In passing: Charles McDowell, columnist
RICHMOND, Va. – Charles R. McDowell, a nationally syndicated columnist for decades who also appeared on PBS’ “Washington Week In Review,” has died. He was 84.
His former newspaper, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, reported that McDowell died early Friday.
McDowell went to work for the Times-Dispatch in 1949 and covered Virginia’s defiance of federal court orders to desegregate its public schools.
He became the newspaper’s Washington, D.C., correspondent in 1965 and wrote a weekly column that was syndicated nationally for decades before his retirement in 1998.
He was familiar to viewers of PBS’ “Washington Week in Review,” where his wide grin, deep drawl and genial nature seemed to soften incisive questions.
The Kentucky native’s voice can also be heard on several of Ken Burns’ documentaries including “The Civil War” and “Baseball.”
Verrett, among top opera singers
NEW YORK – Shirley Verrett, an acclaimed American mezzo-soprano and soprano praised for her blazing intensity during a career that spanned four decades, died Friday in Ann Arbor, Mich. She was 79.
Verrett, one of the top opera singers of the 1970s and 1980s, had been suffering from heart trouble, said Jack Mastroianni of IMG Artists, who was notified of her death by the Metropolitan Opera Guild.
Born in New Orleans, she was renowned for blazing intensity in her performances. She battled racial prejudice in a predominantly white art form during a 40-year biracial marriage, according to her autobiography.
Verrett studied at the Juilliard School in New York and was a 1961 winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
Verrett’s Met career lasted until 1990.
She joined the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance in 1996 and retired last May.
Eugenie Blanchard, oldest person
GUSTAVIA, St. Barts – Eugenie Blanchard, a nun who was considered the world’s oldest person, died in the French Caribbean island of St. Barts on Thursday. She was 114.
Blanchard, who friends called “Sweets” because of her kindness, died at Bruyn Hospital, where she had lived in the geriatric ward since 1980, said hospital director Pierre Nuty.
Her death leaves Eunice G. Sanborn, of Jacksonville, Texas, as the world’s oldest person, according to two organizations that monitor that status.
Blanchard was born on St. Barts on Feb. 16, 1896, and lived much of her life in a convent in the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao before returning home in the 1950s.