Thursday, June 28, 2012

Derrick Bell, American law professor (Harvard University), originated critical race theory, died from carcinoid cancer he was 80.


Derrick Albert Bell, Jr. [2] was the first tenured African-American Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and is largely credited as one of the originators of critical race theory. He was a Visiting Professor at New York University School of Law[3] from 1991 until his death.[4] He was also a former Dean of the University of Oregon School of Law.[5]

(November 6, 1930 – October 5, 2011)

Education and early career

Born in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Bell received an A.B. from Duquesne University in 1952. He was a member of the Duquesne Reserve Officers' Training Corps and later served as an Air Force officer for two years (stationed in Korea for one of those years).[2] In 1957 he received an LL.B. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. After graduation, and after a recommendation from then United States Associate Attorney General William P. Rogers, Bell took a position with the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department. He was one of the few black lawyers working for the Justice Department at the time. In 1959, the government asked him to resign his membership in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) because it was thought that his objectivity, and that of the department, might be compromised or called into question. Bell resigned rather than giving up his NAACP membership.[6]
Soon afterwards, Bell took a position as an assistant counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), crafting legal strategies at the forefront of the battle to undo racist laws and segregation in schools. At the LDF, he worked alongside other prominent civil rights attorneys such as Thurgood Marshall, Robert L. Carter and Constance Baker Motley. Bell was assigned to Mississippi. While working at the LDF, Bell supervised more than 300 school desegregation cases and spearheaded the fight of James Meredith to secure admission to the University of Mississippi over the protests of Governor Ross Barnett. [7]
"I learned a lot about evasiveness, and how racists could use a system to forestall equality," Bell was quoted as saying in The Boston Globe ... "I also learned a lot riding those dusty roads and walking into those sullen hostile courts in Jackson, Mississippi. It just seems that unless something's pushed, unless you litigate, nothing happens."[8]
In the mid-1960s Bell was appointed to the law faculty of the University of Southern California as executive director of the Western Center on Law and Poverty.

Academic career

Harvard Law School

In 1969, with the help of protests from black Harvard Law School students for a minority faculty member, Bell was hired to teach there. At Harvard, Bell established a new course in civil rights law, published a celebrated case book, Race, Racism and American Law, and produced a steady stream of law review articles. But Bell, who became the first black tenured professor in Harvard Law School's history in 1971, polarized others with his accusations of racism, which some saw as principles and others as too quick to accuse others of bigotry.[8]

Protests over faculty diversity

In 1980, he started a five year tenure as dean of the University of Oregon School of Law, interrupted by his resignation after an Asian-American woman he had chosen to join the faculty was refused by the university. [2][9]
Returning to Harvard in 1986, after a year-long stint at Stanford University, Bell staged a five-day sit-in in his office to protest the school's failure to grant tenure to two professors on staff, both of whose work promoted critical race theory. [2] The sit-in was widely supported by students, but divided the faculty, as Harvard administrators claimed the professors were denied tenure for substandard scholarship and teaching.[8]
In 1990, Harvard had 60 tenured professors. Three of these were black men, and five of them were women, but there were no black women among them, a dearth Bell decided to protest with an unpaid leave of absence.[10].[8] Students supported the move which critics found "counterproductive", while Harvard administrators cited a lack of qualified candidates, defending that they had taken great strides in the previous decade to bring women and black people onto the faculty.[8] The story of his protest is detailed in his book Confronting Authority.
Bell's protest at Harvard stirred angry criticism by opposing Harvard Law faculty who called him "a media manipulator who unfairly attacked the school", noting that other people had accused him of "depriv[ing] students of an education while he makes money on the lecture circuit".[11]
Bell took his leave of absence and accepted a visiting professorship at NYU Law starting in 1991. After two years, Harvard had still not hired any minority women, and Bell requested an extension of his leave which the school refused, thereby ending his tenure.[2] It took until 1998 for Harvard Law to hire civil rights attorney and U.S. Assistant Attorney General nominee, Lani Guinier, who became the law school's first female African-American tenured professor.[2][12]
In March 2012, five months after his death, Bell became the target of conservative media, including Breitbart.com and Sean Hannity, in an attack against President Barack Obama. The controversy focused on a 1991 video of Obama introducing Bell at a protest by Harvard Law School students over the lack of diversity in the school's faculty. Bell's widow stated that Bell and Obama had "very little contact" after Obama's law school graduation. She said that as far as she remembers, "He never had contact with the president as president".[13]

NYU School of Law

Bell's visiting professorship at New York University began in 1991. After his two year leave of absence, his position at Harvard ended and he remained at NYU where he continued to write and lecture on issues of race and civil rights.

