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Obituaries of note

LEWIS HANSON, 81, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who was a pilot for four presidents and co-piloted the flight that brought John F. Kennedy's body back from Dallas aboard Air Force One, died Tuesday in Laconia, N.H. His presidential passengers included Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson.

GEORGE GERBNER, 86, a researcher who for decades studied violence on television and how it shapes perceptions of society, died Saturday of cancer in Philadelphia, according to family members. Mr. Gerbner, who was dean emeritus of the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communications, studied television for more than three decades.

BUD BLAKE, 87, who created the award-winning comic strip Tiger after quitting his job as a New York ad man to pursue his love of drawing, died Monday in Portland, Maine. He was 87. The strip, with its cast of Tiger and his boyhood pals, was named as the year's best humor strip in 1970, 1978 and 2000 by the National Cartoonists Society. It still appears in more than 100 newspapers in 11 countries, King Features said.

DR. BRADFORD CANNON, 98, a plastic surgeon who helped pioneer a new treatment for burns and used it on victims of a deadly nightclub fire in Boston in 1942, died on Dec. 20 at his daughter's home in Lincoln, Mass. Dr. Cannon was the first chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. He was credited with saving the lives of soldiers maimed during World War II. He used a new method he developed with another surgeon to treat survivors of the fire that killed nearly 500 patrons of Boston's Cocoanut Grove.

STEVENSON J. PALFI, 53, a filmmaker whose documentary Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together chronicled the lives of three New Orleans jazzmen, committed suicide on Dec. 14, his family said. Mr. Palfi shot himself at his home, relatives told the Times-Picayune. He had been severely depressed after Hurricane Katrina damaged most of his property and possessions, they said.

KERRY PACKER, 68, a media and gambling mogul and Australia's wealthiest man, died Monday in Sydney, Australia. Mr. Packer - ranked as the world's 94th wealthiest person by Forbes magazine, with a $5-billion fortune - died at home, according to the statement released through his Nine Network television. Packer had long been plagued by ill health.

HENRY JAMES HYDE JR., 55, the eldest son of U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde and a former minor-league baseball player, died Dec. 24 in Chicago after a battle with liver cancer. At the time of his death, Mr. Hyde was a revenue agent with the Illinois secretary of state's office.

[Last modified January 1, 2006, 00:29:14]