Milestones

By Elizabeth L. Bland, Unmesh Kher and Lina Lofaro Sunday, Aug. 10, 2003
    • RESIGNED. WILLIAM M. BULGER, 69, as president of the University of Massachusetts; in Boston. The former Democratic president of the state senate for 17 years, he had faced months of controversy — and attacks by Republican Governor Mitt Romney — over his ties to his brother James (Whitey) Bulger, a reputed gang member who has been a fugitive since 1995. In June, William Bulger gave what Romney said was evasive testimony about his brother to a U.S. House committee, in which he denied recognizing the name of his brother's gang.

    SENTENCED TO DEATH. AMROZI BIN NURHASYIM, 41, the first defendant to be tried in last year's terror attack on a Bali nightclub that killed 202 people; in Bali. Following the sentencing, the former motorcycle mechanic, who has said he wants to be a martyr, grinned and flashed a thumbs-up sign to the courtroom. Nevertheless, his attorneys have filed an appeal.

    DIED. JAMES WELCH, 62, Montana-born author of novels and poetry about Native American life; of a heart attack after a battle with lung cancer; in Missoula, Mont. A member of the Black Feet tribe, he grew up on a reservation and was encouraged to write poetry by a high school English teacher. The first of his seven novels, Winter in the Blood, tells the story of a young Indian, and was praised by novelist Reynolds Price as a "nearly flawless novel about human life."

    DIED. GROVER MITCHELL, 73, leader of the Count Basie Orchestra; of cancer; in New York City. Mitchell, who played trombone for Basie for a dozen years, became the band's leader in 1995, the third person to take over the group following Basie's death in 1984. Under Mitchell's direction, the band won two Grammys and found new fans.

    DIED. PETER SAFAR, 79, anesthesiologist known as the father of CPR; of cancer; at his home in Pittsburgh, Pa. A native of Vienna who came to the U.S. for a residency at Yale, he developed the lifesaving technique known as cardiopulmonary resuscitation, a combination of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and cardiac compression. He also helped set standards for other aspects of emergency care, including the training of technicians, the assembling of intensive-care units and the prevention of brain damage after cardiac arrest.

    DIED. ROBERT J. DONOVAN, 90, author of PT-109: John F. Kennedy in World War II; after a stroke; in St. Petersburg, Fla. A former reporter for the New York Herald Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, he wrote a book on the Eisenhower Administration before telling the best-selling story of Kennedy's war years.

    DIED. ROBERTO MARINHO, 98, media magnate and one of Brazil's richest and most powerful men; in Rio de Janeiro. Inheriting a small newspaper from his father when he was 20, he built O Globo into an empire whose television stations reached 99.9% of the country's homes and broadcast Brazilian soap operas around the world.