Linda Christian, Mexican-born American actress, first Bond girl (1954 television adaptation of Casino Royale) died she was , 87.

 Linda Christian was a Mexican movie actress, who appeared in Mexican and Hollywood films died she was , 87.. Her career reached its peak in the 1940s and 1950s. She played Mara in the last Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan film Tarzan and The Mermaids (1948). She is also noted for being the first Bond girl, appearing in a 1954 TV adaptation of the James Bond novel Casino Royale. In 1963 she starred in an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, "An Out for Oscar".

(November 13, 1923 – July 22, 2011)

Early life

Christian was born as Blanca Rosa Welter in Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico, a daughter of Dutch engineer and Royal Dutch Shell executive, Gerardus Jacob Welter (1904–1981),^[7][8] and his Mexican-born wife, the former Blanca Rosa Vorhauer (born 1901), who was of Spanish, German and French descent.^[9][10] The Welter family moved a great deal during Christian's youth, living everywhere from South America and Europe, to the Middle East and Africa.^[5] As a result of this nomadic lifestyle, Christian became an accomplished polyglot with the ability to speak fluent French, German, Dutch, Spanish, English, Italian, and even a bit of haphazard Arabic and Russian.^[5]
Christian had three younger siblings, a sister, actress Ariadna Gloria Welter (1930–1998), and two brothers, Gerardus Jacob Welter (b. 1924) and Edward Albert Welter (b. 1932).^[11][12]

Career

In her youth Christian's only aspiration was to become a physician.^[13] After she graduated from secondary school she had a fortuitous meeting with her screen idol Errol Flynn, who became her lover, and she was persuaded by him to give up her hopes of joining the medical profession, move to Hollywood, and pursue an acting career.^[13] Not long after arriving in Hollywood she was spotted by Louis B. Mayer's secretary at a fashion show in Beverly Hills. He offered, and she accepted, a seven year contract with MGM.^[14]
Her stage name was invented by Flynn, who gave her the surname of his character in Mutiny on the Bounty.^[15]
She made her film debut in the 1944 musical comedy Up In Arms, co-starring Danny Kaye and Dinah Shore. This movie also happened to be Danny Kaye's own first film.^[14] This film was followed by Holiday In Mexico (1946), Green Dolphin Street (1947), and what was perhaps her best-known film, Tarzan and the Mermaids^[14] (1948). She was the subject of a well-known photograph published in the January 1, 1949, issue of Vogue.

Marriages and relationships

Christian's fame, however, was largely derived from having married (and divorced) the popular movie actor Tyrone Power^[5] from 1949 to 1956. The couple married in Rome, Italy, at Santa Francesca Romana church; Christian wore a formfitting gold-damask gown, and the church was decorated with two thousand 'Esther' carnations. [1] She and Power were the parents of singer Romina Power and actress Taryn Power.^[16] Romina was one half of the Italian singing duo Al Bano and Romina Power.
A month after she divorced Tyrone Power, Christian was seen with Spanish athlete Alfonso de Portago, who was married to American Carroll de Portago (later Carroll Petrie). Carroll had recently given birth to "Fon's" second child Anthony. De Portago was also dating model Dorian Leigh, mother of his recently born illegitimate son Kim. Linda was photographed with de Portago at the 1957 Mille Miglia car race. The photo shows Christian leaning in to kiss Fon before he drove off and crashed his Ferrari, killing himself, his navigator Ed Nelson and at least ten spectators in the process. The press labeled the photo, "The Kiss of Death." De Portago was 28 years old. Her ex-husband, Tyrone Power, died the following year of a heart attack at the age of 44.
Christian was later married to the Rome-based British actor (and movie heartthrob) Edmund Purdom.^[4]
On several occasions Christian and Power were offered the opportunity to work together, but for various reasons each offer was refused or rescinded.^[16] The most notable opportunity to co-star together came in 1953, when they were offered leading roles in From Here to Eternity. Power did not wish to do the film,^[16] rejected the offer, and the roles went to Donna Reed and Montgomery Clift.

Bibliography

• Christian, Linda. Linda, My Own Story. New York: Crown Publishers (1962).

 

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Charles Taylor Manatt, American lawyer and banker, Chair of Democratic National Committee (1981–1985), Ambassador to Dominican Republic (1999–2001), died from a stroke he was , 75.

Charles Taylor Manatt was a U.S. Democratic Party political figure  died from a stroke he was , 75.. He was an American lawyer, politician and businessman.

(June 9, 1936 - July 22, 2011)

Manatt was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1981 to 1985. In those years, he supervised and directed the 1984 democratic national convention. He is now a delegate, sometimes categorized as a super delegate. He also served as Ambassador to the Dominican Republic from 1999 to 2001. He was the founder of the law firm Manatt, Phelps, and Phillips LLP, where his practice focused on international, administrative, and corporate law. Manatt served until June 2008 as chairman of the Board of Trustees at the George Washington University. His widow is Kathleen K. Manatt.
Manatt was a former Chair of the International Foundation of Election Systems Board of Director. He and his wife Kathleen established the Manatt Democracy Studies Fellowship Program in 1998.
Manatt died on July 22, 2011 at the age of 75.

