Tim Murphy obit

Tim Murphy, former Pittsburgh-area congressman, dies at 73

 He was not on the list.

Tim Murphy, a former Pittsburgh-area congressman, has died. He was 73 years old.

Murphy, a Republican, served as the U.S. representative for Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district from 2003 until his resignation in 2017. He also served in the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1996 until 2003.

The Republican Committee of Allegheny County shared the news of Murphy's death in a social media post on Sunday, adding that Murphy would be remembered as someone who served "with conviction and commitment."

Washington County Commissioner Nick Sherman, who served as Murphy's field director from 2003 to 2005, also issued a statement on Murphy's death.

"I was devastated to hear the completely unexpected news of Congressman Tim Murphy's passing. Twenty years ago, Tim was my boss. In the years since, he became a dear friend and one of my most influential political mentors.

"Tim was a true statesman who cared deeply about the people he represented. Whether you agreed with his policies or not, no one could deny his unwavering commitment to his constituents or the tireless work ethic he brought to public service every single day. He was one of the hardest-working people I've ever known."

The circumstances of Murphy's death were not immediately known.

The psychologist who served as the U.S. representative for Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district from 2003 until his resignation in 2017. The district included several suburbs south of Pittsburgh. A member of the Republican Party, he also represented the 37th Senate district in the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1996 to 2003. Murphy consistently carried the 18th district with at least 58% of the vote, including unopposed re-election bids in 2014 and 2016.

Henry C. Lee obit

Internationally Acclaimed 

Forensic Scientist Dr. Henry C. 

Lee Dies, Leaving Remarkable 

Legacy

Dr. Lee was a distinguished professor at the University of New Haven for more than 50 years and former Commissioner of Connecticut Public Safety. 

He was not on the list.

World-renowned forensic scientist Dr. Henry C. Lee passed away peacefully on Friday, March 27, 2026 at his home in Henderson, Nevada, displaying remarkable strength, grace and resilience during a brief illness. He was 87 years old. His passing was announced by his family, in conjunction with the University of New Haven, where he served as a distinguished professor for more than 50 years.

In his final days, Dr. Lee was finalizing a book regarding missing-persons investigations, which will be published in the near future. He has authored or co-authored more than 40 books.

Dr. Lee joined the University of New Haven in 1975 and founded the University’s forensic science program, developing it from a small classroom equipped with a single fingerprint kit into an internationally recognized multi-disciplined academic department considered one of the nation’s best.

In 1998, he founded the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science, and, in 2010, the University opened an ultra-modern home for the institute, a three-story, 15,000 square-foot facility featuring the most cutting-edge forensics investigation technology, including a crime scene center, a high-tech forensic room, a crisis management center, and a state-of-the-art learning center. "The Institute will become a catalyst enabling professionals in the field to work together," Dr. Lee said at its unveiling. "The world then becomes a small community engaged in fighting crime."

For more than 20 years while at the University of New Haven, Dr. Lee served as chief criminalist for the State of Connecticut and director of the Connecticut State Police Forensic Science Laboratory from 1978 to 2000 and was Commissioner of the state’s Department of Public Safety and Connecticut State Police from 1998-2000. He was Chief Emeritus for the state of Connecticut’s Division of Scientific Services from 2000 to 2010.

"What he has done has changed the face of forensic knowledge among police officers and other criminal justice professionals," Mary Galvin, a retired Connecticut State’s attorney, told the New York Times in 2000, as he concluded his time as Commissioner for Connecticut’s Department of Public Safety.

"Dr. Lee was a remarkable individual," said University of New Haven President Jens Frederiksen. "His contributions to our University as well as forensic science and law enforcement are extraordinary and unmatched. His legacy lives on in the generations of students and law enforcement professionals he impacted throughout his brilliant career. We send our deepest condolences to his family and those mourning his passing."

Throughout his legendary career, Dr. Lee has served as a forensics expert in all 50 states and more than 46 countries, and has lectured in more than 70 countries. He has been a consultant for 600 law enforcement agencies and has testified more than 1,000 times in both criminal and civil courts in the United States and abroad, most notably in the O.J. Simpson case. For some of the highest-profile cases, Dr. Lee provided investigative assistance, including the murder of JonBenét Ramsey, the Helle Crafts woodchipper murder, the Laci Peterson case, the death of Chandra Levy, the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart, 9/11 forensics investigation, and the reinvestigation of the John F. Kennedy assassination.

He hosted a crime-documentary series in 2004 on then Court TV titled, "Trace Evidence: The Case Files of Dr. Henry Lee."

Dr. Lee was born November 22, 1938, in Rugao, Jiangsu, China, where a multi-story museum stands in his honor. His family emigrated to Taiwan where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in police administration from the Central Police College in 1960. He became a police officer in the Taipei Police Department, rising to captain at the age of 22, the youngest in Taiwanese history.

Dr. Lee moved with his late wife to the United States in 1964. Dr. Lee earned his Ph.D. (1975) and master’s (1974) degrees in biochemistry from New York University, and a bachelor’s degree in forensic science from John Jay College (1972). Dr. Lee has been conferred 30 honorary degrees, including from the University of New Haven in 1991 and 2010. Dr. Lee was an emeritus member of the University’s Board of Governors for nearly 30 years.

