AP Obits--11/30
ObitsMan
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Obituaries in the News
Sat Nov 30, 6:29 PM ET
Jazz photographer Ray Avery, whose work brought him into close contact with
artists including Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday, has died. He was 82.
Avery died of a heart attack Nov. 17 at UCLA Medical Center.
He was an avid collector of jazz recordings and opened a jazz record store in
1936. His stock included rare selections by Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington,
Count Basie and Bing Crosby. He closed the store in 1992.
His photographs documented the birth of West Coast jazz in the 1950s and the
artists who defined the period. His early work appeared on album covers for
musicians such as Shelly Manne and Clifford Brown.
Many of his best-known shots were taken when he was hired as the photographer
for "The Stars of Jazz," a half-hour television show hosted by the pianist and
singer Bobby Troup that aired from 1955 to 1958. His work from the program was
featured in a 1997 book called "Stars of Jazz."
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Jack Bigel
NEW YORK (AP) — Jack Bigel, a financial and bargaining adviser to many of New
York City's labor unions and a central figure in resolving the city's financial
crisis of the 1970s, died Thursday. He was 89.
Bigel's consulting firm Program Planners Inc. employed 60 statisticians and
economists who analyzed large amounts of data to come up with negotiating
strategies for unions. In 1976, when New York City faced the prospect of
defaulting on its debts, Bigel persuaded union leaders to commit billions of
dollars from their pension funds to buy city bonds. Those investments helped to
keep the city solvent.
Bigel built a reputation as a labor leader when he organized the city's first
strong union, the United Public Workers. The union, however, ran into trouble
in 1950 due to allegations that it was under communist influence.
Bigel, who denied he was ever a communist, said in a 1976 interview with The
New York Times: "I am not an anti-Marxist. I am not a Marxist. If I am
anything, I would say I'm a pragmatist — as long as I've got to be an 'ist."
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Mary Bright
NEW YORK (AP) — Mary Bright, a curtain maker whose innovations achieved
status as modern art, died Friday of lung cancer. She was 48.
Bright was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. She studied fine arts in London and
fashion and millinery in Leeds, but never formally trained as a designer.
In 1979, she moved to New York and became a hat maker. Four years later, she
designed curtains for the actress Ellen Barkin, a move that helped to redirect
her career and redefine a craft.
Bright became known for designing curtains that combined unusual materials,
such as corrugated paper, rubber and metal meshes, with linen and wool. Her
customers included the Museum of Modern Art, Calvin Klein, Wendi and Rupert
Murdoch and Lauren Bacall.
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Edward Bankhead
CORINTH, Miss. (AP) — Edward Bankhead, one of the oldest men in the United
States, died Tuesday in a Corinth nursing home. He was 119.
Bankhead was born the son of a slave in Noxubee County in 1883, delivered by a
midwife. He had no birth certificate. His Social Security card, issued to him
in 1935, was the only document that listed his age.
Bankhead was raised in Biggersville and became a farmer in eastern Mississippi.
He was married twice and had 12 children from his marriages. He had 52
grandchildren, 83 great-grandchildren, 39 great-great-grandchildren and four
great-great-great-grandchildren.
Bankhead moved from an Erie, Pa., nursing home to Corinth about three years
ago.
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Maurice Chretien
OTTAWA (AP) — Maurice Chretien, the older brother of Canadian Prime Minister
Jean Chretien, has died at age 91.
Maurice died Thursday night in Montreal after a long illness, the prime
minister's spokesman said Friday.
The eldest of 19 children — nine of whom survived infancy — Maurice was
like a father to Jean, who is 23 years younger, when they grew up in the
working class town of Shawinigan, Quebec.
A retired doctor, Maurice was known to advise Chretien on personal and public
matters. His son Raymond is Canada's ambassador to France and previously was
ambassador to the United States.
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Vincent Hartgen
BANGOR, Maine (AP) — Vincent Hartgen, a painter who established the
University of Maine art department and acquired more than 5,000 works for its
collection, died Wednesday after a long illness. He was 88.
Born in 1914 in Reading, Pa., Hartgen studied architecture and fine arts at the
University of Pennsylvania, where he went on to earn a master's degree in fine
arts. During World War II, he served in the Army Camouflage Corps.
Hartgen began working at the University of Maine in 1946 after being invited to
build an art department and museum by president Arthur Hauck. He stayed for
more than 30 years.
A passionate believer in art education, Hartgen was known for his
unconventional classroom style. He once taught a class while lying on a table
to emphasize the difficulty Michelangelo faced while painting the Sistine
Chapel.
Almost single-handedly, he was responsible for acquisitions by the UM Museum of
Art. As head of the department, Hartgen made sure the artworks — including
pieces by Berenice Abbott, Diego Rivera, and John Marin — were hung in
offices around campus and traveled to schoolchildren statewide.
A prolific painter who produced 3,500 works, Hartgen was known for abstract
watercolor interpretations of Maine landscapes and seascapes.