In passing
Maria Pintasilgo, 74, Portuguese leader
Lisbon, Portugal Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo, the only woman to serve as Portugal’s prime minister, died of heart failure Saturday, news reports said. She was 74. Pintasilgo served as prime minister in 1979. She also held a series of senior posts, including minister of social affairs, in provisional governments after the 1974 revolution which ended 30 years of dictatorship. She had also served as ambassador to UNESCO. Trained as a chemical and industrial engineer, Pintasilgo ran unsuccessfully for president in 1986 for the Socialist party and was elected to the European Parliament in 1987.
Edward J. Hoffman, 62, medical innovator
Los Angeles Edward J. Hoffman, who helped invent the PET scanner, the most commonly used whole-body scanning procedure for detecting disease, died July 1. He was 62. The University of California, Los Angeles announced Hoffman’s death Friday but did not release the cause. Hoffman worked with UCLA colleague Michael Phelps to develop the first human PET scanner in 1973 at Washington University in St. Louis. Positron emission tomography is a medical imaging technique that allows doctors and scientists to monitor the biological process of a disease. It is used for studying cancer and the diagnosing problems in the brain and heart.
William McClure, 81, ‘60 Minutes’ producer
New York William K. McClure, an Emmy Award-winning producer for “60 Minutes” and other CBS News programs, died Friday. He was 81. McClure died of a heart ailment in Sardinia, Italy, CBS News announced. McClure began his career at CBS in 1952 after working as a cameraman for the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He was among six producers who started work for Mike Wallace and Harry Reasoner when “60 Minutes” debuted in 1968. In his 40-year career, he won four Emmys for documentaries on topics ranging from the Sicilian mob to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Bill Randle, 81, DJ who helped popularize Elvis
Cleveland Radio DJ Bill Randle, who was instrumental in introducing Elvis Presley to the American music scene, died Friday. He was 81. Randle died of cancer at the Hospice of the Western Reserve. WRMR-AM said his last show, which had been prerecorded, will be broadcast today along with a memorial program. He was pivotal in bringing Presley to the ears of America and helped the careers of dozens of other stars, including Tony Bennett, Bobby Darin, Rosemary Clooney, Johnnie Ray, Fats Domino and Sarah Vaughan. Randle arranged a 1955 gig for Presley in Cleveland with headliners Pat Boone and Bill Haley and the Comets.