He gave the Commencement address at the University’s 1991 Winter Commencement and its Spring Commencement in 2025, when he told graduates, "You must also understand the importance of positive thinking. There is no obstacle that cannot be overcome if you persist and believe." Dr. Lee’s slogan was: "Make the impossible possible."

Dr. Lee was pre-deceased by his wife Margaret Lee in 2017. He is survived by his daughter Sherry Hersey and son Stanley Lee, their respective spouses, Ted and Romy, and their four grandchildren, David Hersey and Rachel Hersey Hotaj, and Joseph and Alexander Lee, as well as his wife Angel Xiaping Jiang and her sons Yan Liu and Tianchen Liu.

The eleventh of 13 children, Dr. Lee credited his sister Dr. Sylvia Lee-Huang for supporting him throughout his studies and his career. Dr. Lee recently said, "Without the support of Dr. Sylvia Lee-Huang, there would be no Dr. Henry Lee."

Committed to giving back, he had contributed his speaking honoraria and major gifts over the years. Ever humble, he did not want a memorial or celebration of life.

Lee worked on famous cases such as the JonBenét Ramsey murder case, the Helle Crafts wood chipper murder (the first murder conviction in Connecticut without the victim's body,) the O. J. Simpson and Laci Peterson cases, the 9/11 forensic investigation, the Washington, DC sniper shootings and reinvestigated the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

He investigated the March 19, 2004 shooting incident of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu.

Following the O. J. Simpson case, Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr hired Lee to join his investigation of the death of Deputy White House Counsel Vince Foster in Fort Marcy Park on July 20, 1993.

Lee also was consulted on the 1991 death of investigative journalist Danny Casolaro, who died in a West Virginia motel room. Initially, Lee said the evidence presented to him by police was consistent with suicide. A few years later when additional evidence from the hotel scene was revealed to him, Lee formally withdrew his earlier conclusion and stated, "a reconstruction is only as good as the information supplied by the police".

He was consulted as a blood spatter analyst for defense during the trial of Michael Peterson, a fiction writer and politician from North Carolina who in 2003 was convicted of the murder of his wife, Kathleen Peterson.

In 2007, Lee testified as a prosecution expert witness at the first trial of Cal Harris, an upstate New York car dealer accused of killing his wife on the night of September 11, 2001. Since no body has ever been found, the state's best evidence of foul play was some medium-velocity castoff impact blood spatter on the walls of the house's garage and kitchen. Lee told the jury that it could only have come from someone lower than 29 inches (740 mm) above ground. Harris was convicted at that trial, and a retrial after new evidence emerged, but ultimately acquitted at a fourth trial after his conviction was overturned on appeal.

In 2008, Lee was involved in the early stages of investigation in Orlando, Florida for the missing toddler Caylee Anthony.

In May 2007, California Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler, the judge in the Phil Spector murder trial, said that he had concluded "Lee hid or destroyed" a piece of evidence from the scene of actress Lana Clarkson's shooting. Lee denied the allegation, and "when he testified before Fidler, Lee said he was astonished and insulted by claims by two former members of Spector's defense team that he had collected a small white object that was never turned over to prosecutors, as the law requires." University of Southern California law professor Jean Rosenbluth said that Judge Fidler's ruling was "very narrow" and noted that the judge had made no finding that Lee had lied on the stand or acted maliciously.

Ed Blaine obit

Edward Homer Blaine

January 30, 1940 - March 22, 2026

 He was not on the list.

Ed Blaine, pro football player turned cardiovascular researcher, died at 86 on March 22.

Edward Homer Blaine, an All-American and professional football player who left the game at the peak of his football career to become a successful research scientist, died in St. Louis on March 22 after a short illness. He was 86.

Blaine’s story mixes science and sport, adventurous thinking, a lot of singing, and always originality.

As a scientist, Blaine worked in industry and academia studying kidney function and its connection to cardiovascular disease. He held six patents for his work and was a key player in understanding the hormonal systems that regulate blood pressure using salt and water, work that matured for him while at Merck, Sharp, and Dohme in the 1980s. He later managed a partnership between Washington University in St. Louis and G.D.  Mearle Co. in the late 1980s before he found his way back to the University of Missouri in the early 1990s as the director of the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center. He ended his career where it took off - in the laboratories and classrooms at the University of Missouri where he taught in the medical school in the years before his retirement.

The launch into academics was powered in many ways by his football success. He was a scholarship athlete from his hometown of Farmington, Missouri, when he arrived at the Mizzou campus in 1958. He played both ways as an offensive guard and a linebacker on defense and starred in the team’s undefeated 1960 season under Coach Dan Devine. They beat a heavily favored Navy team and its Heisman Trophy-winning  quarterback in front of John F. Kennedy in the Orange Bowl to conclude that season. He was honored as an All-American the following year.

Blaine was undersized as an offensive lineman, but he thrived in the running game that Devine had developed. He was sure-footed and mobile, and his skills caught the attention of Green Bay Packers Head Coach Vince Lombardi who ran a similar kind of offense as Missouri. Blaine was drafted in the second round and played in the 1962 championship season for the Packers. Before he left for professional football, however, Blaine had made a deal with his scientific mentor and major professor, Clint Conaway, that he would only play for five years and then return full-time to his research in zoology. He kept that promise and returned to Columbia during each off season to work on his doctorate.

