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Letter to the editor

Ex-union leader douglas fraser is dead at 91

By Times Wires
Published February 25, 2008

DETROIT

Douglas A. Fraser, who led the United Auto Workers union through dark hours in the 1970s and '80s and was instrumental in saving Chrysler from bankruptcy in 1979, died Saturday (Feb. 23, 2008). He was 91.

Mr. Fraser died at Providence Hospital in Southfield, his wife, Winnie, said Sunday. He had emphysema and went into the hospital with breathing problems, but a cause of death wasn't determined, she said.

He was popular with the union's rank and file. In the 1960s and '70s, he helped win such benefits as comprehensive health care, uncapped cost-of-living allowances and improved working conditions.

DEKALB, Ill.

Campus remembers 5 victims of shooting

The outpouring of aid and sympathy after a deadly shooting at Northern Illinois University should remind those struggling with the tragedy that they are not islands and not alone, the school's president said at a memorial service Sunday.

In honor of the five students killed in the Feb. 14 shooting in a crowded lecture hall, five bouquets of red and white flowers were placed on the stage of the Convocation Center, where the memorial was held.

The gunman, student Steven Kazmierczak, 27, killed himself.

AUGUSTA, Ga.

Toll rises to 11 in blast, fire at sugar refinery

Another burn patient has died of injuries from an explosion and fire at a sugar refinery, bringing the death toll to 11, officials said Sunday. Two weeks after the blast at the Imperial Sugar plant, 14 remain hospitalized.

NEW YORK

Passenger dies on flight from Haiti

An American Airlines passenger died after a flight attendant told her he couldn't give her any oxygen and then tried to help but could not get faulty oxygen equipment to work, a relative said.

The airline confirmed the flight death on Friday and said medical professionals had tried to save Carine Desir, 44, who was returning home to Brooklyn from Haiti.

Desir, who had heart disease, died of natural causes, the medical examiner's office said Sunday.

NEW YORK

Gamemaker offers $2-billion for a rival

Electronic Arts, a video game giant, made an unsolicited $2-billion bid on Sunday for rival Take-Two Interactive Software, publisher of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, a deal that would further a wave of consolidation in the rapidly growing industry.

Times wires

[Last modified February 24, 2008, 23:53:34]