Final Exits, 29-31 December 2011



 Eva Zeisel, Hungarian industrial designer, potter and centenarian. Photo taken in 2001 by Daniel Wickemeyer.

Obituaries for 29-31 December 2011

29
* Paul Antaki, 84, Egyptian Melkite Catholic hierarch, Auxiliary Archbishop of Antioch (1968–2001).
* Rosman García, 32, Venezuelan baseball player (Texas Rangers), traffic collision. (Spanish)
* Leopold Hawelka, 100, Austrian coffee house owner (Café Hawelka).
* Aamir Hayat Khan Rokhri, 55, Pakistani politician, heart attack.
* Svein Krøvel, 65, Norwegian cinematographer. (Norwegian)
* Tyron Perez, 26, Filipino actor (StarStruck), shot.
* Amichand Rajbansi, 69, South African politician, Minister without portfolio (1984–1988), Leader of the Minority Front (since 1994).

30
* Ted Beard, 90, American baseball player (Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox).
* John Buchanan, 58, American fine arts museum director (De Young), cancer.
* Mike Colalillo, 86, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient.
* George Daldry, 88, Australian fitness trainer.
* Dezső Garas, 77, Hungarian actor.
* Muhammad Hamidullah Khan, 74, Bangladeshi politician.
* Kim Geun-tae, 64, South Korean politician, Minister of Health and Welfare (2004–2006), pneumonia and kidney failure.
* Ricardo Legorreta, 80, Mexican architect, UIA Gold Medal recipient, cancer. (Spanish)
* Doug Sellars, 50, Canadian television executive (Fox Sports Media Group, CBC Sports), heart attack.
* Vasily Starodubtsev, 80, Russian politician, Governor of Tula Oblast (1997–2005), member of the Gang of Eight (1991).
* Mirko Tremaglia, 85, Italian politician, Minister without portfolio (2001–2006).
* Eva Zeisel, 105, Hungarian-born American ceramic artist and designer.

31
* Murray Barnes, 57, Australian footballer (Sydney Hakoah), national captain (1980–1981).
* Rex Jackson, 83, Australian politician and convicted criminal, New South Wales MLA for Bulli (1955–1971) and Heathcote (1971–1986).
* Glenn Lord, 80, American editor.
* Jerzy Kluger, 92, Polish businessman, bronchitis.
* Milton Wong, 72, Canadian businessman and philanthropist, pancreatic cancer.

Oldest Bataan March Survivor Dies at 105

The oldest survivor of the harrowing World War II march from Bataan province near the Philippine capital, Manila, to a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp has died at the age of 105.

Albert Brown died Sunday at a nursing home in the northern U.S. state of Illinois.

He survived the so-called Bataan Death March that U.S. and Philippine prisoners were forced to make in 1942 after losing the battle of Bataan. The Japanese Imperial Army forced about 75,000 prisoners of war to march more than 90 kilometers to a Japanese camp. Thousands died during the forced transfer, which an Allied military commission later categorized as a Japanese war crime.

Brown was in his late 30s when he endured the march, but it was not until Japan's surrender in 1945 that he could return home. During his internment, he endured near starvation, cruel treatment by the Japanese prison guards and a host of diseases and ailments.

His remarkable experience during the march and in the Japanese camp is chronicled in a recently published book Forsaken Heroes of the Pacific War: One Man's True Story by Kevin Moore and Don Morrow.

In 2007, Brown was recognized at an annual convention of Bataan survivors as the oldest one still living.

Photo: U.S. and Filipino forces surrender to the Japanese Army at Bataan. Photo by U.S. military / Department of Defense, courtesy of National Park Service.