Blaine was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles before the 1963 season where he played out his career as a starter at left guard. He was chosen as an all pro in 1964 and occasionally made lists of all-time great Eagles players, despite cutting his career short and leaving at his football peak. When he returned to the Philadelphia area more than a decade later to work as a researcher for Merck, he was sometimes recognized on the street. Although he appreciated the attention, his focus was on science, where he also went on to have an impact in drug development and cardiovascular function.

His scientific journey began at Missouri in the zoology department and a part of his passion always remained there, bringing him back every year for an annual gathering of herpetologists in the Ozark woods. His early research on dominance in mice translated into work on salt intake in mammals, particularly the development of salt appetite and its physiological effects. That work took him to the Howard Florey Institute in Melbourne, Australia, for several years. He lived with his family for some of that time at a sheep station in the bush in what is now Kosciusko National Park, doing research on the salt appetite of kangaroos, a population that had no known natural sources of salt in that area. It turns out that the kangaroos liked it, too, like most other mammals. The research showed a connection between how unnaturally salted human foods may contribute to unhealthy outcomes. One of the funders, Heinz baby foods, used the findings to evaluate how much salt they were adding to their baby foods and challenge the idea that maybe they were salting to the mothers’ tastes and not the babies’ actual salt needs.

The work in Australia led to a faculty appointment at the University of Pittsburgh in the Department of Physiology. From there, he went to industry, becoming a researcher for Merck at its West Point facility outside of Philadelphia. He also served as an adjunct faculty member at Temple University during that time.

Nearly a decade later, he moved to an industry-academia partnership between Washington University in St. Louis and G.D. Searle Company. He returned to football briefly during this time as a volunteer assistant coach for the Washington University team and he reconnected with University of Missouri development office for a number of fundraising efforts.

In the early 90s, he moved back to Columbia to lead the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center at Mizzou, living for more than two decades in a house just steps from the Katy Trail, where he loved to ride his bike down to the Missouri River.

Growing up in Farmington, Mo., outdoor adventures were always a big part of Blaine’s life. He achieved the rank of Eagle Scout from the Boy Scouts of America and was later recognized with a lifetime achievement award from the Scouts. He started paddling canoes on Missouri float streams with the Scouts and regularly paddled rivers wherever he lived, doing so up until late in life.

In the summers during college he worked in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado where he learned mountaineering and rock climbing at high altitude. His mountaineering friends taught him to ski, and he did that with his family every year until he needed a knee replacement in his late 50s. He ran most days for 30 years, and loved to go out in the woods and “knock around.” Blaine was born in Farmington in January 1940, the youngest of four kids of Tessa Ella (McClanahan) and Warren Blaine. His brother Ted Blaine was only two years older and the two of them had many outdoor adventures. It was Ted who encouraged Ed to play football in high school. Blaine lettered in football, basketball and track where he, improbably for a future NFL offensive lineman, was also a pole vaulter.

At Missouri, he was a pre-medicine student on the football team and joined a fraternity where he became close friends with fellow Mizzou lineman and future Bell Labs physicist Bill Brinkman. The team coalesced under Devine and was regularly a power in the Big 8 Conference. It remains one of the most dominant teams in Missouri football history.

Blaine met Susan Cring at the University of Missouri and they married in 1963 shortly after both had graduated. They scrambled up Longs Peak for their honeymoon days before embarking on a cross-country road trip to begin fall training and their life together as a football family. Their daughter Jennifer was born in 1965 while they were in Philadelphia with the Eagles. Their son Mark was born in 1969 on the day Blaine defended his oral dissertation for his Ph.D. in Columbia.

Blaine was inducted into the University of Missouri Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.

Later, Blaine shared his life with Marilyn Starwalt of Effingham, Ill. The two lived together for more than two decades in Columbia and St. Louis. Marilyn preceded him in death in 2025. She was survived by Kelly Bingman, Steve Starwalt and grandchildren Cole, Renae, Will, and Delaney.

In his last two years, Blaine lived in Cork House at Dolan House Memory Care in St. Louis, where he was surrounded by friendly faces and got to sing along with a guitar player - another of his passions - nearly every day.

Blaine is survived by his brother, Theodore Blaine (Virginia); daughter, Jennifer Hahn (Steve); son, Mark Blaine (Jessica); former wife Susan Hayes; and three grandchildren: Sam Hahn, Ben Hahn and Miranda Blaine. He was preceded in death by his brother Robert Blaine and sister

Laverne Burris.

Blaine was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the second round (28th overall) of the 1962 NFL draft, and was also selected by the New York Titans in the fourth round (29th overall) of the American Football League (AFL)'s 1962 draft.

He played professionally in the NFL with the Packers in 1962, winning an NFL Championship under legendary coach Vince Lombardi as a rookie, and the Philadelphia Eagles from 1963-66. He was named All-Pro after the 1964 NFL season.

Kermit Gosnell obit

PRESS RELEASE: Convicted Murderer and Illegal Abortionist Kermit Gosnell Has Died

 

He was not on the list.

Philadelphia, PA — Kermit Barron Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortionist who was convicted in 2013 of first-degree murder for “snipping” the spinal cords of three babies that were born alive during horrifically barbaric late-term abortions, has died at the age of eighty-five.

