In passing

Rep. Charles Norwood Jr., a blunt-spoken Georgia Republican who sold his dental practice and ran for Congress at age 52, died Tuesday after battling cancer and lung disease. He was 65.

Norwood died at his home in Augusta, Ga., his office said. The House interrupted debate on an Iraq war resolution for two moments of silence in his honor.

A feisty, tobacco-chewing conservative who loved to hunt and railed against government bureaucracy, Norwood was part of the Republican wave that took control of Congress in 1994.

President Bush, in a statement, described Norwood as “a good friend and a strong, spirited legislator who always stuck to his principles.”

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue called Norwood an “incredible example of strength and dedication” and ordered flags to be lowered at all state buildings.

The vacancy created by his death will be filled by a special election.

Sheldon Friedlander, smog expert

Sheldon K. Friedlander, whose work in identifying the sources of particles in Southern California smog led to new ways of studying and regulating air pollution, has died.

Friedlander died Feb. 9 at his home in Pacific Palisades of complications from pulmonary fibrosis, his family said. He was 79.

While a professor at the California Institute of Technology in the 1970s, he was among the founders of aerosol science – the study of gases and particles in the air.

Friedlander discovered a way to analyze the chemical makeup of smog particles and trace what was creating air pollution at any given time.

He linked lead particles to gasoline usage and zinc in the air to tire rubber.

“He developed a picture of what was in the smog that was far more detailed than anyone had put together before,” Rick Flagan, chairman of Caltech’s chemical engineering department, told the Los Angeles Times.

Flagan said more sophisticated versions of Friedlander’s methods are used to regulate air quality around the world today.

PRINCETON, N.J.

B. M. Metzger, theological scholar

Bruce Manning Metzger, professor emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary and an authority on Greek manuscripts of the Bible, has died. He was 93.

Metzger died Tuesday of natural causes, according to The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home in Princeton.

At the time of his death, he was the George L. Collord Professor Emeritus of New Testament Language and Literature at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Metzger began his teaching career at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1938, where he stayed in the New Testament department for 46 years. During his time at the seminary, Metzger developed 25 courses on the English and Greek texts of books in the New Testament.

LOS ANGELES

Ray Evans, songwriter

Oscar-winning songwriter Ray Evans, whose long collaboration with partner Jay Livingston produced such enduring standards as “Mona Lisa,” “Buttons and Bows,” “Silver Bells” and “Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera),” died Thursday. He was 92.

Evans died of heart failure at UCLA Medical Center, Frederick Nicholas, Evans’ longtime lawyer, said Friday.

Evans’ musical partnership with Livingston spanned more than six decades, with Livingston providing the melodies and Evans writing the lyrics.

Often called the last of the great songwriters, the duo earned seven Academy Award nominations and won three – in 1948 for “Buttons and Bows” in the film “Paleface,” in 1950 for “Mona Lisa” in the movie “Captain Carey, USA” and in 1956 for “Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)” from “The Man Who Knew Too Much.”