In Passing

Baltimore

Parren Mitchell, civil rights leader

Former congressman Parren J. Mitchell, an eloquent but soft-spoken founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and champion of civil rights, died Monday.

Mitchell, 85, had been living in a nursing home since suffering a series of strokes several years earlier and died of complications from pneumonia.

Mitchell was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Baltimore in 1970 and was Maryland’s first black congressman. The Democrat served eight terms before stepping down in 1986 to be the running mate to former Attorney General Stephen Sachs in his unsuccessful bid for governor.

Mitchell was a member of one of the country’s prominent civil rights families, dubbed the “black Kennedys” for their extensive record of service.

His brother Clarence Mitchell Jr. helped shepherd the major civil rights legislation of the late 1950s and 1960s as the NAACP’s principal lobbyist, and was known as the 101st senator. Parren Mitchell’s sister-in-law, Juanita Jackson Mitchell, was the longtime head and legal counsel of the Maryland NAACP.

Beijing

Huang Ju, No. 6 in party

Vice Premier Huang Ju, a key ally of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin who climbed the ranks of Shanghai politics to join the Communist Party’s inner sanctum of power, died May 26, the official Xinhua News Agency said. He was 68.

Xinhua did not disclose the cause of death, though Huang had been ill, reportedly with pancreatic cancer, for much of the past two years.

Xinhua said the Chinese leadership in its official obituary of Huang called him “a long-tested and faithful communist fighter” – a traditional description for a leader who dies in good standing.

Huang ranked No. 6 in the party hierarchy. His death creates a vacancy in the Politburo and gives President Hu Jintao an opportunity to increase his hold on power by filling it with a supporter.

Taos, N.M.

Paul Yost, ballooning pioneer

Paul “Ed” Yost, considered the father of modern hot-air ballooning for a successful three-mile trip on a propane-powered balloon, has died. He was 87.

Yost died May 27 at his home in New Mexico, according to a statement from his son.

According to the National Balloon Museum in Indianola, Iowa, Yost piloted the first flight of a balloon using the envelope-and-propane burner system he developed. The 25-minute, three-mile flight departed from Bruning, Neb., in October 1960.

Though the world’s first balloon flight is believed to have taken place in France in 1783, Yost is credited for advances in modern ballooning because his propane-burner system made longer flights possible. Before that, fire and helium were used to send balloons aloft.

Yost helped found the Balloon Federation of America and helped organize the first U.S. National Ballooning Championship at Indianola. He was inducted into the U.S. Ballooning Hall of Fame in 2004 and was awarded the Lipton Trophy by the British Balloon and Airship Club in 2006.