Operation Rescue President Troy Newman released the following statement:

“Gosnell was famous for murdering hundreds of late-term babies who struggled for life after failed abortion attempts, though he was only convicted of three. Within his ‘House of Horrors’ abortion facility were found unspeakably filthy conditions that revealed a gross disregard for the lives of his patients. Bodies of babies dating back 30 years were stored in freezers and stashed in trash bags throughout his clinic. Dismembered feet of large babies were displayed floating in specimen jars in a cupboard as if they were trophies. The world has been rid of a man that can only be described as a monster, and we are better off now that he is gone.”

At his death, Gosnell had served thirteen years of his triple life sentence for the crimes of murder, 211 counts of illegal late-term abortion, and involuntary manslaughter for the botched abortion death of Karnamaya Mongar.

Gosnell was incarcerated at the SCI Smithfield state correctional facility in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, when he was transported to an unspecified hospital where he died of unknown causes on March 1, 2026, according to NBC10.

Operation Rescue became involved in the Gosnell case after his West Philadelphia Women’s Medical Society abortion facility was raided by police in February 2010.  At the time, authorities thought they were busting a “pill mill” that was a leading source of OxyContin on the streets of Philadelphia. Instead, they discovered that late-term abortions were being conducted by fake doctors and unqualified workers under the most squalid conditions imaginable.

Operation Rescue repeatedly called on then District Attorney Seth Williams to charge Gosnell. Two weeks after once such public pressure campaign, a grand jury released a bombshell report detailing the crimes it accused Gosnell of having committed.

Operation Rescue’s Cheryl Sullenger attended the 2013 trial and was the first to report from the courtroom nationally.  The case had been largely ignored by the mainstream media until then. She later wrote a book, The Trial of Kermit Gosnell, which chronicled shocking trial revelations.

“The Gosnell case revealed the high cost of regulatory failure and shamed the mainstream media into covering abortion atrocities, at least for a brief moment,” said Newman. “But the main lesson was that Gosnell was not alone. Operation Rescue’s investigations continue to reveal shoddy abortion practices, maternal deaths and injuries, and unsanitary conditions in unsafe abortion facilities around the country. We must never forget that there are still people like Gosnell out there quietly inflicting human misery and death on our nation. Women and babies will only be protected from these predators by ending the barbaric practice of abortion once and for all.”

In early 2014, filmmakers Ann McElhinney, Phelim McAleer, and Magdalena Segieda announced they would be producing a true crime drama film of the Gosnell crimes. Nick Searcy would direct, and John Sullivan would serve as executive producer. The title for the film is Gosnell: America's Biggest Serial Killer. The producers raised money for production of the movie on the crowdfunding site Indiegogo, receiving $2.3 million from backers. Andrew Klavan was hired to be the screenwriter for the movie. Earl Billings portrays Gosnell, and Dean Cain takes the part of Detective James Wood.

The producers announced on June 26, 2018, that they had signed a distribution deal for the movie, which opened in about 750 theaters on October 12, 2018.

As well, the filmmakers wrote a book titled, Gosnell: The Untold Story of America's Most Prolific Serial Killer.

William H. Foege obit

William H. Foege, Key Figure in the Eradication of Smallpox, Dies at 89

His containment strategy helped wipe out the disease in the 1970s, one of the world’s greatest public health triumphs. He also led the C.D.C. and promoted childhood vaccination worldwide.

 

 He was not on the list.

William Foege, a leader in the global fight to eliminate smallpox, has died. Foege passed away on Saturday at the age of 89, according to the Task Force for Global Health, a public health organization he co-founded.

Foege headed the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Smallpox Eradication Program in the 1970s. Before the disease was officially eradicated in 1980, it killed around one in three people who were infected. According to the CDC, there have been no new smallpox cases since 1977.

“If you look at the simple metric of who has saved the most lives, he is right up there with the pantheon,” said former CDC director Tom Frieden to the Associated Press. “Smallpox eradication has prevented hundreds of millions of deaths.”

Foege went on to lead the CDC and served as a senior medical adviser and senior fellow at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In 2012 then president Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Foege was a vocal proponent of vaccines for public health, writing with epidemiologist Larry Brilliant in Scientific American in 2013 that the effort to eliminate polio “has never been closer” to success. “By working together,” they wrote, “we will soon relegate polio—alongside smallpox—to the history books.” Polio remains a “candidate for eradication,” according to the World Health Assembly.

And in 2025 Foege, alongside several other former CDC directors, spoke out against the policies of the current secretary of health and human services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. In a New York Times op-ed, they wrote that the top health official’s tenure was “unlike anything we had ever seen at the agency.”

In a statement, Task Force for Global Health CEO Patrick O’Carroll remembered Foege as an “inspirational” figure, both for early-career public health workers and veterans of the field. “Whenever he spoke, his vision and compassion would reawaken the optimism that prompted us to choose this field, and re-energize our efforts to make this world a better place,” O’Carroll said.

 

Ronald Joseph obit

Ron Joseph, Olympic Medalist and Pioneering Surgeon, Remembered for Grace and Family

 He was not on the list.

Before illness stilled his body, Dr. Ronald Joseph was once a picture a power, precision and grace.

A decorated Olympic figure skater and later a pioneering orthopedic surgeon, he died peacefully Tuesday after a grueling battle with ALS.

He was the husband of St. Johns County Commissioner Krista Joseph, who departed Tuesday’s Board of County Commissioners meeting after receiving the news on the dais.

