Wayne F. Miller, 94, photographer chronicled South Side in 1940s

ORINDA, Calif. — Photographer Wayne F. Miller, who created a ground-breaking series of portraits chronicling the lives of black Americans in Chicago after serving with an elite Navy unit that produced some of the most indelible combat images of World War II, died Wednesday. He …

Zach Sobiech, 18, teen Youtube sensation

LAKELAND, Minn. — A Minnesota teenager whose farewell song “Clouds” became an Internet sensation with nearly 3 million views on YouTube died Monday after battling a rare form of bone cancer, his family announced.

Zach Sobiech, of Lakeland, died at his home, surrounded by family …

Bernard Waber, 91, prolific children’s author with ‘The House on East 88th Street’

NEW YORK — Bernard Waber, the author of such children’s favorites as “The House on East 88th Street” and “Lyle, Lyle Crocodile,” has died.

Mr. Waber died May 16 at his Long Island home after a long illness, publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced Monday. He …

Neil Chrisley, 82, played for Tigers, Braves, Senators

CONWAY, S.C. — Neil Chrisley, a South Carolinian who played major league baseball player in the late 1950s, has died. He was 82.

Bobby Sellers of Goldfinch Funeral Home said Mr. Chrisley died on Saturday at his home in Conway.

Mr. Chrisley was born in …

Boruch Spiegel, 93, Warsaw ghetto insurgent survived 1943 uprising

WARSAW, Poland — Boruch Spiegel, one of the last remaining survivors of the 1943 Warsaw ghetto uprising by poorly armed Jewish insurgents against the powerful Nazi German force that occupied Poland, has died. He was 93.

Mr. Spiegel died May 9 in Montreal, where he …

Mack Emerman, 89, founded Criteria studio where ‘Layla,’ ‘Eat A Peach’ produced

MIAMI — Mack Emerman, the founder of Criteria Recording Studios where acts including Eric Clapton, James Brown and the Bee Gees made some of their most famous records, has died after a long illness. He was 89.

His daughter Bebe Emerman said Tuesday that her …

School of the Art Institue professor helped others see art as being essential

Angela Paterakis, who taught for almost 50 years at Chicago’s School of the Art Institute and was an ardent suporter of arts in education, died Sunday at Villa Scalabrini in Northlake. She was 80 and a longtime resident of River Forest.

Ray Manzarek, 74, Chicago-born keyboardist co-founded The Doors with Jim Morrison

Ray Manzarek, the keyboardist and founding member of The Doors who had a dramatic impact on rock ’n’ roll, has died. He was 74.

Mr. Manzarek, who was born in Chicago, died Monday at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany, surrounded by his family, said …

Monroe Hopper, 86, Hopper Brothers gospel singer sang for Reagan in 1981

MADISON, N.C. — One of the founding members of the North Carolina gospel group the Hopper Brothers has died.

Group publicist Aaron Crisler said that 86-year-old Monroe Hopper died Friday in Madison. No cause of death was given.

Claude Hopper founded the group in 1957, …

Cynthia Brown, 60, guiding force of Human Rights Watch

NEW YORK — Activist Cynthia Brown, one of the guiding forces at the international advocacy group Human Rights Watch, has died at age 60 after fighting cancer.

Ms. Brown started with Human Rights Watch as a researcher in 1982, focusing on the Americas. In 1990, …

Frances B. Monson, 85, wife of Mormon church president

SALT LAKE CITY — The wife of the president of the Mormon church has died.

Frances B. Monson, 85, died early Friday morning at a hospital in Salt Lake City, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced.

Church President Thomas S. Monson …

Jorge Rafael Videla, 87, Argentina dictator took power in 1976 coup

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Former dictator Jorge Rafael Videla, who took power over Argentina in a 1976 coup and led a military junta that killed thousands of his fellow citizens in a dirty war to eliminate so-called “subversives,” died quietly in his sleep Friday while …

William R. Bonner, 87, police officer, loved jazz, helping straighten out young lives

Returning to Chicago after World War II, Bill Bonner was one of many African-American men determined to better himself after seeing the world but serving in a segregated military.

Many of them enrolled at Roosevelt University, one of the few city schools whose doors were …

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John La Montaine dies at 93

Chicago-born composer John La Montaine, who won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1959, died April 29 at his home in Hollywood, Calif. He was 93. Mr. La Montaine received the Pulitzer Prize for his First Piano Concerto, Op. 9, subtitled “In Time of War.” …

Winifred Hope Smith dies; helped raise Bushman, famed gorilla

Winifred Hope Smith came to Chicago in March to visit the taxidermied remains of Bushman, the magnificent silverback gorilla she knew as her childhood playmate in Africa and the world later knew as the undisputed star of the Lincoln Park Zoo and of movie newsreels. Two and a half weeks after seeing Bushman one final time, at the Field Museum, Mrs. Smith died on April 4 at age 92.