AP Obits--8/1
ObitsMan
Obituaries in the News
Thu Aug 1, 7:16 PM ET
By The Associated Press
David Maurice, a doctor who specialized in eye research, died July 20 of a
liver tumor. He was 80.
Maurice, a professor of ocular physiology at Columbia University, invented a
device used to examine the cornea. Called a specular microscope, the device
pinpoints individual cells, allowing doctors to determine the cornea's
thickness and determine which cells are healthy.
It is used throughout the world in procedures like cataract removal and laser
eye surgery.
Maurice published a paper in the mid-1990s that argued that rapid eye movement
during sleep — commonly thought to be a sign of vivid dreams — is caused by
the eye's need for oxygen.
Maurice taught at Columbia, Harvard, the University of Paris and Stanford,
among other schools, and retired from Columbia in 1993.
Joel Oliansky
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Writer-director Joel Oliansky, who won two Emmys for his
work on "The Senator" and "The Law," died Monday. He was 66.
His directing credits include episodes of the TV series "Emergency," "Kojak,"
"Quincy," "Bring 'Em Back Alive," and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."
His scripting of the 1970 TV program "The Senator" earned him an Emmy. He also
wrote the TV miniseries "The Law," starring Judd Hirsch, which also won him an
Emmy along with a Writers Guild and Humanitas awards.
He directed two films, "The Competition," starring Richard Dreyfuss, in 1980,
and "In Defense of a Married Man," in 1990. He also drafted the screenplay of
the 1988 biopic "Bird," about jazzman Charlie Parker.
Oliansky was playwright in residence at Yale before coming to Hollywood in
1964.
Michelle Pailthorp
SEATTLE (AP) — Michelle Pailthorp, a women's rights and environmental
activist who ran the successful campaign for a Washington state equal rights
amendment, died Wednesday of an aneurysm. She was 61.
Pailthorp was a trial lawyer who helped rewrite the state juvenile code as
state legislative director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington
the 1970s.
She was best known as manager of the referendum campaign that produced a vote
to ratify the state Equal Rights Amendment in 1972. The measure proclaimed:
"Equality of rights and responsibility under the law shall not be abridged on
account of sex."
She also was on the judicial candidate screening committee of Washington Women
Lawyers, active in the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association and a
delegate to the National Women's Year convention in Houston in 1977.
Art Popham
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Art Popham, business columnist for The News Tribune of
Tacoma and former public relations director for the Oakland Athletics, died
Wednesday of complications from a stroke suffered four days earlier. He was 52.
Popham, a native of Kansas City, Mo., always wore the World Series ring he was
given while working for with the A's. Diabetes that struck in childhood left
him blind in one eye and caused heart problems.
He spent the last 25 years in Tacoma and joined the daily newspaper in 1991,
writing mainly about small businesses and entrepreneurs.
While in high school, he was a bat boy for what were then the Kansas City
Athletics. He left Kansas University at age 20 to become public relations
director for the club after it moved to Oakland, Calif., and he resumed his
education at San Francisco State University.
After moving to Tacoma, Popham broadcast minor league baseball games and hosted
a talk show on KTAC Radio before taking the newspaper job.
Survivors include his wife, Kathy; his father, Arthur; two sisters, one
daughter, two sons and a grandson.
Ted Rose
SANTA FE (AP) — Watercolor artist Ted Rose, known for his evocative works of
railroads, died last Friday after battling cancer for more than a year. He was
61.
In 1999, the U.S. Postal Service asked Rose for five original designs for its
"All Aboard" stamp series.
Two years ago, Indiana University Press published his book, "In the Traces: The
Railroad Paintings of Ted Rose," a compilation of 60 of his works, including
many showing Santa Fe's railroads.
Rose attended the University of Illinois and graduated in 1962 with a
bachelor's degree in painting. After two years in the Army during the Vietnam
War, he moved to Santa Fe in 1966 and worked as a graphic designer for the
city, creating maps and police-car decals for 15 years.
He became a full-time artist in the mid-1980s. Rose was a National Watercolor
Society member and a signature member of the American Watercolor Society.
Phil Smith
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Phil Smith, an All-America guard at the University of
San Francisco before winning an NBA championship in 1975 with the Golden State
Warriors, died Monday of bone marrow cancer. He was 50.
Smith, diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1998, had undergone difficult
treatments for cancer and resulting kidney problems in recent years.
Smith played at USF from 1971 to 1974, averaging 21 points per game in his
senior year, when he was an All-American. With 1,523 points, Smith is the
ninth-leading scorer in the history of USF.
He was a key contributor in his rookie season at Golden State, when the
franchise won its only championship since moving to the West Coast 40 years
ago.
Smith was an All-NBA second team selection in 1976, but his career never was
the same after he severely injured his Achilles' tendon in 1979. He spent six
seasons with the Warriors before finishing his career in San Diego and Seattle.
After his career, Smith raised his family and fished while becoming a
successful stockbroker in San Diego.
Virginia Thrower
MERRILLVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Virginia Thrower, deputy editorial page editor at
the Post-Tribune, died Tuesday after a fall. She was 62.
She had a chronic neurological disease called dystonia, which forced her to use
a walker.
She previously had been a feature writer, copy editor, assistant metro editor,
and editor of a Porter County community section during her 34 years at the
newspaper.
In 1981, she was named an editorial writer, becoming the first woman on the
newspaper's editorial board. She received numerous regional, state, and
national awards for her writing.
Thrower, born in Maryland, grew up in Texas and graduated from the University
of Missouri in 1961. She started her career as a feature writer and layout
editor at the now defunct Charlotte News in North Carolina.
She is survived by her husband, mother, a brother and a sister.
Ron Walotsky
FLAGLER BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Ron Walotsky, a renowned science fiction artist
whose work was featured on about 500 book covers, including "Queen of the
Damned" by Anne Rice and "Carrie" by Stephen King, died Monday after a brief
illness. He was 58.
His work, which often featured aliens and surreal landscapes in vivid colors,
has been exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the U.S. Embassy
in Paris.
Last year Walotsky published "Inner Visions: the Art of Ron Walotsky," an
anthology of his work.
A native of New York City, Walotsky began his career painting rock posters of
Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison before turning to fantasy drawings.
He moved to Flagler Beach in 1991.