Search for celebrities on Ancestry.com!April 3, 2002
Edward Novak
Rohnert Park resident Edward J. Novak, a longtime leader in local Boy Scout and Girl Scout circles, died of a heart attack Friday at his home.
He was 70.
Novak, a native of Cleveland, moved with his family to Rohnert Park in 1971 after retiring from a 20-year career in the Navy, where he attained the rank of machinist's mate first class.
He worked for a machinist's shop in Petaluma for five years before joining Optical Coating Laboratories in Santa Rosa. He worked there as a master machinist before retiring in 1994.
For most of his life in Sonoma County, Novak was active with his wife, Barbara, in the Konocti Girl Scouts Council, of which he was a life member. He also was a Scoutmaster of Rohnert Park Boy Scout Troop 68, of which his three sons were members.
"He would take them water skiing all the time at Lake Mendocino," his wife said.
Novak also loved to fish for striped bass in the Napa River, and pursued golf with a passion after retirement.
"He was out there golfing three days a week," Barbara Novak said.
The highlight of his golfing career came when he made a hole-in-one on the Wikiup golf course and didn't know it.
"He and his playing partners were all looking for his ball when the foursome ahead of them said it had gone right in the hole. They hadn't seen it go in," she said.
Besides his Scouting affiliations, Novak also was a member of American Legion Post 338 of Rohnert Park and the 40X8 of Sonoma County.
Besides his wife, he is survived by sons, Ronald Novak of Santa Rosa, Philip Novak of Coarsegold and Tony Novak of West Jordan, Utah; brother, Gilbert Novak of Solon, Ohio; five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
Services are at 10 a.m. today at Lafferty & Smith Chapel in Santa Rosa. Burial will follow at Calvary Catholic Cemetery.
Donations are suggested to the Cancer Society or the Konocti Girl Scout Council Camp Property Fund.
Chester Lambert
Chester Ortis Lambert, an oil distributor and World War II veteran who served under Gen. George Patton, died Saturday at Fircrest Convalescent Hospital in Sebastopol.
Lambert was 83.
A lifelong Sonoma County resident, Lambert lived mostly in Guerneville with his wife of 62 years, Lena.
He graduated from Analy High School in 1937, marriage in 1940 and was drafted into the Army two years later, his wife said.
He served in Europe as a radio operator in the 5th Armored Division until the end of the war.
Upon his return, the couple built their Guerneville home and raised two sons.
Lambert was an avid outdoorsman who played baseball and the clarinet.
He was a founder of the Edotti Hunting Club and a member of the local Odd Fellows Lodge.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by sons, Frank and Henry; sisters, Frances Saunders and Jane Bjorum; five grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.
Outdoor services are at 11 a.m. Saturday at Redwood Memorial Gardens in Guerneville.
Donations may be made to the Russian River Fire Department in Guerneville.
February 5, 2002
James Blackwood, gospel singer
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- James Blackwood, the last founding member of the Blackwood Brothers Quartet and one of the giants of Southern gospel music, died of complications of a stroke. He was 82.
Blackwood suffered with several health problems the past few years, including colon cancer. He died Sunday at Methodist Healthcare-Central Hospital, said spokeswoman Ruth Ann Hale.
The Blackwood Brothers Quartet recorded more than 200 albums, toured the world, and helped form the Gospel Music Association in 1964. They were a favorite of Elvis Presley, who sang briefly with James' nephew Cecil in another quartet, the Songfellows.
The group was formed in 1934 by James, his brothers Roy and Doyle, and Roy's son R.W. The family then lived in rural Choctaw County, Miss., where James Blackwood was born.
The group toured successfully until World War II, when it temporarily disbanded. After the war the Blackwoods regrouped, and moved to Memphis in 1950.
In June 1954, the Blackwood Brothers Quartet appeared on "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts" on television, and won the competition. But two weeks later, R.W. and bass singer Bill Lyles died in a plane crash in Alabama.
The surviving Blackwoods regrouped again, adding Cecil Blackwood and J.D. Sumner. In 1970, James Blackwood retired because of health problems and was replaced by his son Jimmy.