Scholarship

Bell is arguably the most influential source of thought critical of traditional civil rights discourse. Bell’s critique represented a challenge to the dominant liberal and conservative position on civil rights, race and the law. He employed three major arguments in his analyses of racial patterns in American law: constitutional contradiction, the interest convergence principle, and the price of racial remedies. His book Race, Racism and American Law, now in its sixth edition, has been continually in print since 1973 and is considered a classic in the field.
Bell continued writing about critical race theory after accepting a teaching position at Harvard University. Much of his legal scholarship was influenced by his experience both as a black man and as a civil rights attorney. Writing in a narrative style, Bell contributed to the intellectual discussions on race. According to Bell, his purpose in writing was to examine the racial issues within the context of their economic and social and political dimensions from a legal standpoint.
For instance, in The Constitutional Contradiction, Bell argued that the framers of the Constitution chose the rewards of property over justice. With regard to the interest convergence, he maintains that "whites will promote racial advances for blacks only when they also promote white self-interest." Finally, in The Price of Racial Remedies, Bell argues that whites will not support civil rights policies that may threaten white social status. Similar themes can be found in another well-known piece entitled, Who's Afraid of Critical Race Theory?[14]
His 2002 book, Ethical Ambition, encourages a life of ethical behavior, including "a good job well done, giving credit to others, standing up for what you believe in, voluntarily returning lost valuables, choosing what feels right over what might feel good right now".[15]

Science fiction

Bell also wrote science fiction short stories, including "The Space Traders", a story in which white Americans trade black Americans to space aliens in order to pay off the national debt and receive advanced technology. The story was adapted for television in 1994 by director Reginald Hudlin and writer Trey Ellis. It aired on HBO as the leading segment of a three-part anthology entitled Cosmic Slop, which focused on minority-centric Science Fiction.[16]

Death

On October 5, 2011, Bell died from carcinoid cancer at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, at the age of 80. "[2][17][18][19] At the time, the Associated Press reported: "The dean at NYU, Richard Revesz, said, 'For more than 20 years, the law school community has been profoundly shaped by Derrick's unwavering passion for civil rights and community justice, and his leadership as a scholar, teacher, and activist.'"[20]

Selected bibliography

  • Race, Racism and American Law (1973, Little Brown & Co.; 6th ed., 2008)
  • Silent Covenants: Brown v. Board of Education and the Unfulfilled Hopes for Racial Reform (Oxford University Press, 2004)
  • Ethical Ambition: Living a Life of Meaning and Worth (Bloomsbury, 2002)
  • Afrolantica Legacies (Third World Press, 1998)
  • Constitutional Conflicts (Anderson Press, 1997)
  • Confronting Authority: Reflections of an Ardent Protestor (Beacon Press, 1994)
  • Gospel Choirs (1996)
  • Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism (1992)
  • And We Are Not Saved: The Elusive Quest for Racial Justice (1987)




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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Lalla Aicha, Moroccan princess, first female Arab ambassador, Ambassador to United Kingdom (1965–1969); Greece (1969–1970); Italy (1970–1973), died she was 81.

Princess Lalla Aicha, was the eldest sister of the late King Hassan II of Morocco, and daughter of King Mohammed V of Morocco and Lalla Abla bint Tahar died she was 81.


(17 June 1930 – 4 September 2011) 

Life and career

Born in Rabat, she was privately educated in Rabat and awarded a Baccalauréat degree. The exile in 1953 of Mohammed V and his family on Corsica interrupted her studies in languages. Lalla Aicha was the Ambassador of Morocco to the United Kingdom between 1965 and 1969, and then to Greece from 1969 to 1970, and to Italy between 1970 and 1973.[2] She was the first president of the Entraide Nationale,[3] president of the Moroccan Red Crescent Society from the 1950s to 1969, [4][5] and honorary president of the National Union of Moroccan Women since 1969 until her death.[2]

Family

She married firstly on 16 August 1961, at the Dar al-Makhzin in Rabat, Moulay Hassan al-Yaqubi (born 1934) and divorced in 1972. Together they had two daughters:[2]
  • Lalla Zubaida al-Yaqubi (also named Zoubida El Yacoubi), Vice-Consul at New York 1985
  • Lalla Nufissa al-Yaqubi (also named Noufissa El Yacoubi), Vice-Consul at New York 1986

Titles, styles and honours

Titles and atyles

Honours

She received several honours during her life:[2]

Honorary military appointments




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Victor Bussie, American labor activist, president of Louisiana AFL–CIO, died from stomach cancer he was 92.

Victor V. Bussie was until his retirement in 1997 the 41-year unopposed president of the Louisiana AFL-CIO, having first assumed the mantle of union leadership in 1956 died from stomach cancer he was 92.. Journalists often described him as the most significant non-elected "official" in his state's politics. Bussie's influence with governors and state legislators became so great in the 1970s that a trade association known as the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI) was established as a counterbalance to the AFL-CIO. LABI won a huge victory in 1976 with the passage of the state's still-standing right-to-work legislation.

