greenlaw Quaife on Dec. 31, 1943, he went to William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School in North London with Ray and Dave Davies, and the three began playing music together in 1961, with a succession of drummers. Ray was the frontman and Dave played lead guitar. They went through several names, including the Ravens, before settling on the Kinks in early 1964, with Mick Avory on drums. After two failed singles the band struck gold that August with “You Really Got Me.”...
The cause was kidney failure, a spokeswoman for the band said.
Born Peter Alexander Greenlaw Quaife on Dec. 31, 1943, he went to William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School in North London with Ray and Dave Davies, and the three began playing music together in 1961, with a succession of drummers. Ray was the frontman and Dave played lead guitar. They went through several names, including the Ravens, before settling on the Kinks in early 1964, with Mick Avory on drums. After two failed singles the band struck gold that August with “You Really Got Me.”...
2010-07-01 10:47
SOURCE: NYT(6-24-10)
Prescott S. Bush Jr., the brother of one president and uncle of another, and a retired insurance executive who tried but never made it far in the family business — politics — died Wednesday after a long illness. He was 87.
Mr. Bush’s death was confirmed by Tracey Bergonzi, a spokeswoman at Keohane Funeral Home in Hingham, Mass., a town where Mr. Bush had lived for several years. The cause of death was unclear.
Besides being the uncle of one president, George W. Bush, and elder brother of another, George Bush, he was the son of a wealthy senator, Prescott S. Bush. Mr. Bush spent much of his career as a businessman, but dabbled in local politics in his home state, Connecticut, for many years, at one point serving as a Republican committee chairman in Greenwich....
Mr. Bush’s death was confirmed by Tracey Bergonzi, a spokeswoman at Keohane Funeral Home in Hingham, Mass., a town where Mr. Bush had lived for several years. The cause of death was unclear.
Besides being the uncle of one president, George W. Bush, and elder brother of another, George Bush, he was the son of a wealthy senator, Prescott S. Bush. Mr. Bush spent much of his career as a businessman, but dabbled in local politics in his home state, Connecticut, for many years, at one point serving as a Republican committee chairman in Greenwich....
2010-07-01 10:46
SOURCE: NYT(6-24-10)
Charles Ensley, who led the union representing New York City social workers for 26 years and was a forceful critic of union corruption, died on Friday in Manhattan. He was 69.
The cause was lung cancer, his wife, Annette, said.
As president of Social Service Employees Union Local 371, which represents 15,000 social workers, Mr. Ensley was independent, outspoken and often irascible, clashing with other union leaders as well as mayors of both major parties.
He ran unsuccessfully in 2003 and 2007 to become executive director of District Council 37, the umbrella group representing 125,000 New York City municipal workers, the nation’s largest union of municipal employees. The council’s delegate assembly elected his opponent, Lillian Roberts, over him, partly because he had alienated some delegates by repeatedly denouncing a culture of corruption among some of the union’s leaders....
The cause was lung cancer, his wife, Annette, said.
As president of Social Service Employees Union Local 371, which represents 15,000 social workers, Mr. Ensley was independent, outspoken and often irascible, clashing with other union leaders as well as mayors of both major parties.
He ran unsuccessfully in 2003 and 2007 to become executive director of District Council 37, the umbrella group representing 125,000 New York City municipal workers, the nation’s largest union of municipal employees. The council’s delegate assembly elected his opponent, Lillian Roberts, over him, partly because he had alienated some delegates by repeatedly denouncing a culture of corruption among some of the union’s leaders....
2010-07-01 10:45
SOURCE: NYT(6-23-10)
Edith Shain, who became something of a celebrity decades after World War II, asserting that she was the nurse kissed by a sailor in Life magazine’s memorable photograph of V-J Day in Times Square, died Sunday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 91....
Wearing sneakers and a nurse’s uniform, Mrs. Shain re-enacted the moment captured by Life’s renowned photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt. Many men have claimed to be the sailor who bestowed the kiss.
“The happiness was indescribable,” Mrs. Shain said of the original V-J Day celebration. “It was a very long kiss.”...
Wearing sneakers and a nurse’s uniform, Mrs. Shain re-enacted the moment captured by Life’s renowned photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt. Many men have claimed to be the sailor who bestowed the kiss.
“The happiness was indescribable,” Mrs. Shain said of the original V-J Day celebration. “It was a very long kiss.”...
2010-07-01 10:45
SOURCE: NYT(6-22-10)
Gerald W. Heaney, a Midwestern federal appeals court judge who over 40 years on the bench played a central role in major school desegregation cases and championed the rights of the accused, died Tuesday in Duluth, Minn. He was 92.
His son, Bill, confirmed the death.
In the estimation of former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, a friend and fellow Minnesotan, Judge Heaney “should have been on the Supreme Court.”
“Many judges have told me he was one of the most influential members of the bench,” Mr. Mondale said in an interview. “He issued a range of decisions trying to get at the evil of racial discrimination, and often his circuit court dissents became majority opinions when they got up to the Supreme Court.”
In his first major opinion, Judge Heaney, a stalwart liberal, wrote the 1967 ruling that reversed a lower court’s decision to dismiss complaints of racial discrimination in the Altheimer, Ark., schools. His opinion, tracing a history of segregation, prompted the district to adopt an integration plan. It was one of eight desegregation cases in which he played a key role....
His son, Bill, confirmed the death.
In the estimation of former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, a friend and fellow Minnesotan, Judge Heaney “should have been on the Supreme Court.”
“Many judges have told me he was one of the most influential members of the bench,” Mr. Mondale said in an interview. “He issued a range of decisions trying to get at the evil of racial discrimination, and often his circuit court dissents became majority opinions when they got up to the Supreme Court.”
In his first major opinion, Judge Heaney, a stalwart liberal, wrote the 1967 ruling that reversed a lower court’s decision to dismiss complaints of racial discrimination in the Altheimer, Ark., schools. His opinion, tracing a history of segregation, prompted the district to adopt an integration plan. It was one of eight desegregation cases in which he played a key role....
2010-07-01 10:41
