AP Obits--4/26
ObitsMan
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Obituaries in the News
Fri Apr 26, 5:43 PM ET
By The Associated Press
Paul Georges, an American painter known for his satirical self-portraits and
figurative allegories in a career that spanned more than five decades, has died
in northern France. He was 78.
Georges died of a heart attack on April 17 in the Normandy town of
Gefosse-Fontenay, where he had a home and studio, said his daughter, Yvette
Deeton.
A World War II veteran decorated with a Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his
service in the Pacific, Georges moved to Paris in 1949 where he apprenticed
under French painter Fernand Leger.
In New York in the 1950s, Georges painted his first figurative works and
developed his signature style of satirical self-portraits.
Georges worked in several genres, producing still-lifes, self-portraits and
group pictures with mocking references to myth, history and politics. With the
rise of Pop Art in the 1960s, Georges' figurative style was perceived as being
outside the mainstream New York art world and fell out of fashion.
A Manhattan real estate developer bought 22 of Georges' works in 1999 and
established the Center for Figurative Painting in Manhattan, primarily to show
them.
His work is owned by major American museums, including New York's Museum of
Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts and the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington.
Patrick A. Hand
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick A. Hand, a former reporter who had worked as
a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Labor since 1973, died Tuesday. He was
56.
Prior to becoming regional director of public affairs with the Department of
Labor in 1973, he was the media liaison officer for the Kansas City Police
Department.
Hand also had worked as a reporter for United Press International in Kansas
City and for KMBC radio and television.
Survivors include his wife, two sons, two daughters and mother.
Barbara Grizzuti Harrison
NEW YORK (AP) — Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, a writer who became nationally
known for her book on her years as a Jehovah's Witness, died Wednesday of
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She was 67.
Harrison was converted to the Jehovah's Witnesses by her mother at the age of
9, and went to live and work at the religion's national headquarters in New
York.
At 22, Harrison left the faith. She went on to achieve literary success with
"Visions of Glory: A History and a Memory of Jehovah's Witnesses" (1978), which
combined autobiographical insight with extensive historical research.
Harrison's other books included "Italian Days" (1989), a travel book about
Italy that won the American Book Award, and a novel, "Foreign Bodies" (1984).
Doris Goodday Hoffmann
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Doris Goodday Hoffmann, an Alzheimer's patient who put
a face on the devastating disease in her daughter's Oscar-nominated film, has
died. She was 94.
Hoffmann died Tuesday at a nursing home from complications related to
Alzheimer's. Her daughter, filmmaker Deborah Hoffmann, spent many years
documenting her descent into dementia.
The 1994 film "Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter" won more than 30 international
awards, including a Peabody and Emmy, and became an important work for doctors,
patients and family members trying to understand and cope with the disease.
Deborah Hoffmann showed millions of viewers around the world her mother's
cheerfulness, and obsessions with constantly eating bananas and hiding boxes of
cookies around her apartment.
Lisa Lopes
ATLANTA (AP) — Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, the effervescent, sometimes volatile
rapping member of the Grammy-winning trio TLC, was killed Thursday in a car
crash in Honduras. She was 30.
Lopes was in the Central American nation for a vacation, said Arista Records'
spokeswoman Laura Swanson.
TLC, which also includes Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas,
was the group behind such No. 1 hits as "Waterfall," "No Scrubs" and "Creep."
The Atlanta-based R&B group is the best-selling female group in history in
terms of album sales, having sold 21 million.
The group made its debut in 1992 with the disc "Ooooooh ... On the TLC Tip!"
Their unique sound, which paired Watkins and Thomas' vocals with
Philadelphia-born Lopes' fast-paced, squeaky-voiced rhymes, along with their
baggy wardrobe with condoms attached, made them an immediate sensation.
Lopes' nickname came from her habit of replacing one lens of her glasses with a
condom during performances,
In 1994, the band returned with "CrazySexyCool" — Lopes was dubbed the
"crazy" member of the group, Thomas the "sexy" one and Watkins the "cool" one.
The quadruple platinum album saw the women abandon their sometimes gimmicky
image to evolve into a critically acclaimed group. The disc won them the first
two of their four Grammy Awards.
But citing poorly structured recording contracts, the trio declared bankruptcy
a few years ago.
In 1994, Lopes pleaded guilty to arson in a fire that destroyed the
million-dollar mansion of her boyfriend, former Atlanta Falcons receiver Andre
Rison. Lopes was sentenced to a halfway house and five years' probation, plus a
$10,000 fine.
Lopes admitted she started the fire after an argument with Rison. The two later
broke up, only to reunite and break up again. Last year, they announced plans
to marry, but they were not dating when she died, said her publicist Jay
Marose.
TLC had recently been working on the follow-up to their Grammy-winning,
triple-platinum disc "Fanmail," released in 1999.
Frank Moore
NEW YORK (AP) — Frank Moore, a painter and AIDS activist whose work combined
art and politics, died Sunday of AIDS. He was 48.
Moore's paintings explore themes of science, nature and the medical
establishment in brilliant color and detail, drawing inspiration from a wide
range of artistic genres, including Surrealism, commercial art and Works
Progress Administration murals.
Moore was one of the first members of Visual AIDS, a division of the activist
group Act Up. He played an instrumental role in the group's Red Ribbon Project
in 1990, which developed the red ribbon as a worldwide symbol for the fight
against AIDS.
Moore, who studied art for two years in Paris, had his first solo show in
TriBeCa in 1983. His work is featured in the collections of the Museum of
Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the New York Public Library.
A monograph on his art is scheduled to be published next month and a survey of
his work is planned at Florida's Orlando Museum of Art in June.
Paul Robert Porter
SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — Paul Robert Porter, who supervised Marshall Plan
missions in Europe and was deputy chief of the U.S. team negotiating the
organization of NATO, died Sunday of a stroke. He was 94.
The Marshall Plan set aside billions of dollars for 16 European countries
devastated by World War II.
Porter was acting U.S. special representative supervising the Marshall Plan
missions from August to December 1951. He then joined the NATO negotiations
during most of the next 18 months.
Afterward, he became president of Porter International Co., in Washington, from
1953 to 1967. Upon retirement, Porter joined Cleveland State University as the
director of an urban recovery project. He also taught public affairs.
Porter wrote "Recovery of American Cities," which was published in 1976. At the
age of 93, he wrote for a Web site a series of essays on "What About Western
Civilization is Worth Knowing?"