( January 27, 1919 – September 4, 2011)

Defender of the Longs

Bussie recalled having been born in poverty in the community of Montrose in Natchitoches Parish to Christopher "Chris" Bussie and the former Fannie LaCaze.[1] The senior Bussie was a unionized employee of the Texas Pacific Railroad.[2] Bussie had a brother and five sisters, one of whom, Authree B. Gorrell of Austin, Texas, was still living as of 2011. At some point, the Bussies headed south to Rapides Parish because another sister, Fannie Mae Bussie Heard (1924–2009) of Shreveport, was born in Boyce. Fannie Heard was one of the first female Certified Public Accountants in northwestern Louisiana, having also been licensed to practice in California and Nevada.[3] Bussie, who was half Choctaw Indian,[4] commented on his background, as follows:
My mother and father struggled to send us to school because of the high cost of school books. There finally came a time when they could no longer afford to buy books for seven children. We children were told that we could no longer attend school.[5]
That very same year, Governor Huey Pierce Long, Jr., persuaded the Louisiana State Legislature to fund schoolbooks for all children attending public schools. Not only did that mean that my brother and sisters and I could finish our education but also thousands of other children could as well. My family never forgot Huey Long and became longtime political supporters of the Long family.[5]
In 1959, as AFL-CIO president, Bussie checked himself into a mental health facility in Galveston, Texas, as a ruse for the confinement of Governor Earl Kemp Long, who was committed by his wife, Blanche Revere Long and Long's nephew, U.S. Senator Russell B. Long. "It’s hard to believe that I was involved in it. It was a mess. He (Long) could have easily sued me, but that never occurred to me. He was a friend, and I just tried to help as best I could."[6]

Bussie in Shreveport

Bussie, a veteran of the United States Navy during World War II, joined the Shreveport Fire Department and became a leader in the departmental union. He became chief of the Fire Prevention Bureau and the president of the Central Trades and Labor Council. James C. Gardner, who served as mayor of Shreveport from 1954 to 1958, described Bussie as "well-spoken" and his "polite and reasonable manner made him widely sought as the 'labor member' of various civic boards." As a second assistant chief, a position Bussie obtained without waiting for civil service seniority, his signature was required on all certificates of occupancy for commercial buildings, a position of considerable power.[7] Some in the business community accused Bussie of requiring work beyond the municipal building or fire code regulations in order to create more employment within the building trades. To check Bussie, officials activated, as permitted by the city charter, a building code board of appeals to prevent abuses.[8]

The AFL-CIO Central Trades and Labor Council on U.S. Highway 79 in west Shreveport helped to launch Victor Bussie's lengthy labor career.
Early in 1955, Bussie, acting through the Central Trades and Labor Council during his lunch hour, called a strike of waitresses at Brocato's Restaurant in Shreveport when the company declined to rehire a fired waitress. In retaliation, Shreveport Public Safety Commissioner J. Earl Downs, the brother of an influential state senator allied with the Longs, Crawford H. "Sammy" Downs of Alexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish, demoted Bussie to the rank of captain and assigned him to a fire station. Bussie instead took unpaid leave and appealed Downs' decision to the Fire and Police Civil Service Board. After fourteen sessions and fifty hours of testimony, the civil service board voted 4–1 to uphold the demotion, with the lone dissenter being the firefighters' representative. Bussie announced that he would appeal to the courts. Meanwhile, he became the state AFL-CIO president for the remainder of his working career and lived in Baton Rouge. No action was ever taken by the courts in Bussie's appeal.[9]
Gardner said that the demotion "turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to Bussie and the labor movement in Louisiana... He was extremely effective as the Louisiana leader of organized labor and brought a level of influence for labor in Baton Rouge that it had not previously enjoyed.[10]

Bussie's home bombed

On July 19, 1966, Bussie's Baton Rouge residence in the Kenilworth subdivision was bombed, but there were no injuries. Jules R. Kimble, a then 24-year-old proclaimed former member of the Ku Klux Klan, who also claimed to have been the heir to a nonexistent fortune, told police that he had overheard three Klansmen plot the bombing of both the Bussie residence and that of Viola Logan, an African American teacher in Port Allen, the seat of West Baton Rouge Parish. Kimble said the plot was hatched in Kimble's New Orleans home but that he declined to participate in the execution of the plans. It was theorized that the bombing was inspired by Klansmen who favored a state grant-in-aid program to benefit white private academies which would soon mushroom in predominantly black sections of Louisiana with the arrival of court-mandated school desegregation. Kimble was eventually booked with aggravated assault, impersonating a police officer, and carrying a concealed weapon.[11]

