Obituaries

Warren Leslie Dies at 84; Wrote Book That Rankled Dallas

Warren Leslie, who in 1964 raised hackles in Dallas, his adopted hometown, when he contended in a book that a climate of right-wing extremism had primed the city to become the scene of a national tragedy — the assassination of President John F. Kennedy — died on July 6 at his home in Chicago. He was 84.Mr. Leslie died of natural causes, his niece Leslie McCullough Jeffries said.A former reporter for The Dallas Morning News, Mr. Leslie was a vice president and chief spokesman for Neiman Marcus, the Dallas-based luxury department store chain, when he wrote “Dallas Public and Private: Aspects of an American City,” published barely four months after Kennedy was assassinated.Though never a best seller, the book was widely reviewed as a window on the psyche of Dallas at a time when the country was still struggling to understand and recover from the assassination, which occurred on Nov. 22, 1963. Reprinted in 1998 by Southern Methodist University Press, it remains a document of the era.

Magnus Malan, Apartheid Defender, Dies at 81

Magnus Malan, a South African general and defense minister who in the 1980s helped devise and carry out his nation’s last-ditch strategy to preserve its system of rigid racial segregation, including ordering raids into surrounding countries, died on Monday in Cape Town. He was 81.A family spokesman said the cause was heart failure, The South African Press Association reported.General Malan used the phrase “total onslaught” to describe the threats to apartheid, as the country’s racial laws were known. He saw those threats coming from Communists, neighboring African countries and liberals in the United States. His answer was “a total strategy,” combining elements of the political, economic and psychological spheres as well as the military.

Juan Bordaberry, Who Led Uruguay in Dark Era, Dies at 83

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — Former President Juan María Bordaberry of Uruguay, who as president participated in a coup in 1973 that ushered in a 12-year military dictatorship, died Sunday in Montevideo. He was 83.His death was announced by his son Pedro.Mr. Bordaberry had been serving a 30-year sentence under house arrest for orchestrating the coup and for crimes against humanity. He was found guilty of 14 deaths and disappearances related to the dictatorship.His years as president, between 1971 and 1976, are remembered as perhaps the bleakest in Uruguay’s history, marked by a wave of disappearances, torture and killings intended to wipe out the remnants of the leftist Tupamaro guerrilla movement....

Geoff Fisken, New Zealand Sheep Farmer and Scourge of Japanese Pilots, Dies at 96

Growing up on New Zealand’s North Island in the 1920s, Geoff Fisken seemed destined for a quiet life working on the vast sheep farms his father owned. But he became fascinated by airplanes when his father, Robert, began flying on his trips around the country. At 14, Geoff flew solo in a biplane.When war loomed in 1938, he sought to enlist in the Royal New Zealand Air Force, only to be turned down because the government classified agricultural work as an essential occupation. He tried again in 1940, and this time he was accepted.He was stationed in Singapore, the site of a major British naval base, when the Japanese invaded Malaya on Dec. 8, 1941, the day after their attack on Pearl Harbor, and he went aloft to confront Japanese planes as a member of a vastly outnumbered British air squadron.

George M. Ross Dies at 77; Helped Establish Major Jewish Museum

George M. Ross, a Goldman Sachs executive and a philanthropist who successfully resisted the gravitational pull of the nation’s usual cultural capitals to help establish a major museum of Jewish history in Philadelphia, raising $154 million for the project, died on Friday at his home in Bryn Mawr, Pa. He was 77....The National Museum of American Jewish History, which was begun modestly in 1976 by members of the city’s oldest Jewish congregation as a showcase for religious and cultural artifacts, became Mr. Ross’s focus in the late 1990s, when plans were hatched to turn it into something more. The longtime chairman of the museum board, Lyn Ross, Mr. Ross’s wife, asked him to help.Mr. Ross became the leader of a campaign to raise $154 million, and to move the museum from its tiny quarters to a new and much larger space at the east end of Independence Mall, a location selected to symbolize and celebrate the tradition of freedom that enabled Jewish life in America to flourish....

Theodore Roszak, ’60s Expert, Dies at 77

Theodore Roszak, who three weeks after the Woodstock Festival in 1969 not only published a pivotal book about a young generation’s drug-fueled revolt against authority but also gave it a name — “counterculture” — died on July 5 at his home in Berkeley, Calif. He was 77.His wife, Betty, in confirming the death, said he had been treated for liver cancer and other illnesses.Dr. Roszak’s book “The Making of a Counter Culture: Reflections on the Technocratic Society” had gone to press months before the music festival was held in August that year, displaying the exuberance and excesses of a generation rebelling against war and seeking new ways to be and think. But in serendipitously timely fashion, the book provided what many regarded as a profound analysis of the youth movement, finding its roots in a sterile Western culture that had prompted young people to seek spiritual meaning in LSD, exotic religions and even comic books....

