Obituaries of note

JOHN SIDGMORE, 52, the WorldCom executive who helped reveal the accounting troubles that led to the biggest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history, died Thursday in Washington, D.C. He died of complications associated with acute pancreatitis, said B. Jay Cooper, a family spokesman. Mr. Sidgmore was named president of WorldCom in April 2002 and disclosed the company's accounting errors just weeks later. He had been vice chairman of WorldCom's board when the company was involved in an accounting shell game to make it appear more profitable, but he said in July 2002, shortly after the bankruptcy declaration, "I haven't been involved in the direct operations of the company in several years."

LEWIS M. ALLEN, 81, the producer of hit Broadway shows that included the musical Annie and Master Class, died Monday in New York City. The cause was pancreatic cancer, said his wife, the writer Jay Presson Allen. In January, the Allens spent time in St. Petersburg for their revival at American Stage of the Tony Award-winning Tru, which she wrote and he originally produced in 1989. Annie opened in 1977 and ran for six years. Mr. Allen won a Tony for it and for two plays he produced: Herb Gardner's I'm Not Rappaport in 1986 and Terrence McNally's Master Class in 1996.

AZIE TAYLOR MORTON, 67, a former U.S. treasurer and the only black person to serve in that post, died Sunday in Austin, Texas, after a stroke. She was appointed the nation's 37th treasurer by President Jimmy Carter, and served from 1977 to 1981. The treasurer reports to the secretary of the treasury, the principal economic adviser to the president. Both officials' signatures are featured on paper money.

CARL F.H. HENRY, 90, the first editor of Christianity Today magazine and one of conservative Christianity's most influential authors and theologians, died Sunday in Watertown, Wis. Often called the "thinking man's Billy Graham," he was the author of more than 25 books. Over the past few decades he had taught at several colleges and seminaries.

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