Early life

Family

Manatt was born on June 9, 1936 in Chicago, Illinois. Son of William Price Manatt, and Lucille Taylor Manatt, the youngest of two boys alongside Richard P. Manatt. Although born in Chicago, he grew up in Audubon, Iowa, helping his father, a farmer, care for the family farm. His mother was a school teacher and later a stay-at-home mom. He attended primary, middle and high school in Audubon. In his sophomore year, he began dating Kathy Klinkefus, who later became his wife.

Education

In 1954, Manatt began studying at Iowa State College (later University). He and Kathy Klinkefus, who also attended Iowa State, graduated in early 1958. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Washington D.C., he began studying at the George Washington University School of Law. He served as President of the San Fernando Valley Bar Association, in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. From xxx until June 2008, Manatt served as chairman of the Board of Trustees at George Washington University. Manatt sat on the Council on American Politics, which brings together leaders from across the nation to address issues facing the growth and enrichment of the Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University.

Personal life

Marriage and children

Manatt married Kathleen (Kathy) Klinkefus on December 29, 1957 in Audubon, Iowa. They then moved to Washington, D.C. where they had their first child, Michele. Then, the family moved to Los Angeles, where they had two boys, Timothy and Daniel. The boys went to public school, while their daughter studied at a combination of public and private schools. She is a graduate of the Westlake School for Girls in West Los Angeles, now known as Harvard-Westlake. While Michele was attending the University of California at Berkeley, the family moved back to Washington D.C, where the two boys attended and graduated from Sidwell Friends School. Manatt continued expanding the Law Firm, where it grew to have offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, Washington, D.C, Orange County, CA, Palo Alto, CA,

Foundation of the law firm

In 1965, while living in Los Angeles he founded the Manatt law firm with his long-time friend and colleague Thomas Phelps, a banking and finance attorney. He began his legal career focusing on banking and financial services. In 1976, Mickey Kantor joined the firm and his name was added to the letterhead, until his departure in 1993. L. Lee Phillips, an entertainment lawyer, joined the firm in 1977, and became a named partner soon after. For its founding location, the firm headquarters are in Los Angeles. Over time, offices were opened in 8 different cities, primarily in California, but also in New York and Washington D.C.. In 2007, the law firm was employing 380 attorneys. It was founded as a general practice, now incorporating litigation, Corporate Finance, Entertainment, Health Care, Real Estate, Advertising, and lobbying. Some of their notable clients are: In advertising, Coca Cola Company, and Yahoo!; In entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and The Eagles, and in consumer services, AT&T, Hilton Hotels Corporation, and Time Warner. Their internal revenue in 2007 was $242 million

Chairman of the California State Democratic Party

National political life

In 1981, Manatt became the national chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and oversaw and executed the 1984 party convention, nominating former Vice President Walter Mondale of Minnesota for President, and New York congresswoman Geraldine A. Ferraro, making history as that marked the first time a woman was a major party nominee. The convention took place from July 16–19, 1984 in Moscone Center, San Francisco. The permanent chairman that year was Martha Layne Collins of Kentucky. Mondale was chosen on the first ballot. That year, the keynote speaker on the first evening of the convention was Governor Mario Cuomo of New York. Although the convention was considered a great success, the Mondale-Ferraro ticket could not get traction against the popularity of then-president and Republican Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush.
In 1987, he chaired Illinois Sen. Paul Simon's presidential campaign and in 1992 he co-chaired the Clinton/Gore presidential campaign.^[2]

Later Life

At the time of his death Manatt resided in Washington, D.C. where he helped run and work at his law firm, and was engaged in numerous civic activities. He had a granddaugther and grandson, Victoria and Patrick, the children of his daughter Michele Manatt, a former U.S. State Department and White House Drug Policy Office official, and her husband Wolfram Anders, an investment professional with the International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank Group. In 2010, their second granddaughter was born to Daniel and his wife Nikole Manatt.

Death

Charles Manatt died at age 75 on the evening of July 22, 2011 in Richmond, Virginia.^[3]

 

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Ifti Nasim, Pakistani-born American poet and radio host, died from a heart attack he was , 64

 Ifti Nasim was a gay Pakistani American poet died from a heart attack he was , 64. Having moved to the US to escape persecution for his sexual orientation, he became known locally for establishing Sangat, an organization to support LGBT south-Asian youths, and internationally for publishing Narman, a poetry collection that was the first open expression of homosexual themes in the Urdu language.

