Environmental writer Philip Fradkin dies at 77

Philip L. Fradkin, a native of New York, the fascination the West has turned into a being capable chronicler of the history of the region and its environmental heritage books on topics such as the great San Francisco earthquake, the aftermath of nuclear tests in Nevada and survival of Colorado River, died Saturday at home in Point Reyes Station, California for 77 years.

The cause was cancer, said his son, Alex.

A Times reporter early in his career, Fradkin is the author of 13 books, including "A river no more: the Colorado River and the West" (1981), "The Seven States of California: A Natural History Human "(1995) and" Wallace Stegner and the western United States "(2008).

He has also written three books on the physical effect of the earthquake, and social policy, especially in "The great earthquake and fire storms of 1906," The New Yorker said that "begins as a history of the environment, but s' Tragedy has become a parable about the human response to disaster.

" Published in 2005, the centennial of the San Francisco earthquake was coming, has demonstrated an abuse of dynamite fire caused fires that have consumed much of the city, and human frailty exacerbated after the flames diminished.

"The path I follow is the path of politics and power," said Fradkin, who also contributed to the Library of UC Berkeley Bancroft building an archive of thousands of images and documents on the earthquake, the San Francisco Chronicle in 2005.

His book on the depletion of Colorado River remains the seminal work on the subject, according to historian Kevin Starr California, said in an interview Tuesday that Fradkin occupied "a central place in the history of the environment of the writing ", alongside such figures as Stegner, Edward Abbey and James Houston.

Prof. G. Forrest Robinson, an expert from the University of California Santa Cruz, in Western literature, Fradkin described as a literary descendant of the 19 th century explorer John Wesley Powell and Stegner won the Pulitzer Prize, two of whom wrote perspicaçment Resources natural resources and problems of the West, including those resulting from the devastation of the Colorado River.

"Fradkin career was a tribute to and through the indirect influence of Stegner Stegner Powell," said Robinson, who also has called on the book by Fradkin Stegner "easily the best album I've made life Stegner."

Fradkin was born in New York February 28, 1935, and grew up in Montclair, New Jersey when he was 14 years, the Russian Jewish father, Leon, took him on a tour of the West - through Yellowstone, Zion, the Grand Canyon, Salt Lake City, Yosemite, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver - that sparked his love of the region.

After graduating in political science at Williams College in Massachusetts and served in the army, went to California in 1960 and took a job as an ad salesman for a Bay Area this week. Influenced by his mother, Elvira, Vassar-educated writer and political activist, has decided to become a journalist and worked for papers in Modesto and San Rafael before the time in 1964.

Fradkin was part of the team of Times reporters and editors who won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Watts riots of 1965 and then spent a year in the Vietnam War. In 1970 he became a reporter for the newspaper environment.

He left the Times in 1975 after his editors told him their stories too tilted to the ecological point of view. Fradkin disagree and joined the administration of Governor Jerry Brown, as assistant secretary of the California Resources Agency, which helped push legislation that established the California Coastal Commission as a permanent body.

In 1976 he became editor of Audubon magazine, West, leaving in 1981, when "A River No More," was published. Loaded and walked along the Colorado River through seven states of Mexico, showing how the various requirements for irrigation, livestock, food and recreation that had been left out of the Colorado River basin that has not reached its natural outlet to the Gulf of Mexico.

Fradkin book has a theme that runs throughout his work - "the emotion, drama and sense of loss we feel in the West," said San Francisco Book Review in February.

He said his aim in writing Stegner and other environmental issues has been to illustrate the effect of the western landscape his people.

Showed, for example, as Stegner's life was formed by the failure of his father's farm. A similar connection inspired Fradkin latest book, "said Everett Streets: his short life, death, beyond the mysterious and surprising" (2011), which examines the legend of the young artist and wanderer who died in the desert Utah in 1934 at age 20.

