Obituaries of note

ROBERT K. MERTON, 92, a sociologist who coined well-known terms like "self-fulfilling prophecy" and "role models," died Sunday in New York City. He also was responsible for popularizing the concept of a "focus group," when he used interviews to elicit the responses of groups to films, texts and radio programs. He was the first sociologist to win a National Medal of Science, in 1994, and studied the anatomy of racism, the behavior of scientists and the workings of the mass media, among many other subjects, during a career that stretched over seven decades.

ZELMA RAY ROSS, 74, the first enlisted woman in the Women in the Air Force, died Sunday in Jacksonville. She was trained as a photographer and served from 1948 to 1952. She moved to Jacksonville in 1953 and worked as director of the Lutheran Servicemen's Center.

ISSER HAREL, 91, an Israeli spy-master who directed the capture of Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann in 1960, died Feb. 18 in Petach Tikvah, outside Tel Aviv, officials said. He was one of the founders of the Mossad intelligence agency and served as its head from 1952 to 1963. In his 1975 book, The House on Garibaldi Street, Mr. Harel related how Israeli agents tracked Eichmann to Buenos Aires, where he was living under the identity of Ricardo Klement, a businessman. Eichmann was abducted by Mossad agents and taken to Isreal, where he was tried, convicted of mass murder and executed.

ORVILLE L. FREEMAN, 84, a former Minnesota governor and agriculture secretary under Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, died Feb. 20 in Minneapolis.

BARONESS LILIANE de ROTHSCHILD, a member of the French banking family known for her generous art donations, died Feb. 17 at her home in Royaumont, outside Paris. She was in her

80s.

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