In passing

Leslie Smith, 87, Matchbox co-founder

Leslie Smith, co-founder of the firm that created Britain’s beloved Matchbox toy cars, which are still on the market and have become prized collectibles, has died. He was 87.

Smith died of cancer May 26 at his London home.

Matchbox vehicles debuted in 1953 with a tiny gilded coach honoring the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

In the early years of the company, Smith launched a small die-casting firm with his friend Rodney Smith. The unrelated Smiths called their firm Lesney Products, a combination of their first names.

Jack Odell, who took Rodney Smith’s place when he immigrated to Australia during the Korean War, began the toy line that would make company owners millionaires. When his daughter’s school banned toys that couldn’t fit into a matchbox, Odell created a tiny steamroller for her to play with at recess.

Simon Waronker, 90, records label founder

Simon Waronker, founder of Los Angeles-based Liberty Records, an independent pop-music label of the 1950s and ‘60s whose artists ranged from Eddie Cochran to Alvin and the Chipmunks, has died. He was 90.

Waronker died of natural causes Tuesday at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif., his family said.

Liberty Records, founded in 1955, boasted such artists as Julie London (“Cry Me a River”), Martin Denny (“Quiet Village”), Cochran (“Summertime Blues”), Johnny Burnette (“You’re Sixteen”), Gene McDaniels (“Tower of Strength”), Buddy Knox (“Lovey Dovey”) and Timi Yuro (“Hurt”).

Among Liberty’s other artists were Patience & Prudence, Billy Ward & His Dominoes, the Rivingtons, Dick & Dee, and Jan & Dean.

The company also scored hits with recordings by Alvin the Chipmunk with voices by Ross Bagdasarian.

Benjamin Paul, 94, medical anthropologist

Benjamin David Paul, a Stanford University professor many consider the founding father of medical anthropology, has died. He was 94.

Paul died May 24 in Atlanta from complications after a cerebral hemorrhage, Stanford announced.

The educator was teaching at Harvard in 1955 when he published a textbook that became influential in the then-emerging field of medical anthropology, which applies anthropological and other social science methods to questions about health and healing.

“Health, Culture and Community: Case Studies of Public Reactions to Health Programs” examined how traditional communities struggle to accept health innovations and suggested that international aid programs would be more effective if they considered local cultural beliefs.

The textbook is still used today.

Dana Elcar, 77, of ‘MacGyver’ series

Dana Elcar, the round-faced actor whose real struggle with blindness was written into his role on the TV adventure series “MacGyver,” died Monday. He was 77.

Elcar died of complications from pneumonia at a hospital in Ventura, Calif., his family said.

“MacGyver” ran on ABC from 1985 to 1992. Elcar played the best friend and boss of the crime-fighting title character played by Richard Dean Anderson. Elcar, who suffered from glaucoma, told producers he was going blind after four seasons with “MacGyver,” so they adapted his character to match his medical condition. By the end of the show’s run, he was almost completely blind.

Elcar played in such other series as “Baretta” and the Robert Conrad series “Black Sheep Squadron.” He also appeared in at least 40 films, including “The Sting,” “2010,” “All of Me” and “The Learning Tree.”

Leon Askin, 97, of ‘Hogan’s Heroes’

Actor Leon Askin, who was popular as Gen. Albert Burkhalter in the 1960s TV comedy “Hogan’s Heroes,” died in a Vienna hospital, officials said.

The time and cause of his death Friday were not disclosed. He was 97.

Askin appeared with such stars as Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Peter Ustinov. But he was widely known for his role as a Nazi general who constantly threatened to send the POW camp’s inept commander, Col. Wilhelm Klink, to the Russian front because of his stupidity.

Askin played roles in dozens of films including Billy Wilder’s “One, Two, Three” and Austrian director Fritz Lang’s “Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse.”

Unlike many artists who refused to return to Austria after the war, Askin took up residence in Vienna in 1994, returning to his roots in cabaret.