(1946 – July 22, 2011)

Personal life

Nasim was born in Lyallpur, British India (now Faisalabad, Pakistan) shortly before independence, a middle child in a large family. As a teenager he felt ostracized and alone, and was unable to live as openly gay; at the age of 21 he emigrated from Pakistan to the US, inspired in part by an article in Life magazine that he recalls describing the US as "the place for gays to be in".^[2][3] Several of his siblings later followed him to the US, and he eventually naturalized as a US citizen.
Ifti Nasim died in hospital in Chicago on July 22, 2011 following a heart attack, at the age of 64.

Poetry

The publication for which Ifti Nasim was best known was a book of poetry entitled Narman, a word meaning "hermaphrodite" or "half-man, half-woman" in Persian. It met immediate controversy in Pakistan and had to be distributed underground; even the printer of the book, belatedly realizing its contents, was reported to shout, "Take these unholy and dirty books away from me, or I'll set them on fire!” However, its frankness inspired a younger generation of Pakistani poets to write "honest" poetry, a genre becoming known as "narmani" poetry. ^[4]
He later released Myrmecophile in 2000,^[4] and Abdoz in 2005.^[1]

Ifti Nasim,2010

Ifti Nasim

 

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Franz Alt, Austrian-born American mathematician died he was , 100.

Franz Leopold Alt was an Austrian-born American mathematician who made major contributions to computer science in its early days died he was , 100.. He was best known as one of the founders of the Association for Computing Machinery, and served as its president from 1950 to 1952.

(November 30, 1910 – July 21, 2011)

Vienna

Alt was born in Vienna, Austria on November 30, 1910 to a secular Jewish family. He received a PhD in mathematics in 1932 from the University of Vienna, where his principal teachers were Hans Hahn and Karl Menger. He was one of the regular participants in, and contributors to, Menger’s “Mathematisches Kolloquium.” [Afterword, Karl Menger, Ergebnisse eines Mathematischen Kolloquiums, Springer-Verlag/Wien, 1998] Alt engaged in research in set-theoretic topology and logical foundations of geometry.
In addition, in the next few years he became interested in econometrics, stimulated by Oskar Morgenstern, then professor of economics at the University of Vienna, later at Princeton University. In 1936, Alt developed an axiomatic foundation for economic concepts, described in “Ueber die Messbarkeit des Nutzens,” which he presented at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Oslo.[Zeitschrift fuer Nationaloekonomie, VII/2, 1936; in German] This paper was also published as “On the Measurability of Utility” in Preferences, Utility, and Demand: A Minnesota Symposium (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1971).

New York

Alt left Austria at the time of its occupation by Nazi Germany in 1938 and came to New York with his wife Alice Modern, whom he married just before leaving Vienna. In the next few years it was their highest priority to save relatives and friends endangered by the Nazi terror in Austria or Germany. This involved finding Americans willing to serve as sponsors for immigration visas, and they were successful in helping about 30 adults and children to escape.
Between 1938 and 1946 Alt worked for six years at the Econometric Institute in New York City, interrupted by two years of service in the United States Army. At the Econometric Institute he served successively as Research Principal and Assistant Director of Research engaged in the analysis of economic time series by methods such as multiple correlation, used for business forecasting. He was concerned with the use of mathematical and statistical methods for the study and forecasting of business conditions in the economy as a whole and in a number of industries, commodity and security markets. One of the clients advised by Alt was the General Motors Corporation.

Army - 10th Mountain Division to Aberdeen

When the United States entered World War II, he volunteered for military service but was at first rejected as an alien; he was drafted into the Army in 1943. (Citizenship was granted in 1944.) He then served in the elite 10th Mountain Division, trained for skiing, rock climbing and mountain fighting. Toward the end of the war he graduated from officers’ training as a Second Lieutenant.
While in military service he was assigned to the Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground in 1945, in charge of planning for electronic computation. On discharge from the Army, he returned to the Econometric Institute for one year. As a civilian he returned to Aberdeen in 1946-48, and was Deputy Chief of the Computing Laboratory, which was a general-purpose mathematical service organization operating large digital and analog computing machines, punched card installation, and data reduction facility.

National Bureau of Standards, Washington, DC

As Deputy Chief of the Computation Laboratory (1948–52), then of the Applied Mathematics Division (1952–67), he directed the early use of computers throughout the National Bureau of Standards and elsewhere in the federal government, as well as research in numerical analysis, statistical engineering and some other branches of applied mathematics. From 1959 to 1961, he was one of the editors of the NBS Journal of Research.
For several years he also served as administrator of the Bureau of Standards’ program to award research grants in physics and chemistry in India, Pakistan and Israel, where foreign currency (PL 480) available for such purposes had been allocated to the Bureau.
Also during this time, he became interested in the use of computers for automatic translation of languages. This led to the founding of the Association for Computational Linguistics and to the organization of two international meetings jointly with a similar group in Japan, one in Washington, D.C., the other in Tokyo.

