In passing

Vincent Gigante, 77; Mafia ‘Oddfather’

Springfield, Mo. Mob boss Vincent “The Chin” Gigante, the powerful Mafioso who avoided jail for decades by wandering the streets in a ratty bathrobe and slippers, feigning mental illness, died Monday in prison. He was 77.

The head of the Genovese crime family, who had suffered from heart disease, died at the federal prison in Springfield, Mo.

Dubbed the “Oddfather” for his bizarre behavior, Gigante had scored a lengthy string of victories over prosecutors, but it ended with a July 1997 racketeering conviction. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

After a quarter-century of public craziness, he finally admitted his insanity ruse at an April 2003 federal hearing in which he calmly pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice. That brought him another three-year sentence.

For the man described by the New York Times Magazine as “the last great Mafioso of the century,” his admission was the final act in a 50-year career linking the era of old-time gangsters and the modern-day Mafia of John Gotti. At the height of his power, Gigante’s empire stretched from Little Italy to the docks of Miami.

Joseph L. Owades, 86; light beer inventor

Sonoma, Calif. Joseph L. Owades, a biochemist credited with inventing, for better or worse, light beer but whose product lacked the macho marketing that later made Miller Lite a sensation, died of a heart ailment Dec.16 at his home in Sonoma, Calif. He was 86.

Initially intrigued by the study of cholesterol, Owades entered the brewing trade through post-doctoral work in fermentation science. While working in Brooklyn, N.Y., at Rheingold Breweries, then an industry leader, he developed a process to remove the starch from beer. This reduced its carbohydrates and calories.

“When I got into the beer business, I used to ask people why they did not drink beer,” Dr. Owades once said. “The answer I got was twofold: One, ‘I don’t like the way beer tastes.’ Two, ‘I’m afraid it will make me fat.’

“It was a common belief then that drinking beer made you fat,” he said. “People weren’t jogging, and everybody believed beer drinkers got a big, fat beer belly. Period. I couldn’t do anything about the taste of beer, but I could do something about the calories.”

Introduced in 1967, his product was called Gablinger’s Diet Beer. As Owades later said, the Gablinger’s television advertisement showing a man with the girth of a sumo wrestler shoveling spaghetti into his mouth and downing a Gablinger’s did little to help the cause.

With approval from his boss, Owades said, he shared his formula with a friend at Chicago’s Meister Brau brewery, which soon came out with Meister Brau Lite.

Miller Brewing acquired the light beer process when it bought assets of Meister Brau in the early 1970s. The “tastes great, less filling” marketing strategy, which used football players and other tough-knuckled types, helped Miller Lite flourish.

Hyman Engelberg, 92; Monroe’s physician

Santa Monica, Calif. Dr. Hyman Engelberg, Marilyn Monroe’s personal physician who prescribed her sleeping pills and declared her drug-overdose death a suicide, has died. He was 92.

Engelberg died Monday of natural causes in a nursing home in Santa Monica.

In addition to treating a number of Hollywood celebrities, the physician was also known for his research and writing on cardiovascular problems, especially the effects of the blood-thinner heparin.

It was Engelberg who alerted the world more than four decades ago that the spectacularly popular blond actress, who remains an international cult figure, had been found dead in her Brentwood home.

“Marilyn Monroe has died. She’s committed suicide,” the doctor reported at 4:25 a.m. on Aug. 5, 1962, in a phone call to the Los Angeles Police Department. “I’m Dr. Hyman Engelberg, Marilyn Monroe’s physician. I’m at her residence. She’s committed suicide.”

Engelberg told the Los Angeles Times that long-ago Sunday that he had prescribed Nembutal capsules only two or three days before her death, and that she was to take one each night to help her sleep. A 50-capsule bottle of the sedative, found among some 15 medicine bottles on her nightstand, was empty.

In addition to Monroe, Engelberg treated nearly 100 Hollywood celebrities, among them Burt Lancaster, Danny Kaye, Rita Hayworth and Walter Matthau.