Carl Wood, Australian in vitro fertilisation pioneer, died from Alzheimer's disease he was 81.

Edwin Carlyle "Carl" Wood, AC, CBE, FRCS, FRANZCOG  was a prominent Australian gynaecologist, best known for his pioneering work developing and commercialising the technique of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). He gained considerable international and national attention for his wide-ranging contributions in the field of women's health over a period of almost 50 years, although not all of it was positive given the controversial nature of many of his endeavours.^[1]

(28 May 1929 – 23 September 2011)

Biography

After completing his education at Wesley College, Melbourne he graduated in medicine with honours at Melbourne University in 1952. He then held positions as Research Associate at the Rockefeller Institute in New York, and Senior Lecturer in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital for Women in London before becoming the Foundation Professor and Chairman of the Monash University Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Queen Victoria Hospital and Monash Medical Centre in 1964.
Professor Wood received international acclaim in the 1970s for his pioneering work in the fields of obstetric physiology and foetal monitoring as well as in psychosomatic obstetrics and gynaecology, birth control and finally in in-vitro fertilisation. In 1988 he was recognised with the Axel Munthe Award in Reproductive Science.
Professor Wood led the Monash University IVF team in the development of the IVF technique during the late 1970s and early 1980s. His team were responsible for a number of innovations including the world's first IVF pregnancy 1973, world's first IVF baby developed using a frozen embryo 1983, world's first donor egg baby 1983, world's first IVF baby using sperm retrieval surgery 1986 and world's first Microinjection Intra Fallopian Transfer (MIFT) IVF baby 1992.^[2] The most important development, however, was the use of pharmaceutical and hormonal stimulation of ovaries for more control of egg maturation and collection, which transformed IVF from an experimental technique to a successful clinical treatment.^[3]
Carl Wood held many wide ranging positions while Chairman of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Monash University. These included, among others, Foundation Chairman Medical Advisory Committee, Family Planning Association of Victoria 1970-72, Chairman Artificial Insemination by Donor (AID) Service, Melbourne Family Medical Centre, Monash University 1976-78, Foundation President of Victorian Association for the Study of Sex Education, Research and Therapy 1982, and President, International Society for Gynaecologic Endoscopy 1997-98. He was Chairman and Director, In Vitro Fertilisation Program Melbourne Family Medical Centre Monash University 1978-86, where he carried out most of his pioneering work in this field. He also jointly established the Endometriosis Care Clinic of Australia (ECCA) in 1998, a charitable foundation to assist Australian women suffering from this disease.
Professor Wood was an invited speaker at over 90 national and international meetings, and wrote 23 books, 59 chapters and 400 papers in refereed medical and scientific journals.
Professor Wood was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1982, and Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 1995 for his services to women's health and as a pioneer of in-vitro fertilisation.
The Carl Wood Endowment was established by the Monash University Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology to provide funds for the research development of young clinicians. More recently the Carl Wood Chair was established by the same department.
Carl Wood has been called variously the father,^[4] grandfather^[5] and godfather^[6] of IVF.
He died on 23 September 2011 after suffering from an Alzheimer's-type dementia.


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Andrej Bajuk, Slovenian politician and economist, Prime Minister (2000), died from stroke at 67.

Andrej Bajuk, also known in Spanish as Andrés Bajuk was a Slovene politician and economist died from stroke at 67..He served briefly as Prime Minister of Slovenia in the year 2000, and Finance Minister in the centre-right government of Janez Janša between 2004 and 2008. He was founder and first president of the Christian Democratic party called New Slovenia.

(18 October 1943 – 16 August 2011)

Life in exile

Bajuk was born in a Slovene intellectual family in Nazi-occupied Ljubljana. His father Bozidar Bajuk was a classical philologist, and his grandfather Marko Bajuk was the principal of the Bežigrad Grammar School, one of the most prestigious secondary schools in Ljubljana. The Bajuks were acquainted with the famous poet Edvard Kocbek who lived in the same building.
The family left Slovenia in early May 1945, when the Communists took power in Yugoslavia. They spent nearly three years in refugee camps in Lower and Upper Austria before leaving to Argentina with the help of the Slovene refugee relief network set by Ivan Ahčin and Miha Krek. They settled in Mendoza, where Bajuk grew up, studied and started a family.
He received his first degree in economics at Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. He received his first Master's degree in a two-year international study program organised by the University of Chicago, receiving the second jointly with his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. He returned to Mendoza, where he taught as a professor at the university. After the military coup in 1976 he was fired and soon left for Washington, D.C., working for the World Bank for a year. He then switched to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), where he stayed for a number of years. He held a range of positions at the IDB, from economist in charge of analysing social projects to adviser to the executive vice-president. For his last six years in Washington he was in charge of the office of the Presidency of the bank and a member of the board of executive directors of the bank. From September 1994 he was IDB representative for Europe in Paris.

