Obituaries of note

JAMES H. CRITCHFIELD, 86, a CIA insider during the Cold War whose anti-Soviet missions included recruiting former Third Reich operatives and supporting the Iraqi political party that put Saddam Hussein in power, died Tuesday in Williamsburg, Va., his family said. During a 26-year CIA career, he worked with the Dalai Lama of Tibet in a guerrilla war against communist China and headed a CIA task force during the Cuban missile crisis. He also ran regional agency operations when the two superpowers raced to secure satellites, first in Eastern Europe then in the Middle East.

CHARLES ROLLAND "CHARLIE" DOUGLASS, 93, inventor of the "Laff Box" that has been supplying recorded audience reaction for television shows since the 1950s, died April 8 in Los Angeles. While working as a technical director for live TV shows in the early days of the industry, he formed the idea of developing a "laugh machine" to enhance or substitute for live audience reaction. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences presented the longtime CBS engineer and private entrepreneur an engineering Emmy at its technical awards in 1992.

EDGAR FRANK CODD, 79, a mathematician and computer scientist whose theories led to the creation of organized computer databases, died April 18 in South Florida. While working as a researcher at the IBM San Jose Research Laboratory in the 1960s and 1970s, he wrote papers outlining his ideas. But IBM was beaten to the market by Lawrence J. Ellison, who used Mr. Codd's ideas as the basis of a product that was the foundation of Oracle Corp.

MARTHA GRIFFITHS, 91, a former Michigan Democratic congresswoman who used a feisty personal style and sheer determination to shepherd landmark equal rights legislation during her 10 terms in the House, died Tuesday in Armada, Mich. Notable achievements of her tenure, which ended in 1975, include a leading role in approval of the Equal Rights Amendment and a speech that led to a ban of sex discrimination.

BERTRAM ROSS, 82, a leading member of the Martha Graham Dance Company and one of America's most distinguished dancers, died Sunday in New York City. He was known as the originator of roles in Graham's major works such as St. Michael in Seraphic Dialogue and Agamemnon and Orestes in Clytemnestra.

HELEN HONIG MEYER, 95, one of the first women to break into the men's club of publishers, rising from a 16-year-old clerk to be president of Dell Publishing, died Monday in Livingston, N.J.

ROBERT KLEASEN, 70, a longtime U.S. murder suspect, died Monday in London of heart failure. Accused of killing and dismembering two Mormon missionaries in Travis County, Texas, in 1974, he had evaded prosecution nearly 26 years. He had been waiting since 2001 for extradition to the United States to stand trial for the murders of Mark Fischer, 19, and Gary Darley, 20.

- Area obituaries and the Suncoast Deaths list appear in local sections.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright