Cleartime: F Obits

Obituaries:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

FALLS, JOE — Falls, a longtime sports writer for The Detroit News and a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, Aug. 11, 2004 in Detroit of diabetes-related heart failure. He was 76.

Falls began his journalism career in 1945, when he went to work as a copy boy in the New York office of The Associated Press. He transferred to the Detroit bureau in 1953 and joined the Detroit Times in 1956. When the Times folded in 1960, he moved on to the Detroit Free Press, eventually becoming sports editor. He remained there until 1978, when he joined the News. In 2002, Falls was inducted into the writers' wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., where he received the J.G. Taylor Spink Award.

Falls covered 50 World Series, 20 Kentucky Derbys, 15 Super Bowls, 20 Masters and U.S. Open golf tournaments, 25 Indy 500s, and dozens of other events such as the Rose Bowl, Stanley Cup and NBA Finals.

FARNETI, MILLO 'MILO' — Millo 'Milo' Farneti, 82, of Frontenac, died Jan. 31, 2004 of a sudden illness.

He was born July 30, 1921 at Frontenac, to Ezio and Albina Lispi Farneti. He attended Frontenac and Pittsburg schools, where he graduated from Pittsburg High School in 1939. While in high school, he won the state championship throwing the javelin. He later graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in journalism. At the University of Kansas, he competed on the track team.

During the Korean War, he served as a correspondent for The Associated Press out of Tokyo, where he reported under his own byline. Following the war he worked in New York as a journalist. He later moved to Rome, Italy, where he worked for the Journal of Commerce for many years.

Survivors include two sisters, Anne Dyer of Kansas City, Mo., and Elda Blasco of Kansas City, Mo.

From The Pittsburg Morning Sun
http://morningsun.net

FEATHER, JOSEPH WILLIAM (BILL) — Feather joined The AP at Albuquerque in 1956 and worked a few years in both Albuquerque and Santa Fe before moving permanently to the state capital in 1961. Bill left AP in 1966 to become editor of the Santa Fe New Mexican but returned to the news service in 1968 and was the AP capitol correspondent when he retired in 1991.

Joseph William "Bill" Feather died at his home in Santa Fe, N.M., Aug. 18, 2002. He was 74. In his last months he suffered lung cancer. Fabian Chavez, a former state official and personal friend, said he saw Feather a few weeks before he died. "This is what I get for a half century of smoking," he quoted Feather as saying.

Feather was born at Artesia, N. M., served in the U.S. Navy 1945-47, and graduated from New Mexico A&M College in 1951. While in college he worked for the Las Cruces (N.M.) Citizen and after graduation worked as a reporter for the El Paso Times, Amarillo Daily News and Fort Worth Star Telegram before joining AP.

Colleagues recalled numerous occasions when Feather, speaking from memory, would correct budget figures and other facts given out at news conferences. Fellow reporters frequently relied on his accuracy.

"Bill was just superb," said former Gov. David Cargo.

"He was one of the very best statehouse reporters ever," said Howard Graves, a former AP bureau chief at Albuquerque. "He was so accurate, so thorough. . ."

"He was a real professional and a real gentleman," said Kent Walz, editor of the Albuquerque Journal and a former New Mexico AP bureau chief. Among awards Feather received in his career were the Dan Burrows Memorial Award given by the New Mexico Pro chapter of Sigma Delta Chi in 1985 for "contributions to the field of journalism in New Mexico;" a New Mexico Oil and Gas Association Award, and a Meritorious Public Service Medal presented by the National Association of Secretaries of State.

In retirement, Feather was active in Literacy Volunteers, the Randall Davey Audubon Center, Friends of the Santa Fe Public Library, and the Santa Fe Iris Society. Survivors include his wife, Patricia; three sons, four granddaughters, a brother and a sister.

FERRIS, WILLIAM — Ferris, a former AP newsman during the 1940s and 1950s, died Dec. 17, 2001 in Orange City, FL. He was 89.

Ferris began his career working for newspapers in Michigan and Illinois. He also worked for the Chicago Journal of Commerce. In 1941 he joined the AP's Chicago bureau where he covered agricultural and business. He later became the bureau's market editor.

Ferris transferred to the AP's New York office in 1957 where he worked as a business editor. He left AP in 1961 to become a public relations executive.

After retiring to Florida, Ferris wrote "The Grain Traders," a history of commodity futures trading that was published by Michigan State University Press in 1988.

Survivors include his wife, a son and two daughters.

FINCH, PAUL — who directed coverage of the 1968 Mexico City Olympics and the Tlatelolco massacre for The Associated Press, has died in Reno, Nev., where he started his career more than 50 years ago. He was 75.

Finch had a stroke two weeks ago and died April 24, 2007 at Renown Regional Medical Center, said his wife, Joyce.

Finch joined the AP in 1956 as a reporter in Reno after graduating from the University of Nevada, Reno.

His career took off after he earned accolades for his reporting on a deadly gas explosion. He worked in the San Francisco and Sacramento, Calif., bureaus before returning to Reno for a year.

In 1961, he went to New York, where he worked on the AP's international desk. He took his first foreign assignment in Caracas, Venezuela, where he later became bureau chief.

He moved on to become bureau chief in Mexico City and oversaw coverage of the 1968 Olympics and the Tlatelolco Massacre, in which thousands of student protesters were fired on by police and the military.

Finch called coverage of the massacre, in which hundreds were killed, the crowning achievement of his career.

Finch returned to the United States and was AP bureau chief in San Francisco and Los Angeles before being named general executive for the Midwest, overseeing 16 bureaus.

He left the AP in 1978 and briefly worked as editor for the San Bernardino Sun in California. The last 20 years of his career were spent as vice president of sales for The New York Times news service.

FINCK, JOCKEL — an Associated Press photographer whose assignments included the fall of the Berlin Wall and the bloody disintegration of Yugoslavia, died Jan. 28, 2006, of a heart attack while vacationing with his family in Traunstein in southern Germany. He was 43.

Born in Einbeck in Lower Saxony, Finck began his career as a photojournalist as a freelancer in Hannover and joined AP in Hamburg in 1986. He moved to the news agency's Berlin bureau in 1989 just as communism was crumbling in East Germany.

He covered the dramatic events of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of East and West Germany the next year.

His specialty was covering disaster and conflict zones, a vocation that took him to the siege of Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the 1990-91 Gulf War, the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the 2004 earthquake in Iran.

At home in Germany, he was on the scene of anti-nuclear protests near the town of Gorleben, disastrous flooding along the Oder River, and the 1998 derailing of an express train that left over 100 people dead.

Recently, he had put his travel to conflict zones on hold and focused on covering events in Germany, conscious of the risks inherent in photojournalism.

"The AP mourns the sudden death of a warm, well-liked, conscientious professional whose photographs from around the world helped to tell a myriad of stories large and small. He will be deeply missed by all who knew him," said AP's Director of Photography Santiago Lyon.

FITZGERALD, WILLIAM M. — A memorial service was held in New Rochelle, N.Y., April 5, 2005, for William M. Fitzgerald, a former broadcast news manager at The Associated Press. He died April 1 at the age of 88.

His son, Deputy Director Bill Fitzgerald of Wide World Photos, said of his father's death: "Although it was sudden, it was not entirely unexpected."

Fitzgerald the elder joined the AP in New York Radio News in October 1945 after working for seven years at Transradio Press Service, including as New York bureau manager. Before that, the Detroit native and University of Detroit graduate spent two years at the Detroit News.

Early in his AP career, Fitzgerald became a mainstay on the early shift in the broadcast department -- now headquartered in Washington, D.C., -- when it was still located in New York. He was on the overnight shift for more than two decades, mostly as "Early Editor," before he was assigned as day supervisor in July 1968, at the time the number-two post in Radio News.

Fitzgerald transferred to the New York General Desk in September 1978 as AP Log editor and retired in 1980.

Fitzgerald, who lived in New Rochelle for nearly six decades, is survived by 12 children and their spouses, as well as 27 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

FIALKOWSKI, Arthur W. — CWA retiree, died November 3, 2004.

FOLTZ, CHARLES S. (Jr.), — who reported from Europe in the 1930s and 1940s for The Associated Press and later became foreign editor of U.S. News & World Report, died May 14, 2005, at his Washington home of cardiac arrest, two days short of his 95th birthday.

A native of Lancaster, Pa., his father was editor and publisher of the Daily Intelligencer Journal in Lancaster. His mother was an artist.

After graduating in 1931 from Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Foltz worked as a reporter for the Record in Philadelphia and the Herald Tribune in New York.

He joined AP in 1933 and moved to Paris the next year. He covered the events leading up to World War II, including Germany's occupation of the Rhineland. He also traveled to Spain and filed dispatches on the civil war there. In 1939, he established AP's bureau in Bern, Switzerland, a listening post and transportation hub that enabled him to keep up with developments in the Balkans as well as in Berlin and Rome. He filed reports from Bern for NBC Radio as well as for AP.

From 1942 to 1946, Foltz headed AP's bureau in Madrid. His book, "The Masquerade in Spain" (1948), was an account of the regime of Gen. Francisco Franco.

U.S. News & World Report Editor David Lawrence hired Foltz in 1948 to become European editor. Foltz retired from the magazine in 1982.

FORRESTER (Jr.), JESSE WAYNE (Bud) — a former AP newsman and former editor of The Daily Astorian and of the East Oregonian of Pendleton, died Feb. 22, 2000 in Portland, OR. He was 85.

Forrester combined journalism and public service in a career that spanned from the 1930s to the 1980s. For most of his career, he worked with his wife, Eleanor, running news and business departments at daily newspapers in Coos Bay, Pendleton and Astoria, where he was known for his strong editorials and community-minded news coverage.

Until his death, Forrester was chairman of the board for the East Oregonian Publishing Co., which includes the East Oregonian, The Daily Astorian and three weeklies. During his career, Forrester also worked for the Oregon Journal, The Oregonian and the AP. Forrester was a recipient of the Oregon Education Association's Citizen of the Year award, distinguished service awards from the University of Oregon and Oregon State University and the Amos E. Voorhies Award for Journalistic Achievement from the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association.

Nationally, he was active in newspaper organizations for editors and editorial writers, and served on a Pulitzer Prize jury.

Survivors include his wife and two sons, Mike, editor and publisher of the Capital Press in Salem, and Steve, editor and publisher of The Daily Astorian.

FORCE, DAWN E. — a retired administrative assistant in Albany, died April 8, 1996, at age 68.

"For a quarter of a century, before she took medical leave in 1990, Dawn left an indelible impression on hundreds of AP member editors and broadcasters, to say nothing of the many AP people she worked with," said Albany Chief of Bureau Lew Wheaton.

The New York State APME and the New York State Associated Press Broadcasters Association honored her with awards recognizing her contributions at her retirement.

FOSTER, BELMONT EARL (Burt) — retired photo editor, died Jan. 17, 1999 in Arlington, Va. He was 89.

In a 30-year career, Foster was a photo editor in AP's Washington bureau and at headquarters in New York. He retired in 1971.

Foster joined the AP in 1941 in Boston, where he worked for two years before transferring to Washington. He began his journalism career in the 1920s as a reporter for the Rutland Herald in his native Vermont.

Survivors include his wife, a son, a daughter and a brother.

FOSTER, DONALD LEE — a technician for The Associated Press for 33 years, died Aug. 15, 2005, in Roanoke, Va., his daughter said. He was 66 and had cancer.

Foster was based in Roanoke for 31 years before his retirement in 2000. In Virginia, he traveled as far north as Winchester, south to Bristol and east to South Boston to provide technical service to AP member newspapers, radio stations and television stations.

"He was an outstanding technician and was well-liked by all the members," said Bobby Baker, AP service and technology manager in Virginia.

Foster began working for the AP in Jacksonville, Fla., in 1967, transferred to New York the following year and came to Roanoke in 1969.

A native of Chatsworth, Ga., Foster spent six years on active duty in the Navy and four years in the reserves.

He was an avid golfer who played in many tournaments in the Roanoke area. He was once selected to play on the Virginia Senior Amateur team against a team from North Carolina.

Foster is survived by his daughter, Elizabeth Brunn of Roanoke, and two grandchildren.

FOURNEL, Ed — worked for The Associated Press for almost 40 years, including a stint as chief of communications in the New York bureau, died June 23, 2001 of an apparent heart attack. He was 75.

Born in Stuart, Fla., Fournel worked for Pan American Airways and the city of Miami before joining AP as an office boy in Jacksonville, Fla., on March 8, 1949.

He transferred to the Detroit bureau in 1952 and held several positions there before he transferred to AP headquarters in New York in 1955. He worked in the Washington bureau and supervised technical operations for the Cleveland bureau in early 1966. He held similar jobs in the Richmond, Va., and Dallas bureaus before becoming chief of communications in New York on June 18, 1972. After six years in New York, he went to AP's East Brunswick, N.J.,technical center as a production supervisor.

On Aug. 20, 1978, he transferred to Little Rock bureau as a technician and held that position until his retirement March 1, 1988.

FRAENKEL, JEROME J. — Fraenkel joined the AP in 1967. He was an AP data processing manager in New York. Fraenkel died at his home in New York on Aug. 25, 2003. He was 88.

“Dad was a very private person and we really don't know much about his work life,” wrote daughter Estelle Wenson, a college professor. “I just remember the long days he put in and the hours of after hours work he frequently did. He also lectured for a national marketing association about the use of computers in business.”

He served as an aircraft mechanic in England and Egypt during his three-year stint in the old U.S. Army Air Corps, 1942-45. He rose to the rank of sergeant while servicing Air Force B-17 bombers. After his discharge he became active in the American Legion and served his local chapter for many years as corresponding secretary.

He was a communicant at St. Catherine of Sienna Roman Catholic Church and served for many years as a lector and a writer for its magazine "Sounds of Sienna."

Survivors include his widow, Carmela Cuomo Fraenkel, and daughters Estelle Wenson, Bridgewater, Mass., and Judith Ann Broadhurst, New York City.

FULLER, KEITH — Fuller, who as president of The Associated Press for nearly a decade guided the world's largest newsgathering organization into an age of stories and pictures transmitted by satellite instead of telephone and teletype, died Friday. He was 79.

Fuller, who had suffered from Alzheimer's disease, died at his home in Chevy Chase, Md.

During four decades with AP, Fuller remained a reporter at heart. His career spanned a period, as he once put it, "from Louisiana Gov. Earl Long slopping the hogs on his pea patch farm to Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev meeting at the summit."

As bureau chief in Little Rock, Ark., in the 1950s, he directed coverage of the 1957 school desegregation crisis at Central High School for which AP's Special Correspondent Relman Morin won a Pulitzer Prize.

When Fuller retired as AP's president and chief executive in 1985, the news cooperative had 1,800 reporters, editors and photographers in 219 bureaus worldwide. His definition of AP's mission: "We are today, tomorrow and always the most fair and unbiased news report that humans can achieve."

Under his leadership, AP increased the number of its overseas bureaus, expanded the range of live broadcast news and took the first steps toward diversifying its sources of income. When he took the helm in 1976, AP served newspapers with just over 70 percent of the country's daily circulation. By the time he retired, the AP had reached 90 percent.

He had taken the post as AP's chief executive, succeeding his friend and mentor Wes Gallagher, just as the media's technological age was dawning.

"My first capital budget was something like $800,000," he would say. "Within a few years I was scrounging for $16 or $17 million, just to buy equipment. And laptops for every reporter had not yet landed in my lap."

To emphasize AP's place in international journalism, he led visits by the cooperative's board of directors to various news spots around the world, notably to China in 1977, when they were received by Premier Deng Xiaoping, and later to Tibet.

In 1981, he was given the William Allen White Award by the University of Kansas and a year later received an honorary doctorate of letters from Ithaca College in New York.

After his retirement, he served for 10 years on the board of directors of Gannett. He was succeeded at AP by Louis D. Boccardi, who remains president and CEO.

"Keith brought the greatest joy to the job," Boccardi said. "He was an adventurer at heart, who delighted in testing new ways to do things and finding new places to plant AP's banner. He could break the grimmest moment with a spark of humor that helped us all find the path to a solution."

Before becoming chief executive, Fuller had been AP's personnel director, negotiating union contracts, and took charge of Wide World Photos, AP's commercial photo arm, and Newsfeatures.

In the latter capacity, he was supervising editor for "The Torch is Passed," AP's account of President Kennedy's assassination, which sold 5 million copies in hard cover and was translated into eight languages.

He had joined the AP in 1949 in New Orleans.

He covered the Mississippi state capital at Jackson, then became an AP broadcast executive for Texas and New Mexico in 1953. Then he left AP for four months in 1955 to become news director of KCBD in Lubbock, Texas.

But "I knew I was not destined to become the next Edward R. Murrow," Fuller would say, "when Mamie Eisenhower came to town and three times I addressed her on the air as Mrs. Roosevelt."

He soon returned to AP, served as chief correspondent in Jackson, then moved to Little Rock as bureau chief from 1956-1959. He then was briefly bureau chief at Denver before coming to AP headquarters in New York as a general executive in 1960.

Edwin Keith Fuller was born Jan. 10, 1923, on the family's 320-acre wheat farm near Arlington, Kan. He was 15 when his father died and was sent to live with his older married brother in Beaumont, Texas. There he edited the high school newspaper, discarded his first name as "unfit for a cowboy" and acquired a baritone drawl.

A freshman at Lamar College, he was also working full time as a $13.50-a-week cub reporter on the Beaumont Enterprise when World War II broke out.

Enlisting in the Air Corps cadet program, he went overseas with the Eighth Air Force as a navigator-bombardier on a B-17. On his 10th mission with the 457th Bomb Group, his plane caught fire from flak, and he bailed out at 21,000 feet over Nazi-occupied Nancy, France. Fuller spent the next 14 months in a series of Stalag-lufts, POW camps for airmen, until U.S. Third U.S. Army tanks battered down the gates of Stalag VIII-A, outside Munich.

Certain that he would not survive the camp's liberation, Fuller ventured out from beneath his bunk only when he saw Gen. George S. Patton himself, in full military regalia with ivory-handled pistols, handing out C-rations to the jubilant inmates.

After the war, he entered Southern Methodist University with the idea of becoming a lawyer, but a stint as campus correspondent for the Dallas Times-Herald lured him back to a newspaper career. He dropped out to become a beat reporter on the rival Morning News.

In 1949, he received an offer from the United Press, but instead joined AP.

Fuller is survived by his wife, Mattisue Scott; a daughter, Barbara Jean Basler; and two sons, Geoffrey and Andrew.