Before ALS confined him to a wheelchair and ventilator, Joseph was a world-class master of the ice, whose speed and daring carried him to Olympic glory.

Competing with his sister, Vivian Joseph, he represented the United States in pairs figure skating at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, ultimately earning the bronze medal and becoming part of the first Jewish medal-winning team in Olympic figure skating history.

Born in Chicago on Oct. 9, 1944, Joseph began skating with his sister in the late 1950s. Leaving crowds spellbound, the pair ascended quickly, winning the U.S. junior national title in 1961 and earning senior national medals in 1962 and 1963.

Known for their blistering pace and technical complexity, they competed internationally at the World and North American Championships.

In 1965, the Josephs won the U.S. senior national championship, followed by gold at the North American Championships and silver at the World Championships, before retiring from competition.

Six decades later, Joseph and his sister were inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame.

Joseph chose medicine over a professional skating career, training at Northwestern University and the Mayo Clinic. Over a 50-year career, he became a renowned orthopedic surgeon specializing in shoulder, hand and wrist surgery and helped pioneer arthroscopic shoulder repair.

Joseph met Krista Keating in 1990, and they built a blended family that included their daughter Ali and Krista’s three children from her first marriage.

The couple shared 32 years of marriage, marked by deep partnership and faith. His devastating diagnosis was delivered on his wife’s first day in office.

Even as the disease progressed, Joseph, who later converted to Catholicism, remained engaged and humorous, with Krista providing unwavering care and support throughout the ordeal.

“Eventually, he could only communicate with his eye movements on a computer screen,” read a statement from St. Johns County. “And yet, his intellect, his love for his family, and his sense of humor never waned.”

In his final interview, he reflected on the principle that charted his life’s course: “It’s the journey that counts, not the medals.”

Donations in Dr. Ronald B. Joseph’s name can be made to Our Lady Star of the Sea in Ponte Vedra Beach where a Catholic Funeral Mass will be held at 1 PM on Friday. The public is welcome.

Howard Tucker obit

Dr. Howard J Tucker

10 July, 1922 – 22 December, 2025

 He was not on the list.

It is with deep respect and admiration that we mourn the passing of Dr. Howard Tucker, a remarkable man who lived to the age of 103. His life was a testament to dedication, curiosity, and a zest for living.

Howard graduated from Cleveland Heights High School in 1940 and went on to attend Ohio State University, earning his bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1944. During World War II, he served honorably in the U.S. Navy and later pursued medical training at Ohio State University College of Medicine, graduating in 1947. His postgraduate training included a neurology residency at Cleveland Clinic and further specialization at the Neurological Institute of New York (Columbia University), where he met his beloved wife, Sara (Siegel) Tucker. They married in 1957 and celebrated 68 years of marriage.

Howard also served as Chief of Neurology for the Atlantic Fleet during the Korean War. His medical career spanned decades, practicing at University Hospitals, Mt. Sinai Hospital, Cleveland Clinic, Hillcrest Hospital, and his private practice. He continued teaching and practicing medicine until age 100 at St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, earning recognition as the “Oldest Practicing Doctor” by Guinness World Records. He was honored in October of this year to be a panelist at the United Nations for International Day of Older Persons.

In addition to his medical achievements, Howard earned a J.D. from Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at age 67, and subsequently became the oldest person to pass the Ohio Bar.

His passions extended beyond medicine: he was an avid skier, sailor, jogger, hiker, camper, former ballroom dancing instructor, and a lover of biographies and sports. A talented violinist, he served as concert master of his high school orchestra and cherished classical and jazz music, especially the Cleveland Orchestra.

In his later years, Howard embraced new avenues of connection, becoming a viral TikTok star sharing his secrets to a long and fulfilling life. His social media presence earned him a Webby Award, and he was featured in the documentary What’s Next? and inducted into the Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame.

Howard’s zest for life was matched by his sweet tooth—marshmallows, donuts, East Coast Custard, and Tommy’s milkshakes were among his favorites. He loved driving, studied Torah after turning 100, and maintained a wonderful sense of humor, humor that he hoped to channel into a future career as a standup comedian.

He was the brother of Leonard Tucker, who turned 100 earlier this year, and was predeceased by his sister, Helen Tucker. Howard was a dedicated family man, survived by his wife Sara, children Todd (Dianne) Tucker, Drs. Jennifer (Samuel) Rosenberg, Seth (Lisa) Tucker, and Peter (Jodi) Tucker, as well as grandchildren Alexandra, Ian, Eitan (Madysen Luebke) Rosenberg, Dr. Michal (Gadi) Rosenberg-Yungster, and Dr. Raquel (Josh) Rapkin, Sophie, Eleanor, Henry, Austin, and Morgan Tucker.

Howard’s funeral services will be held on Friday, December 26th at 11 a.m. at the Berkowitz Kumin Bookatz Memorial Chapel, located at 1985 S. Taylor Road, Cleveland Heights. Interment will follow at Bet Olam Cemetery, 25796 Chagrin Blvd., Beachwood. To view this service, please scroll down to the Services section and click on "JOIN LIVESTREAM".

Shiva will be observed at Park Synagogue (27500 Shaker Blvd. Pepper Pike) on Friday from 2pm-4pm, Saturday evening from 6pm-8pm, and Sunday afternoon from 1pm-3pm.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Harry and Rae Tucker Senior Transportation Fund at Park Synagogue in his memory.

