Monday, Mar. 01, 1999
Milestones
By Kathleen Adams, Harriet Barovick, Tam Gray, Daniel Levy, Lina Lofaro, David Spitz, Joel Stein, Flora Tartakovsky and Chris Taylor
FACING EXTRADITION. IRA EINHORN, 58, '60s antiwar activist wanted for the 1977 murder of his girlfriend; in Bordeaux, France. An appeals court agreed to a longstanding request from the U.S. for extradition on condition that Einhorn not be subjected to the death penalty. His lawyers said they would appeal the ruling to a higher French court.
POSTHUMOUSLY PARDONED. HENRY O. FLIPPER, the Army's first black commissioned officer; for an 1882 military conviction for conduct unbecoming an officer; by President Clinton; in Washington.
DIED. JOHN EHRLICHMAN, 73, pugnacious Nixon domestic-affairs adviser and leak plugger who was imprisoned for his role in Watergate; after a battle with diabetes; in Atlanta. Disbarred for his crimes, which included planning the break-in at the office of the psychiatrist who treated Vietnam War critic Daniel Ellsberg, Ehrlichman later wrote novels, worked at an engineering firm, and often insisted the scandal was overblown.
DIED. GENE SISKEL, 53, movie critic who, with Roger Ebert, formed the incompatible but entertaining duo of reviewers whose "two thumbs-up" was among the most coveted symbols of approval in Hollywood; nine months after brain surgery; near Chicago. More laid-back than Ebert, Siskel was no less combative. They did not like each other in real life, and their onscreen skirmishes, first aired on the hugely popular Sneak Previews on PBS, became emblems of pop consumerism: biting but sound-bite-size nuggets of ego and intellection.
DIED. CURTIS CARLSON, 84, jaunty self-made billionaire; in St. Louis Park, Minn. During the Depression, Carlson borrowed $55 from his landlord to jumpstart his trading-stamp company, Gold Bond. That business, which earned him his first million by age 39, turned into Carlson Cos., parent to ventures such as TGI Friday's and Radisson Hotels.