More notable deaths in 2004, Vol. 2
Phil Gersh, shown in his Los Angeles office in February 2002, was one of the last of the Hollywood agents who dominated the talent business in the 1940’s and 50’s and represented some of the great stars and filmmakers of Hollywood’s golden age. He died on Monday, May 10, 2004, at his home in Beverly Hills, his family announced. He was 92. Hollywood celebrities he represented included actors Humphrey Bogart, David Niven, James Mason, William Holden, June Allyson and Richard Burton, directors Don Siegel and Robert Wise and writers Budd Schulberg and Julius J. Epstein. (AP/Los Angeles Times, Ken Hively, file)
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
More notable deaths in 2004, Vol. 2
The Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, a Catholic priest who served 35 years as executive vice president of the University of Notre Dame before retiring in 1987, died May 2 at Holy Cross House on the Notre Dame campus of complications from a stroke suffered in 2002. He was 87. Father Joyce oversaw the school’s finances and building programs. During his tenure, the operating budget grew from $9 million to $400 million and more than 40 new buildings were constructed on campus. The student body grew from 5,000 to 9,000. He also headed the university’s board in charge of athletics. During his tenure, the Irish won national football championships in 1966, 1973 and 1977, and they won another the year after he retired. The basketball team went to the NCAA tournament 21 times, advancing to the Final Four in 1978. (AP/South Bend Tribune, file)
Architect Pierre Koenig talks about about using steel in the design of homes in Sept. 18, 1995. Koenig, a leader in the Modernist movement that became emblematic of progressive postwar America, died on Sunday, April 4, 2004, in Los Angeles. He was 78. (AP/The Los Angeles Times, Perry C. Riddle)
Estelle Axton, co-founder of the famed Stax Records Co. in Memphis, which generated hits from acts including Sam and Dave, Otis Redding Jr. and The Staple Singers, died of natural causes on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2004, at the hospice at Saint Francis Hospital in Memphis. She was 85. The musicians on the soul record label called Axton ``Lady A.’’ ``Were it not for her, there’s no way Stax could have become what it became,’’ said David Porter. Porter and Isaac Hayes co-wrote numerous Stax hits, including Sam and Dave’s ``Soul Man’’ and ``Hold On, I’m Coming.’’ Hayes said Axton was responsible for the racial harmony at Stax:``You didn’t feel any backoff from her, no differentiation that you were black and she was white ... She was like a mother to us all.’’ (AP/The Commercial Appeal, Mike Maple, file)
