Alexis Argüello died he was 57

Alexis Argüello died he was 57. Arguello was a former professional boxer known as "The Explosive Thin Man" who became a politician. As a boxer he was three time World champion. After his retirement from boxing, Argüello became active in Nicaraguan politics and in November 2008 he was elected mayor of Managua, the nation's capital city. He allegedly committed suicide on July 1, 2009.
(April 19, 1952 - July 1, 2009),
Arguello is ranked 20th on Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.



"The Explosive Thin Man" suffered an unavenged first round TKO loss in his 1968 professional debut, but then won 36 of his next 38 bouts, which then led him to a world Featherweight championship bout against experienced WBA champion Ernesto Marcel of Panama in Panama. The young challenger lost a 15-round unanimous decision in Marcel's retirement bout.

Undaunted, Argüello began another streak of wins, and found himself in the ring with a world champion again, this time challenging Marcel's successor to the throne, Mexican world champion Rubén Olivares in Los Angeles. After Olivares built a small lead on the judges' scorecards, Argüello and Olivares landed simultaneous left hooks in round thirteen. Olivares's left hand caused a visible pain expression on Argüello's face, but Argüello's left hand caused Olivares to crash hard against the canvas. A few seconds later, Argüello was the new Featherweight champion of the world.

Argüello defended this title a few times, then moved up in weight to challenge world Junior Lightweight champion Alfredo Escalera in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, in what has been nicknamed The Bloody Battle of Bayamon by many. Escalera had been a busy champion with ten defenses, and he had dethroned Kuniaki Shibata in 2 rounds in Tokyo. In what some experts (including Ring Magazine writers) consider one of the most brutal fights in history, Escalera had his eye, mouth and nose busted early, but was rallying back in the scorecards when Argüello finished him, once again in the thirteenth round.

His reign at Junior Lightweight saw him fend off the challenges of Escalera in a rematch held at Rimini, Italy, as well as former world champion Bobby Chacon, former world champion Rafael "Bazooka" Limon, Ruben Castillo, and Diego Alcala, beaten in only one round.

Argüello suffered many cuts around his face during his second victory against Escalera. The on-site doctor wanted him hospitalized, but Argüello had a flight to catch from Rome the next day to return to Nicaragua, and he boarded a train from Rimini. The doctor decided to travel with Argüello, and performed plastic surgery on Argüello's cuts with Argüello awake.

Argüello then moved up in weight again, and this time he had to go to London, England, to challenge world Lightweight champion Jim Watt. Watt lasted fifteen rounds, but the judges gave Argüello a unanimous 15-round decision, thus making him only the sixth boxer to win world titles in 3 divisions, and the second Latin American (after Wilfred Benitez had become the first by beating Maurice Hope one month before) to do it. He had to face some less known challengers in this division, one exception being the famous prospect Ray Mancini (known as "Boom Boom" Mancini) who would later be the subject of a made for television movie. Mancini and Argüello engaged in a fight that was later showcased in a boxing video of the best fights of the 1980s, with Argüello prevailing by stoppage when he decked Mancini in round 14.



After defeating James 'Bubba' Busceme by sixth round stoppage, Argüello decided to move up in weight class time again, and on November 12, 1982, he tried to become the first world champion in 4 different categories, meeting the heavier and future Hall-of-Famer Aaron Pryor, in what was billed as The Battle of the Champions in Miami, Florida. He was stopped in 14. A controversy erupted over a specific water bottle requested by trainer Panama Lewis which Pryor drank from before the start of the fourteenth. Because the newly created Miami Boxing Commission had neglected to perform a post-fight urinalysis, a rematch was ordered. This time, in Las Vegas, Arguello was KO:ed in the tenth, and stated after the fight "I'm not going to fight anymore. I quit." But he later returned to the ring for financial reasons.


During the 1980s Argüello briefly fought with the Contras in his native Nicaragua, but after a few months in the jungle he retired from the war.[1] He then attempted several comebacks into boxing during the late 1980s and early 1990s and had some success, most notably a fourth round stoppage of former World Junior Welterweight Champion Billy Costello in a 1986 televised bout that put him in a position for another shot at the Junior Welterweight title. He retired for good in 1995 with a record of 82 wins, 8 losses, and 65 KO's, along with the recognition of being one of the sports most universally respected fighters among fans, experts, and boxers.

