Paul Robbins, 68, a ski and travel journalist who was the U.S. Ski Team’s primary writer for more than two decades, died Saturday of an apparent heart attack at his home in Weathersfield, Vt., the U.S. Ski Team said.
Well known for wearing a Scottish tam, Robbins started writing about ski racing in the late ’70s. His work appeared in many magazines, including Skiing, Ski and Ski Racing.
Robbins worked at eight Winter Olympics — every one since 1980 in Lake Placid, N.Y., where he served as press chief for luge. At later Olympics, he was a press officer for the U.S. Ski Team, as well as a commentator on Nordic sports for CBS and NBC.
Robbins was an Army veteran who served as an information officer in South Korea in the early ’60s. He later worked for United Press International in Boston and was New England bureau chief.
Tsuneyo Toyonaga, 113, who in August became Japan’s oldest person, died Friday, the nursing home where she lived reported. Born on May 21, 1894, Toyonaga is survived by five children and 10 grandchildren, Kyodo News agency said.
Edna Parker of Shelbyville, Ind., is the world’s oldest person at age 114, according to Guinness World Records. She was born April 20, 1893.
Mel Zelnick, 83, a jazz drummer whose career began when he was a boy in Harlem and led to stints with Benny Goodman and as a session artist for Capital Records, died Thursday of a heart attack in Prescott, Ariz., his stepdaughter Loretta Alden said.
In an interview last year, Zelnick recalled his start at age 9 on the streets of New York City with fellow youngsters trying to learn drum rolls in a neighborhood drum corps.
Zelnick attended the Juilliard School in New York City, then was an Army Band drummer during World War II and played with Goodman in the 1950s and on recordings by Capitol studio artists such as Peggy Lee in the 1960s. He also played for Patti Page, Ray Charles and Nat King Cole.