ACM – Association for Computing Machinery

Alt has a long history with the Association for Computing Machinery, known as ACM. He was one of its founders and served as its third president (1950–52). He was editor of its Journal (1954–58). Alt was the first recipient of its Distinguished Service Award (1970). In 1994, he was in the first group to be inducted as a Fellow of the ACM. Alt represented ACM on the National Research Council from 1961 to 1964. He is also a member of the American Mathematical Society, and formerly a member of the American Statistical Association, Institute of Mathematical Statistics, Econometric Society, and Association for Computational Linguistics.
Alt has written and been interviewed about the history of ACM several times. He wrote “Fifteen Years ACM: The development years of ACM, as recounted in 1962 by founding member and former president Franz L. Alt, depicts the players and progress of an organization committed to sharing computing knowledge and skills” (Communications of the ACM, June 1962, Vol.5 #6; reprinted October 1987, Vol. 30 #10).
Alt was interviewed in 1969 by Uta C. Merzbach for the Computer Oral History Collection at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History(http://invention.smithsonian.org/downloads/fa_cohc_tr_alt690224.pdf). Oral History Transcript at Niels Bohr Archives, American Institute of Physics, 24 Feb. And 13 March 1969.
For the 25th anniversary of the founding of ACM, Alt wrote “Archeology of Computers: Reminiscences, 1945-47" (Communications of the ACM, July 1972, Vol. 15 #7).
We had succeeded in obtaining John von Neumann as keynote speaker [for the first national meeting of the ACM]. He discussed the need for, and likely impact of, electronic computing. He mentioned the “new programming method” for ENIAC and explained that its seemingly small vocabulary was in fact ample; that future computers, then in the design stage, would get along on a dozen instruction types, and this was known to be adequate for expressing all of mathematics. . . Von Neumann went on to say that one need not be surprised at this small number, since about 1,000 words were known to be adequate for most situations of real life, and mathematics was only a small part of life, and a very simple part at that. This caused some hilarity in the audience, which provoked von Neumann to say: “If people do not believe that mathematics is simple, it is only because they do not realize how complicated life is."
Alt was interviewed in 1995 by Janet Benton (excerpted as “Franz Alt Remembers the Early Years of Computing and the Creation of ACM,” ACMMemberNet Supplement to Communications of the ACM, Feb. 1996, Vol. 39 #2).
For JACM’s 50th Anniversary, he contributed “Journal of the ACM–The Beginnings” (Journal

American Institute of Physics, New York

In 1967, distressed by the war in Vietnam, he left the United States Government for the position of Deputy Director of the Information Division of the American Institute of Physics in New York. There he was instrumental in establishing a computerized information system on papers in the physics journal literature, including hierarchical classification, subject indexing and a citation index.

Retirement

After his retirement in 1973, he did volunteer work for peace and justice organizations, with an emphasis on work for peace in Southeast Asia and anti-nuclear work, particularly for Clergy and Laity Concerned About Vietnam (1976–91) [Sheila Collins, “A Man for All Seasons: A Tribute to Franz Alt,” CALC Report, October 1988]. Throughout he continued to pursue his lifelong hobbies of hiking, climbing and skiing, as well as playing violin and viola in chamber music. He turned 100 in November 2010.^[1]

Recognitions

Alt was interviewed by Reinhard Siegmund-Schultze for his history of German and Austrian mathematicians who fled from Hitler. Mathematiker auf der Flucht vor Hitler: Quellen und Studien zur Emigration einer Wissenschaft, (Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung, 1998). Expanded and translated into English as Mathematicians Fleeing from Nazi Germany: Individual Fates and Global Impact (Princeton University Press, 2009).
In 1998, Alt attended the International Congress of Mathematicians in Berlin as the guest of the Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung (German Mathematical Society) in connection with its exhibition “Terror and Exile: Persecution and Expulsion of Mathematicians from Berlin between 1933-1945."
Die Oesterreichische Mathematische Gesellschaft (the Austrian Mathematical Society) invited him to attend the 2001 joint meeting in Vienna of the German and Austrian mathematical societies in conjunction with the exhibition “Vienna 1938 and the Exodus of Mathematicians.” At the opening of the exhibition, he spoke of his recollections [“Personliche Erinnerungen an 1938," Internationale Mathematische Nachrichten, Nr. 188 (2001), 1-7 www.oemg.ac.at/IMN/imn188.pdf]
In May 2007, Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer conferred on Alt the “Ehrenkreuz fuer Wissenschaft und Kunst I. Klasse,” the highest distinction for science and art in Austria. In a symposium in the University Dr. Karl Sigmund, professor of mathematics of the University of Vienna, spoke of Alt’s place in the history of mathematics in Vienna between the wars. Dr. Walter Schachermayer, then of the Vienna University of Technology, spoke about Alt’s paper “On the Measurement of Utility,” presented at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Oslo in 1936, and its relation to the work of John von Neumann, Oscar Morgenstern and Kenneth Arrow, and recent developments in the notion of coherent risk measures. [SAA [Standards Alumni Association] Newsletter, June 2007, p. 19].
While he was in Vienna in May 2007, Alt spoke to students of his old gymnasium, the Stubenbastei. The school established the Franz Alt Preis in his honor. The prize is awarded in two categories, Science and Mathematics and Human Rights and Justice, for papers written by graduating students, and has been awarded annually since 2008.