Service on boards and commissions

As he had served on Shreveport boards, Bussie also was the union representative over the years on many state boards and commissions, including the Louisiana State University Board of Supervisors,[12] and was the chairman of the Louisiana Public Facilities Authority.[13] On his retirement, a Baton Rouge Morning Advocate editorial concluded, "Bussie might well be the most powerful Louisianan never elected to public office."
Bussie, ever with an eye toward friendly relations with the media, once invited the Morning Advocate managing editor, Margaret Dixon, to address the AFL-CIO convention. He also maintained a highly visible public image for himself.
He served two four-year terms on the Democratic National Committee.[1] President John F. Kennedy asked Bussie to pressure Senator Russell Long, whom Bussie had known since boyhood, to push Medicare through a Senate committee that Long chaired.[2] However, Medicare was not enacted until Lyndon B. Johnson succeeded Kennedy as President.
At the time of his death, Bussie was still a member of the Baton Rouge Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board.[1]

Bussie sues Margaret Lowenthal and Boeing

On October 15, 1985, State Representative Margaret Welsh Lowenthal, an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Louisiana's 7th congressional district seat in the United States House of Representatives, addressed the Lake Charles Optimist Club at its regular luncheon meeting. Lowenthal claimed that she had been told by an unidentified representative of Boeing that the firm had considered locating a manufacturing facility in Louisiana, but ultimately chose Mississippi because of Louisiana's unstable political climate and its longstanding problems with public education. Lowenthal said that she was told further by the Boeing representative that, "'As long as you have a man named Victor Bussie sitting in Baton Rouge, calling the shots for labor, we don't need to be in your state.'" Her remarks were telecast over Lake Charles television.[14]
Bussie filed suit against Lowenthal and Boeing alleging that the statements were false and were made with actual malice. Bussie alleged that as such the statements damaged his reputation and held him up to public contempt and ridicule and caused him embarrassment, humiliation, mental suffering, and anxiety. Lowenthal claimed that the statements had been made to her while she was attending a cocktail party given by the Louisiana delegation to the National Conference of State Legislators.[14]

Bussie fights right-to-work

The Louisiana State Legislature passed a right-to-work law in the 1952 session at the urging of then Governor Robert F. Kennon. Gardner was a freshman member of the Louisiana House at the time and voted for right-to-work. In 1956, however, when Gardner was mayor, the legislature repealed the law at the urging of Governor Earl Long. Organized labor took the leading role in the repeal, a reflection of Bussie's growing influence in state politics. Indeed, Louisiana was clearly the most unionized state in the American South.[15] Bussie found that rural state legislators wanted farmers excluded from the repeal of right-to-work. Therefore, he endorsed one bill to repeal right-to-work and another to restore right-to-work for farmers. "We became the first and only state labor organization in the nation ever to sponsor a right-to-work law," Bussie said.[2] The maneuvering caught the eye of former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who penned an editorial saying that Bussie should be expelled from the union for sponsoring the restoration of right-to-work for farmers.[2]
In the 1976 legislative session, right-to-work was again passed by a nearly all Democratic body, a reflection of the growing presence of LABI, which sought to reverse what it claimed had been "socialism" in the heyday of Bussie's influence.[16] Bussie has since never wavered in his call to repeal the Louisiana right-to-work law, which he calls the "right-to-work-for-less." Supporters of the measure, however, insist that it merely protects employees' freedom to refuse to pay compulsory "fees" to a union which they do not wish to join. Twenty-one other states, including all southern states, have such laws.[17]
Bussie claims that the effect of the law has been "to drive down wages, ... particularly in the construction industry." Data furnished by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Louisiana Department of Labor show that construction wages in the state have sharply increased relative to the national average since passage of right-to-work. In 1976, Louisiana construction hourly wages were 77 percent of the national average. By 2000, Louisiana construction wages had risen to 96 percent of the U.S. average.[18]
Mark Mix, senior vice president of the National Right to Work Committee in Springfield, Virginia, noted that the same trend is evident in manufacturing. U.S. Department of Labor data show that Louisiana manufacturing hourly wages has risen from 102 percent of the national average in 1976 to 108 percent in the 21st century. Because the cost of living in Louisiana has been traditionally lower than in other states, construction workers' real, disposable income is above the national average.[18]
Bussie said the decline of labor unions in Louisiana began in 1976, when the state Legislature narrowly approved right-to-work legislation that was pushed by Ed Steimel, founding president of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. Bussie once called right-to-work “the most misnamed, deceitful, misleading piece of legislation ever introduced.” Bussie and unions argued that right-to-work was meant to weaken unions so businesses could lower wages. Right-to-work proponents said the legislation was needed to keep unions from forcing employees to join and pay dues. The fight culminated with the 1976 passage of the legislation when nearly 15,000 union members protested outside the State Capitol.[19]
“That is when wages started going down in Louisiana,” Bussie said. “It was tough, very disappointing.” Bussie said that prior to right-to-work, Louisiana had among the most skilled workers in the nation. Businesses liked the skill of workers, except for those companies that were just adamantly anti-union, he said.[19]
“It was one of the biggest fights in the Legislature of this past century,” Steimel said. He still feels the legislation was needed then. But he said that corporations in Louisiana today are inadvertently inviting the return of stronger unions because workers get paid more in other states for the same jobs. "They’re abusing the power of right-to-work," Steimel said.[19]