Otto von Hapsburg, a Would-Be Monarch, Dies at 98

BERLIN — Otto von Hapsburg, the onetime heir to the imperial throne of Austria-Hungary, who during a long career in European politics was a strong proponent of unifying the divided continent, died Monday at his home in Pöcking, Germany. He was 98.He died “peacefully and without pain in his sleep,” said his spokeswoman, Eva Demmerle.Otto was the eldest son of Charles I, the last emperor of Austria-Hungary, who ruled for just under two years, until the end of World War I also brought an end to his multiethnic empire in the heart of Europe and sent the family into exile.

Frederick Chiluba, Infamous Zambia Leader, Dies at 68

Frederick Chiluba, the first democratically elected president of Zambia, a man whose image as a defender of civil liberties was later tarnished by his efforts to suppress political opposition and accusations that he used millions

Elena Bonner, Widow of Sakharov, Dies at 88

Elena G. Bonner, the Soviet dissident and human-rights campaigner who endured banishment and exile along with her husband, the dissident nuclear physicist Andrei D. Sakharov, died Saturday in Boston. She was 88.The cause was heart failure, said Edward Kline, a director of the Andrei Sakharov Foundation. He said Ms. Bonner had been in the hospital since February.

Edgar Tekere, Leader in Fight for Zimbabwe Independence, Dies at 74

JOHANNESBURG — Edgar Z. Tekere, who was imprisoned for a decade with Robert Mugabe during the struggle to end white minority rule in Rhodesia, and later unsuccessfully challenged Mr.

John R. Alison, 98, Ace Fighter Pilot in World War II, Dies

John R. Alison, an ace fighter pilot in World War II who helped organize and lead a broad American air campaign that enabled British forces to bog down the Japanese in the jungles of Burma, died Monday at his home in Washington. He was 98.His son David confirmed his death.

Lawrence Eagleburger, a Top Diplomat, Dies at 80

Lawrence S. Eagleburger, a troubleshooting diplomat and senior foreign policy adviser to presidents who served the country for more than 40 years, including 42 days as secretary of state at the close of President George Bush’s term, died on Saturday in Charlottesville, Va. He was 80.

South Africa mourns Albertina Sisulu

South Africa is mourning one of the leading lights of the anti-apartheid movement, Albertina Sisulu, who has died aged 92. Mrs Sisulu was the widow of Walter Sisulu, a friend and mentor of former South African President Nelson Mandela. A political figure in her own right, she was active in the women's league of the African National Congress (ANC). ANC spokesman Brian Sokutu said Mrs Sisulu had dedicated her life to bringing democracy to South Africa.... 

U.S. statesman Lawrence Eagleburger dies

Lawrence S. Eagleburger, the only career foreign service officer to rise to the position of secretary of state, was remembered Saturday for strengthening ties with allies and dealing with despots. The diplomat died at 80, according to a statement from former President George H.W. Bush, who was Eagleburger's boss in late 1992 and January 1993. Details of Eagleburger's death were not immediately available. Eagleburger's historic assignments over a long career included the first Gulf War, bloody strife in the Balkans and the collapse of the Soviet empire....

Dr. Jack Kevorkian Dies at 83; Backed Assisted Suicide

Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the medical pathologist who helped dozens of terminally ill people kill themselves, becoming the central figure in a national drama surrounding assisted suicide, died on Friday in a Detroit-area hospital. He was 83.

Gil Scott-Heron, Voice of Black Culture, Dies at 62

Gil Scott-Heron, the poet and recording artist whose syncopated spoken style and mordant critiques of politics, racism and mass media in pieces like “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” made him a notable voice of black protest culture in the 1970s and an important early influence on hip-hop, died on Friday at a hospital in Manhattan. He was 62 and had been a longtime resident of Harlem.

Garret FitzGerald, Ex-Irish Premier, Dies at 85

LONDON — Garret FitzGerald, who served twice as Irish prime minister, helped set the stage for peace in Northern Ireland and shifted the tone of Ireland’s relations with Britain, died Thursday in Dublin. He was 85.The Irish government said he died after a short illness.

Israeli judge of Nazi Eichmann dies at 99

Moshe Landau, chief judge in the 1961 trial of Nazi arch-criminal Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem, died Sunday on the eve of the annual memorial day for the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, the government said. He was 99.

Cuban anti-Castro militant Orlando Bosch dies aged 84

Prominent Cuban anti-Castro militant Orlando Bosch, 84, has died in the US city of Miami. Mr Bosch was arrested in Venezuela for the bombing in 1976 of a Cuban airliner, in which 73 people died. He was later acquitted of the charges, first by a military court, and later by a civilian court. Speaking in 2005, Mr Bosch said the truth about the bombing would be revealed in a tape and documents to be made public after his death. The cause of his death has not yet been released....

Madame Nhu, Vietnam War Lightning Rod, Dies

Madame Nhu, who as the glamorous official hostess in South Vietnam’s presidential palace became a politically powerful and often harshly outspoken figure in the early years of the Vietnam War, died on Sunday in Rome, where she had been living. She was believed to be 87. Her death was confirmed by her sister, Lechi Oggeri. Born in 1924 — the date is uncertain, though some sources say April 15 — she spent the last four decades in Rome and southern France.