Argüello was elected to the International Boxing Hall Of Fame in 1992. In 2008 he was honored by being selected as Nicaragua's flag-bearer at the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.[2].

He remained very friendly with his old rival Aaron Pryor, and the pair saw each other several times a year until Argüello's death.



Argüello was actively involved in Nicaraguan politics with the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN)--the same party against whom he took up arms in the 1980s—and in 2004 was elected vice-mayor of Managua. Argüello ran for mayor of Managua in the November 9, 2008 elections against the candidate of the Constitutionalist Liberal Party, Eduardo Montealegre, who came in second to Daniel Ortega in the 2006 presidential election. Argüello was the winner of the election with 51.30% of the vote.[3]



Argüello died around 1:00 AM local time on July 1, 2009, after he allegedly shot himself through the heart according to a report from Channel 8 national television. Reports now say there could be some foul play involved. The national police have confirmed the death, but are still awaiting the results of the autopsy. [4][5]

Harve Presnell died he was 75

Harve Presnell died he was 75. Presnell was a Golden Globe-winning American film, musical theatre and television actor and singer.
(September 14, 1933 – June 30, 2009)

Presnell was born as George Harvey Presnell in Modesto, California,[1] and attended the University of Southern California.[2] He made his stage debut at the age of sixteen, singing in an opera.

His height, booming voice, and operatic training landed him the role of Johnnie Brown in Meredith Willson's 1960 Broadway musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown, which was written for him.[3] He later reprised the role in the 1964 film version. He appeared as a cavalry scout in The Glory Guys (1965) and sang the stirring "They Call the Wind Maria" in the 1969 film Paint Your Wagon.

Presnell did some other film and television work in the 1960s and early 1970s, but for the next couple of decades concentrated primarily on stage work, playing Rhett Butler in the West End production of Scarlett and touring the United States as Daddy Warbucks in Annie and its sequel, Annie Warbucks, among other productions. In 1966, Presnell played the role of Sir Lancelot in Camelot in the Regional Equity production at The Houston Music Theatre, owned by Art Linkletter and Nick Mayo (the partnership also owned the Valley Music Theatre in California). Harve's booming voice sang to standing ovations when he performed the wondrous, "If Ever I Would Leave You", the role and song made famous by Robert Goulet.
His film career was revived when he played William H. Macy's father-in-law in Fargo (1996). Subsequent parts included General George C. Marshall in Saving Private Ryan, Mr. Parker on The Pretender, Dr. Sam Lane on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and A.I. Brooks on Dawson's Creek. He starred in NBC's Andy Barker, P.I.
In 1984 Presnell appeared as Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha at the Darien Dinner Theater and received rave reviews from The New York Times.[4]"As an actor, Mr. Presnell promises much, and as a singer, he delivers. Here is one of the shiniest vocal accounts of the role yet," wrote Alvin Klein.[4] "The actor is on the verge of suggesting that in his implausible way, the Don can bring a measure of grace to the world and fulfill that old impossible dream."[4]
He sang the baritone role in Eugene Ormandy's 1960 recording of Carmina Burana, released by Columbia/Sony on LP and CD. His earliest recordings were as a soloist with the Roger Wagner Chorale (Capitol) in the '50s with the Chorale in the background particularly in the LP Joy to the World where he sang in "O Holy Night" (Cantique De Noel) — a version that is believed to have popularized the carol in the USA — and the LPs Folk Songs of the New World [Capitol P8324 (1955)] and Folk Songs of the Frontier [Capitol P8332 (1956)], where he sang "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie", "Streets of Laredo", and "He's Gone Away" — the latter with Marilyn Horne as fellow soloist. [3]



Harve Presnell died on Tuesday, June 30, 2009, aged 75, from pancreatic cancer, at St. John's Health Center, in Santa Monica.[5]

Andree Layton Roaf first black woman so serve on Arkansas Supreme Court died she was 68,

ITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Judge Andree Layton Roaf, the first black woman to serve on the Arkansas Supreme Court, died Wednesday after losing consciousness in her Little Rock office. She was 68.

Pulaski County Coroner Garland Camper says Roaf died Wednesday at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Cause of death wasn't immediately known.

Then-Gov. Jim Guy Tucker appointed Roaf to the Arkansas Supreme Court in January 1995. A year later, she was appointed to the state appeals court, where she served until 2006.

She was the mother of retired NFL player Willie Roaf.

Mary Isobel 'Mollie' Sugden died she was 86

Mary Isobel 'Mollie' Sugden was an English comedy actress best known for portraying the saleswoman Mrs. Slocombe in the popular British sitcom Are You Being Served? from 1972 to 1985. She later reprised this role in Grace & Favour, which ran from 1992 to 1993. Sugden also appeared in The Liver Birds and Coronation Street.

(21 July 1922 – 1 July 2009)

Mary Isobel Sugden was born in Keighley in Yorkshire in 1922. When she was four years old, she heard a woman reading a poem at a village concert making people laugh. The following Christmas, after being asked if she could "do anything", Sugden read this poem and everyone fell about laughing. She later remarked that their response made her "realise how wonderful it was to make people laugh".[1] Shortly after she left school, the Second World War broke out, and Sugden worked in a munitions factory in Keighley making shells for the Royal Navy. However, she was later made redundant so she attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
When Sugden graduated from the Guildhall School of Drama, she worked in rep for eight years with a company that included Eric Sykes and Roy Dotrice.[1] She also had work in radio and made her television debut in a live half-hour comedy show. Sugden's other appearances before Are You Being Served? included parts in Benny Hill, Just Jimmy, Z-Cars, Up Pompeii!, The Goodies, Steptoe and Son and five episodes of Jackanory in 1968.

Mollie Sugden's first regular sitcom role was from 1962 to 1966 when she played Mrs. Crispin in the sitcom Hugh and I. Hugh and I was written by John Chapman and when he got involved with The Liver Birds, he suggested Sugden for the role of Sandra's mother, Mrs Hutchinson.[1] She portrayed Mrs Hutchinson from 1971 to 1979, and years later in 1996, when The Liver Birds was revived Sugden reprised the role, despite being on steroids at the time due to suffering from polymyalgia.
However, Sugden's big break that gave her nationwide fame was the role of Mrs Slocombe—a department-store saleswoman with a socially superior attitude, a repertoire of double entendres, and a penchant for bouffant, pastel-colored coiffures—in the popular and long-running Are You Being Served?, which ran from 1972 to 1985. In 1978, when it was thought that Are You Being Served? was over, she was the lead star in Come Back Mrs Noah, a sitcom that is regarded by some as one of the worst ever made.[2] From 1965 to 1976, she intermittently played Nellie Harvey, the land-lady of The Laughing Donkey pub, in Coronation Street.[3] In this she often appeared opposite Annie Walker, landlady of the Rovers Return. Later in 1986, she had a 23-week stint on That's Life! and also appeared in Son of the Bride.
Mollie Sugden also played main roles in other sitcoms, including That's My Boy, that ran from 1981 to 1986 and My Husband and I. My Husband and I ran from 1987 to 1988 and she played opposite her husband, William Moore (1916-2000), whom she married on 29 March 1958 having met him at Swansea rep.[1] They had twin sons, Robin and Simon, who were born in 1964.

Seven years after the end of Are You Being Served?, five of the original cast - including Sugden - came together to appear in Grace & Favour, where the staff are left a manor house in the country, in which they have to live. This was titled Are You Being Served? Again! when it aired in the United States. It lasted for two series until 1993. Other recent appearances include Just William, Oliver's Travels and The Bill. Sugden was mentioned in Little Britain, by a regular character who claims to have been Sugden's bridesmaid, and never talks about anything else. Sugden appears herself in the final episode of the first series where the character throws a knife at her back after she does not recognise the person and says that her only bridesmaid was in fact somebody else.
In 2002 a tribute programme called Celebrating Mollie Sugden: An Are You Being Served? Special aired on
American PBS stations featuring several members of the cast of Are You Being Served?[4]
Sugden died at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford on 1 July 2009 after a prolonged battle with cancer.[5][6]

Karl Malden died he was 97

Mladen George Sekulovich died you probably know hims as Karl Malden, he ^[1][2]) was an American actor. In a career that spanned over seven decades, he featured in classic Marlon Brando films such as A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront and One-Eyed Jacks. Among other notable film roles are Archie Lee Meighan in Baby Doll, Zebulon Prescott in How the West Was Won and General Omar Bradley in Patton. His best-known role was on television as Lt. Mike Stone on the 1970s crime drama, The Streets of San Francisco. During the 1980's he was spokesperson for American Express, reminding cardholders "Don't leave home without it".