Bussie in retirement

At the time of his death, Bussie was married to the former Frances "Fran" Martinez Nolan (born May 6, 1935),[20] herself a political activist. Fran Bussie's parents were John O. Martinez (1906–1990) and Althea Williams Martinez (1914–2003) of New Orleans.[21] Her brothers are Tony and Johnny Martinez.[1] Bussie's first wife, from whom he was divorced, was the former Gertrude Foley (October 15, 1918 – September 16, 2005), who died in Round Rock in suburban Williamson County, Texas.[22]
Bussie was affiliated with the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. In 1964, he campaigned even in north Louisiana, a stronghold of the Republican U.S. Senator Barry M. Goldwater that year, on behalf of U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, who lost that region by a large margin in the last election prior to passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which thereafter enfranchised tens of thousands of black voters, most of whom became automatic Democrats. Bussie was even closer to Johnson's vice president, Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota, who had attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge during the 1930s but failed to win's the state's electoral votes in 1968.[23]
In retirement, Bussie joined a group of Louisiana business and political leaders, including the former Republican Governor David C. Treen, in unsuccessfully urging President George W. Bush to pardon imprisoned Governor Edwin Washington Edwards. Edwards remained behind bars until 2011 in the federal facility in Oakdale in Allen Parish because of his conviction of bribery. Bussie supported Edwards in all four of the Democrat's successful gubernatorial campaigns. Edwards once said that Bussie was the singlemost influential person in his administration.[24] Bussie also endorsed at least one Republican candidate in Louisiana, John S. Treen, the older brother of David Treen. John Treen lost to David Duke in the 1989 special election for the Louisiana state House from Jefferson Parish.
In 1994, Bussie, along with the late U.S. Senator Allen J. Ellender, was among the second round of public figures inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.[25] He was a recipient of the "Racial Justice Award" given annually by the Baton Rouge Young Women's Christian Association.[26] In 1998, Bussie and former Governor John McKeithen were among recipients named "Living Legends" by the Louisiana Public Broadcasting Service.[27]
In 1997, Bussie received an honorary degree from Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, and other such honorary degrees followed. Then Southeastern President Sally Clausen described Bussie as "an individual who has distingused himself through his quiet but steadfast work for the underprivileged and his strong stand for justice. He has been a lifelong supporter of education, serving as an advocate for quality instruction and a voice of support for higher education... ".[28]
With back problems, Bussie resigned in 2008 from his last state board, the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors. He and his wife, Fran, left their home and moved into the St. James Place retirement community in Baton Rouge. In an interview with the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, Bussie indicated that he would not write a book of memoirs despite his significance to 20th century Louisiana history. He has been named the 2008 recipient of the "Friend of Education" award from the Louisiana Federation of Teacher, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers. Bussie said that he had long promoted educational opportunity because college had never been an option for him. Bussie's papers are in the archives of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.[29] Victor and Fran Bussie have also completed an oral history for the Louisiana Secretary of State's office.[6]