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Crisis Budgeter Donald D. Kummerfeld Dies at 78

Donald D. Kummerfeld, a budget director and deputy mayor, the emphasis on financial discipline policy and an excellent touch to help New York City from bankruptcy in 1970, died Thursday at Jersey City.

He was 78 years.

I was sick, and gardening in the intense heat and died in a hospital emergency room, his wife, Elizabeth, said.

In 1975, financial markets closed the door to New York after years of indebtedness, and the State of New York intervened to issue bonds to run the city. However, the State requested financial rigor.

Mr. Kummerfeld role was to attend the details of the cleaning of bad accounting practices of the city, imposing budget cuts and for the first time that prolong the years of financial planning in the future.

Richard Ravitch, an advisor to Governor Hugh L. Carey during the crisis, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that the work was Mr. Kummerfeld said. "To have a balanced budget, this is what you do"

Mr. Kummerfeld led to years of experience as a budget official in Washington and as a investment banker on Wall Street.

But those who worked with him say that his negotiation skills combined with his experience with numbers. The New York Times in 1977 quoted an official who had dealt with him, saying:

"What I like about Don is that at least does not pretend to understand. Even when you put in the position of having to act as 2 and 2 is 5, you can say, 'Don, please' And he looks at you and shake his shoulders and said: 'Yes, but this is our policy here.' "

In an interview, Felix Rohatyn, who led the agency to restructure the debt of the city during the crisis, said: "What has brought to the table and had a great knowledge of the facts and politics of the situation."

Your signature does not necessarily mean that popular. The news at the time said the agency goes up in tears after meeting with Mr. Kummerfeld. At a public hearing has been accused of "insensitivity."

But medicine has worked hard, and since 1977 the city was beginning to turn a corner. "It is not always obvious, but the city is run now, mainly because Kummerfeld," said Peter C. Goldmark Jr., the director of the state budget, told the Times.

When Edward I. Koch, after defeating Mr. Beame and other Democratic candidates in the three main rivals in the general election, became mayor of 01 January 1978, Mr. Kummerfeld asked to remain as deputy mayor, but without title of Deputy Prime Minister. Mr. Kummerfeld refused.

Mr. Koch said in an interview on Tuesday that it had decided not to have a deputy mayor of New York because I wanted to see who takes the city personally. "It would have been wonderful," Koch said of Mr. Kummerfeld, he described as "a true hero who helped save New York."

Mr. Kummerfeld once accepted an appointment by Governor Carey to be Executive Director of the Board of Control of New York state financial emergency.

This meant that Mr. Kummerfeld be responsible for overseeing the financial operations of the city that had just left. "I know for a fact that all the details of what to look for," he said.

Mr. Kummerfeld has continued with the direct participation of the American Society of Rupert Murdoch and two trade groups, publishers of journals in America and the International Federation of the Periodical Press.

It is also recommended that the new mayor of New York and other elected officials on tax matters.

Working group of citizens led by Mr. Ravitch and A. Paul Volcker, former Federal Reserve will release a report on the week's state budget crisis and face. Will be dedicated to Mr. Kummerfeld, who has a lot of work into it.

Besides his wife, the former Elizabeth Miller, Mr. Kummerfeld, who lived in Jersey City, survive him his daughter, Theodosia Kummerfeld, and a grandson.

Along with the public service, gardening is a passion of Mr. Kummerfeld, for many years and grew vegetables and flowers on the terrace of his penthouse, Fifth Avenue. His hobby is reading seed catalogs.

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Baritone & Met Stalwart Calvin Marsh Dies at 91

Calvin Marsh, a lyric baritone who has sung over 900 performances with the Metropolitan Opera before leaving the stage for a life of religious music, died on June 18 in Dallas. He was 91 years.


The cause was a stroke, his son-in-law, Karl Steinberger said.

Mr. Marsh made his Met debut in 1954 as in Wagner Nachtigall "Meistersinger von Nürnberg," and remained a supporter of the company for over a decade, especially in secondary zones, until 1967.