(born March 22, 1912 – July 1, 2009)

Malden, the eldest of three brothers, was born Mladen George Sekulovich (from Mladen Đorđe Sekulović, Serbian Cyrillic: Младен Ђорђе Секуловић) in Chicago, Illinois.^[3] His mother, Minnie (née Sebera) Sekulovich (1893 - 1995), was a Czech seamstress and actress, and his father, Peter Sekulovich (1886 - 1975), worked in the steel mills and as a milkman.^[4] The Sekulovich family roots trace back to the city of Bileća in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Malden spoke the Serbian language until he was in kindergarten. Malden's father had a passion for music, and organized a choir. As a teenager, Malden joined the Karageorge Choir. In addition, his father produced Serbian plays at his church and taught acting. A young Malden took part in many of these plays, which included a version of Jack and the Beanstalk, but mostly centered on the community's Yugoslav heritage. In high school he was a popular student and the star of the basketball team (according to his autobiography, Malden broke his nose twice while playing, taking elbows to the face and resulting in his trademark bulbous nose). He participated in the drama department, and was narrowly elected senior class president. Among other roles, he played Pooh Bah in The Mikado. After graduating from Emerson High School in 1931 with high marks, he briefly planned to leave Gary for Arkansas, where he hoped to win an athletic scholarship, but college officials did not admit him owing to his refusal to play any sport besides basketball. From 1931 until 1934, he worked in the steel mills, as had his father.

He changed his name from Mladen Sekulovich to Karl Malden at age 22. He anglicized his first name by switching the letters "l" and "a" and making it his last name; then he proceeded to take his grandfather's first name.^[5] This was because the first theatre company he was in wanted him to shorten his name for the marquee. He thought they wanted to fire him and were using his name as an excuse, although this was not the case, so he changed it not to give them the excuse.

Malden often found ways to say "Sekulovich" in films and television shows in which he appears. For example, as General Omar Bradley in Patton, as his troops slog their way through enemy fire in Sicily, Malden says "Hand me that helmet, Sekulovich" to another soldier. In Dead Ringer, as a police detective in the squad room, Malden tells another detective: "Sekulovich, gimme my hat." In Fear Strikes Out, Malden, playing Jimmy Piersall's father John, introduces Jimmy to a baseball scout named Sekulovich. In Birdman of Alcatraz, as a prison warden touring the cell block, Malden recites a list of inmates' names, including Sekulovich. Malden's father was not pleased, as he told his son 'Mladen, no Sekulovich has ever been in prison!' Perhaps the most notable usage of his real name was in the TV series The Streets of San Francisco. Malden's character in the program, Mike Stone, employed a legman (played by Art Metrano) with that name, who did various errands. Also, in On the Waterfront, in which Malden plays the priest, among the names of the officers of Local 374 called out in the courtroom scene is Mladen Sekulovich, Delegate.

In September 1934, Malden decided to leave his home in Gary, Indiana, to pursue formal dramatic training at the Goodman School (later part of DePaul University), then associated with the Goodman Theater in Chicago. Although he had worked in the steel mills in Gary for three years, he had helped support his family, and was thus unable to save enough money to pay for his schooling. Making a deal with the director of the program, he gave the institute the little money that he did have, with the director agreeing that, if Malden did well, he would be rewarded with a full scholarship. He won the scholarship. When Malden performed in the Goodman's children's theater, he wooed the actress Mona Greenberg (stage name: Mona Graham), who married him in 1938. He graduated from the Chicago Art Institute in 1937. Soon after, without work and without money, Malden returned to his hometown.

Karl Malden as Father Barry in the trailer for On the Waterfront (1954)

He eventually traveled to New York City, and first appeared as an actor on Broadway in 1937. He did some radio work and in a small role made his film debut in They Knew What They Wanted. He also joined the Group Theatre, where he began acting in many plays and was introduced to a young Elia Kazan, who would later work with him on A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and On the Waterfront (1954).

His acting career was interrupted by World War II, during which he served as a noncommissioned officer in the 8th Air Force. While in the service, he was given a small role in the U.S. Army Air Forces play and film Winged Victory. After the war ended in 1945, he resumed his acting career, playing yet another small supporting role in the Maxwell Anderson play Truckline Cafe, with a then-unknown Marlon Brando. He was given a co-starring role in the Arthur Miller play All My Sons with the help of director Elia Kazan. With that success, he then crossed over into steady film work.