 

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Elliot Handler, American businessman, co-founder of Mattel, namer of the Barbie doll, creator of Hot Wheels, died from a heart failure he was , 95

Elliot Handler was the co-founder of Mattel. With his wife, he was a developer of some of the biggest-selling toys in American history, including Barbie dolls, Chatty Cathy, Creepy Crawlers and Hot Wheels. 

(April 9, 1916 – July 21, 2011)

Family and education

Handler was born in Chicago, Illinois, on April 9, 1916, and grew up in Denver, Colorado.^[3] He studied industrial design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He married Ruth Moskowicz and they had a daughter who is the namesake of Barbie dolls and a son who died in 1994 of a brain tumor, but who was the namesake of Ken dolls.^[4][5]

Mattel

Mattel was named after business partners Harold Matson and Elliot Handler. Elliot's wife, Ruth, took over Matson's role when the Handlers bought out his share in the late 1940s. Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the Barbie doll that debuted in 1959 and which Ruth named after their daughter Barbara Handler. The Barbie doll is still one of the top-selling dolls. Mattel introduced the talking Chatty Cathy doll in 1960.
Later talking dolls included Chatty Baby, Charmin' Chatty, and toys made for cartoon favorites, such as Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig. Television characters, such as Herman Munster and Mr. Ed, were also transformed into Mattel talking toys. The pull string talking mechanism in these dolls and toys revolutionized the toy industry.
Elliot Handler had a direct hand in the production of two Mattel product lines. In 1966 Mattel introduced smaller dolls called Liddle Kiddles. Handler claimed he wanted them to resemble little children in neighborhoods across America. They were sculpted by doll artist Martha Armstrong-Hand. Kiddles were a great success and continued to be produced in different versions until the early 1970s. Another product line was Hot Wheels, introduced in 1968, which gave rise to 10,000 different models.^[5]

Later life

Originally called Mattel Creations, it has gone on to become the largest toy maker in the world. In April 2008, Handler was honored by Mattel with a 90th birthday party at its headquarters in El Segundo, California. Guests included his daughter Barbara Segal, after whom the Barbie doll was named.^[5]
Handler died of heart failure at home in Century City, a district of Los Angeles, California, at age 95 on July 21, 2011.^[5] Ruth Handler died in 2002.^[3] He was survived by his 70 year-old daughter Barbara.

 

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William Hildenbrand, American government officer, Secretary of the United States Senate (1981–1985) died he was , 89

William F. Hildenbrand was an American government officer who served as the Secretary of the United States Senate from 1981 to 1985 died he was , 89.

(November 28, 1921 - July 21, 2011)

Hildenbrand was born in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, on November 28, 1921.^[1] He enlisted in the United States Army in 1942 during World War II and was sent to Europe in the infantry.^[1] He returned to Philadelphia following the end of World War II, where he worked as a radio announcer.^[1] He was once again deployed by the Army during the Korean War.^[1]
Hildenbrand was hired as a congressional staffer by Rep. Harry Haskell, a Republican from Delaware, in 1957, based moved to Washington D.C.^[1] Haskell lost his bid for re-election in 1958, so Hildenbrand took a position with the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.^[1] In 1969, Hildenbrand returned to the Capitol when he was hired as a staff member for the Republican Minority Whip, Senator Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania.^[1]
Hildenbrand became the Secretary for the Minority of the Senate in 1974.^[1] Republicans won control of the United States Senate in the 1980 Senate elections and took control of the chamber in January 1981.^[1] Hildenbrand aided Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker in the the transition from Democratic control to Republican control, the first such transfer of party control in the Senate in twenty-six years.^[1]
The Republicans named Hildenbrand as the Secretary of the United States Senate in 1981.^[1] He served as Secretary until his retirement in 1985.^[1]
Hildenbrand released a memoir entitled, When the Senate Cared, in 2007.^[1] He also added his stories and history to the Senate's oral history archive for preservation.^[1]
Hildenbrand died on July 21, 2011, at the age of 89. The United States Senate passed a resolution honoring him for his service to the chamber.^[1]

 

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Bruce Sundlun, American politician, Governor of Rhode Island (1991–1995) died he was , 91.

Bruce Sundlun (born Bruce George Sundlun) was an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as 71st Governor of Rhode Island from 1991 to 1995. He was Rhode Island's second Jewish governor, and the only Jewish governor in the United States during his two terms. In addition to politics, Sundlun had a varied career as a military pilot, federal attorney, practicing lawyer, corporate executive and university lecturer.