Arrangements were made under the supervision of Berkowitz Kumin Bookatz Memorial Chapel.

Russell M. Nelson obit

Remembering the Life of President Russell M. Nelson

Family and leaders remember him as a “beloved physician”

 

He was not on the list.

With sorrow we announce that Russell M. Nelson, beloved President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, passed away peacefully shortly after 10 p.m. MDT today at his home in Salt Lake City. He was 101 — the oldest president in the history of the Church.

President Nelson was called as an Apostle on April 7, 1984. He became the leader of the Church on January 14, 2018. His time as prophet will forever be remembered as one of global ministry (he visited 32 countries and U.S. territories), increased temple construction (he announced 200 new temples) and profound change. Beginning in the April 2018 general conference in which he was sustained as the senior Apostle, President Nelson began introducing frequent adjustments designed to help the Saints minister more like Jesus Christ and better emphasize the centrality of the Savior of the world in all the Church does. Later sections of this obituary provide a detailed accounting of his travels as president and the many changes he implemented.

Prior to full-time Church service, President Nelson was a heart surgeon revered and respected the world over. He performed the first open-heart surgery in Utah in 1955. He served as president of the Society for Vascular Surgery, a director of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, chairman of the Council on Cardiovascular Surgery for the American Heart Association and president of the Utah State Medical Association. He authored numerous chapters in medical textbooks and other publications. He lectured at and visited professionally many organizations throughout the United States and other nations. And he was conversant in 11 languages.

“All of us who have worked with Russell M. Nelson, and the many he has taught and associated with, have marveled at his extraordinary modesty for a man of his great accomplishments,” said President Dallin H. Oaks, who was called to serve in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on the same day as President Nelson in 1984 and who served as President Nelson’s First Counselor in the First Presidency. “And [we] have marveled at his gentleness. He is just the gentlest and sweetest person you could ever hope to associate with. And he will always be remembered that way.”

President Nelson is survived by his wife, Wendy, eight of his 10 children, 57 grandchildren, and more than 167 great-grandchildren.

As with the Apostles in New Testament times, Latter-day Saint Apostles are called to be special witnesses of Jesus Christ. President Nelson was one of 15 men who help oversee the growth and development of the global Church, which now numbers more than 17 million members.

A successor is not expected to be formally chosen by the Church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles until after President Nelson’s funeral (details pending).

One might not expect an Apostle to be a world-renowned heart surgeon, as was the case with President Nelson before his call to lifelong service in the Church. But healing hearts physically and spiritually is not uncommon for disciples of Jesus Christ in any age. The New Testament writer Luke was a physician of some repute — indeed, the Apostle Paul, with whom he traveled as a missionary, called him “the beloved physician” (Colossians 4:14).

As a physician, President Nelson was perhaps best known for his part in the development of an artificial heart and lung machine small enough to function in an operating room. Made possible by invaluable support and encouragement from his first wife, Dantzel, it was an achievement that heightened his appreciation for the gift of life. “I think a surgeon is in a unique position to understand one of God’s greatest creations — the human body,” he said. “Every segment of the body motivates me to faith.”

President Nelson’s reverence for life instilled in him a spiritual approach to medicine. His lodestar scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants guided his actions both in and out of the operating room: “And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated” (Doctrine and Covenants 130:21).

“In other words,” President Nelson said, “you don’t wish for a blessing; you work for a blessing and you make it possible. I often taught my team with whom I was working: This patient has been praying for success, and he’s got a family praying for success. All of those prayers won’t do a bit of good if you make a single mistake, so you’ve got to do your job perfectly in order for this patient to have a possibility of having the blessing they seek.”

His medical school days stretched to the first 12 years of his marriage. His graduation from the University of Utah’s medical school at age 22 was followed by an internship and several more years of residency in Minnesota and Massachusetts; two years of military duty in Washington, D.C., and abroad; and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. His consuming interest in research eventually led to his groundbreaking work on the heart-lung machine. He later served as a research professor of surgery and director of the Thoracic Surgery Residency at the University of Utah and chairman of the Division of Thoracic Surgery at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City.

In 1955 President Nelson performed the first open-heart surgery in Utah, and he completed more than 7,000 operations throughout his career. One of his most noteworthy operations came in 1972, when President Nelson’s love of medicine and faith came full circle when he was asked to perform high-risk surgery on Spencer W. Kimball, who was at the time a senior Apostle of the Church. President Nelson was serving as the Church’s General Sunday School President while continuing his work as a heart surgeon. He was given a priesthood blessing before the operation that he believed affected the outcome.

“It was just like a musician who played a piano concerto without ever making a mistake or a baseball pitcher pitching nine innings of errorless ball,” he said. “That long and complicated operation was done without a single flaw. And at the end of the operation when his heart leaped with power, I knew that he would live. And as we were closing his chest, I had the feeling that this man would live to become the President of the Church.”

Spencer W. Kimball indeed became President of the Church and lived another 13 years.

“[President Nelson] had great insights from his medical training into the health issues that arise with General Authorities,” President Oaks said. “And he gave us remarkable insights into what that kind of diagnosis meant and what the outlook was, and the practical implications of that particular diagnosis.”

