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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In Passing

From Wire Reports

Irving Penn, photographer

New York – Irving Penn, a virtuosic photographer widely known for his spare, formalized images of fashion models and who brought the same striking technique to portraiture of celebrities, anonymous tradesmen and violent motorcycle gangs, died Wednesday at his home in New York City. He was 92.

His younger brother, film director Arthur Penn, confirmed the death, saying he didn’t know the cause.

The quality and breadth of Irving Penn’s work led to exhibits of his craft in the world’s leading museums, and like photographer Richard Avedon, he was credited with eliminating the barrier between commercial and fine art.

He was best known for his association with Vogue magazine, where he contributed 150 cover photos starting in the 1940s that emphasized the chic world of high fashion.

Ben Ali, restaurateur

Washington – Ben Ali, the founder of Ben’s Chili Bowl diner, a landmark in Washington’s black business and entertainment district and a frequent stop for politicians and celebrities, died of congestive heart failure Wednesday. He was 82.

Ali opened the restaurant with his wife, Virginia, in an old movie house in 1958, when Dwight D. Eisenhower was president and integrating public schools. It became a longtime fixture in the black business community, serving up bowls of chili and its trademark chili-covered half-smokes.

Jazz greats Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole were known to visit Ben’s when performing in Washington. More recently, Bill Cosby has been a favorite guest – joining Ali to celebrate the diner’s 45th anniversary – as well as President Barack Obama in January.

Peg Mullen, farm wife, author

La Porte City, Iowa – Peg Mullen, an author and former Iowa farm wife who hounded the U.S. military to find the truth about her son’s death in Vietnam, has died. She was 92.

Family members said she passed away Oct. 2 at a nursing home in La Porte City.

Peg Mullen wrote the 1995 book “Unfriendly Fire: A Mother’s Memoir” after her son Michael died at age 25 when a U.S. artillery shell fell short and killed him on Feb. 18, 1970, near the South Vietnamese village of Tu Chanh.

“This is the first book you’ve got from the family side of a Vietnam story,” Mullen said in a 1995 interview before the book was released.

Almost from the day Mullen and her husband, Gene, who died in 1986, learned that Michael had been killed, she tried to get more information about their son’s death from the U.S. military.

Her other son, John Mullen, said that he doesn’t know if his mother was ever satisfied with the information she tracked down, “but she came to terms with it.”