Return to Slovenia

From the second half of 1999 Bajuk spent a considerable amount of time in Slovenia and, following the coalition agreement between the Slovenian Christian Democrats and the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia, assumed leadership of the expert council developing the coalition's alternative government programme. At the unification congress of the SKD and Slovene People's Party, he was elected deputy president of the unified party.
After the fall of Janez Drnovšek's centre-left government, Andrej Bajuk became the Prime Minister on 3 May 2000, and led the government until 16 November 2000. In July 2000, the newly merged SLS+SKD – Slovenian People's Party – contrary to previously agreed policy and government stance – voted in favour of an electoral system based on proportional representation. This led Prime Minister Bajuk to leave the Slovene People's Party. In August 2000, he and his supporters founded a new political party called New Slovenia (Nova Slovenija, N.Si).
In the elections of 2000, he was elected to the National Assembly, but Janez Drnovšek returned to power as prime minister. Bajuk’s party stayed in the opposition and formed a shadow cabinet jointly with Janez Janša's Social Democratic Party of Slovenia.
In the 2004 national elections, he was again elected to the Slovenian parliament. He did not stay an MP for long, as he soon took on the role of the finance minister in the newly elected government, led by Janez Janša. For his actions and work during his time in office, he was declared (the) "finance minister of the year in Europe" by the Financial Times Business magazine, "The Banker" in 2005.
In the parliamentary elections of 2008, the "New Slovenia" party suffered a severe defeat and did not secure the entry in the Slovenian National Assembly. Bajuk resigned as president of the party and was replaced by Ljudmila Novak. At that time, he completely retired from public life.
He was fluent in Slovene, Spanish, English and French. Bajuk was the father-in-law of the Slovenian diplomat and essayist Igor Senčar.
Bajuk died of a stroke on 16 August 2011.^[2]

 

 

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Mihri Belli, Turkish politician and writer, died from respiratory failure at 96.

Mihri Belli was a prominent leader of the socialist movement in Turkey. He was legendary for having fought on the partisan side in the Greek Civil War  died from respiratory failure at 96..
Belli was repeatedly prosecuted and sentenced to prison for his political views, and was altogether imprisoned for 11 years, and forced into exile for another 18.
Belli wrote several influential books on the Turkish left and was, for many years, a source of inspiration for leftist Turkish youths.

(1916 – 16 August 2011)

Early life

Belli was born in 1916 in Silivri, then in the Ottoman Empire, to Mahmut Hayrettin Bey, later a prominent leader of the Turkish War of Independence in Urfa.
He was educated at Robert College in Istanbul, and in 1936 went on to study economics at the University of Mississippi in the United States of America. There he was introduced to Marxist thought and revolutionary action. He took part in the activities of the civil rights movement in Mississippi.

Return to Turkey

Belli returned to Turkey in 1940, where he joined the illegal Communist Party of Turkey (TKP).
Turkey was at the time under a one-party regime. The government, under the influence of the German advances in the initial years of the World War II, had abandoned its policy of friendship with the USSR. The only opposition party in Turkey in these days was the underground TKP. Belli, after returning to Turkey, contacted the illegal party via his elementary-school friend David Nea, who was the party secretary for Istanbul at the time. Belli became a member of the central committee of the TKP in 1942.
He served as assistant professor with professor Fritz Neumark at the Faculty of Economics of Istanbul University in the years 1943–1944. There he was among the founders and organizers of the İlerici Gençler Birliği (Progressive Youth Union).^[4] In 1944 he was arrested for these activities and sentenced to two years imprisonment and exile.

Greek Civil War

Belli left Turkey in 1946, and joined the Greek Civil War as a guerrilla fighter. He rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Democratic Army of Greece. He was wounded twice in battle, and was treated in Bulgaria and the USSR.
In 1950 he was imprisoned in Turkey for a short while for entry without a passport and illegal possession of a handgun. Shortly after his release, he was imprisoned again in 1951 in a wave of TKP arrests. This time he was sentenced to 7 years in prison and two years and four months of forced relocation.
A documentary about his time in Greece, entitled "Καπετάν Κεμάλ, ο σύντροφος" ("Captain Kemal, A Comrade"; Turkish title "Kaptan Kemal, Bir Yoldaş") was made by the prominent Greek filmmaker Fotos Lamprinos.^[5]