Life with Dantzel

President Nelson always sought to do his best at whatever task was before him. As a young child, it was the performing arts, not the healing arts, that first captured his attention. He sang tenor in a prizewinning quartet and played the lead in a musical as a freshman at the University of Utah. In fact, his love of music eventually led him to the love of his life.

He remembers arriving for a rehearsal for an upcoming play and hearing a soprano on the stage. “She was stunning,” President Nelson recalled. “Her voice was incredible, and I said, ‘Who is that?’ The musical director replied, ‘That’s Dantzel White. She’s the one you’ll be singing with in this show.’” President Nelson said, “We never made another date with anyone else from that point forward.”

Music became a centerpiece of their lives together. The Nelsons never went without music in their home after purchasing a used piano for less than $100 early in their marriage. During his days as a physician, President Nelson would get up early in the morning to play the piano and study the scriptures. Combining them, he said, brought a spiritual influence into their home.

Like many young married couples, the Nelsons worked together to make ends meet, and it wasn’t always easy. President Nelson recalled walking down the streets of Boston one night with his wife, having four children at the time, when she pressed her nose against the windowpane of a furniture store and asked, “Sweetheart, do you think someday we will ever be able to afford a lamp?” It was during these times, President Nelson said, that they remembered the scripture in Matthew 6:33, which reads, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

“I thought they were a really good team,” recalled Gloria Nelson Irion, the third of the 10 Nelson children, which included nine girls and one boy. “They took good care of each other and were really secure in their love for each other. When my dad would come home from work, or come into the home, his first thing he would do was go seek out my mother and greet her with a hug and a kiss. … He showed us that the best thing a man can do for his children is to love their mother.”

Dantzel was the heart of the Nelson home. President Nelson said, “She has given me companionship, 10 beautiful children and all those wonderful intangible things a wife gives to a husband to help him strive for fulfillment and selflessness.”

From oldest to youngest, the Nelson children are (with names of spouses in parentheses) Marsha N. Workman (Richard Workman), Wendy N. Maxfield (died in 2019, married to Norman A. Maxfield), Gloria N. Irion (Richard A. Irion), Brenda N. Miles (Richard L. Miles), Sylvia N. Webster (David R. Webster), Emily N. Wittwer (died in 1995, married to Bradley E. Wittwer), Laurie N. Marsh (Richard M. Marsh), Rosalie N. Ringwood (Michael T. Ringwood), Marjorie N. Lowder (Bradley J. Lowder) and Russell M. Nelson Jr. (Britney).

For his part, President Nelson spent time with his children in the midst of a busy medical and Church schedule. He traveled extensively and often took one family member with him at a time. He viewed these times with his children as a wise investment. “Those trips gave me a chance to listen to their problems and their ambitions and for us simply to talk to one another and share ideas and experiences with each other,” he said. Activities such as scripture reading, family prayers twice a day and weekly family home evenings also helped keep the family close.

“As the family grew, he made it a point to come to every, every important milestone. He came to every child’s blessing, baptism, priesthood ordination, missionary farewell [and] wedding,” said Irion.

Marrying Wendy L. Watson

President Nelson fervently believed the secret to a happy life is not what you have but the knowledge you possess of God. People “have to know that God lives. They have to know that He has a plan for them. If they will follow that plan, they will find joy, even though life’s hardships bring grief, challenge, sometimes pain, sadness,” he said. “If they can have that faith in Him and link themselves to Him, they’ll have strength to withstand the trials that life will bring. In the process they will find great joy.”

His spiritual mettle was tested when his beloved Dantzel passed away unexpectedly in February 2005. If anything, her death strengthened his faith and commitment to family.

At the April 2006 general conference, President Nelson talked about the need to strengthen marriages.

“Marriage brings greater possibilities for happiness than does any other human relationship,” he said. “Yet some married couples fall short of their full potential. They let their romance become rusty, take each other for granted, allow other interests or clouds of neglect to obscure the vision of what their marriage really could be. Marriages would be happier if nurtured more carefully.”

Shortly after the conference, President Nelson married Wendy L. Watson. Prior to the marriage, the Canadian-born Sister Nelson had been a professor of marriage and family therapy for 25 years — the last 13 at Brigham Young University.

Sister Nelson has spoken of the spiritual wrestle of fasting and prayer she experienced before choosing to develop a relationship with then-Elder Nelson. She said entering a large family and uprooting herself from her career, among other things, proved to be tremendous challenges.

“We think, ‘Oh, it’s the Lord’s will. That means everything is going to be just easy and wonderful and marvelous.’ And instead, it was tough,” Sister Nelson said during a ministry trip to the Pacific with the prophet in May 2019. “We had different expectations. He was still grieving Dantzel, without a doubt. … It was a huge change.”

“We just love her,” Irion said. “She has been such a blessing to my father and also to our family for taking care of him.”

“His children were fabulous, I must say,” Sister Nelson added. “I wanted to be their friend, and they were certainly mine. They couldn’t have been more welcoming. The grandchildren are splendid. And now the great-[grandchildren] are just amazing.”

During a ministry visit to Australia in 2019, President Nelson described Wendy this way: “She’s a doctor. She’s a gerontologist. She’s a marriage and family therapist. And she’s a really fun girl to be with.”

A Polyglot Prophet to the Nations

During ministry visits to several Latin American countries in the fall of 2019, the prophet gave significant portions of his sermons in Spanish, much to the delight of the local Latter-day Saints. In Peru, for example, he delivered introductory remarks in English. Then he transitioned, saying, “With your permission, I would like to address you in Spanish.” The entire coliseum erupted in applause.