(January 19, 1920 – July 21, 2011),

Early life and education

Sundlun was born in Providence on January 19, 1920 to Walter Irving Sundlun and Jan Zelda (Colitz) Sundlun. His grandparents were Lithuanian Jewish immigrants.^[4] Sundlun attended the Gordon School, Providence Classical High School and Tabor Academy. In 1933 while attending boy scout camp at Camp Yawgoog he fell though ice on a pond and was rescued by a young John Chaffee, and while he was in high school he was track star, excelling in long jump events.^[5] Upon finishing college classes begun in 1938, he received a B.A. from Williams College in 1946 after serving during World War II in the United States Army Air Forces flying B-17 bombers in the 8th Air Force in England. He attended Harvard Law School, graduating with a Doctor of Laws degree in 1949.^[3]

Military service

While still in college, Bruce Sundlun volunteered for service in the U.S. Army Air Forces Aviation Cadet Program on December 8, 1941, at Westover Field. He was trained as a four-engine bomber pilot at Maxwell Field in Alabama, after basic flight training at the USAAC Southeast Training Center at Orangeburg, South Carolina, the Greenville Army Air Field at Greenville, Mississippi, and George Field in Lawrenceville, Illinois.
During overseas active duty beginning in June 1943, Sundlun served as a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot in the England-based 384th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force at Grafton-Underwood Air Base. His plane the Damn Yankee^[6] was shot down over Nazi-occupied Jabbeke, Belgium on 1 December 1943 after the plane was damaged by flak during the bombing of Solingen, Germany, on his 13th mission.^[7] He was named an honorary citizen of Jabbeke in 2009 because of the fact that his actions saved countless lives in the town center of Jabbeke.^[8] He and his copilot Lt. Andrew J. Boles banked the airplane hard to the left prior to bailing out, crashing it safely into a turnip field at Zomerweg 41, south of the Jabbeke town center.
After six months time cooperating with the French Resistance under the code name Salamander, he made several attempts to enter Spain near Biarritz, and later near Foix. But after a deciding that there was too much danger of capture or loss in the snowy Pyrenees, he made his way on stolen bicycles north-eastward across France and escaped into Switzerland on 5 May 1944 near Fêche-l'Église. Before escaping into Switzerland, he was engaged with the Maquis in acts of sabotage near Belfort against German Army units under the command of Russian defector General Andrey Vlasov.^[3][9] Later, he was recruited by Allen Dulles working out of the U.S. Embassy in Bern to reenter France under the auspices of the Office of Strategic Services to act as a bombardment spotter for the Allied invasion of Marseilles in August 1944. After a brief service as a pilot of C-54 Skymaster cargo planes into Karachi, and over "The Hump" to Kunming after VE Day, he ferried bombers (B-24 Liberators and B-29 Superfortresses) from the U.S. mainland to Tinian in the Mariana Islands and into other bases in the Pacific Theater of Operations.
In August 1945, Sundlun attained the rank of captain, and left active service at the end of the war. He received the Purple Heart, Distinguished Flying Cross, and Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters from the U.S. military, and in 1977 he received the Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur from the French government.^[10] Despite ending his active service in 1945, he remained in the U.S. Air Force Reserves and rose through the officer ranks until he retired as a Colonel in 1980 after serving with the 376th Troop Carrier Squadron at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts, and the 459th Troop Carrier Group, Medium at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland^[11]
In September 1948 Sundlun flew surplus B-17 bombers from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona to the newly created state of Israel to help form the Israeli Air Force. Later on 27 November 1979, he was awarded the Prime Minister's Medal by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin for his services to the State of Israel.^[12][13]

[edit] Bruce Sundlun's Military Awards & Decorations

  USAAF Command pilot

Distinguished Flying Cross

Purple Heart

Air Medal plus two oak leaf clusters

European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal

Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal

American Campaign Medal

World War II Victory Medal

Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur (France)