His over 50 features, including the jailer of Puccini "Tosca", the Marquis of Obigny Verdi "La Traviata" and Masetto in Mozart's "Don Giovanni".

Wertz Calvin Marsh was born 11 February 1921, was renewed, Pennsylvania, while in high school, he responded to a need to hire singers for advertising a church choir in Trenton.

He attended Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, and later studied music at North Texas State University.

After serving in Guam with the Army Air Forces in World War II, he ended his speech on education in New York in the Music Division of the American Theatre Wing.

In 1953, a concert singer in annual sailing competition Theatre, Mr. Marsh was so impressed the judges who declared the winner after the semifinals, eliminating the final stage of all.

His prize was a debut recital at Town Hall this year in New York in a program with Bach, Handel, Mozart and Fauré.

Review of concert at The New York Times, Noel Straus wrote the song that Mr. Marsh was "intelligent and has an unusual amount of charm," and added that it was "certainly a vocalist on the way the real distinction. "

Mr. Marsh was soloist with the Robert Shaw Chorale, before joining the Met in 1954-55 season, part of a class of freshmen that included Renata Tebaldi soprano, mezzo-soprano Giulietta Simionato and the bass Giorgio Tozzi.

In 1957, after attending one of the Reverend Billy Graham crusade at Madison Square Garden, Mr. Marsh has decided to dedicate his career in Christian music, a decision that would culminate in his decision to leave the Met, a decade later.

From mid-1960 and for decades, Mr. Marsh toured the country as a member of the Messengers of Messiah, a duo for voice and piano, the programs include religious testimony interspersed with hymns, spiritual and liturgical music of Bach , Handel and other composers.

The duo has been touring under the auspices of the Board of Missions to the Jews, of which Mr. Marsh was a missionary team. The organization, now known as elected People Ministries, evangelize among Jews of America.

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Canadian celebrity chef Anthony Sedlak Dies at 29

VANCOUVER - Canadian celebrity chef Anthony Sedlak has died aged 29.

Sedlak family issued a statement on Monday saying that collapsed last Friday for an undiagnosed medical condition and his body was found in his apartment in North Vancouver.

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Former Rams lineman John Williams dies at 66

John Williams, one of his assistants Angeles Rams in 1970, he went to school with the teeth out of season and started a dental practice in Minneapolis after his retirement from football, has died.

He was 66 years.

Williams, who had recently undergone a kidney transplant, died Sunday while on a walk near home, the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

The office of the Hennepin County coroner confirmed his death.

Born in Jackson, Mississippi, 27 October 1945, John McKay, Williams was a football star in high school in Toledo, Ohio. Three-year letterman at the University of Minnesota, was an All-American and All-Big Ten offensive assistants in 1967, when the ground squirrels went 8-2 and won the title role in the conference .

In the 1968 NFL draft, the Baltimore Colts selected him in the first round, 23 overall. He played four seasons with the Colts and went to two Super Bowls, winning a ring with the team's 16-13 victory over Dallas after the 1970 season.

Williams was traded to the Rams to a No. 1 pick in 1972 and started at right offensive tackle for six years. He played as a guard in 1979, when the Rams advanced to the Super Bowl, losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 31-19, in January 1980.

At this time, Williams had a plan for his life after football. He earned a degree in education from Minnesota, but really wanted to be a dentist, so he began taking classes at the University of Maryland at Baltimore.

"I knew I was doing the right thing, when I could not get a decent off-season work in 1970 after playing in the Super Bowl team in Baltimore," he told The Times in 1978.

It took five years as part-time student, before he received his doctorate in dentistry. He retired from the NFL after tearing a calf muscle during the 1979 season and returned to Minneapolis to open his dental clinic.

The 6 feet 3 inches and 256 pounds described his work with patients outside the field in the interview with the Times.