“I was once with him, and he broke into Russian as part of a communication with a Russian-speaking person,” President Oaks said. “I know that he learned enough Chinese to participate in an open-heart surgery operation in China, giving instructions in Chinese, in the operating room.”

In fact, his daughter said her father was conversant in 11 languages.

“I think he loved meeting people from all around the world,” Irion said. “He loved to see them embrace the gospel, become Saints and see the change in them from sadness to hope and from darkness to light.”

He was also instrumental in getting the Church recognized in many communist countries. “He was an eyewitness to the miracles that happened there,” his daughter said. “He did the best he could, and then the Lord took it the rest of the way. Door after door opened that he never thought would.”

After becoming the leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in January 2018, President Nelson visited extensively with Latter-day Saints and government and religious leaders on nearly every continent. He traveled to 32 countries and U.S. territories.

He also spent significant time building bridges with leaders of other faiths and groups and nations. Most notable was his visit with Pope Francis at the Vatican in March 2019 and his relationship with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a civil rights organization in the United States.

“We had a most cordial, unforgettable experience,” President Nelson said of his visit with the pope. “His Holiness, he was most gracious and warm and welcoming. What a sweet, wonderful man he is, and how fortunate the Catholic people are to have such a gracious, concerned, loving and capable leader.”

In May 2018 the prophet joined NAACP leaders in a call for greater civility and racial harmony. Then, in July 2019, NAACP leaders invited President Nelson to speak at the organization’s annual convention in Detroit. “We don’t have to be alike or look alike to have love for each other. We don’t even have to agree with each other to love each other,” President Nelson said. He gathered again with NAACP leaders in June 2021 to announce educational and humanitarian initiatives related to their ongoing collaboration.

The prophet visited with leaders of many nations while traveling in various countries. This included government officials from Cambodia, Colombia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Peru, Samoa, Tonga, Vietnam and others. He also welcomed many leaders to Temple Square, including a Vietnamese delegation, the Cuban ambassador, and the leader of the Muslim World League.

The prophet bolstered these bridge-building efforts by urging Latter-day Saints to be peacemakers who “build, lift, encourage, persuade, and inspire — no matter how difficult the situation.”

“Brothers and sisters, we can literally change the world — one person and one interaction at a time. How? By modeling how to manage honest differences of opinion with mutual respect and dignified dialogue,” President Nelson said. “If you are serious about helping to gather Israel and about building relationships that will last throughout the eternities, now is the time to lay aside bitterness. Now is the time to cease insisting that it is your way or no way. Now is the time to stop doing things that make others walk on eggshells for fear of upsetting you. Now is the time to bury your weapons of war. If your verbal arsenal is filled with insults and accusations, now is the time to put them away. You will arise as a spiritually strong man or woman of Christ.”

While traveling with President Nelson in 2018 (a trip that included a stop in Jerusalem, the city of peace), then-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles noted President Nelson’s global vision.

“He’s the prophet to the world, and he has that view,” Elder Holland said. “He has that prophetic seership. We sustain him as a seer and a revelator, and he is looking at the whole world.”

Many significant changes were introduced by President Nelson. As was mentioned previously, each of these was designed to place laser-like focus on Jesus Christ.

“President Nelson, I don’t know how many more ‘rushes’ we can handle this weekend. Some of us have weak hearts. But as I think about it, you can take care of that too. What a prophet!” —Elder Holland, April 2018

Under his leadership the prophet adjusted the way Saints around the world minister to each other. He repeatedly stressed the importance of the correct name of the Church. He shifted the emphasis of gospel instruction to be centered in each home and supported by the Church. He modified a policy allowing children of LGBT parents to be baptized. He adjusted the faith’s temple recommend interview questions to help Church members more deeply understand the purpose of temple worship. He introduced a new global youth program for the Church’s children and teenagers. He announced a new witness policy for live baptisms, proxy baptisms and live and proxy sealings. He authorized a global policy for couples married civilly to be married immediately in one of the faith’s temples. He reorganized and consolidated priesthood quorums and organizations for adults and children. He introduced various changes to missionary policies and procedures. He changed the Church’s symbol to includes a portrayal of the resurrected, living Lord Jesus Christ. And he read a new proclamation to the world about the Restoration of the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

“To paraphrase Ralph Waldo Emerson, the most memorable moments in life are those in which we feel the rush of revelation,” said then-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland near the conclusion of the April 2018 general conference, in which the prophet introduced several notable changes. “President Nelson, I don’t know how many more ‘rushes’ we can handle this weekend. Some of us have weak hearts. But as I think about it, you can take care of that too. What a prophet!”

All these changes were made as President Nelson encouraged Latter-day Saints to receive personal guidance from God just as he received revelation for the Church. He and other leaders repeatedly said these changes are part of the ongoing Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

A Master Teacher Who Touched Hearts

President Oaks referred to President Nelson as a master teacher. “I’ve heard surgeons that he trained comment on how effective he was at teaching them to be surgeons,” President Oaks said. “And I’ve seen him as the master teacher teach the servants of the Lord in the same way.”

As a “beloved physician” President Nelson literally touched the hearts of hundreds of patients suffering from physical ailments. As a disciple of Christ, he healed hearts through word and deed.