Turkish revolutionary movement

During the 1960s, Belli could write and speak without having to use an alias. Nevertheless, also in that period he served prison time for various articles and speeches. He was part of the group who published the revolutionary magazines Türk Solu and Aydınlık Sosyalist Dergi. Expelled from the TKP, he joined the newly formed Workers Party of Turkey (TİP). At this time, he developed his well-known thesis known as Milli Demokratik Devrim (National Democratic Revolution), abbreviated MDD.^[6] With his friends, he contacted Deniz Gezmiş and Mahir Çayan, who were at the time leaders of the youth movement amassing popular support. The ideas of MDD quickly gained prominence among the leftist youth movement; it became the main theoretical framework for most of the leftist groups that flourished in Turkey in that period^[7] and played a key role in the '68 movement in Turkey, giving it a Marxist and revolutionary characteristic.^[8]
Mihri Belli left Turkey after the 1971 military coup to avoid arrest, and was for a while a guest of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. He returned to Turkey briefly, en route to Western Europe. There he stayed for a while and helped with the magazine Yurtsever (Patriot). He was back in Turkey when the centre-left Republican People's Party (CHP) under Ecevit emerged as the largest party in the 1973 elections.
After the amnesty of 1974, he founded the Labour Party of Turkey (TEP) in 1975. Immediately after the founding of the party, the prosecutor's office of the Martial Law Court took notice and demanded the removal of the word Kurd from the party program and other documents. The Constitutional Court banned the TEP for demanding equal rights for Kurds.
In 1979, Belli faced an assassination attempt in which he was severely injured. After the 1980 military coup, he left for the Middle East. From there he moved to Sweden, where he followed the Kurdish movement closely until he returned to Turkey in 1992. In 1997 he met with Abdullah Öcalan, where they came to the common conclusion that a solution to the Kurdish issue under the umbrella of a unitarian state, instead of a federative solution, was possible on the basis of equality and voluntary union. The report of this meeting was later published in book form.
In 1996 Belli participated in the founding of the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP), and that of the Socialist Democracy Party (SDP) in 2002. He was a candidate for member of parliament for Istanbul in the 2002 elections.
In 2005, the portraits Belli had made 50 years earlier, while in prison, were presented in an exhibition "Lines From Prison". He was imprisoned for 11 years, and forced into exile for 18. Together with several other founding members he resigned from the SDP in 2007 and took part in the 2008 founding of the Workers' Socialist Party (İşçilerin Sosyalist Partisi), better known by the shortened name Socialist Party (Sosyalist Parti), along with others who left.

Death

Mihri Belli died in his home in Istanbul from respiratory distress, on 16 August 2011.^[1] He is buried in Feriköy, Şişli, Istanbul.

 

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Creed Black, American newspaper publisher (Lexington Herald-Leader), died at 86.

Creed Carter Black was an American newspaper executive and publisher of the Lexington Herald-Leader, where he published a series of articles on corruption in Kentucky's coal industry and the University of Kentucky's Wildcats men's basketball team died at 86..

(July 15, 1925 – August 16, 2011)

In addition, Black also worked as an executive for The Nashville Tennessean, Savannah Morning News, the now defunct Savannah Evening Press, Chicago Daily News and Philadelphia Inquirer during his career.^[1] Black served as the President of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the National Conference of Editorial Writers, the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association.^[1]

Outside of journalism, Black served as an assistant secretary of health, education and welfare for legislation during the first eighteen months of President Richard Nixon's first term in office.^[1]
Black was born on July 15, 1925, in Harlan, Kentucky.^[1] His father was struck and killed by lightning when he was five years old and he moved to Paducah with his mother.^[1] He began his career in professional journalism by working at the Paducah Sun-Democrat as a part-time journalist when he was seventeen years old.^[1] He enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II, serving in the infantry in the European Theater.^[1] He was awarded the Bronze Star during the war.^[1] Black obtained his bachelor's degree^[1] from Northwestern University and his master's degree from the University of Chicago after the war.^[1]
Creed Black died of complications from a stroke in Miami, Florida, on August 16, 2011, at the age of 86.^[1]

 

 

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Augustus Aikhomum, Nigerian admiral and politician, Vice President (1986–1993), died at 72.

Augustus Akhabue Aikhomu was an Admiral in the Nigerian Navy, who served as the de facto Vice President of Nigeria during the Ibrahim Babangida-led military junta from 1986 to 1993 died at 72..

