LIVES

Crisis, The, Mar/Apr 2004

Etta Moten Barnett, 102, singer and actress, died Jan. 2 of pancreatic cancer in Chicago. Barnett, who appeared on Broadway in 1942 as Bess in Porgy and Bess, was one of the first Black women to play romantic, sexy roles in movies.

Charles Brown, 57, an actor, died Jan. 8 of prostate cancer in Cleveland. Brown was nominated for two Tony awards, including best featured actor in 2001 for August Wilson's King Hed/ey II.

Bobbie NeI! Brookshire Gordon, 64, jazz singer, died Dec. 27 of heart failure in Dayton, Ohio. Gordon performed with Duke Ellington's band from 1970 to 1974.

Ernest Burke, 79, player in the Negro Leagues, died in Baltimore Jan. 31 of kidney cancer. Burke, a pitcher and outfielder for the Baltimore Elite Giants, was one of the first Black Marines to serve in World War II.

Rose Cree, 82, a Native American basket weaver, died Jan. 13 in Dunseith, N.D. Cree received a National Heritage Fellowship as one of the most talented modern weavers of traditional red willow baskets.

David Dickson, 84, the first Black to head a New Jersey state college or university, died Dec. 10 in Palm Coast, FIa. Dickson was president of Montclair State University from 1973to1984.

Malachi Favors, 76, a jazz bassist, died Jan. 30 in Chicago of pancreatic cancer. Favors, who played with such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie and Freddy Hubbard, was a member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago for 35 years.

Herschell Hamilton, 78, a physician whose patients included Martin Luther King Jr., died Dec. 28 from complications of prostate cancer in Birmingham, Ala. Hamilton provided free medical care to civil rights activists.

Earl Hutchinson Sr., 100, father of radio show host, Earl Ofari Hutchinson, died Feb. 13 in Los Angeles. Hutchinson was one of the oldest Blacks to write an autobiography when he published his memoirs at the age of 96.

Jack A. Johnson, 82, Tuskegee airmen flight instructor, died Nov. 4 of prostate cancer in Los Angeles. Johnson trained 165 Tuskegee airmen to fly during World War 11.

Theodore O. Mason, 81, a Tuskegee airman, died Jan. 10 in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Mason was a B-25 pilot with the all-Black 477th Bombardment Group.

Tracy McCleary, 89, musician, died Dec. 24 of congestive heart failure in Baltimore. Mc- Cleary led the house band at the Royal Theater, the premier Black theater in Baltimore, from 1948 to 1966.

Corinthian Nutter, 97, educator, died Feb. 11 in Shawnee, Kan. Nutter helped desegregate schools in Merriam, Kan., in 1949, five years before the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case.

Ron O'Neal, 66, actor, died Jan. 14 of pancreatic cancer in Los Angeles. O'Neal is best known for his role as the drug dealer, Youngblood Priest in the 1972 blaxploitation film Superfly.

George Owens, 84, first Black president of Tougaloo College, died Dec. 21 after a battle with Parkinson's dis ease in Jackson, Miss.

James Peeler, 74, a photographer, died Jan. 9, after a brief illness in Charlotte, N.C. Peeler chronicled the African American community in Charlotte and in Black newspapers during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.

Richard Dennis Powell, 92, general manager of the Baltimore Elite Giants, a Negro League baseball team, died in Baltimore Feb. 3 of cancer. The team featured legends Roy Campanella and Joe Black.

John Reilly, 70, Howard University English professor, died of a brain hemorrhage Feb. 9 in Cooperstown, N.Y. Reilly was an award-winning literary critic specializing in Black literature.

Jeffrey Towles, 74, surgeon who saved the life of Vernon Jordan, died Jan. 24 in FortWayne, Ind. Towles led the surgery team after Jordan was shot in the back by a sniper in 1980.

Doris Troy, 67, singer, died Feb. 16 in Las Vegas of emphysema. Troy was a backup singer for such groups as The Drifters and Rolling Stones, and her life story was made into the long-running stage play, Mama I Want to Sing.

Oswald Viliard Jr., 87, a pioneer in electronics and engineering, died of pneumonia Jan. 7 in PaIo Alto, Calif. Villard designed a voice transmitter for two-way communication.

Eddie Ware Jr., 76, jazz musician, died Dec. 25 of heart failure in Memphis, Tenn. Ware, who played the alto saxophone, toured with Billie Holiday and performed at the famed Apollo Theater.

Beatrice Winde, 79, actress, died of cancer Jan. 3 in New York. Winde received seven Tony nominations and appeared in dozens of films and television shows, including The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.

Webster Young, 71, jazz trumpeter, died Dec. 13 of a brain tumor in Portland, Ore. A student of Louis Armstrong, Young performed with greats such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Dizzy Gillespie.