Obituaries

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Soprano Leyla Gencer, who made her career at Italy's famed La Scala opera house, has died in Milan, officials said Saturday. She was 80.

Jack Gibson

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Eddy Arnold, whose mellow baritone on songs like "Make the World Go Away" made him one of the most successful country singers in history, died Thursday morning, days short of his 90th birthday.

ATLANTA - But he kept at it, armed with a mental image of them. He was still bowling last week, just before he was hospitalized and died Monday of congestive heart failure — four days shy of turning 107.

LOS ANGELES - Irvine Robbins, who as co-founder of Baskin-Robbins brought Rocky Road, Pralines 'n Cream and other exotic ice cream concoctions to every corner of America, has died at age 90. Robbins had been ill for some time and died Monday at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., said his daughter Marsha Veit.

PHILADELPHIA - Cartoonist Ted Key, whose comic strip "Hazel" about a bossy maid went from magazine page to TV screen, has died. He was 95.

HAVANA - Robert Vesco, the American fugitive who cooked up moneymaking schemes that allegedly involved everyone from Colombian drug lords to the families of U.S. presidents, died in Cuba and was buried almost six months ago, according to an official document.

NEW YORK - Alvin Colt, a Tony-winning costume designer whose work spanned more than 60 years of theater from "On the Town" to the "Forbidden Broadway" revues, has died at 92.

RICHMOND, Va. - Mildred Loving, a black woman whose challenge to Virginia's ban on interracial marriage led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling striking down such laws nationwide, has died, her daughter said Monday.

MADRID (AFP) - Spain's former prime minister Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo - whose parliamentary inauguration in 1981 was dramatically interrupted by a coup attempt -- died Saturday aged 82, his family announced.

MADRID (Reuters) - Former Spanish Prime Minister Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo, whose appointment ceremony in 1981 was interrupted by a coup attempt, died on Saturday at the age of 82, his son said.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Jim Hager, one of the Hager Twins who satirized country life with cornball one-liners on TV's "Hee Haw," died in Nashville, the show's producer said Friday. He was 66.

BERLIN - Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager, believed to be the last surviving member of the inner circle of plotters who attempted to kill Adolf Hitler in 1944 with a briefcase bomb, has died. He was 90.

LOS ANGELES - In obituaries on April 22 and April 23 for singer Joe Feeney of "The Lawrence Welk Show," The Associated Press, relying on information from his son, erroneously reported that Feeney was a starting quarterback for the University of Nebraska football team. The university says Feeney attended the school in the early 1950s, but never played football for the team.

A Marine sergeant who became a symbol of resilience as he strove to recover from a roadside bomb blast in Iraq that blanketed 97 percent of his body with burns has died, the Defense Department said. He was 22.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Henry Brant, an avant-garde composer whose works placed dozens and sometimes hundreds of musicians throughout a concert hall — and sometimes throughout an entire city — has died. He was 94.

GENEVA - Albert Hofmann, the father of the mind-altering drug LSD whose medical discovery inspired — and arguably corrupted — millions in the 1960s hippie generation, has died. He was 102.

TAIPEI, Taiwan - Taiwanese essayist Bo Yang, who infuriated both Nationalist and Communist authorities with his tart critiques of abusive leaders and antidemocratic behavior, died Tuesday of lung disease in Taipei. He was 88.

DUBLIN (AFP) - Former Irish president Patrick Hillery has died aged 84 after a short illness, the government announced Saturday.