Malden resumed his film acting career in the 1950s, starting with The Gunfighter (1950) and Halls of Montezuma (1950). The following year, he was in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), playing Mitch, Stanley Kowalski's best friend who starts a romance with Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh). For this role, he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Other films during this period included On the Waterfront (1954), where he played a priest who influenced Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) to testify against mobster-union boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb). In Baby Doll (1956), he played a power-hungry sexual man who had been frustrated by a teenage wife. He starred in dozens of films from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, such as Fear Strikes Out (1957), Pollyanna (1960), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), Gypsy (1962), How the West Was Won (1962), The Cincinnati Kid (1965), and Patton (1970), playing General Omar Bradley. After Summertime Killer (1972), he appeared in the made-for-television film The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro (1989) (as Leon Klinghoffer).

In 1972, Malden was approached by producer Quinn Martin about starring as Lt. Mike Stone in The Streets of San Francisco. Although the concept originated as a made-for-television movie, ABC quickly signed on to carry it as a series. Martin hired Michael Douglas to play Lt. Stone's young partner, Inspector Steve Keller.

Malden's father was delighted about this series being in San Francisco, as he had intended to settle in that city, but had to change his plans as he'd arrived on the day of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.^{[citation needed]}

On Streets, Malden played a widowed veteran cop with more than 20 years of experience who is paired with a young officer recently graduated from college. During its first season, it was a ratings winner among many other 1970s crime dramas, and served as ABC's answer to such shows as Hawaii Five-O, Adam-12, Ironside, Barnaby Jones, Kojak, McMillan and Wife, Police Woman, The Rockford Files, and Switch.

During the second season, production shifted from Los Angeles to San Francisco. For his work as Lt. Stone, Malden was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor - Drama Series four times between 1974 and 1977, but never won. After two episodes in the fifth season, Douglas left the show to act in movies; Douglas had also produced the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975. Lt. Stone's new partner was Inspector Dan Robbins, played by Richard Hatch. The show took a ratings nosedive, and ABC canceled it after five seasons and 119 episodes.

In 1980, Malden starred in Skag, an hour-long drama that focused on the life of a foreman at a Pittsburgh steel mill. Malden described his character, Pete Skagska, as a simple man trying to keep his family together. The pilot episode for the series had Skag temporarily disabled by a stroke, and explored the effects it had on his family and co-workers. While Skag met with poor ratings, critics praised it, even taking out full page ads to keep it on the air. It was nevertheless canceled after several episodes.

Malden's last role in film or television was in 2000 in the highly acclaimed first season episode of the The West Wing titled "Take This Sabbath Day". Malden portrayed a Catholic priest and used the same Bible he had used in On the Waterfront.

Malden famously delivered the line "Don't leave home without them!" in a series of U.S. television commercials for American Express Travelers Cheques in the 1970s and 1980s.

Malden was a member of the United States Postal Service's 16-member Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee, which meets to review recommendations for U.S. commemorative postage stamps.^[6]

On December 18, 1938, Malden married Mona Greenberg, who survives him. Their marriage was one of the longest in Hollywood's history.^[7]

In 1997, Malden published his autobiography, When Do I Start?, written with his daughter Carla.

Malden died at his home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles on July 1, 2009 at the age of 97. He is said to have died of natural causes. Malden's manager said "It could be many things. I mean, he was 97 years old!" A service will be held for Malden in the next 3–4 weeks.^[8] He is said to have been in poor health for several years. ^[9]

Fred Travalena died he was 66

Fred Travalena died he was 66, Travalena was an American entertainer, specializing in comedy and impersonations.

(October 6, 1942 – June 28, 2009)

Bronx, New York-born and Long Island-raised, Travalena moved to Los Angeles and developing a multi-faceted career with his characterizations of visible public figures.

His television credits began in the 1970s, as a regular performer on The ABC Comedy Hour and the Dean Martin Roasts. He had several voice credits on cartoons, as well as appearances on nationally-broadcast children's programs. Mr. Travelena made many guest appearances on game shows and dramatic programs in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. In the mid-1980s he hosted the game show Anything For Money, a game where contestants attempted to guess how much money it would take an ordinary, unsuspecting person to participate in a silly stunt. He appeared in the series premiere of the short-lived 1991 sitcom Good Sports with Ryan O'Neal and Farrah Fawcett.