The Blackwood Brothers Quartet won eight Grammies from 1966-1982, some for backup singing for country stars such as Barbara Mandrell and Porter Wagoner.
He was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1974 individually, then again in 1998 as part of the Blackwood Brothers Quartet.
Blackwood is survived by his wife of 62 years, Miriam; sons, Jimmy and Billy; six grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
Baxter Ward, journalist, politician
LOS ANGELES -- Baxter Ward, a broadcast journalist who won election to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in the 1970s and pushed for the return of commuter rail to Southern California, died Monday in Kirkland, Wash. He was 82.
Ward died in his sleep at Evergreen Hospital. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer, but also had other ailments including a heart condition, said his son, Torrey.
Ward was a news director and anchorman for several Los Angeles stations before he began his political career and served on the county board from 1972 to 1980. In the late 1980s Ward unsuccessfully sought to regain his seat on the Board of Supervisors and also failed in a bid to unseat Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley.
Ward was born Nov. 5, 1919, in Superior, Wis., and grew up in Washington state where he got a job as a radio news announcer at age 16, his son said.
He served in the Army during World War II and then returned to broadcasting, in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore before moving to Los Angeles in the 1950s.
Ward is also survived by his wife, Karen. Funeral arrangements were pending.
February 3, 2002
When William A. Miller retired in 1988, it marked the end of a Sonoma County tradition.
February 2, 2002
FRANKFURT, Germany -- Hildegard Knef, a smoky-voiced actress and singer who starred in Germany's first post-World War II movie and scandalized church officials with a 1951 nude scene, died Friday at a Berlin hospital. She was 76.
February 1, 2002
Florence Badger
Florence Mae Badger, a longtime Sonoma County homemaker and widow of former Healdsburg Mayor Douglas Badger, died Monday after a lengthy illness.
She was 79.
Badger died at the Pheasant Pointe Care Center in Molalla, Ore., where she had lived for seven months since moving from Windsor, said her daughter Nancy Muller of Camby, Ore.
Badger was born to Carl and Viola Fiege in Healdsburg on May 31, 1922. She was raised on the Fiege Ranch on Old Redwood Highway and graduated from Healdsburg High School in 1940.
She moved to Beaverton, Ore., briefly and returned to Sonoma County in 1941 to marry Douglas Badger, an electrical contractor and Healdsburg councilman from 1952-1976.
Badger was the mother of two sons and three daughters. She enjoyed cooking, had a good sense of humor and was supportive of the political career of her husband, who died in 1985, Muller said.
"She kept us kids in line," Muller said. "And she was really supportive of all my father's endeavors."
Muller said her mother also had many friends.
"When Healdsburg used to be 3,000 people, everybody knew everybody," she said.
Florence Badger suffered from a blood disease and died of complications after a transfusion, Muller said.
She is survived by her two sons, Timothy Badger of Santa Rosa and Stephen Badger of Healdsburg; three daughters, Kathy Boatman of Geyserville, Donna Farrell of Potter Valley and Nancy Muller of Oregon; a sister, June Fiege of Healdsburg; nine grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
Services will be in Molalla and at a later date in California. Molalla Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements.
Oscar-winner Harold Russell, 88
Harold Russell, who received two Academy Awards for his sensitive portrayal of a wounded veteran in "The Best Years of Our Lives" after losing his hands in World War II, has died. He was 88.
Russell, who rarely acted again but used his celebrity to push for the rights of the disabled, died of a heart attack Tuesday at a nursing home in Needham, Mass., his family said Thursday.
Russell joined the Army on Dec. 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, as an instructor in the parachute corps.
He was working as an explosives expert in 1944 when a defective fuse exploded a charge of TNT he was holding as he instructed a demolition squad at Camp Mackall, N.C. Both hands were amputated.
Russell, who had hooks to replace his hands, was featured in an Army documentary, "Diary of a Sergeant," on the rehabilitation of an amputee.
Though Russell didn't say a word in the film, producer Sam Goldwyn saw it and wanted Russell to play Homer Parrish in "The Best Years of Our Lives."
The 1946 film won seven Academy Awards, including best picture, best director for William Wyler and best actor for Fredric March.