(20 October 1939 – 17 August 2011) 

He hailed from Idumebo-Irrua, Edo State, in southern Nigeria. As a student, Aikhomu spent various periods of his early life studying at Irrua Government School, Yaba College of Technology, Royal Britannia Naval College in Dartmouth, England, Long Gunnery Specialist Course, India and the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Nigeria.
Aikhomu was the Commanding Officer, Shore Patrol Craft, commanding officer, NNS Dorina, chief of naval personnel, naval headquarters, chief of naval operations (1983–84), and chief of naval staff (1984–86). Aikhomu is survived by his wife, Rebecca, and six children.
Aikhomu will be remembered for the act that he was a highly detribalised Nigerian who displayed professionalism and loyalty while serving as chief of Naval Staff, Chief of General Staff and later, in the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida, as Vice President. Aikhomu in his later years was a key player in the politics of Nigeria. He was at a time the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of All Nigeria Peoples Party, an opposition party in the country. As a nation builder, Aikhomu in the various tributes by his associates was described as a national hero, a dependable ally, an uncommon statesman, a great naval officer, a highly disciplined gentleman and a respected mentor to most of his subordinate officers during the Babangida Administration. Aikhomu left his footprints in his native town of Irrua, where he bequeated many developmental projects to his name, especially the Irrua Specialist Hospital, the referral hospital for lassa fever in the country.

 

 

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Huw Ceredig, Welsh actor, died he was 69.

Huw Ceredig , born Huw Ceredig Jones, was a Welsh television actor best known for playing Reg Harries in the Welsh soap opera, Pobol y Cwm  died he was 69..

(22 June 1942 – 16 August 2011)

Personal life

Huw Ceredig was born in Brynamman, Carmarthenshire in 1942,^[2] the son of Reverend Gerallt Jones, and Elizabeth J. Griffiths,^[3][4] a Welsh teacher. Ceredig was educated at Llandovery College, where one of his teachers was the Welsh rugby player and coach Carwyn James, before going on to train as a teacher at Trinity College in Carmarthen. He was a member of the renowned Cilie family of poets,^[5] and was raised in Llanuwchllyn. Ceredig was the brother of Welsh politician Alun Ffred Jones, folk singer/politician Dafydd Iwan, and Arthur Morus.^[6][7]
Ceredig re-mortgaged his house to purchase instruments for the new Welsh band Edward H. Dafis and introduced them to the stage for the first time at the Welsh National Eisteddfod in Ruthin in 1973.^[5]
He played the part of Reg Harris on S4C's long-running soap opera, Pobol y Cwm, for 29 years, from 1974 to 2003. He also played the father of Rhys Ifans and Llŷr Ifans as "Fatty Lewis" in the film Twin Town. He also provided Welsh-language voices for Superted, and more recently, Meees.^[2]
Ceredig was married to Margaret, and they had two daughters. He died, following a long term illness, at Morriston Hospital,south Wales on 16 August 2011.^[8] Ioan Gruffudd, who played his son on Pobol y Cwm for ten years was one of those who paid tribute.^[9]

Career

In Huw's early days, he won a scholarship to Llandovery College, where one of his teachers was the Welsh rugby player and coach Carwyn James, before going on to train as a teacher at Trinity College, Carmarthen. There his interest in drama was fuelled by the celebrated Welsh drama lecturer Norah Isaac, and while teaching in two schools at Maesteg, near Bridgend, he began acting as an amateur in his spare time, using the stage name Huw Ceredig.
After being spotted in productions at the Swansea Welsh language theatre, Ceredig was offered small parts on Welsh television. He was teaching at his local primary school in Laleston, near Bridgend, when, in his early 1930s, he decided to become a professional actor. He joined the cast of Pobol Y Cwm at the outset, and remained a popular fixture in the show for almost 30 years. When he was written out in 2003 — Reg Harries met with a car accident — Ceredig was aggrieved that he had not been allowed to stay for another year to complete three full decades in the part.
Between 1987 and 1994 his on-screen son, Gareth Wyn Harries, was played by the young actor Ioan Gruffudd, who later became a film star, with credits including Titanic (1997), Black Hawk Down (2001), Fantastic Four (2005) and Rise Of The Silver Surfer (2007). Ceredig’s own film credits include the 1992 comedy Rebecca’s Daughters and the Dylan Thomas biopic The Edge of Love (2008). He also featured as Fatty Lewis in the cult comedy film Twin Town (1997), which launched the career of Rhys Ifans, and was also seen in other television roles in Emmerdale, Heartbeat and Z-Cars.
His voice was familiar to generations of younger viewers through his voiceover work on Welsh television series, notably the animation SuperTed and more recently Meees, about a family of multicultural operatic sheep (“meees” being the Welsh for “baaas”, the noise that sheep make). Ceredig, who became a household name in Wales, was a gregarious man with a remarkable gift for forging firm friendships. A fan of sport in general, his overriding passion was for rugby, and for a time he served as chairman of Bridgend Rugby Club. He was also a devotee of the Turf, and at one period was the part-owner of a racehorse.

