Monroe Hopper, 86, Hopper Brothers gospel singer sang for Reagan in 1981

MADISON, N.C. — One of the founding members of the North Carolina gospel group the Hopper Brothers has died.

Group publicist Aaron Crisler said that 86-year-old Monroe Hopper died Friday in Madison. No cause of death was given.

Claude Hopper founded the group in 1957, …

Cynthia Brown, 60, guiding force of Human Rights Watch

NEW YORK — Activist Cynthia Brown, one of the guiding forces at the international advocacy group Human Rights Watch, has died at age 60 after fighting cancer.

Ms. Brown started with Human Rights Watch as a researcher in 1982, focusing on the Americas. In 1990, …

Frances B. Monson, 85, wife of Mormon church president

SALT LAKE CITY — The wife of the president of the Mormon church has died.

Frances B. Monson, 85, died early Friday morning at a hospital in Salt Lake City, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced.

Church President Thomas S. Monson …

Jorge Rafael Videla, 87, Argentina dictator took power in 1976 coup

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Former dictator Jorge Rafael Videla, who took power over Argentina in a 1976 coup and led a military junta that killed thousands of his fellow citizens in a dirty war to eliminate so-called “subversives,” died quietly in his sleep Friday while …

William R. Bonner, 87, police officer, loved jazz, helping straighten out young lives

Returning to Chicago after World War II, Bill Bonner was one of many African-American men determined to better himself after seeing the world but serving in a segregated military.

Many of them enrolled at Roosevelt University, one of the few city schools whose doors were …

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John La Montaine dies at 93

Chicago-born composer John La Montaine, who won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1959, died April 29 at his home in Hollywood, Calif. He was 93. Mr. La Montaine received the Pulitzer Prize for his First Piano Concerto, Op. 9, subtitled “In Time of War.” …

Winifred Hope Smith dies; helped raise Bushman, famed gorilla

Winifred Hope Smith came to Chicago in March to visit the taxidermied remains of Bushman, the magnificent silverback gorilla she knew as her childhood playmate in Africa and the world later knew as the undisputed star of the Lincoln Park Zoo and of movie newsreels. Two and a half weeks after seeing Bushman one final time, at the Field Museum, Mrs. Smith died on April 4 at age 92.

Joyce Brothers — celebrated pop psychologist, quiz-show champ — dies at 85

LOS ANGELES — Joyce Brothers, the pop psychologist who pioneered the television advice show in the 1950s and enjoyed a long and prolific career as a syndicated columnist, author, and television and film personality, has died. She was 85.

Ms. Brothers died Monday in New …

Robert G. Bennett, owned Ohio hot dog stand made famous in ‘MASH’

TOLEDO, Ohio — The man who bought the northwest Ohio hot dog eatery made famous on the TV series “MASH” has died. Robert G. Bennett was 76.

A spokeswoman for Maumee-based Bennett Management Corp. says the Sylvania resident died Wednesday at the Cleveland Clinic after …

Geza Vermes, 88, renowned Jesus scholar translated Dead Sea Scrolls

LONDON — Geza Vermes, a translator of the Dead Sea Scrolls and renowned for books exploring the Jewish background of Jesus, has died at 88.

He died on Wednesday, David Ariel, president of the Oxford Center for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, said Saturday.

Mr. Vermes …

Dean Jeffries, created ‘Monkeemobile,’ custom-painted James Dean’s car

LOS ANGELES (— A celebrated car customizer who painted James Dean’s Porsche and made the “Monkeemobile” for “The Monkees” TV show has died. Dean Jeffries was 80.

His son, Kevin, told the Los Angeles Times that Mr. Jeffries died in his sleep on Saturday at …

George Sauer Jr., 69, Jets receiver in Super Bowl III walked away from football

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — George Sauer had a huge day in the biggest game in New York Jets history, and then surprisingly walked away from football a few years later.

Mr. Sauer, a wide receiver on the Jets’ only Super Bowl championship team, has died. …

George Leader, 95, former Pennsylvania governor

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Former Pennsylvania Gov. George M. Leader, the son of a chicken farmer who was elected to the state’s highest office before he turned 40, died Thursday after a brief illness. He was 95.

Two grandchildren were at Mr. Leader’s side when he …

Ottavio Missoni, 92, patriarch of Italian fashion giant

MILAN — Ottavio Missoni, the patriarch of the iconic fashion brand of zigzag-patterned knitwear that helped launch Italian ready-to-wear and turn Milan into a fashion mecca, died Thursday just months after his eldest son disappeared without a trace. He was 92.

Mr. Missoni “passed away …

Jack Butler, 85, Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Famer

PITTSBURGH — Jack Butler, who helped revolutionize the way cornerbacks played in the NFL during his Hall of Fame career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, died Saturday after a lengthy battle with a staph infection. He was 85.

Butler’s son John said his father’s heart stopped …