It also starred Myrna Loy. The film depicted how WWII veterans coped with the aftermath of the war and their return to changed families and community.
Russell spent his life working as an advocate for the disabled.
December 17, 2001
Paul J. Levine, a periodontist who sold his 25-year-old Santa Rosa practice last April, died Friday at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital after a long battle with cancer. He was 54.
December 16, 2001
Jules Fisher, who co-owned the Green Mill Inn in Penngrove for nearly 30 years, died Wednesday from natural causes at the Petaluma home where he had lived for almost 50 years. He was 93.
December 15, 2001
SAN DIEGO -- Adm. Ulysses Grant Sharp Jr., a former commander of U.S. Pacific forces in the Vietnam War who became an outspoken critic of American strategy, has died. He was 95.
December 13, 2001
Lifelong Santa Rosa resident Tony Buzzini, an exceptional golfer and an optimist to the end, died Sunday at age 86.
December 12, 2001
Wendell Gauthier, 58, attorney
NEW ORLEANS -- Wendell Gauthier, an attorney who won billions of dollars for victims in court battles over silicone breast implants and hotel fires before taking on the tobacco industry, died Tuesday of liver cancer. He was 58.
Gauthier had a striking record of legal victories, winning huge judgments for victims of the 1982 crash of Pan Am Flight 759 in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner, hotel fires in 1980 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and in 1986 at the DuPont Plaza in Puerto Rico, and for women claiming injuries from the silicone implants.
But it may be a lawsuit that he lost that made Gauthier's legal mark. Secret tobacco company documents unearthed by his legal team provided valuable ammunition to force cigarette-makers into a historic $246 billion settlement with the states.
Although there had been previous suits focusing on smoking as a cause of illness or death, Gauthier changed direction.
His suit targeted manufacturers for consumer fraud, claiming the cigarette industry had hidden its knowledge of the health hazards of smoking for years and had manipulated the nicotine level of cigarettes to keep smokers hooked.
Gauthier's suit was dismissed. However, others based on the same legal claim were later filed in the name of all 50 states, leading to the 1998 settlement.
British actress Rachel Gurney, 81
LONDON -- Rachel Gurney, the British actress best known to U.S. audiences as the elegant Lady Marjorie Bellamy on the popular 1970s serialized drama "Upstairs, Downstairs," has died, according the Daily Telegraph of London. She was 81.
With fine features and a delicate stiff upper lip, Gurney was a natural for the role of Lady Marjorie, the wealthy Edwardian matriarch at the heart of the show, which chronicled three decades in the lives of an upper-class British family (upstairs) and their servants (down).
Produced by London Weekend Television, the series was imported to the United States in 1973 as part of the Public Broadcasting Service's "Masterpiece Theater," and instantly became one of most popular shows on public television.
Gurney's character proved particularly popular with viewers, who regularly sent fan mail addressed to her -- or her character -- to the show's fictional address, 165 Eaton Place, London. After two seasons with the show, however, Gurney left the program in a dramatic finale, as Lady Marjorie sailed to America -- almost -- on the maiden voyage of the Titanic.
Gurney's career proved considerably more buoyant. She was born in Eton, where her father was a housemaster at the school and where she was raised among the all-male student body. Her mother was a concert pianist, and Gurney soon found herself drawn to the arts, taking classes at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and later gravitating to London's West End.
For years before "Upstairs, Downstairs," Gurney found steady work in the theater, playing modern and classical roles. She also performed in several roles on television series for the BBC, though none as popular as Lady Marjorie.
She was marriage briefly, but divorced in 1950. She is survived by a daughter, according to the Telegraph.
Jerome Moskovitz, store founder
OAKLAND -- Jerome Moskovitz, who helped found Rochester Big and Tall clothing stores, died Thursday at a Burlingame hospital of pneumonia. He was 91.
Moskovitz was born in 1910 in Oakland. His father, Louis Moskovitz, was a poor tailor who immigrated from Hungary and founded a small clothing shop in San Francisco. Jerome and his three older brothers all worked in their father's store as teen-agers.