Legal and business career

From 1949 to 1972, Sundlun was a practicing attorney. In 1949, he was appointed by Attorney General J. Howard McGrath to serve as an Assistant U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C. and later served as a Special Assistant to the U.S. Attorney General. From 1954 to 1972, he was in private law practice in both Washington, D.C. and Providence, with the law firms of Amram, Hahn, and Sundlun, and Sundlun, Tirana and Scher.
Sundlun was active as a businessman from the 1960s through the 1990s. He was a pioneer in the jet charter industry in 1964 by being one of the founding members of the board of directors of Executive Jet Aviation (EJA), along with Air Force generals Curtis E. LeMay, and Paul Tibbetts, and entertainers James Stewart and Arthur Godfrey among others, with retired Air Force Brigadier General Olbert F. ("Dick") Lassiter as president and chairman of the board.^[14][15] Shortly after incorporation in Ohio, Sundlun arranged financing for EJA by engineering a stock purchase by American Contract Company of Wilmington, Delaware, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad. EJA initially began operations in 1964 with a fleet of ten Learjet 23 aircraft.^[16] A few years afterward, a number of financial and legal improprieties were made by Lassiter including the purchase of Boeing 707 and Boeing 727 aircraft in violation of federal law prohibiting railroad ownership of large aircraft. An order by the Civil Aeronautics Board for EJA to either dispose of the large airplanes or for the Penn Central Railroad to divest its $22 million investment led to the near collapse of EJA in 1970.^[17] The company's creditors reacted by demanding the removal of Lassiter as president.^[18] On July 2, 1970 Sundlun was installed as EJA president, and he set out to rebuild the company. Under his leadership, the big jets were sold and he brought the company into the black. In the process, Sundlun, Robert Lee Scott, Jr. and Joseph Samuels ("Dody") Sinclair, grandson of one of the founders of The Outlet Company of Providence, borrowed $1.25 million from the Industrial Trust Company of Providence to buy out Penn Central's interest in EJA. That purchase was completed in 1972 as part of the Penn Central Railroad's bankruptcy proceedings. When Paul Tibbetts became president of EJA in 1976, he said that the company's turn around, under Sundlun's guidance, was one of the nation's great business success stories of that decade.^[19] By the end of Sundlun's presidency, EJA was doing business with approximately 250 contract flying customers and logging more than three million miles per year. Sundlun remained on the Board of Directors of EJA until it was sold in 1984 to a group of investors led by Richard Santulli. The company is still in business with the name of NetJets as one of the holdings of Berkshire Hathaway.
From 1976 to 1988, Sundlun was president and chief executive officer of The Outlet Company, a department store and broadcast communications company in Providence. In close association with Dody Sinclair, he led the diversification of the corporation by expanding its radio and television broadcast communications portfolio in the 1970s and 1980s until it had 147 retail stores and 11 radio and television stations.^[20] He presided over the corporation during the 1981 sale of the company's flagship Providence department store, sale of several radio stations, the merger of The Outlet Company with the Rockefeller Group in 1984, and the renaming of the company to Outlet Communications.^[20] In 1986 after the Rockefeller family voted to not expand further into broadcast communications, a group of Outlet Communications executives, led by Sundlun, executed a leveraged buyout of the company.^[21] Remaining as president throughout the entire merger and leveraged buyout sequence, Sundlun led the doubling of Outlet Communications holdings of licensed television broadcast stations from 4 to 11 across the country. And in his last three years as president between 1986 and 1988, he led the sale of the Outlet Communications stations in Orlando, San Antonio and Sacramento.

Politics and public service

Sundlun ran twice but lost the Rhode Island governorship races in 1986 and 1988, but won it in his third try in 1990, defeating incumbent governor Edward D. DiPrete in a landslide victory 74%-26%,the largest majority for any Rhode Island governor. He won reelection in 1992, but in 1994, he failed to win the Democratic primary against Myrth York, and she was defeated in the general election.
Only one hour after Sundlun's inauguration as governor on January 1, 1991, he announced the closure of 45 banks and credit unions in the state due to the collapse of their private insurer, the Rhode Island Share and Deposit Indemnity Corporation (RISDIC).^[22] Resolution of the crisis was through Sundlun's creation of the Rhode Island Depositor's Economic Protection Corporation (DEPCO) to manage the assets of closed banks and assure depositor repayment. Sundlun served as the chairman of the DEPCO Board of Directors. Despite considerable political resistance and the permanent closure of several institutions due to their failure to acquire Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or National Credit Union Administration insurance, all depositor funds were repaid in full plus interest, after two and a half years.^[23]
During Sundlun's two terms as governor, he took particular interest in expanding Rhode Island as a destination for conventions and tourism. Noting that a shortage of hotels in Providence hindered the city's development as a convention destination by building the Rhode Island Convention Center. Later, he urged the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority to facilitate the building of a hotel that eventually became The Westin Providence.^[24][25] He created the Rhode Island Airport Corporation as an entity to revitalize and operate Rhode Island's state airports, and he was responsible for a complete redesign and rebuild of the passenger terminal and airport approach roads at T.F. Green Airport in Warwick.^[26][27] In 1992, he aided in the establishment of the Quonset Air Museum at the Quonset State Airport in North Kingstown.^[28] He was also was responsible for building the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge, and the Jamestown Expressway, as well as arranging the financing of Providence Place Mall, and the relocation of the Woonasquatucket River to permit the construction of Waterplace Park and the Citizens Bank Building in downtown Providence.^[29] The Bruce Sundlun Terminal at T.F. Green Airport is named in his honor, and the airport now generates over $2 billion in economic activity annually.^[30]
Sundlun served as a co-chairman of the inaugural parade committee for President John F. Kennedy in 1960 and 1961, and was appointed by President Kennedy in October, 1962 as an incorporating member of the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT), where he served for 30 years as a director.^[31] In 1978, President Jimmy Carter appointed him as a member of the Board of Visitors of the United States Air Force Academy where he served two four-year terms,^[32] and that same year, he was appointed by Governor J. Joseph Garrahy as a Rhode Island Commodore. He served a four-year term as a director of the National Security Education Board, appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993.^[33] Sundlun was a delegate to Democratic National Convention in 1964, 1968, 1980, 1988, and 2000, as well as to the Rhode Island Constitutional Convention of 1985. He was a member of the Providence School Board from 1984 to 1990. And from 1995 until his death, Sundlun had been teaching political science and Rhode Island history at the University of Rhode Island as Governor in Residence.^[34]