Bussie's legacy

Bob Mann, LSU communications professor, said that Bussie was more influential than many governors. "I can't think of anyone who wielded so much power for such an extended period of time." Mann described Bussie as "a living, breathing treasure trove of Louisiana's political history" but "so soft-spoken and modest."
Even Ed Steimel, Bussie’s top rival, had tremendous respect for Bussie. "Many businesspeople felt organized labor was running the state,” Steimel said of his being recruited by LABI to take on the AFL-CIO in the 1970s. "But we were never really anti each other, and we’ve become closer since.”
Bollinger Shipyards CEO Boysie Bollinger, who sat next to Bussie on the UL System board, said he initially saw Bussie as a Louisiana "icon," who as an aggressive union lobbyist "represented everything that I was opposed to."
But Bollinger said that, after getting to know Bussie, they became friends, and he respected Bussie’s passion for education and worker safety.
Sibal Holt, the first black female president of an AFL-CIO state branch, said Bussie was “the champion of workers” of all colors and sexes. "I sort of viewed him as an octopus with tentacles reaching all over. But he was as sincere as the day is long."
Critics have said Bussie’s and his colleagues’ involvement in so many areas of government amounted to a power grab to keep unions very influential. Bussie is emphatic that he only wanted to serve his state as much as he was able. "It may sound corny, but that’s just the way I lived." He is proud of serving on all the boards without ever accepting any per diem payments or salaries.
Bob Mann said Bussie was just doing his job. “It was his job to place labor in the most powerful positions he could,” Mann said. “He wielded a lot of power, but he did it in a soft-spoken and respectful way.”
T. Wayne Parent, the Russell B. Long Professor of Political Science at LSU and formerly a young staffer at the State Capitol, said that he was often mesmerized watching Bussie lobby the legislature. Lawmakers would look toward Bussie when certain bills came up, and the labor president would nod "Yes" or "No." Parent said that Bussie "really did represent the quiet strength labor can have behind the scenes."
Sally Clausen, the state commissioner of higher education, saw Bussie as her political guide. Clausen remembers Bussie’s small, "dungeon-like" office. Yet people would flock to him as soon as he entered a room. "I’ve never known someone as altruistic and humble, and still so powerful," she said.
Bussie said he had a good relationship with every governor from Earl Long to Murphy J. "Mike" Foster, Jr., with the exception of Democrat-turned-Republican Buddy Roemer. Bussie remained close to former Governor Edwin Edwards. A few years before his incarceration, Edwards flew in from a vacation to attend Bussie’s 1997 retirement dinner. "I said, ‘Well Edwin, that’s the first time you ever paid for anything out of your own money,’" Bussie joked.[19]
Bussie died of complications from stomach cancer at the age of ninety-two at Baton Rouge General Medical Center-Bluebonnet on the Sunday before Labor Day 2011. In 1989, Bussie had heart by-pass surgery, and in 1993, he lost a kidney to cancer.[2] In addition to his second wife, "Fran" Bussie of Baton Rouge, he was survived by two daughters from his first marriage to the former Gertrude Foley: Deanna Love, of Wimberley, Texas, and Carolyn B. Huff and husband David, of Round Rock, Texas; stepchildren Tara Nolan Messenger and husband Terry and Michael Q. Nolan, all of Baton Rouge; six grandchildren, and three step-grandchildren. Services were held on September 9. 2011 at the First United Methodist Church in Baton Rouge. Interment was at Resthaven Gardens of Memory Cemetery on the Jefferson Highway.[1]


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Hugh Fox, American poet and novelist, died he was 79.

Hugh Bernard Fox Jr. was a writer, novelist, poet and anthropologist and one of the founders (with Ralph Ellison, Anaïs Nin, Paul Bowles, Joyce Carol Oates, Buckminster Fuller and others) of the Pushcart Prize for literature died he was 79.. He has been published in numerous literary magazines and was the first writer to publish a critical study of Charles Bukowski.[2][3][4]


(February 12, 1932 – September 4, 2011)

Life and career

Fox was born and raised in Chicago as a devout Catholic, but converted to Judaism in later life. He received a Ph.D. in American Literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and was a professor at Michigan State University in the Department of American Thought and Language from 1968 until his retirement in 1999.[5] Hugh Fox died on September 4, 2011 in East Lansing, MI.[1]

Works

Fox was the author of over sixty-two books, including six books on anthropology. He wrote over fifty-four books on poetry and many volumes on short fiction, and published many novels. Fox also wrote a number of books on pre-Columbian American cultures and catastrophism. Some of these works were labeled in the pseudoarchaeological category, such as his book Gods of the Cataclysm: A Revolutionary Investigation of Man and his Gods Before and After the Great Cataclysm (1976). Some of his books with these themes have been compared to the work of Ignatius Donnelly.[6]
His book Gods of the Cataclysm received a number of positive reviews. Editor Curt Johnson praised the book claiming “Hugh Fox’s Gods of the Cataclysm...ought to be required reading for cultural historians of all disciplines,” and Robert Sagehorn of The Western World Review cited Hugh Fox as “... one of the foremost authorities (perhaps the foremost authority) on pre-Columbian American cultures.” Gods of the Cataclysm was revised and re-released in the summer of 2011 by Aardwolfe Books. [7] [8]
The Ibbetson Street Press of Somerville, Massachusetts published Way, Way Off the Road: The Memoirs of an Invisible Man by Hugh Fox with an introduction by Doug Holder in 2006. This book recounts Fox's life and the people he knew from his extensive associations with the "Small Press" marketplace over the years, including Charles Bukowski, A.D. Winans, Sam Cornish, Len Fulton, and numerous other people.
Fox's novel e Lord Said Unto Satan was published in the spring of 2011 by Post Mortem Press (Cincinnati). [9] His final novel was Reunion, published by Luminis Books in summer 2011.[10] Also in summer, 2011, Ravenna Press published his description in prose poems of one year of his life in E. Lansing, MI, "The Year Book." [11]


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Finn Helgesen, Norwegian Olympic gold medal-winning (1948) speed skater, died she was 92.