In 1957, Moskovitz took over as president, and over the next decade, he helped transform the clothing company from a general men's clothier to one specializing in clothes tailored to fit larger men. The company quickly became popular with bigger athletes.
The 5-foot-4 Moskovitz was too small to wear the clothes he sold. He once posed for a photograph standing with two of his brothers inside a pair of slacks with a 70-inch waist.
Moskovitz stepped down as president in 1967, but remained chairman until 1999. Rochester Big and Tall now has 26 stores and annual sales of $60 million.
Moskovitz helped found Temple Beth El in San Mateo. He is survived by Esther Adelson Moskovitz, his wife of 65 years.
John Mitchum, actor and poet
LOS ANGELES -- Character actor John Mitchum, author of patriotic poems and brother of late star Robert Mitchum, has died, his family said Thursday. He was 82.
Mitchum, who had suffered a series of crippling strokes, died early Tuesday at Barlow Respiratory Hospital, according to family spokesman Kelly Billingsley.
Known to his friends as "Big John," the bulky performer appeared in nearly 50 movies and television shows, including "Dirty Harry," "Telefon" and the TV comedy "F Troop."
He also penned a number of patriotic poems about America, many of which actor John Wayne recorded on the 1973 album "America, Why I Love Her."
John Mitchum's health had been failing ever since he was devastated by the death of his older brother Robert in 1997, Billingsley said.
The brothers worked together in a number of projects, including the 1967 western "The Way West" and the 1989 TV movie "Jake Spanner, Private Eye."
John Mitchum is survived by his wife, Bonnie; two daughters, Vicky and Cindy, and several grandchildren.
Michael Rogin, 64, UC teacher
BERKELEY -- Michael Rogin, a political science teacher at the University of California, Berkeley, for more than three decades, has died after contracting hepatitis in Paris. He was 64.
Rogin began his career at UC Berkeley in 1963 teaching American politics. He later taught courses on film, Marxism, fascism and feminism.
Revered as a master teacher by his colleagues, Rogin authored eight books and several essays on politics during his tenure.
In 1998, Rogin co-authored "Race and Representations" with UC Berkeley law professor Robert Post.
"He invented ways of thinking about things," Post said. "He was just so perceptive and so much his own vision. No one can duplicate that."
Rogin is survived by two children, Isabelle Rogin, 29, of Honolulu and Madeleine Rogin, 27, of Berkeley; a brother, Edward Rogin of Honolulu and sister, Andrea Stanger of Monroeville, Pa.
John Dawson, 71, pioneer physicist
LOS ANGELES -- Dr. John M. Dawson, a leading authority on plasma physics, died Nov. 17 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 71.
The cause of death has not been determined, said Dr. Warren Mori, a professor of physics and electrical engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was a colleague of Dawson's.
Dawson is considered the father of computer-simulated plasma models and of plasma-based particle accelerators.
In the late 1950s, as a research physicist at Princeton, Dawson helped create what is now regarded as a new area of experimental science. He was among the first to realize that computers were becoming powerful enough to perform experiments on clouds of particles that had been the province of laboratory studies. The method has since spread to many areas of science and technology.
Dawson first applied the technique to simulate the physics phenomena of plasma, a gaseous collection of free-moving electrons and ions that makes up 99 percent of the visible universe.
He was also one of the earliest and most creative thinkers in the effort to extract energy from plasmas for peaceful purposes, a process called nuclear fusion, said Dr. Nathaniel Fisch, a professor of astrophysical sciences and the director of the program in plasma physics at Princeton.
Born in Champaign, Ill., John Myrick Dawson earned both his bachelor's degree, in 1952, and a doctorate, in 1957, from the University of Maryland. He was the director of UCLA's center for plasma physics and fusion engineering from 1976 to 1987, and was associate director of its institute for plasma and fusion research from 1989 to 1991.
Dawson's wife, Nancy Wilds, died in 1994.
He is survived by two brothers, Edward, of Beltsville, Md., and Fred, of Rockland, Md.; two sisters, Irene Leland of Lansing, Mich., and Ruth Phillips of Accokeek, Md.; a son, Arthur, of Glen Ellen; a daughter, Margaret Dawson, of Walnut Creek; and four grandchildren.