Personal life

From the 1950s to the late-1980s, Sundlun maintained a residence at Salamander Farm, a 130-acre (0.53 km²) estate in The Plains, Virginia, which he named after his wartime identity with the French Underground.^[35] From 2004 until his death in 2011, he lived in Jamestown, Rhode Island with his wife Susan, a professional photographer and owner of East Greenwich Photo.^[36]
Sundlun had been married five times and has four children. He was the father of WFSB news anchor Kara (Hewes) Sundlun and father-in-law to WFSB news anchor Dennis House.^[37] Sundlun admitted paternity after Hewes filed suit in 1993 alleging that Sundlun had fathered her in a relationship with her mother, Judith Vargo (Hewes). During the initial stages of the suit, Sundlun said that a payment to Judith Hewes of $35,000 in 1976 and Kara's adoption by Robert Hewes in the late 1970s had fully absolved him of financial responsibility in the matter.^[38] However, Sundlun accepted Kara Hewes fully as his daughter assuring that her college education was fully financed.^[39]
Sundlun also had 3 sons from his first marriage to Madeleine Gimbel: Tracy Walter Sundlun, Vice President of Competitor Group, a promoter and manager of marathon races who at 17 coached track at the 1972 Olympic Games and was the youngest ever Olympic coach;^[40][41] Stuart Arthur Sundlun, a financial services executive managing the New York operations of Triago;^[42] and Peter Bruce Sundlun, a commercial airline pilot with Dominion Aviation Services and Atlantic Southeast Airlines until 2009, becoming a Transportation Security Officer with the Transportation Security Administration.^[43] Tracy has a daughter named Felicity, Peter has a son named Hunter, and Kara has two children, Helena and Julian.^[3]
Sundlun died on 21 July 2011 at his home in Jamestown, Rhode Island.^[2][44] Sundlun was accorded full state and military honors prior to and at his funeral and burial on 24 July 2011.^[45] He was buried at Temple Beth El Cemetery in Cranston, Rhode Island.^[46]

Media reports and popular controversy

In July 1993, when he thought that three raccoons on his 4-acre (16,000 m²) Newport estate were rabid, Sundlun shot at them with a 12-gauge shotgun. Later the Providence Journal-Bulletin reported that the act was illegal according to state fish and game laws. The day of the publication, Sundlun turned himself in to the state police for arrest stating that ethics was the cornerstone of his administration. The state police reluctantly complied, so the case went to court and Sundlun pleaded guilty. But state officials and his own lawyer Robert Flanders, convinced Sundlun that his actions were not a crime because his estate did not constitute a "compact area" and because the threat of rabies that year had led the state to waive restrictions on shooting raccoons. His guilty plea was withdrawn and all charges were dropped.^[47]
In December 1997, in East Greenwich, Sundlun attempted to purchase some plastic forks from a nearby CVS/pharmacy convenience store for a Christmas party he was attending. Police were called after an argument over Sundlun and the teenaged employees for not complying with his requests. Sundlun eventually issued an apology to the workers and the pharmacy chain for his actions.^[48]
On February 24, 2009, Sundlun was involved in a dispute over place in line at branch of Citizens Bank in East Greenwich. Sundlun was pushed to the ground by Charles Machado, 59, of Warwick. Sundlun hit his head and was stunned, but he declined to press charges against Machado.^[49]
In recent years, Sundlun had been involved in some traffic accidents and traffic violations, which led two Rhode Island police departments, North Kingstown in 2007 and Jamestown in 2009, to convince the state Department of Motor Vehicles in evaluating Sundlun's ability to drive. In 2008, he was admonished by authorities of University of Rhode Island about his driving on the campus after separate incidents in which he drove on the sidewalk, nearly hit a professor who was walking with a cane, and allegedly bumped into a parked car. Sundlun passed the first driving test which was the result of the North Kingstown request. On April 30, 2009, Sundlun voluntarily surrendered his license.^[50][51]
On June 4, 2009, Sundlun was on a WPRO radio talk show in which he claimed that he flew a private plane owned by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Votolato, 79, from T.F. Green Airport to Hartford. Within days, Judge Votolato and Sundlun had issued a statement that the judge was in fact in full control of the aircraft. While Votolato's pilot's license had been maintained up to date, Sundlun's commercial pilot's license had expired in the late 1970s.^[52]

 

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