Finn Helgesen  was a speed skater from Norway. He was born in Drammen, Buskerud died she was 92..

(25 April 1919 – 3 September 2011)

At the Norwegian Championships, Helgesen won the 500 m in 1947 and 1949. He became Olympic Champion on the 500 m at the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz in a new Olympic record time of 43.1 seconds – a mere 0.1 seconds ahead of three skaters winning Olympic silver.
At the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo (his hometown), Helgesen and two other skaters skated 44.0 seconds on the 500 m, a time good enough for bronze. But because Helgesen had lost the heat against one of those two skaters, he was ranked 5th. Note that times were measured to a precision of only one tenth of a second in those days – at the speeds on the 500 m, it was possible for two skaters to finish in the same time, while one of them finished more than one meter ahead of the other. Stated differently: In one tenth of a second, these skaters advanced more than one meter.
Helgesen skated for Oslo Skøiteklub ("Oslo Skating Club"), the same skating club many other famous Norwegian skaters skated for at one time or other – Roald Aas, Ivar Ballangrud, Bernt Evensen, Rudolf Gundersen, Oscar Mathisen, and Laila Schou Nilsen, amongst others.

Personal records

To put these personal records in perspective, the WR column lists the official world records on the dates that Helgesen skated his personal records.
Event Result Date Venue WR
500 m 43.1 31 January 1948 St. Moritz 41.8
1,000 m 1:31.5 27 January 1952 Gjøvik 1:28.4
1,500 m 2:25.4 3 January 1952 Oslo 2:13.8
3,000 m 5:15.4


5,000 m 9:05.1


10,000 m 18:39.4


Helgesen has an Adelskalender score of 202.046 points.



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Sándor Képíró, Hungarian World War II veteran acquitted of Nazi war crimes, died he was 97.

Sándor Képíró was a gendarmerie captain during World War II accused of war crimes committed by Hungarian forces, and found not guilty.

(18 February 1914 – 3 September 2011)

In September 2006, Efraim Zuroff of the Wiesenthal Center made public copies of a 1944 court verdict finding Képíró and 14 other Hungarian Army and police officers of taking part in 1942 raid in Novi Sad. In 1948, the government of Hungary retried him in absentia and sentenced him to 14 years. This verdict was based upon the testimony of János Nagy, a former Hungarian soldier of Képíró's platoon. However, the testimony was given after the communist secret service tortured Nagy. Képíró claimed that he had never ever heard of him. Képíró returned to Budapest in 1996 without being identified until that point.[2]
Responding to the Wiesenthal Center accusations, Képíró said he had been a junior police officer at the time who had been involved in the round up of civilians, but denied taking an active part in the executions, which were carried out by soldiers. Képíró also said he refused orders to take part in anything illegal. "I was the only one who asked for a written command. At the time of the massacre I was reluctant. Prove that I was a war criminal." The 1944 verdict provided by the Wiesenthal Center, however, states that despite Képíró's request for written orders, he participated in the massacre even though none were given.
Hungarian military prosecutors state that the previous verdicts are no longer valid and a new investigation would have to be reopened, which might take years. On 14 September 2009, he was taken in for questioning by Hungarian police. However, because of the lack of evidence, the charges against him were later dropped.
Képíró has accused Efraim Zuroff of libel and initiated criminal proceedings in a Budapest court. The case opened in October 2010. If convicted, Zuroff could have faced up to two years in prison.[3][4] However, the case was dismissed on 17 December 2010 based on the 1944 verdict [5] as well as due to Képíró's failure to appear in court.[6]
On 14 February 2011 Hungarian prosecutors charged Képíró. On 18 July 2011, he was found not guilty by a Budapest court.[7]
After the verdict László Karsai, the leading Hungarian Holocaust historian, son of a Holocaust survivor, said: "Honestly, I wish Zuroff stopped doing what he's doing. I mean: with this kind of methods he uses, with so little evidence, he tries to drag people through the mire. This can't be done to anyone, can't be done even to a former gendarmerie officer either.” Professor Karsai accused Zuroff of being a hysterical, narcissistic Nazi-hunter, working only to earn a good living. Karsai claimed that the Wiesenthal Center made such a publicity to the case in order to justify its own existence before the sponsors.[8][9]
Sándor Képíró died in hospital in Budapest at the age of 97. His death was reported by his family and lawyer, who said he believed the trial in summer had contributed to his client's poor health.[10]
Until 2011, he was on the Simon Wiesenthal Center's list of most wanted Nazi war criminals.