"There is curiosity and a little" normal fan-athlete identification, "he said." But most important is a good value. Rapport is all in dentistry. The ability to inspire confidence. "

In Minneapolis, Williams has worked to revitalize the city neighborhood where he established his business and was named Volunteer of the Year in the city in 1992.

Trained in Forensic Dentistry, Williams joined a team of public health professionals who helped identify the remains of the victims after the attacks of 9/11 terrorists.

"A terrible," said Williams in Minneapolis Star Tribune in 2002.

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Costume Designer Martin Pakledinaz Dies at 58

Martin Pakledinaz, a costume designer, who has been nominated for 10 Tony awards in the past 15 years and has won twice, and work in opera, dance and regional theater, has made him one of the craftsmen the most prolific phase of his generation, died Sunday at home in Manhattan. Age of 58.

The cause was brain cancer, his agent, Patrick Herold said.

Mr. Pakledinaz (pronounced Leh-pack-Din EHZ) received 1999 Tony Awards for the revival of "Kiss Me, Kate", with Marin Mazzie and Brian Stokes Mitchell, "Millie," a musical based on the film 2002, 1967, Julie Andrews.

Sutton Foster, who won a Tony Award for her performance in the title role of "Millie," said Mr. Pakledinaz costume designs were part of his characterization of Millie, a village girl who comes to New York in early 1920, hoping to marry a rich man.

Their ways of explaining its history, from Kansas City on Sunday in New York neck-girl-Friday clothing and equipment after a series of increasingly scarce designed for the free spirit of a more modern dance Millie from the trap.

"My characters have been defined by the fabric, stitching, the details of his work, his eye," Ms. Foster said in a statement on Monday.

Mr. Pakledinaz Mrs. Foster also designed the costumes in the last shot of "Anything Goes", which won a Tony Award. He was nominated for a Tony for producing and seven people, including "Lend Me a Tenor," "Gypsy," "The Pajama Game", "Golden Boy" and the 2009 revival of "A mocking spirit" .

He received his first nomination for "The Life", a 1997 musical about prostitutes times square, and the last for this season, "Good work if you can get it," starring Matthew Broderick.

Mr. Pakledinaz also designed costumes for the San Francisco Ballet, Mark Morris Dance Group, a Metropolitan Opera production of "Iphigenie en Tauride", 2011, Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular and the "My Week with Marilyn" the sumptuous 2011 film Marilyn Monroe film maker living in Britain in 1956, but won Michelle Williams as Monroe, an Oscar nomination.

Joel Grey, who starred in "Anything Goes," he said in an interview Monday that Mr. Pakledinaz aesthetic decisions had reflected his deep knowledge of the history of American theater.

It was obvious, he said, in his own clothes in the game, as Moonface Martin, a role that was originally played by Bert Lahr and Ed Wynn, then.

"I wanted my character to remember a time when the great comedians inhabited the role," said Grey, "and Martin knew it would be, and how to evoke. This was his particular genius."

Philip Martin Pakledinaz was born in Sterling Heights, Michigan, September 1, 1953, one of eight children of James and Dorothy Pakledinaz.

After graduating from Wayne State University and received his master's degree in drama from the University of Michigan, moved to New York in 1977. His survivors are his sister and brothers.

Mr. Pakledinaz had a long professional relationship with director Peter Sellars, with whom he worked at the Santa Fe Opera and performance venues in Paris, Spain and Salzburg, Austria.

He recently worked with director Stephen Wadsworth in his production of "The Bartered Bride", a joint effort of the Juilliard School and the Metropolitan Opera.

In 2002 Tony accepted the award for best costume for her work in "Millie," who drowned while Pakledinaz thanked "the three miles in my life" - from his mother and two mentors custom design, Theon V. Aldredge and Barbara Matera. Speaking of his profession, he said, "the suits have to say in a moment that the person is feeling, what was -. What changes are taking place"

Patti LuPone, who worked with Mr. Pakledinaz many times, most recently in the 2008 revival of "Gypsy", said the loss was profound theater. "Broadway is less talented," he said.

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