In passing
Shigeya Kihara, Army language instructor, 90
Los Angeles Shigeya Kihara, the last surviving original instructor of the first U.S. Army language school, which was founded just prior to World War II to teach Japanese to American soldiers, has died. He was 90.
Originally known as the Fourth Army Intelligence School and based at the Presidio in San Francisco, the language training program later evolved into the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center at the Presidio of Monterey.
A Nisei, or second-generation Japanese American, Kihara was one of the first four civilian instructors at the original school, which opened in 1941 in a converted airplane hanger.
Lester Gamble, promoter of Spam, 87
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii Lester Gamble Sr., a decorated Navy veteran who later became a food broker credited with popularizing Spam in the islands, died Jan. 12. He was 87.
Born in South Dakota in 1917, Gamble served in the Navy in Hawaii during World War II and in 1948 founded L.H. Gamble Co., which became a major food brokerage.
The company represented the makers of Spam, Hormel Foods Corp., among others and Gamble promoted the luncheon meat so that it became a mainstay of popular local meals, said his son, Lester Gamble Jr.
Created in 1937, Spam was adopted by U.S. military forces during World War II because it did not need refrigeration.
Today, Hawaii residents consume nearly 7 million cans of Spam a year, an average of about six cans for every man, woman and child.
Elizabeth Janeway, feminist author, 91
Los Angeles Elizabeth Janeway, an author who began her career writing popular novels in the 1940s but turned to nonfiction in the 1970s to express her strong support of the women’s movement, has died. She was 91.
She had been in declining health and died Saturday in a retirement home in Rye, N.Y., her son Michael Janeway told the Los Angeles Times on Thursday.
Janeway attracted national attention as a feminist author with her 1971 book “Man’s World, Woman’s Place: A Study of Social Mythology.” She wrote five others on related topics, including “Between Myth and Morning: Women Awakening” (1974) and “Powers of the Weak” (1980). Critics praised her extensive historical research and practical advice.
H. Bentley Glass, outspoken biologist, 98
Boulder, Colo. H. Bentley Glass, a prolific biologist whose outspoken views ranged from nuclear war to test tube babies and the role of race in genetics, died of pneumonia Sunday at a hospital. He was 98.
His death the day before his birthday followed his prediction in 1967 that people in the 21st century would live to nearly 100, said his daughter, Lois Edgar of Boulder.
Glass was a busy man in the 1950s and 1960s, writing hundreds of articles, advising the government and traveling the world. His books included “Genes and the Man” (1943) and “Science and Liberal Education” (1960).
He predicted in 1968 that sexual activity and reproduction would eventually become severed and two years later suggested it would one day became “mandatory” to prevent genetic defects.
Glass was also considered a leading scientific spokesman on the effects of radiation: He and other scientists in 1957 said fallout from the testing of nuclear bombs would harm perhaps millions of children in the future.
– From wire reports