• Around the nation
Everett "Sonny" Grandelius, 79, of East Lansing, Mich., who earned All-America recognition after becoming Michigan State's first 1,000-yard rusher in 1950, died April 25. He earned three letters for the Spartans from 1948-50 while playing for legendary football coach Clarence "Biggie" Munn. Bill E. Burk, 75, of Memphis, Tenn., author and former Memphis newsman who covered the last 20 years of Elvis Presley's life, died April 24. He wrote about 400 stories and columns about Presley and published 13 books about the singer and the quarterly "Elvis World" magazine. Phil Harison, 82, of Atlanta, who introduced everyone from Ben Hogan to Jack Nicklaus to Tiger Woods during his 60 years as the starter on the first tee of the Masters, died April 27. Harison was one of two people to have attended every Masters since it began in 1934, and he became a familiar voice to the many fans who grew accustomed to his Southern drawl and understated manner of announcing each player. Mike Patrick, 55, of Foxborough, Mass., a former New England Patriots punter, died April 27. He spent his four-season professional career with the Patriots from 1975-78, and he ranks fifth on the Patriots' all-time punters list. Will Robinson, 96, of Auburn Hills, Mich., the first African American basketball coach at a Division I school and a Detroit Pistons scout who discovered Joe Dumars and Dennis Rodman, died April 28. He broke a racial barrier in the 1970s when he coached Illinois State. Hale Champion, 85, of Sacramento, who served as California's finance director and went on to hold posts at Harvard and in the administration of President Carter, died April 23. A former newspaper reporter, Champion served as California Gov. Pat Brown's press secretary from 1958 to 1961 and as Brown's finance director from 1961 to 1967. Charles Hillinger, 82, of Los Angeles, a retired Los Angeles Times reporter and columnist who was known for human-interest stories about colorful characters he met while roving around America, died April 28. He covered the Beatles' 1964 visit to Los Angeles and the 1969 splashdown of Apollo 11's mission to the moon. Ed Marion, 81, of Paoli, Pa., an NFL official for 28 years and a head linesman in three Super Bowls, died April 28. He officiated in the 1971, 1975 and 1977 Super Bowls. Gordon Bradley, 74, of Manassas, Va., who coached Pele and Johan Cruyff in the North American Soccer League, died April 29. He coached the New York Cosmos in their heyday of the late 1970s, when the Brazilian superstar Pele played for the team, and in 1996, he was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Henry Brant, 94, of Santa Barbara, an avant-garde composer whose works placed dozens and sometimes hundreds of musicians throughout a concert hall -- and sometimes throughout an entire city -- died April 26. Over a career spanning half a century, Brant created exuberant commissioned works that took into careful account the acoustics of a performance space and musical styles from folk to classical. Buzzie Bavasi, 93, of Los Angeles, who built Dodgers teams that won four World Series titles in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, died May 1. Nicknamed Buzzie by his family for the way he buzzed around as a kid, he helped put together Dodgers teams that included future Hall of Famers Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella, Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. George Atiyeh, 84, of Washington, D.C., a librarian and scholar who acquired and developed much of the Library of Congress's renowned collection of publications concerning the Middle East, died April 21. He served as head of the Near East Section for more than 25 years, managing the publications from and about the Arab world, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia.
• Esther McClain
A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday, May 6, 2008, in Evangel Baptist Church in Portland for Esther McClain, who died May 3 of a stroke at age 93.
• Flying Tigers ace kept group's memory alive
Dick Rossi, the Flying Tigers pilot who downed more than six Japanese planes during World War II and later helped preserve the history of the world-famous volunteers, has died. He was 92.
• Frank Delos Smith Sr.
Frank Delos Smith Sr. died May 1, 2008, at age 78.
• Frank J. Roth
A memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 10, 2008, in Portland Christian Center for Frank J. Roth, who died April 10 at age 83.
• George Robert Cherry Jr.
George Robert Cherry Jr. died April 27, 2008, at age 54.
• Harel commanded ship taking Jews to Palestine
Yossi Harel, who renamed the rickety ship he commanded Exodus 1947 and sailed it to legend as a symbol of the righteousness of the mission by Jews to settle Palestine in the face of British opposition, died April 26 at his home in Tel Aviv. He was 90.
• Harold LaMarr
Harold LaMarr died April 30, 2008, at age 74.
• Jane Tennent
Jane Tennent died April 28, 2008, of complications of Alzheimer's disease at age 88.
• Joseph F. Barbagelata
Joseph F. Barbagelata died April 29, 2008, of Alzheimer's disease at age 89.
• Marilyn W. Baack
Marilyn W. Baack died April 14, 2008, at age 76. Marilyn W. Carnahan was born June 9, 1931, in Garden Grove, Calif. She moved in 1984 to Portland, where she was a bookkeeper, retiring from Yeatzey's Cafe. She moved to Longview, Wash., in 1999.
• Michael Wayne Howard
A funeral will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 10, 2008, in Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Portland for Michael Wayne Howard, who died April 26 at age 51.
• Naomi Delores Leiseth
Naomi Delores Leiseth died May 2, 2008, at age 75.
• Robert E. Lange
Robert E. Lange died April 19, 2008, of cancer at age 85.
• Robert Louis Henkel
A memorial service will be at 3 p.m. Saturday, May 10, 2008, in Calvary Lutheran Church in Stayton for Robert Louis Henkel, who died April 26 at age 84.
• Robert Roland Peterson
Robert "Bob" Roland Peterson died April 24, 2008, at age 76.
• Steven Edward Elam
Steven Edward Elam died April 29, 2008, at age 61.
• Surgeon general battled smoking
William H. Stewart, 86, who as U.S. surgeon general from 1965 to 1969 led the federal anti-smoking crusade, called for warning labels on cigarette advertising and used the introduction of Medicare to desegregate hospitals throughout the country, died April 23 of kidney failure at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans.
• Tracey Petersen
A gathering will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 10, 2008, in the family residence in Sandy, for Tracey Petersen, who died Dec. 25, 2007, at age 65.
• William M. Bennett
William M. Bennett died April 28, 2008, of cancer at age 84.
• William Thomas Guthrie Jr.
A gathering will be from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, May 18, 2008, in Overlook House for William Thomas Guthrie Jr., who died Feb. 9 of a heart attack at age 59.
• Zouhdi M. Derhalli
A memorial service will be at 3 p.m. Saturday, May 10, 2008, in the Beaverton Seventh-day Adventist Church for Zouhdi M. Derhalli, who died April 29 of a stroke at age 75.