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Sumant Misra, Indian tennis player, died he was 88.

Sumant Misra was an Indian tennis player died he was 88..

(11 January 1923 – 3 September 2011)

Misra, who was born in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, played on the India Davis Cup team for nine years between 1947 and 1956 and captained the team in 1952 and 1953. He reached the quarter-finals of the Wimbledon Men’s Doubles Championship (along with Jimmy Mehta) in 1947 and 1948 and the US National Doubles at Forest Hills in 1947, being the only pair in the championships to take a set off Schoder and Kramer the winners, who had won both Wimbledon and the US Nationals at Forest Hills that year.
He won the last All India Tennis Championships in 1944–45 and then went on to win the first newly christened National Lawn Tennis Championships of India that was held at Calcutta South Club in Woodburn Park Road, in 1946–47 beating Man Mohan Lal. In 1952–53 he won the national championships again and was the finalist on three other occasions. In the 1947–48 final he was defeated by Lennart Bergelin of Sweden (in later years better known as Bjorn Borg’s coach).
In 1972 Sumant Misra’s son Gaurav Misra defeated Ramanathan Krishnan to win the National Lawn Tennis Championships of India held at Calcutta South Club, making them the first father –son to win the national championships.
Sumant Misra also won the men’s singles title at both the Ceylon and Malay Nationals in 1958–59 and 1959 respectively. Since there was no ATP Tour then, each country held their own national events. He was the finalist at the inaugural Asian Tennis Championship in 1949. His game was dominated by a cannon-ball serve and a lethal backhand. Nicknamed ‘Tiny’, 89-year-old Sumant Misra carried the moniker like a crown on his 6 feet and 2 inches tall frame. Also called ‘the grandfather of Indian tennis’, Misra was initiated into the game by his father Sir L. P. Misra, then Chief Commissioner of Indian Railways. As a 14-year-old, his favourite turf was the Calcutta South Club. That’s where Misra met his contemporaries, Narendra Nath, Man Mohan Lal and Dilip Bose. However, Misra was the only one to participate in the junior national championship, the national championship and national veteran championship.
He was secretary of the All India Tennis Association (AITA, then known as AILTA) from 1963 to 1966 and on the Committee of Management of ITF (International Tennis Federation) during 1965–67.
Misra died on 3 September 2011. He was 88.
Besides tennis, he was an accomplished player in squash racquets, and in later years a golfer with a handicap of 8. “Then, sports was seen as a hobby,” recalls Misra, who retired from Indian Aluminium as General Coordination Manager over two decades ago. He lived in New Delhi with his wife, Sharda Misra and younger daughter. His elder son Gaurav Misra is a former national tennis champion and is the director of the Columbia University's Dick Savitt Tennis Center tennis in New York City, New York.

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Edgar Benson, Canadian politician and diplomat, died he was 88.

Edgar John Benson was a Canadian politician, businessman, diplomat, and university professor died he was 88. He held three different Cabinet posts. He was married to an Ottawa lawyer, Mary Jane Binks.

(May 28, 1923 – September 2, 2011)

Benson was a chartered accountant by profession, and co-owner of a local radio station. Prior to his entry into politics, and while practising his CA profession, he was a lecturer in Business Administration at Queen's University, his alma mater, in the capacity of Assistant Professor of Commerce.[2]
He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1962 general election as the Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston, Ontario. He entered the Cabinet of Prime Minister Lester Pearson in 1964 as Minister of National Revenue, and served concurrently, from 1966 to 1968, as President of the Treasury Board.
He was an early supporter of Pierre Trudeau in the 1968 Liberal leadership campaign to replace the retiring Pearson, and advised Trudeau. Benson was Minister of Finance under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau from 1968 to 1972. He was the last finance minister in over twenty years to introduce a balanced budget. His 1969 budget introduced a capital gains tax that was severely criticized by the business community, particularly Israel Asper who wrote a book called The Benson Iceberg condemning the measure. In his final budget he introduced a tax deduction for child care as a means of helping mothers enter the workforce.
He served as Minister of National Defence from January to August 1972, when he retired from politics, choosing not to run in the 1972 election. He served as Canadian Ambassador to Ireland from 1982 to 1985.[3]
Benson held honourary degrees from the Royal Military College of Canada and Queens University.



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Colin Burgess, the original drummer of AC/DC, passed away on Dec. 16, 2023, at the age of 77

Colin Burgess Colin Burgess, original drummer for AC/DC.   PETER CARRETTE ARCHIVE/GETTY ...