In Passing

Lucille Clifton, acclaimed poet

Baltimore – Lucille Clifton, a National Book Award-winning poet and Pulitzer finalist, has died. She was 73.

Clifton’s sister, Elaine Philip, of Buffalo, N.Y., said the former poet laureate of Maryland passed away Saturday at Johns Hopkins University Hospital.

Philip said the cause of death was unclear but Clifton was hospitalized for an infection last week at a hospital in Columbia, Md., before being transferred to Baltimore.

The native of Depew, N.Y., won the National Book Award in 2000 for “Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988-2000.” She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1988.

Survivors include three daughters, a son and three grandchildren.

Frank Magid, TV news innovator

Santa Barbara, Calif. – Frank N. Magid, an audience researcher who became known as a “news doctor” for transforming local television news using an “Action News” format that featured chatting co-anchors, more lifestyle and crime stories and splashy graphics, has died.

Magid, 78, died Feb. 5 at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, Calif. He had lymphoma.

During his career, Magid worked with ABC on the launch of “Good Morning America,” recommended that CBS use Walter Cronkite as its sole network news anchor and pushed stations to use the early morning hours for news.

But his biggest impact was changing the way local news was presented on television.

“He had an enormous impact; he was the first pioneering major news consultant in the country,” Howard Rosenberg, former Los Angeles Times television critic and now an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California, said this week. Magid’s influence was “all form over content … how best to attract an audience and hold an audience.”

Frederick Weyand, Army chief

Honolulu – Former Army Chief of Staff Frederick C. Weyand, the last commander of U.S. military operations in the Vietnam War, has died. He was 93.

Weyand died of natural causes Wednesday night at the Kahala Nui retirement residence in Honolulu.

The general oversaw the withdrawal of U.S. military forces from South Vietnam before becoming the Army’s chief of staff in 1974. He retired from active service in 1976.

Born in Arbuckle, Calif., in 1916, Weyand also served in World War II and the Korean War.

During World War II, Weyand was an intelligence officer, serving in India, China and Burma, now known as Myanmar. He commanded an infantry battalion in the Korean War. In 1964, Weyand assumed command of the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii and took it to Vietnam.

His military honors and decorations include the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star and Legion of Merit.