In Passing: James Kilpatrick, Dr. Frank Ryan, Jack Horkheimer
James J. Kilpatrick, columnist
Washington – James J. Kilpatrick, a nationally syndicated columnist whose strongly conservative viewpoints on politics, law and language appeared in hundreds of newspapers over the past five decades and made him a popular, even parodied, television pundit, died Aug. 15 at a Washington, D.C., hospital. He was 89.
The cause was congestive heart failure.
Kilpatrick, who once described himself as “10 miles to the right of Ivan the Terrible,” was the editor of a Richmond, Va., newspaper in the 1950s when his anti-desegregation crusades gave him national prominence, eventually leading to a thrice-weekly political column for syndication called “A Conservative View.” He later apologized for his stance on race matters.
In the 1970s he broadened his audience as a regular on the “Point-Counterpoint” segment of the CBS news show “60 Minutes.”
Kilpatrick also wrote more than a dozen books, including “The Writer’s Art” (1984), about his love of language.
Dr. Frank Ryan, plastic surgeon
Los Angeles – Dr. Frank Ryan, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon to the stars who once estimated he had removed thousands of gang tattoos for free through his nonprofit foundation, died in a single-car accident in Malibu on Monday. He was 50.
In January, Ryan found himself the subject of controversy when Heidi Montag, 23, a star of the reality TV show “The Hills,” revealed that he had done 10 plastic surgery procedures on her in a single marathon operation.
They included breast implants, a nose-job revision and liposuction.
His celebrity clients included Gene Simmons of the rock group KISS and his wife, Shannon Tweed; Motley Crue lead singer Vince Neil; and actor Lorenzo Lamas.
Jack Horkheimer, astronomer
Miami – Jack Horkheimer, the creator and host of the PBS show “Star Gazer” who helped popularize naked-eye astronomy, has died. He was 72.
The Miami Museum of Science and Space Transit Planetarium, where Horkheimer was director emeritus, said that the astronomer died Friday of a respiratory ailment.
Horkheimer was director of the planetarium for more than 35 years.
Millions of people have watched the weekly “Star Gazer” program since its inception in the 1970s, getting advice on what to look for in the night sky.