He appeared at casino theaters in Las Vegas, Reno, and Atlantic City, as well as performing arts theaters, cruise ships, and private "in-concert" performances. He took part in a USO tour to entertain troops overseas, and was honored in 2004 by Club Italia with a Merit Achievement Award for his contributions to society.

In 2005 he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Travalena was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2002 and prostate cancer in 2003. Following five years' remission, the lymphoma returned in 2008. Travelena died on June 28, 2009 at his home in Encino, California.^[1]

Jean-Baptiste-Gabriel-Joachim Dausset was 93

Jean-Baptiste-Gabriel-Joachim Dausset (October 19, 1916 - June 6, 2009) was a French immunologist.

He was born in Toulouse, France. He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1980 along with Baruj Benacerraf and George Davis Snell for their discovery and characterisation of the genes making the major histocompatibility complex. With his Nobel Prize and a grant from the French Television, Dausset was able in 1984 to create the Human Polymorphism Study Center (CEPH), which soon after became Foundation Jean Dausset-CEPH.

Dr. Jean Dausset, a French immunologist who shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1980 for discoveries about the human immune system that vastly improved the odds of success in organ transplants, died in Mallorca, Spain, on June 6. He was 92.

His death was announced by the Foundation Jean Dausset-CEPH, a research institute he founded in Paris.

Dr. Dausset, who specialized in blood diseases, shared the Nobel for Physiology or Medicine with two researchers working in the United States, Dr. Baruj Benacerraf and Dr. George D. Snell, for work done over several decades. The Karolinska Institute in Sweden, which awards the prize, said their research showed why some people were better able to defend themselves against infection than others, and why certain people were at risk for autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis or lupus.

Dr. Dausset’s findings transformed the understanding of the human immune system, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a telephone interview on Monday. His main achievement was demonstrating that molecules on the surface of cells, now called HLA antigens, determine an individual’s immune response. These antigens, which are genetically coded by a particular location on one chromosome, determine the body’s response to foreign tissue, for example. They set off the production of disease-fighting antibodies and help the immune system distinguish between the body’s own cells and invaders.

The research made it possible for transplant surgeons to “type” cells to determine whether a body would accept or reject tissue from a donor. Since then, such tissue typing has been used widely for heart, liver and other transplants.

In addition to demonstrating the existence of these antigens in people, Dr. Dausset “elucidated the genetic factors regulating their formation,” the Karolinska Institute said.

Working with Dr. Felix T. Rapaport, Dr. Dausset carried out a series of experimental skin grafts that provided evidence that incompatibility of antigens worked against the graft’s survival.

Subsequently, to find out if the genetic factors were valid for all humans and not just particular groups, Dr. Dausset and his colleagues went to far-flung places to obtain blood samples from people of 54 racial and ethnic groups. They found that the genetic laws controlling the antigens were valid for all groups.

Jean Baptiste Gabriel Joachim Dausset was born in Toulouse, France, on Oct. 19, 1916, the son of a prominent physician. He earned a bachelor’s degree at the Lycée Michelet in Paris and enrolled in medical school at the University of Paris in the late 1930s. With World War II looming, he was drafted into the military before he could complete his studies. After France fell to the German invasion in 1940, he made his way to North Africa and joined the Free French forces.

Before leaving, he gave his identity papers to a Jewish colleague at the Pasteur Institute, to help the man avoid persecution by the Nazis.

In North Africa, he performed blood transfusions and developed an interest in transfusion reactions that helped lead to his later work. He participated in the liberation of France in 1944 and left the military in 1945 as a second lieutenant.

He earned his medical degree and completed his internship and residency at hospitals in Paris before being appointed director of laboratories at the National Blood Transfusion Center in 1946, a post he held until 1963.

He married Rosita López in 1963 and the couple had two children, Henri and Irene.

Dr. Dausset held a number of teaching and research posts, including chief biologist for the Paris General Hospital System; chairman of the immunology department at the University of Paris, where he taught for many years; professor at the Collège de France; and director of research at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research.

He was author or co-author of books including “Histocompatibility” (1976) and “Immunology” (1980). He was elected to the Academy of Science and the Academy of Medicine in France.

In 1984, Dr. Dausset started a laboratory, later a genome research center, the Center for the Study of Human Polymorphism, which coordinated the first international collaboration to map the human genome. In 1993 it became the Foundation Jean Dausset-CEPH, a nonprofit institute. He retired as president of the foundation in 2003.