AP Features, January 12th, 2008
Jose "Pepin" Bello
MADRID, Spain (AP) — Jose "Pepin" Bello, a Spanish intellectual who influenced painter Salvador Dali, film director Luis Bunuel and poet Federico Garcia Lorca, has died. He was 103.
Bello died Friday in his sleep of old age at his Madrid home, his family told Spanish national news agency Efe.
In 2004, Bello was awarded the Gold Medal of Fine Arts by the Spanish government. He was also the subject of several documentaries and books.
Bello was known to be the last living representative of the cultural movement known as the Generation of 1927. Despite his influence over some of the country's best known cultural figures, he produced few literary or art works himself.
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Donald Burton
CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. (AP) — Donald Burton, a British actor and husband of Carroll Baker, has died. He was 73.
Burton died Dec. 8 of emphysema at his home in this desert town south of Palm Springs, said his widow, who starred in "Baby Doll" and "The Carpetbaggers."
Burton was born Feb. 10, 1934, in Norwich, England. He won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. For many years he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in such plays as "Hamlet," "Henry IV, Part Two" and "The War of the Roses."
His contemporary plays included "Educating Rita" and "How the Other Half Loves." He also worked in television, with such shows as "Upstairs, Downstairs," "The Duchess of Duke Street," "Fraud Squad" and "Public Eye."
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Vincent Gruppuso
HICKSVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — Vincent Gruppuso, a former bread deliveryman who bought a recipe for rice pudding from a Brooklyn deli in the 1960s and turned it into multimillion-dollar company, has died. He was 67.
Gruppuso, the founder of Kozy Shack Enterprises, died Dec. 29 of complications from diabetes at his home in East Hampton, N.Y., said Suzanne Cruse, the company's corporate counsel.
One of Gruppuso's stops on his bread delivery route in the mid-1960s was the Cozy Shack delicatessen, where he took an instant liking to the creamy rice pudding. He started selling trays of the pudding at his other stops and in 1967, he bought the recipe and started his own business in Queens.
Four decades later, the company now has more than 400 employees with plants in Hicksville, Turlock, Calif., and Lough Egish, Ireland. The pudding is sold at supermarkets in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe.
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Andres Henestrosa
MEXICO (AP) — Mexican writer and poet Andres Henestrosa, a Zapotec Indian who defended and promoted his native language, has died. He was 101.
Henestrosa died Thursday in his Mexico City home after a monthslong battle with pneumonia, daughter Cibeles Henestrosa said.
Andres Henestrosa, who was born in southern Oaxaca state and didn't learn Spanish until he was 15 years old, often focused his work on indigenous cultures and languages. He wrote a Zapotec-Spanish dictionary in 1936.
Henestrosa also dabbled in politics and was elected to Mexico's Congress and Senate.
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Carl N. Karcher
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Carl N. Karcher, the founder of the Carl's Jr. hamburger chain, has died. He was 90.
Karcher suffered from Parkinson's disease and was being treated for pneumonia when he died Friday at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, said Beth Mansfield, a spokeswoman for parent company CKE Restaurants Inc.
Karcher, who was a bread-truck driver before getting into the fast-food business, opened the first Carl's Jr. in 1956. He added "Jr." to distinguish it from his full-service eatery.
In 1989, Karcher and his family agreed to a $664,000 settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission after the agency alleged Karcher told six family members to sell stock ahead of an announcement that company profits would plummet by 50 percent.
In 1993, after increasingly bitter feuds with his board of directors and crippling personal financial losses, the 76-year-old founder was ousted as the company's CEO.
Today, Carl's Jr. has more than 1,000 locations across the West. CKE made $1.52 billion in sales in 2006 and had 29,000 employees. CKE also owns the Hardee's, La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill and Green Burrito chains.
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Eddie "Bozo" Miller
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Eddie "Bozo" Miller, a man known for his amazing capacity for food consumption, has died. He was 89.
Miller, who had struggled with diabetes and other health problems, died Monday of natural causes at his home in Oakland, said his son-in-law, Steve Blackman.
Miller once downed 27 two-pound chickens at one sitting for a bet. The 5-foot-7 man weighed 330 pounds at his peak and claimed a number of celebrities as his friends.
He worked at a variety of jobs, including being a bookie, fight manager and restaurant owner. But it was with knife and fork that he made his name.
He told the Oakland Tribune in November that he once ate 12 club sandwiches in a row. He also was known for eating more than 300 ravioli at one time.
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Zoel Parenteau Jr.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Zoel Parenteau Jr., the former KPTS Channel 8 manager, has died. He was 75.
Parenteau died Thursday, according to Cochran Mortuary. A cause of death was not disclosed.
Parenteau came to Wichita in 1972, where he served as president and general at the Wichita public television station until his retirement in 1997. He previously had been general manager of Kansas City's public television station, KCPT.
Parenteau was also a past president of the Wichita Rotary Club.
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Charles Tasnadi
WASHINGTON (AP) — Charles Tasnadi, who braved minefields and barbed wire to escape communist Hungary and went on to spend three decades as a top Associated Press photographer, has died. He was 82.
Tasnadi, famed for his skills as a photographer and revered as a great gentleman, died Thursday following a stroke.
During his career, he covered seven presidents, including a return to his native Hungary aboard Air Force One, accompanying President George H.W. Bush.
Bush called Tasnadi into a forward cabin on the jet just before landing and told him it was fitting and proper that this was how he should return home for the first time.
Tasnadi also traveled to Cuba more than 40 times, gaining access to Fidel Castro and other Cuban leaders. A former editor credited Tasnadi with helping pave the way for AP journalists to return to Cuba.
Among Tasnadi's most famous photographs was one of President Johnson displaying his scar to the media following surgery. Others included Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, President Nixon, Soviet Leader Leonid Brezhnev and candid shots of Presidents Clinton and Reagan.
Tasnadi was born Karoly Tasnadi on March 1, 1925. He was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2006 and underwent surgery and chemotherapy before suffering a recent stroke.
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Rix N. Yard
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Dr. Rix N. Yard, a former Tulane University athletic director, has died. He was 90.
Yard died Wednesday at his home in Newport News, Va., the university said.
He served as the Green Wave's athletic director from 1963-76 and stayed on as a professor of physical education and director of intramural and club sports until his retirement from Tulane in 1982.
As athletic director, Yard oversaw Tulane's 1966 move from the Southeastern Conference and the football team's move from old Tulane Stadium to the Louisiana Superdome, and was instrumental in Tulane joining the Metro Conference in all non-football sports for the 1975-76 season.
Yard was inducted into the National Association of College Directors of Athletics Hall of Fame, served as the chairman of the NCAA's television committee and was a member of the academic and tuition, and insurance committees.
He came to Tulane from Denison University in Granville, Ohio, where he headed a 12-sport varsity program and men's physical education department. He earned Lacrosse Coach of the Year honors in 1963.
Yard was elected to the Ohio Lacrosse Foundation Hall of Fame in 1995 and a bust of him was erected on the Denison University campus on April 14, 2007.
