Sunday, Jun. 12, 2005
Milestones
By Melissa August, Harriet Barovick, ELIZABETH L. BLAND, Leslie-Bernard Joseph, Carolina A. Miranda, Golnoush Niknejad, Logan Orlando, Julie Rawe, Elspeth Reeve
CHARGED. UMER HAYAT, 47, and HAMID HAYAT, 22, father and son, both U.S. citizens, from Lodi, Calif.; with lying to the FBI about their connection to a terrorist training camp; in Sacramento, Calif. According to an FBI affidavit, after first denying any connection to terrorism, the younger Hayat admitted he had attended an al-Qaeda camp in Pakistan--allegedly with funds from his father--where photos of George W. Bush were used for target practice.
PLEADED GUILTY. CARLTON DOTSON, 23, ex-basketball player for Baylor University; to the 2003 shooting murder of his former teammate, friend and sometime roommate, star center PATRICK DENNEHY; in Waco, Texas. Dotson, who claimed to have been hearing voices at the time of the shooting and who was initially ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial, surprised prosecutors by pleading guilty--without any deals for leniency--a few days before jury selection was to begin. He faces up to life in prison.
DIED. JEAN O'LEARY, 57, ex-nun and leader in the nascent gay-rights movement, who rejected the meeker goals of associates and organized the first meeting of gay and lesbian leaders at the White House, in 1977; of lung cancer; in San Clemente, Calif. One of three openly gay delegates to the 1976 Democratic National Convention, she co-founded National Coming Out Day, which since 1988 has encouraged gays to step out of the closet.
DIED. DANA ELCAR, 77, veteran actor on stage (Harold Pinter's The Caretaker), screen (The Sting) and TV (Robert Blake's boss in Baretta) who co-starred in TV's MacGyver for seven years, continuing with the role even as he was going blind from glaucoma; of complications from pneumonia; in Ventura, Calif.
DIED. HAMILTON NAKI, 78, South African surgical pioneer with no formal training who was a central member of the team, led by Dr. Christiaan Barnard, that performed the first human heart transplant--yet went unrecognized for some three decades because of apartheid restrictions on blacks holding jobs deemed appropriate only for whites; of a heart attack; in Langa, South Africa. A gardener at the University of Cape Town, Naki got his start as a lab assistant when a doctor needed a hand while operating on a giraffe. Naki's skills ultimately led Barnard to request his help in the landmark 1967 transplant. In 2003, 12 years after Naki retired, officially still a gardener, the university gave him an honorary degree in medicine.
DIED. BRIAN BLAINE REYNOLDS, 89, brash sports photographer of the '40s and '50s, and one of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED's first hires, known until 1964 as HY PESKIN; of kidney disease; in Herzliyya, Israel. Darting into seemingly unreachable spots, he captured such indelible images as Ben Hogan, left, wielding a 1-iron at the approach to the 18th hole at the 1950 U.S. Open and Joe DiMaggio finishing his grand swing at the 1949 All-Star game.
DIED. SIMON WARONKER, 90, founder of successful indie-pop label Liberty Records, home in the '50s and '60s to Eddie Cochran (Summertime Blues), Julie London (Cry Me a River) and Alvin and the Chipmunks; in Beverly Hills, Calif. Alvin, Simon and Theodore--the animated rodents whose 1958 novelty Chipmunk Song was a No. 1 single that sold 4 million copies--were named for Waronker and two Liberty colleagues.