Death

Huw Ceredig died on August 16, 2011 aged 69 of natural causes.

Filmography

Television

• Pobol y Cwm - Reg Harries, opera sebon (1974–2003)
• Z Cars - Det. Con. Probert, cyfres, 1 pennod (1977)
• The Life and Times of David Lloyd George - D.A. Thomas, cyfres, 1 pennod (1981)
• Ennal's Point - Len Dunce, cyfres, 4 pennod (1982)
• The District Nurse - Rowlands, cyfres, 1 pennod (1984)
• We Are Seven - Jim Powell, cyfres, 12 pennod (1989–1991)
• Rebecca's Töchter - Mordecai Thomas, cyfres, 1 pennod (1992)
• Yr Heliwr - Peter Webb, cyfres, 1 pennod (1997)
• Emmerdale - George Gibbons, opera sebon, 1 pennod (2003)
• Heartbeat - Cyril Williams, cyfres, 1 pennod (2005)
• Doctors - Kenneth Gough, cyfres, 1 pennod (2005)
• Y Pris - Rhidian Edwards, cyfres, 4 pennod (2007)
• Hawkmoor
• Enoc Huws

Film

• The Mouse and the Woman - Sergeant (1981)
• Giro City - Elwyn Davies (1982)
• I Fro Breuddwydion - Ffermwr, ffilm teledu (1987)
• Twin Town - Fatty Lewis (1997)
• The Edge of Love - John Patrick (2008)

Voice

• Superted
• Meees

 

 

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Albert Facchiano, American mobster, died at 101.

Albert Joseph Facchiano , also known as "Chinkie" and "the Old Man", was a Miami mobster with the New York Genovese crime family who was involved in loansharking and extortion in South Florida. Facchiano achieved notoriety for being indicted on mob crimes at age 96.

(March 10, 1910 – August 16, 2011)

 

Background

A longtime underworld figure, Facchiano oversaw armed robberies, money laundering, bank fraud and other criminal activities for the Genovese family for nearly nearly 60 years. Although considered a "low-level figure" by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Facchiano has an extensive arrest record.
In 1930, Facchiano was arrested in New York for rape, but the charge was later dismissed.^[2] In 1932, Facchino was convicted in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania of robbery and receiving stolen goods and was sentenced to two to five years in prison. In 1936, Facchiano was arrested in New York on grand larceny charges, in 1944 for bookmaking charges.^[3]

Federal investigation

In 1979, Facchino was convicted in Alabama of federal racketeering charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison. While still in prison, Facchiano became involved in an investigation of Reagan Administration U.S. Secretary of Labor Raymond J. Donovan and his alleged ties to organized crime. Investigators claimed that in January 1979 Facchiano and Genovese mobster William Maselli had met with Donovan. The subject of this meeting was setting up so-called "no show" jobs for Genovese mobsters at Schiavoni Construction, Donovan's company, at sites near Miami, Florida.^[4] Donovan denied that the meeting took place and claimed his innocence. In 1982, Facchiano reportedly testified to a New York grand jury on the Donovan case. In 1987, Donovan was tried and acquitted of larceny charges.^[5]

Later life

In the Fall of 1987, Facchiano was released from prison. In 2001, in a conversation recorded by the FBI while Facchiano was dining with other Genovese mobsters, he offered to do a killing if the family needed it. Mobster Joseph Zito said that Facchiano should retire and leave murders to the younger guys. Facchiano, who was 91 at the time, allegedly responded 'that you’re never retired', and then reiterated his willingness to 'kill for the family'.^[2]
In 2006, Facchiano was indicted in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on charges of supervising mob associates engaged in crimes such as robbery, money laundering and bank fraud from 1994 to 2006. That same year, Facchiano was indicted in New York for attempting to intimidate or kill a mob witness in Florida in 2005.^[6]
In February 2007, Facchiano pleaded guilty to witness tampering and racketeering charges from both indictments.^[7] On June 4, 2007, Facchiano, 97 years old at the time, was sentenced to six months of house arrest and 18 months of probation. He avoided jail time due to his advanced age and poor health. At the sentencing, Facchiano told the judge that he was “sorry” for his crimes. He also said that he “would never get mixed up anymore” and his “days in organized crime are over”.^[8]
On August 16, 2011, Facchiano died in Florida of natural causes.^[1]

 

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